DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The Information Disclosure Statement, filed 22 April 2024 has been fully considered by the examiner. A signed copy is attached.
Acknowledgement is made of the preliminary amendment to the claims and specification filed on 19 April 2024, and the application is being examined on the basis of the amended disclosure.
Claims 1, 3-8, 13, 16-17, 19, 29, 33-34, 42, 44-46, 62, and 66 are pending.
Claims 1, 3-8, 13, 16-17, 19, 29, 33-34, 42, 44-46, 62, and 66 are rejected, grounds follow.
Priority
Application’s status as a 35 USC 371 national stage application of PCT application PCT/EP2021/078981 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Acronyms are not enclosed in parenthesis.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1, 3-8, 13, 16-17, 19, 29, 34, 42, 44-46, and 62 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims embrace at least one embodiment that is a computer program per se. Claims 29 and 62 recite that the methods of Claims 1 and 34 may be embodied as “a computer program including program instructions”, and therefore, although the scope of claims 1 and 34 are wider, the methods embrace at least one embodiment that is expressly claiming a computer program per se.
The claims therefore embraces at least one embodiment that is non-statutory – i.e. not one of the four statutory categories of subject matter – and is directed to at least one embodiment that recites software per se (data structure) and/or signals per se (data transmitted via network between computational devices). Without reaching whether all reasonable embodiments are software per se; A claim whose BRI covers both statutory and non-statutory embodiments embraces subject matter that is not eligible for patent protection and therefore is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Such claims fail the first step (Step 1: NO) and should be rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101, for at least this reason. (see MPEP 2106.03.II)
Regarding Claims 3-8, 13, 16-17, 19, 29, 42, 44-46, and 62, these claims inherit the deficiencies of their respective parent(s).
Examiner suggests amending or canceling claims 29 and 62 to disclaim the non-statutory embodiments. No new matter may be added.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 34, 42, 44-46, 62 and 66 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hong et al., US Pg-Pub 2020/0136173.
Regarding Claim 34, Hong discloses:
A method (see fig. 11) of controlling operation of a Li-ion battery system ([0133] “a lithium ion battery 20”) having configuration specifications, (characteristics, see e.g. [0136] “characteristics (Δε.sub.s, Δε.sub.e, ΔQ, ΔR.sub.SEI, ΔR.sub.DL) of the battery 20”) the method comprising:
obtaining, based on a porous electrode model ([0121] “Full order model (FOM)”) without degradation and on the configuration specifications, ([0121] Charging or discharging of lithium ion battery involves several processes that include ion transport and reactions. They are migration, diffusion, and intercalation or deintercalation. The processes are governed by nonlinear or partial differential equations (PDE) that describe physical laws, which is used to construct a full order model (FOM).) a reduced order model ([0121] “ROM”) without degradation of the Li-ion battery system ([0121] “A possible approach is to reduce order of the FOM by converting PDEs into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and linearize the nonlinear equations, which is call a reduced order electrochemical model (ROM).”) having a plurality of selectable versions; (versions including lithium stripping or lithium plating, see [0096]-[0120] particularly “The lithium deposition reaction and the lithium dissolution reaction are reduction and oxidation reaction processes, which are called with other words, lithium plating and lithium stripping, respectively.” Nb. these reactions are exclusive and do not occur at the same time.)
obtaining a degradation model ([0070] “degradation is dominantly caused by the side reaction, which results in a linearly fading capacity as cycling. As the cycling continues, due to the continuously growing SEI, a porosity of the anode electrode becomes less, which reduces anode ionic kinetics.”) based on an electrochemical degradation model (e.g. SEI growth model, see [0070] and [0082]-[0095] describing the side reaction;) and on the configuration specifications; ([0024] “ generate a reduced order electrochemical model (ROM) of the battery in which a state-of-charge (SOC) model, a side reaction model and a degradation model are embedded;”)
and performing an iterative loop (see e.g. [0019] repeated until desired SOC) with each iteration of the iterative loop including: determining an estimated degradation of the Li-ion battery system based on the degradation model, ([0136] “The aging model 36 receives the side reaction rate (j.sub.side.sup.Li), the lithium plating rate (j.sub.LiP.sup.Li) and the lithium stripping rate (j.sub.side.sup.Li)from the ROM 32 and calculates changed characteristics (Δε.sub.s, Δε.sub.e, ΔQ, ΔR.sub.SEI, ΔR.sub.DL) of the battery 20.”) and on a previous corrected state of the Li-ion battery system from previous iteration of the iterative loop; (see fig. 11, aging model is part of the feed-back loop that feeds previous state into the ROM.)
