DETAILED ACTION
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 – 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
As to claims 1, 8 and 9, it is unclear what is an assumed conduction pattern?
Claims 2 - 7 are rejected by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 – 2 and 4 - 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KAWAI et al. (2016/0187429) in view of Mihara (2022/0173606).
As to claim 1, KAWAI et al. (hereinafter KAWAI) discloses an apparatus for predicting power parameter of secondary battery comprising a control unit (30, Fig. 1) that estimates charge acceptance performance or discharge performance of an energy storage apparatus (10) including a plurality of energy storage devices (20) and a conductive member [0033], wherein the control unit (30) acquires a current value (23) of the energy storage apparatus (10) and a voltage value (21) of the plurality of energy storage devices (20) at an estimation time point (S), and estimates information on whether or not the energy storage apparatus (10) can be charged or discharged according to an assumed conduction pattern for a predetermined time from the estimation time point, by using the acquired current value (23), the acquired voltage value (21), and an energy storage apparatus model (45) simulating behavior of the energy storage apparatus (S13, Fig. 13, 14), [0040].
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KAWAI fails to explicitly disclose a resistance component of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model. Mihara discloses a charging control device wherein a resistance component (402, 403) of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model (Fig. 3A).
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Therefore, at the time of the invention, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of KAWAI in view of the teachings of Mihara wherein a resistance component of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model would increase the performance of the device by preventing the overcharging.
As to claim 2, KAWAI discloses that the estimation device estimates an allowable current value of the energy storage apparatus (20a) by using the energy storage apparatus model (45) and lower limit voltage or upper limit voltage of the energy storage apparatus [0198]-[0203], (Fig. 13, 14).
As to claim 4, KAWAI fails to explicitly disclose that the resistance component of the conductive member is set according to at least any of temperature of the energy storage apparatus, the current value of the energy storage apparatus, and a drive voltage of a semiconductor switch which is a circuit breaker. However, it is well known in the art that conductive member resistance component is temperature dependent. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have set the resistance component of the conductive member according to the temperature of the energy storage apparatus as a matter of choice through routine experimentation and optimization.
As to claim 5, KAWAI fails to explicitly disclose that the energy storage apparatus model includes a DC resistance component of each energy storage device. Mihara discloses a battery charging control device wherein the energy storage apparatus model (Fig. 1) includes a DC resistance component of each energy storage device (404), (Fig. 3A), [0024], [0051]. Therefore, at the time of the invention, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of KAWAI in view of the teachings of Mihara wherein the energy storage apparatus model including a DC resistance component of each energy storage device would improve the performance of the device.
As to claim 6, KAWAI discloses a plurality of energy storage devices (20), [0033].
As to claim 7, KAWAI fails to explicitly disclose that the energy storage apparatus is 12 V battery, a 24 V battery or a 48 V battery. However, using a 12 V battery, a 24 V battery or a 48 V battery, which are well known, as the abovementioned battery pack is merely a matter of choice that could be selected, as appropriate, by a person skilled in the art. However, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been led to use a 12 V battery, a 24 V battery or a 48 V battery as a matter of choice through routine experimentation and optimization. Applicant has not disclosed that the configuration is for a particular unobvious purpose, produce an unexpected/significant result, or are otherwise critical.
As to claim 8, KAWAI et al. (hereinafter KAWAI) discloses an apparatus for predicting power parameter of secondary battery including a plurality of energy storage devices (20) and a conductive member [0033], the estimation method comprising: acquiring a current value (23) of the energy storage apparatus (10) and a voltage value (21) of the plurality of energy storage devices (20) at an estimation time point (S); and estimating information on whether or not the energy storage apparatus (10) can be charged or discharged according to an assumed conduction pattern for a predetermined time from the estimation time point, by using the acquired current value (23), the acquired voltage value (21), and an energy storage apparatus model (45) simulating behavior of the energy storage apparatus (S13, Fig. 13, 14), [0040]. KAWAI fails to explicitly disclose a resistance component of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model. Mihara discloses a charging control device wherein a resistance component (402, 403) of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model (Fig. 3A). Therefore, at the time of the invention, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of KAWAI in view of the teachings of Mihara wherein a resistance component of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model would increase the performance of the device by preventing the overcharging.
As to claim 9, KAWAI discloses an apparatus for predicting power parameter of secondary battery comprising including a plurality of energy storage devices (20) and a conductive member [0033] to execute processing of: acquiring a current value (23) and a voltage value (21) of the plurality of energy storage devices (20) at an estimation time point (S); and estimating (30) information on whether or not the energy storage apparatus (10) can be charged or discharged according to an assumed conduction pattern for a predetermined time from the estimation time point, by using the acquired current value (23), the acquired voltage value (21), and an energy storage apparatus model (45) simulating behavior of the energy storage apparatus (S13, Fig. 13, 14), [0040]. KAWAI fails to explicitly disclose a resistance component of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model. Mihara discloses a charging control device wherein a resistance component (402, 403) of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model (Fig. 3A). Therefore, at the time of the invention, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the device of KAWAI in view of the teachings of Mihara wherein a resistance component of the conductive member included in the energy storage apparatus model would increase the performance of the device by preventing the overcharging.
Prior Art of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant s disclosure.
Son et al. (2025/0038562) is cited for its disclosure of aa apparatus and method for establishing operation plan for battery system comprising newly installed batteries.
Wang et al. (2017/0063108) is cited for its disclosure of at least one information handling resource and a battery for supplying electrical energy to the at least one information handling resource. The battery may include a plurality of series-coupled cells and a plurality of switching devices arranged with respect to the plurality of series-coupled cells, the plurality of switching devices configured to be selectively and independently activated and deactivated in order to simultaneously enable one or more of the plurality of series-coupled cells to generate a portion of an output voltage delivered to the at least one information handling resource and bypass one or more of the plurality of series-coupled cells.
LEE (2016/0016482) is cited for its disclosure that a vehicle can include a traction battery including a plurality of cells and at least one controller programmed to implement a state estimator. The state estimator can be configured to output battery state based on internal resistance of the traction battery and a system dynamics estimation of the traction battery using discrete battery measurements of voltage and internal resistance, and operate the traction battery according to output of the state estimator. In an example, the system dynamics estimation applies a subspace identification algorithm to approximate system matrices.
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/REENA AURORA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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