DETAILED ACTION
Notice to Applicant
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. Claims 1-12 are pending.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
4. The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference characters not mentioned in the description: 105 and 106 (see Figure 1). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
5. The drawings are objected to because reference character 101, which is indicated in the specification as referring to an NiMH battery pack, appears to be designating a voltage sensing line in Figure 1 rather than the structure containing the NiMH cells C1, C2, and C3. The Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
6. The drawings are objected to because of a grammatical error in box S62 of Figure 2. In box S62 of Figure 2, it appears that “againg” should be revised to “aging.” Furthermore, box S54 of Figure 2 includes the word “ageing” whereas the specification and the claims use the word “aging.” Therefore, it appears that the word “ageing” in box S54 should be revised to “aging.” The Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
7. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
8. Claims 1, 5-6, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Komiyama et al. (US 2019/0198940 – hereinafter “Komiyama”).
Per claim 1, Komiyama teaches a method for generating a status signal (SS) indicating a battery condition status of a NiMH battery pack that includes a plurality of NiMH cells (C1, C2, C3) (The battery 5 may be a NiMH battery including one or more battery packs 10 (Fig. 1A; ¶46)) using a monitoring unit, the monitoring unit having:
a measuring unit (Fig. 1A; sensor bank 27; ¶60) operable to generate a data signal (DS) that includes information about measurements from the group of an internal pressure (Pi) of the NiMH battery pack, a battery voltage (Vb) of the NiMH battery pack, a battery current (Ib) flowing to, or from, the NiMH battery pack, and a surface temperature (Text) of the NiMH battery pack (The sensor bank 27 includes a pressure value detector 30 to detect pressure values from pressure sensors 15 located within the battery 5, a voltage detector 35 to detect a battery voltage, a current sensor to detect a battery current, and a temperature detector 40 to detect a temperature from within the battery (Fig. 1A; ¶54 and 62-66)); and
a controlling unit (Fig. 1A; battery ECU 70; ¶70) operable to receive the data signal (DS) from the measuring unit and operable to generate the status signal (SS), wherein the controlling unit is further operable to estimate the internal pressure of the NiMH battery pack with a physical battery model (The battery ECU 70 is configured to store values obtained from the sensor bank 27 and generate a signal to stop discharging the battery 5 based on a pressure of the battery 5 (Fig. 1; ¶70-71 and 93). The battery ECU 70 is also configured to estimate a current internal pressure of the battery 5 based on a model relating OCV to pressure at various temperatures (¶82-83));
the method comprising:
measuring the internal pressure (Pi); measuring the battery voltage (Vb); measuring the battery current (Ib); measuring the surface temperature (Text) of the NiMH battery pack; estimating an internal gas pressure of the NiMH battery pack using the physical battery model and the measurements (Based on the measurements acquired from the sensor bank 27 and the relationship between OCV and pressure at various temperatures, a minimum threshold pressure Pmin is derived that is associated with a minimum SOC of the battery 5 (¶85-86)); and
generating the status signal indicating a battery condition status of the NiMH battery pack based on a differential pressure between the estimated internal gas pressure and the measured internal pressure (Based on the difference ΔPT between the current internal pressure and the minimum threshold pressure Pmin, a determination is made as to whether a signal to stop discharging of the battery 5 should be generated (¶85-86)).
Per claim 5, Komiyama teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the status signal is based on historical measurements from the measuring unit (A history of measurement values may be used in generating the status signal (¶71)).
Per claim 6, Komiyama teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein measuring the internal pressure is performed in a common volume for NiMH battery cells of the NiMH battery pack (The battery 5 includes pressure sensors 15 located within a volume that contains a plurality of battery packs 10 (Fig. 1A; ¶54-55)).
Per claim 9, Komiyama teaches a monitoring unit for monitoring a NiMH battery pack, comprising: a measuring unit (Fig. 1A; sensor bank 27; ¶60) operable to generate a data signal (DS) that includes information about measurements from the group of an internal pressure (Pi) of the NiMH battery pack, a battery voltage (Vb) of the NiMH battery pack, a battery current (Ib) flowing to, or from, the NiMH battery pack, and a surface temperature (Text) of the NiMH battery pack; and a controlling unit (Fig. 1A; battery ECU 70; ¶70) operable to receive the data signal from the measuring unit and operable to generate the status signal, wherein the controlling unit is further operable to estimate the internal pressure of the NiMH battery pack with a physical battery model; wherein the controlling unit is further configured to execute the method according to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
9. 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.
10. Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious in view of Komiyama and Ko et al. (US 2023/0025923 – hereinafter “Ko”).
Per claim 10, Komiyama does not explicitly teach a quality control system for a NiMH battery pack, comprising a monitoring unit according to claim 9.
In contrast, Ko teaches a battery swelling inspection apparatus used for testing a battery wherein a battery having a defect related to swelling may be selected before the battery is shipped (¶129).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the monitoring unit of Komiyama in a quality control system. One of ordinary skill would make such a modification for the purpose of identifying a battery having a swelling defect before shipment of the battery (Ko; ¶129).
11. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious in view of Komiyama and Ukumori (US 2021/0048482).
Per claim 11, Komiyama does not explicitly teach a monitoring system for a NiMH battery pack, comprising: a monitoring unit according to claim 9; and a communication unit operable to receive the status signal from the monitoring unit and to transmit the status signal to a remote server, or to transmit the data signal from the measuring unit of the monitoring unit to the remote server.
In contrast, Ukumori teaches a battery management system comprising a server that is configured to store measured pressure data of an energy storage device in time series and use the stored data to determine degradation of the energy storage device (¶113-115).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the monitoring unit of Komiyama in a monitoring system having a communication unit operable to receive the status signal from the monitoring unit and to transmit the status signal to a remote server, or to transmit the data signal from the measuring unit of the monitoring unit to the remote server. One of ordinary skill would make such a modification for the purpose of remotely identifying degradation of an energy storage device (Ukumori; ¶113-115).
12. Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious in view of Komiyama and Tomar et al. (US 2020/00280108 – hereinafter “Tomar”).
Per claim 12, Komiyama does not explicitly teach a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method as set out in claim 1.
In contrast, Tomar teaches a smart battery system wherein failure of a cell is predicted based on sensor data, such a pressure data. A non-transitory computer storage medium may include instructions for performing the failure prediction (¶88 and 126).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to cause a processor to perform the method of Komiyama according to instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. One of ordinary skill would make such a modification for the purpose of storing instructions that are used to predict failure in a battery system (Tomar; ¶88 and 126).
Claim Objections
13. Claims 2-4 and 7-8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Per claim 2, the prior art of record is silent on the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the status signal comprises generating information about gas leakage of the NiMH battery pack, when the differential pressure is below a first threshold.
Per claim 3, the prior art of record is silent on the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the status signal comprises generating information about aging of the NiMH battery pack during charging of the NiMH battery pack when the differential pressure increases above a second threshold.
Per claim 4, the prior art of record is silent on the method according to claim 1, wherein generating the status signal comprises generating information about a critical error in the NiMH battery pack when the differential pressure increases above a third threshold, during a discharge of the NiMH battery pack to a state-of-charge smaller than 5%.
Per claim 7, the prior art of record is silent on the method according to claim 1, wherein estimating an internal gas pressure comprises: determining a phase distribution for two electrodes based on a measured battery current (Ibat) flowing from/to the NiMH battery, using a mass balance module with expressions for hydrogen and oxygen; determining a positive electrode voltage based on a negative electrode voltage, a measured cell voltage and a cell resistance using a voltage balance module; determining a modeled internal temperature (Tin) of the NiMH battery, wherein the measured surface temperature (Text) is used to determine heat transfer from the NiMH battery pack to the surroundings of the NiMH battery pack using an energy balance module; determining the internal gas pressure (P) using a gas pressure module with expressions for nitrogen, water vapor, hydrogen and oxygen. Claim 8 is consequently objected to due to its dependence on claim 7.
Conclusion
14. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAS A. SANGHERA whose telephone number is (571)272-4787. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th, alt. Fri, 8-5 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, WALTER LINDSAY can be reached at (571) 272-1674. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAS A SANGHERA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852