Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Flor et al. (US 10,931,099) in view of Liu et al. (US 20170163064).
With respect to claims 1, 9-10, 14 Flor teaches a battery management apparatus comprising:
a buck converter (see switching regulator col. 11 lines 25-30) configured to generate a driving voltage (charging voltage) based on a voltage of a battery pack (415);
a comparator (470) configured to compare a divided voltage (see voltage divider 460) generated based on the voltage of the battery pack with a reference voltage (see lower input to 470) and control an operation (see disable/enable) of the buck converter based on a result of the comparison; and
Flor does not teach the use of a detector configured to detect whether the battery pack and a target device are connected and control an operation of the comparator based on a result of the detection.
Liu teaches the use of a detector configured to detect whether the battery pack and a target device are connected (see paragraph 0011 detection of charging plug) and control an operation of the comparator (see response from U1 see paragraph 0012) based on a result of the detection (paragraph 0013).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Flor to include the known use of a plug charging connection state to enable the voltage comparator of the disclosed buck converter for the benefit of controlling the operation of a device connected to the battery pack above the prescribed threshold and keeping the load inactive when operation is unnecessary or unsafe.
With respect to claims 2-3, 11 and 15-17 Flor teaches the comparator is further configured to generate a block signal (see UVLO status signal) for disabling the buck converter when the divided voltage is less than or equal to the reference voltage (col. 8 lines 20-65).
With respect to claims 4, 12-13 Flor teaches the battery management apparatus operates in a Under Voltage Lock OUT (see UVLO status signal) mode when the buck converter is turned off.
Claims 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Flor et al. (US 10,931,099) in view of Liu et al. (US 20170163064) in view of Lee et al. (US 20140210420)
With respect to claim 5 Flor teaches the battery system however does not teach the use of a photo coupled. Lee teaches the know use of a photo coupler (paragraph 39) in connection with a BMS wakeup and enable apparatus. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Flor to try the known use of a photo coupler for the predictable result providing electrical isolation between the battery and device.
With respect to claims 6-7 Flor teaches the comparator is further configured to generate an opening signal for enabling (see enable signal from UVLO comparator). Liu teaches (paragraph 0011) enabling (paragraph 0013) when the buck converter when the enable voltage is input from the detector. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Flor to include the control seen in Liu for the benefit of causing the switching regulator to drive a voltage after connection to increase safety.
With respect to claim 8 Flor teaches the battery system however does not describe the wakeup mode. Liu teaches a battery management apparatus operates in a wake-up mode (paragraph 11-12) when the buck converter is turned on. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Flor to include the known use of a wakeup mode for the benefit of reducing power consumption.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael Fin whose telephone number is (571)272-5921. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30.
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MICHAEL FIN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2836
/MICHAEL R. FIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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