determining a predicted state of the Li-ion battery system by selecting a version of the reduced order model without degradation depending on the previous corrected state and the estimated degradation, ([0135] “The corrected ROM 32 is used to estimate the surface ion concentrations and the anode potentials that allow for estimation of the SOC, the side reaction rate and the lithium plating rate, respectively.”)
and by calculating the predicted state (e.g. SOC) based on the selected version of the reduced order model without degradation depending on the previous corrected state, (ibid. see citations supra) a previous corrected current demanded (e.g. C rate) to the Li-ion battery system from previous iteration of the iterative loop, a present current demanded to the Li-ion battery system; (see [0025] “calculate a charging rate (C rate) based on the calculated SOC and the required SOC from a predetermined SOC and C rate relationship, and perform a constant current (CC) charging with the calculated C rate.” and [0026] “determine whether at least one of the side reaction rate, the lithium plating rate and a terminal voltage reaches a predetermined threshold during the CC charging with the calculated C rate is performed; recalculate the C rate based on the calculated SOC and the required SOC from the predetermined SOC and C rate relationship, if the at least one of the side reaction rate, the lithium plating rate and a terminal voltage reaches the predetermined threshold; and perform the CC charging with the recalculated C rate.”)
determining a present corrected state of the Li-ion battery system by applying a Kalman filter ([0135] “extended Kalman filter”) depending on the predicted state and battery measurements from sensors ([0135] “detected terminal voltage”) arranged or installed in the Li-ion battery system; ([0135] “The correction 34 includes an extended Kalman filter (EKF) and is configured to correct the ROM 32 (e.g., to correct the internal state values of the battery 20). For example, the controller 30 estimates a terminal voltage using the ROM 32 and continuously compares the estimated terminal voltage with the detected terminal voltage to follow physical internal variables of the battery 20. Any errors between the estimated terminal voltage and the detected terminal voltage due to inaccuracy of the ROM 32 and measurements are further improved by a feedback loop with a correction 34 using the EKF.”)
controlling the Li-ion battery system based on a present corrected current demanded resulting from correcting the present current demanded depending on the present corrected state; ([0137] “The charging algorithm 38 receives the SOC from the SOC model 42, the side reaction rate (j.sub.side.sup.Li) from the side reaction model 44, the lithium plating rate (j.sub.LiP.sup.Li)) from the degradation model 46 and the terminal voltage (V.sub.t) from the battery 20. The charging(j.sub.LiP.sup.Li) algorithm 38 compares the SOC, the side reaction rate (j.sub.side.sup.Li). the lithium plating rate (j.sub.LiP.sup.Li) and the terminal voltage (V.sub.t) with the predetermined references (e. g., the side reaction rate at 40% SOC, φs−φe=0, cutoff voltage (4.2V), etc.) to generate a charging protocol.”)
and keeping or saving the present corrected state and the present corrected current demanded to be used as the previous corrected state and the previous corrected current demanded, respectively, in subsequent iteration of the iterative loop. (see [0136] “the aging model 36 reflects the changed characteristics (Δε.sub.s, Δε.sub.e, ΔQ, ΔR.sub.SEI, ΔR.sub.DL) of the battery 20 on the ROM 32.” And [0139] describing how C is modified as the process iterates.)
Regarding Claim 42, Hong discloses all of the limitations of parent claim 34,
Hong further discloses:
determining the degradation model including modelling degradation rates at different locations of the Li-ion battery system, (e.g. anode [0069]; cathode [0083], electrolyte [0090])
said different locations including one or more or any combination of anode ([0069] “Lithium plating consumes the lithium ions, while a metallic plate covers a surface of the particles on an anode electrode and reduces an active area.”) and cathode (see side reaction [0083] “α.sub.c,side is a cathodic intercalation factor of the side reaction”) and separator between anode and cathode of the Li-ion battery system. (see side reaction [0090] “Subsequently, an effective diffusivity (D.sub.e.sup.eff) of the lithium ion in the electrolyte is affected by a change of the electrolyte volume fraction”)
Regarding Claim 44, Hong discloses all of the limitations of parent claim 42,
Hong further discloses:
modelling degradation overpotentials (e.g. [0106] “overpotential of the lithium plating”; [0118] “overpotential for the lithium stripping”) due to one or more of lithium stripping or lithium plating or solid-electrolyte interface formation, or any combination thereof. (stripping and plating see [0096]-[0120]; SEI see [0066] “Main products are Li.sub.2CO.sub.3 and (CH.sub.2OCO.sub.2Li).sub.2 that form compounds of a thin passive layer on an anode particle surface that is called solid electrolyte interphase (SEI)” and [0114] “Increase of a thickness of the secondary SEI layer from the plated lithium can be expressed as”)
Regarding Claim 45, Hong discloses all of the limitations of parent claim 44,
Hong further discloses:
modelling a solid phase potential at one or both of anode and cathode, (anode potential, see [0140] and [0135] “The corrected ROM 32 is used to estimate the surface ion concentrations and the anode potentials”) or a liquid phase potential (e.g. electrolyte potential, see [0070]) at one or more of anode and cathode and separator of the Li-ion battery system, or any combination thereof. ([0133] “To these ends, the controller 30 can calculate internal state values of the battery 20, such as the ion concentration or the solid and the electrolyte potential.” See also [0076] where φ.sub.s is electric potential of a solid, φ.sub.e is electric potential of the electrolyte, and U.sub.eq,int is the equilibrium potential for the intercalation.)
Regarding Claim 46, Hong discloses all of the limitations of parent claim 42,
Hong further discloses:
modelling porosity evolution ([0070] “due to the continuously growing SEI, a porosity of the anode electrode becomes less, which reduces anode ionic kinetics.”) at one or both of anode and cathode depending on the modelling of the degradation rates. ([0078] “In addition, decrease of the active area and the porosity is calculated from an average thickness of the [SEI] deposits”)
Regarding Claim 62, Hong discloses all of the limitations of parent claim 34,
Hong further discloses:
A computer program including program instructions for causing a computing system to perform a method according to claim 34 of controlling operation of a Li-ion battery system. ([0063] “Furthermore, the controller in some forms of the present disclosure may be embodied as non-transitory computer readable media containing executable program instructions executed by a processor or the like.”)
Regarding Claim 66, Hong discloses all of the limitations of parent claim 34,
Hong further discloses:
A computing system including a memory and a processor, embodying instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, and the instructions including functionalities to execute a method according to claim 34 of controlling operation of a Li-ion battery system. ([0062] “Additionally, it is understood that one or more of the below methods, or aspects thereof, may be executed by at least one controller. The term “controller” may refer to a hardware device that includes a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store program instructions, and the processor is specifically programmed to execute the program instructions to perform one or more processes which are described further below.”)
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-8, 29 and 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong in view of Zhao "Modeling of degradation effects and its integration into electrochemical reduced order model for Li (MnNiCo) O2/Graphite polymer battery for real time applications." Electrochimica Acta 270 (2018): 440-452.
Regarding Claim 1, Hong teaches:
A method (see fig. 11) of controlling operation of a Li-ion battery system ([0133] “a lithium ion battery 20”) having configuration specifications, (characteristics, see e.g. [0136] “characteristics (Δε.sub.s, Δε.sub.e, ΔQ, ΔR.sub.SEI, ΔR.sub.DL) of the battery 20”) the method comprising:
obtaining, based on a porous electrode model […] ([0121] “Full order model (FOM)”) and on the configuration specifications, ([0121] Charging or discharging of lithium ion battery involves several processes that include ion transport and reactions. They are migration, diffusion, and intercalation or deintercalation. The processes are governed by nonlinear or partial differential equations (PDE) that describe physical laws, which is used to construct a full order model (FOM).) a reduced order model ([0121] “ROM”) of the Li-ion battery system having a plurality of selectable versions; (versions including lithium stripping or lithium plating, see [0096]-[0120] particularly “The lithium deposition reaction and the lithium dissolution reaction are reduction and oxidation reaction processes, which are called with other words, lithium plating and lithium stripping, respectively.” Nb. these reactions are exclusive and do not occur at the same time.)
performing an iterative loop (see e.g. [0019] repeated until desired SOC) with each iteration of the iterative loop including determining a predicted state of the Li-ion battery system , ([0135] “The corrected ROM 32 is used to estimate the surface ion concentrations and the anode potentials that allow for estimation of the SOC, the side reaction rate and the lithium plating rate, respectively.”)by selecting a version of the reduced order model depending on a previous corrected state ([0136] “The aging model 36 receives the side reaction rate (j.sub.side.sup.Li), the lithium plating rate (j.sub.LiP.sup.Li) and the lithium stripping rate (j.sub.side.sup.Li)from the ROM 32 and calculates changed characteristics (Δε.sub.s, Δε.sub.e, ΔQ, ΔR.sub.SEI, ΔR.sub.DL) of the battery 20.”) of the Li-ion battery system from previous iteration of the iterative loop, (see fig. 11, aging model is part of the feed-back loop that feeds previous state into the ROM.)
and by calculating the predicted state (e.g. SOC) based on the selected version of the reduced order model depending on the previous corrected state, (ibid. see citations supra) a previous corrected current demanded (e.g. C rate) to the Li-ion battery system from previous iteration of the iterative loop, and a present current demanded to the Li-ion battery system; (see [0025] “calculate a charging rate (C rate) based on the calculated SOC and the required SOC from a predetermined SOC and C rate relationship, and perform a constant current (CC) charging with the calculated C rate.” and [0026] “determine whether at least one of the side reaction rate, the lithium plating rate and a terminal voltage reaches a predetermined threshold during the CC charging with the calculated C rate is performed; recalculate the C rate based on the calculated SOC and the required SOC from the predetermined SOC and C rate relationship, if the at least one of the side reaction rate, the lithium plating rate and a terminal voltage reaches the predetermined threshold; and perform the CC charging with the recalculated C rate.”)
determining a present corrected state of the Li-ion battery system by applying a Kalman filter ([0135] “extended Kalman filter”) depending on the predicted state and battery measurements from sensors ([0135] “detected terminal voltage”) arranged or installed in the Li-ion battery system; ([0135] “The correction 34 includes an extended Kalman filter (EKF) and is configured to correct the ROM 32 (e.g., to correct the internal state values of the battery 20). For example, the controller 30 estimates a terminal voltage using the ROM 32 and continuously compares the estimated terminal voltage with the detected terminal voltage to follow physical internal variables of the battery 20. Any errors between the estimated terminal voltage and the detected terminal voltage due to inaccuracy of the ROM 32 and measurements are further improved by a feedback loop with a correction 34 using the EKF.”)
controlling the Li-ion battery system based on a present corrected current demanded resulting from correcting the present current demanded depending on the present corrected state; ([0137] “The charging algorithm 38 receives the SOC from the SOC model 42, the side reaction rate (j.sub.side.sup.Li) from the side reaction model 44, the lithium plating rate (j.sub.LiP.sup.Li)) from the degradation model 46 and the terminal voltage (V.sub.t) from the battery 20. The charging(j.sub.LiP.sup.Li) alorithm 38 compares the SOC, the side reaction rate (j.sub.side.sup.Li). the lithium plating rate (j.sub.LiP.sup.Li) and the terminal voltage (V.sub.t) with the predetermined references (e. g., the side reaction rate at 40% SOC, φs−φe=0, cutoff voltage (4.2V), etc.) to generate a charging protocol.”)
and keeping or saving the present corrected state and the present corrected current demanded to be used as the previous corrected state and the previous corrected current demanded, respectively, in subsequent iteration of the iterative loop. (see [0136] “the aging model 36 reflects the changed characteristics (Δε.sub.s, Δε.sub.e, ΔQ, ΔR.sub.SEI, ΔR.sub.DL) of the battery 20 on the ROM 32.” And [0139] describing how C is modified as the process iterates.)
Hong differs from the claimed invention in that:
Hong does not appear to clearly articulate the Full order model including degradation
However Zhao teaches a full-order model of partial differential equations for a Lithium-Ion battery that includes degradation equations (see Table 3, FOM column includes formulas for Electrochemical Kinetics which model at least degradation due to the side reaction; see Page 442 “Models in the second group are constructed considering the side reaction. The side reaction is described by modified Butler-Volmer (BV) equation that quantifies the reaction rate and facilitates analysis of the aging processes and prediction of the aging parameters.” See also abstract; “Growth of the SEI leads to loss of the lithium ions, loss of the electrolytes and loss of the active volume fraction. These effects are described using the Butler-Volmer kinetics and aging parameters.”)
Zhao is analogous art because it is from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention and other references of modeling battery internals for Lithium Batteries.
Accordingly, examiner finds 1) the prior art contained a device (method, product, etc.) which differed from the claimed device by the substitution of some components (step, element etc.) with other components; - the teachings of Hong, which differed from the claimed method by the substitution of a full-order model including degradation for the plural models of Hong which teaches a full-order model and a separate degradation model which is embedded after reduction to a reduced order model; 2) the substituted components and their functions were known in the art; - as exemplified by Zhao which teaches a full order model including degradation and a procedure for obtaining a reduced order model including degradation from the full order model; 3) one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application could have substituted one known element for another, and the results of the substitution would have been predictable at least because Zhao teaches that incorporation of Butler-Volmer kinetics into the full-order model is suitable for estimating the impacts of aging on battery performance (see Zhao Page 442 “Models in the second group are constructed considering the side reaction. The side reaction is described by modified Butler-Volmer (BV) equation that quantifies the reaction rate and facilitates analysis of the aging processes and prediction of the aging parameters.”) and accordingly, the substitution would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application (see MPEP 2143.I.B).
Regarding Claim 3, Hong in view of Zhao teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 1,
Hong further teaches:
determining transfer functions derived ([0121] “A possible approach is to reduce order of the FOM by converting PDEs into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and linearize the nonlinear equations, which is call a reduced order electrochemical model (ROM).”) from partial differential equations ([0121] “partial differential equations (PDE)”) defining the porous electrode model including degradation. ([0121] “The processes are governed by nonlinear or partial differential equations (PDE) that describe physical laws, which is used to construct a full order model (FOM).”) (nb. Zhao relied upon to teach the full order model including degradation).
Regarding Claim 4, Hong in view of Zhao teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 3,
Hong further teaches:
at least some of the transfer functions being determined to model degradation rates at different locations (e.g. anode [0069]; cathode [0083], electrolyte [0090]) of the Li-ion battery system. ([0069] “Lithium plating consumes the lithium ions, while a metallic plate covers a surface of the particles on an anode electrode and reduces an active area.”) (see side reaction [0083] “α.sub.c,side is a cathodic intercalation factor of the side reaction”) (see side reaction [0090] “Subsequently, an effective diffusivity (D.sub.e.sup.eff) of the lithium ion in the electrolyte is affected by a change of the electrolyte volume fraction”)
Regarding Claim 5, Hong in view of Zhao teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 4,
Hong further teaches:
the different locations of the Li-ion battery system at which degradation rates are modelled including one or more or any combination of anode ([0069] “Lithium plating consumes the lithium ions, while a metallic plate covers a surface of the particles on an anode electrode and reduces an active area.”) and cathode (see side reaction [0083] “α.sub.c,side is a cathodic intercalation factor of the side reaction”) and separator between anode and cathode of the Li-ion battery system. (see side reaction [0090] “Subsequently, an effective diffusivity (D.sub.e.sup.eff) of the lithium ion in the electrolyte is affected by a change of the electrolyte volume fraction”)
Regarding Claim 6, Hong in view of Zhao teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 4,
Hong further teaches:
modelling degradation overpotentials (e.g. [0106] “overpotential of the lithium plating”; [0118] “overpotential for the lithium stripping”) due to one or more of lithium stripping or lithium plating or solid-electrolyte interface formation, or any combination thereof. (stripping and plating see [0096]-[0120]; SEI see [0066] “Main products are Li.sub.2CO.sub.3 and (CH.sub.2OCO.sub.2Li).sub.2 that form compounds of a thin passive layer on an anode particle surface that is called solid electrolyte interphase (SEI)” and [0114] “Increase of a thickness of the secondary SEI layer from the plated lithium can be expressed as”)
Regarding Claim 7, Hong in view of Zhao discloses all of the limitations of parent claim 6,
Hong further teaches:
modelling a solid phase potential at one or both anode and cathode, (anode potential, see [0140] and [0135] “The corrected ROM 32 is used to estimate the surface ion concentrations and the anode potentials”) or a liquid phase potential (e.g. electrolyte potential, see [0070]) at one or more or any combination of anode and cathode and separator of the Li-ion battery system, or any combination thereof. ([0133] “To these ends, the controller 30 can calculate internal state values of the battery 20, such as the ion concentration or the solid and the electrolyte potential.” See also [0076] where φ.sub.s is electric potential of a solid, φ.sub.e is electric potential of the electrolyte, and U.sub.eq,int is the equilibrium potential for the intercalation.)
Regarding Claim 8, Hong in view of Zhao teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 4,
Hong further teaches:
modelling porosity evolution ([0070] “due to the continuously growing SEI, a porosity of the anode electrode becomes less, which reduces anode ionic kinetics.”) at one or both anode and cathode depending on the modelling of the degradation rates. ([0078] “In addition, decrease of the active area and the porosity is calculated from an average thickness of the [SEI] deposits”)
Regarding Claim 29, Hong in view of Zhao teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 1,
Hong further teaches:
A computer program including program instructions for causing a computing system to perform a method according to claim 1 of controlling operation of a Li-ion battery system. ([0063] “Furthermore, the controller in some forms of the present disclosure may be embodied as non-transitory computer readable media containing executable program instructions executed by a processor or the like.”)
Regarding Claim 33, Hong in view of Zhao teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 1,
Hong further teaches:
A computing system including a memory and a processor, embodying instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, and the instructions including functionalities to execute a method according to claim 1 of controlling operation of a Li-ion battery system. ([0062] “Additionally, it is understood that one or more of the below methods, or aspects thereof, may be executed by at least one controller. The term “controller” may refer to a hardware device that includes a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store program instructions, and the processor is specifically programmed to execute the program instructions to perform one or more processes which are described further below.”)
Claim(s) 13 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong in view of Zhao, further in view of Trimboli et al., US Pg-Pub 2016/0336765.
Regarding Claim 13, Hong in view of Zhao teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 1,
Hong in view of Zhao differs from the claimed invention in that:
Neither reference clearly articulates: applying a discrete realization algorithm, DRA, to obtain the reduced order model as a reduced-order discrete-time state-space model, SSM, further depending on predefined operational states or conditions that are known to be experienced by the Li-ion battery system during operation.
However, Trimboli teaches a method for generating a reduced order model based on a full order model ([0009] “produces the reduced-order battery model based on the full-order battery model”) by applying a discrete realization algorithm (DRA) ([0014] “In another embodiment, deriving the reduced-order battery model from the full-order battery model includes using a discrete realization algorithm (“DRA”) that includes using a full-order battery model with either transfer functions in a Laplace domain or frequency responses in a Fourier domain”) to obtain a discrete-time state-space model ([0014] “finding a discrete-time unit-pulse response of one or more of the internal variables by shifting a step response and subtracting from an original step response, using the discrete-time unit-pulse response values together with the Ho-Kalman algorithm to provide a discrete-time state-space form of the battery model comprising A, B, C, and D matrices”) which may further depend on known/measured operational states of the battery ([0016] “calculating an optimal response includes estimating one or more future responses of the battery cell and using the one or more future responses to calculate the optimal response. In another embodiment, the error signal includes a difference between a reference signal and a predicted signal. The reference signal is a reference cell current, a reference cell voltage, or a reference state-of-charge and the predicted signal is a predicted cell current, a predicted cell voltage or a predicted state-of-charge. The battery model provides the predicted signal.” See figs. 11-12 and [0272] et seq.)
Trimboli is analogous art because it is from the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention and other references of modeling battery internals for Lithium Batteries.
Accordingly, examiner finds 1) the prior art contained a device (method, product, etc.) which differed from the claimed device by the substitution of some components (step, element etc.) with other components; - the teachings of Hong, which differed from the claimed method by the substitution of a discrete realization algorithm for deriving the reduced order model from the conversion of the Partial Differential Equations to Ordinary Differential Equations; 2) the substituted components and their functions were known in the art; - as exemplified by the teachings of Trimboli, which teaches deriving a reduced order model composed of discrete-time state-space matrices from a full order model by means of a discrete realization algorithm; (DRA) 3) one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application could have substituted one known element for another, and the results of the substitution would have been predictable at least because Trimboli teaches that using a DRA algorithm is a suitable technique for producing a reduced-order battery model from a full-order battery model ([0009] “the apparatus includes a reduced order module that produces the reduced-order battery model based on the full-order battery model using a discrete realization algorithm (“DRA”)) and accordingly, the substitution would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application (see MPEP 2143.I.B).
Regarding Claim 16, Hong in view of Zhao, further in view of Trimboli teaches all of the limitations of parent claim 13,
Trimboli further teaches:
the reduced-order discrete-time SSM being defined by SSM-formulas and SSM-matrices intervening in said SSM-formulas; (see [0272] equations 11, 12, and [0282] equations 13, 14)
and the determining of the predicted state of the Li-ion battery system including: selecting SSM-matrices to solve the SSM-formulas depending on the previous corrected state; ([0264] “For example, the state-space representation may include A, B, C, and D matrices that are used in first order differential equations. Typically, the D matrix is used to represent nonlinearities and may be excluded where the full-order battery model does not include nonlinearities or is used for nonlinear operation in a particular region.”)
and solving the SSM-formulas based on the selected SSM-matrices, on the previous corrected state of the Li-ion battery system, on the previous corrected current demanded, and on the present current demanded. (see figs. 12A-B and [0326]-[0330], particularly [0327] “The method 1200 inputs 1260 the state estimate vector and battery status information into a battery model and calculates a battery model output.” See [0256] “The state estimate vector is related to state-of-charge, side reaction overpotential value, lithium concentration, etc.,”)
Accordingly, examiner finds 1) the prior art contained a device (method, product, etc.) which differed from the claimed device by the substitution of some components (step, element etc.) with other components; - the teachings of Hong, which differed from the claimed method by the substitution of a discrete realization algorithm for deriving the reduced order model from the conversion of the Partial Differential Equations to Ordinary Differential Equations; 2) the substituted components and their functions were known in the art; - as exemplified by the teachings of Trimboli, which teaches deriving a reduced order model composed of discrete-time state-space matrices from a full order model by means of a discrete realization algorithm; (DRA) 3) one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application could have substituted one known element for another, and the results of the substitution would have been predictable at least because Trimboli teaches that using a DRA algorithm is a suitable technique for producing a reduced-order battery model from a full-order battery model ([0009] “the apparatus includes a reduced order module that produces the reduced-order battery model based on the full-order battery model using a discrete realization algorithm (“DRA”)) and accordingly, the substitution would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application (see MPEP 2143.I.B).
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: While Hong, Zhao, and Trimboli teach many of the limitations of the claimed invention as set forth in the rejections above, none of the references alone or in reasonable combination teach or fairly suggest all of the limitations of the claimed invention, particularly:
(Claim 17)
the selecting of the SSM-matrices including performing a blending method depending on the previous corrected state of the Li-ion battery system, so as to select some SSM-matrices or others to solve the SSM-formulas,
the performing of the blending method to select some SSM-matrices or others including:
verifying whether there exist SSM-matrices corresponding to the previous corrected state, in which case said correspondent SSM-matrices are selected and, otherwise, an interpolation of neighbouring SSM-matrices is performed.
(Excerpted)
…in combination with the remaining features and limitations of the claimed invention, the parent claim, and any intervening claim(s).
Dependent Claim 19, dependent upon Claim 17, is likewise persuasive over the prior art of record for at least the above noted reason(s).
Claims 17 and 19 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101 set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/J.T.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2119
/ZIAUL KARIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119
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