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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 3, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma (CN 111969263 A), See the English Translation, in view of Brun-Buisson et al. (US-20140077764-A1) hereinafter Brun-Buisson and further in view of Wang (CN-113071370-A), see the English Translation.
Regarding claim 1, Ma teaches state calibration method for a battery (for updating a battery pack SOH (State of Health), Abstract), wherein the battery comprises at least one cell (discloses the SOH method in cell level, Abstract).
Ma further teaches the method comprising: controlling the battery (the battery pack controls the bidirectional AC-to-DC controller and the bidirectional DC-to-DC controller to turn on a discharge mode ¶ [14]) to discharge at a first discharge rate (start discharging at a predetermined first current threshold ¶ [14]) until voltage of at least one cell in the low-voltage battery is not greater than a first voltage threshold (and stops discharging when any one of the discharge voltages is less than a predetermined voltage threshold ¶ [14]).
Ma teaches controlling the battery to charge (controls the bidirectional AC-to-DC controller and the bidirectional DC-to-DC controller to turn on a charge mode ¶ [14]) at a first charge rate (making each individual battery pack/cell be charged at a predetermined second current threshold; Abstract & ¶ [14]) until voltage of at least one cell in the battery is not less than a second voltage threshold (stops charging when a highest charge voltage value in the individual battery cell groups is greater than a predetermined second voltage threshold; ¶ [14]).
Ma further teaches obtaining a quantity of charge charged into the battery (determines an actual charging capacity according to a charging time and the charging current, ¶ [14]).
Ma teaches calibrating a state of health value of the battery (updates SOH [14])
Ma teaches calculating the overall SOH of a battery pack based on the quantity of charge, but the SOH value is not based on the charge quantity of each individual cell.
Ma doesn’t teach obtaining a state of health value of each cell based on the quantity of charge charged into the low-voltage battery; and calibrating a state of health value of the low-voltage battery based on the state of health value of each cell.
Brun-Buisson teaches obtaining a state of health value of each cell (the SOH of each individual accumulator (cell) i is calculated as the ratio of its maximum capacity Cmaxi at a given instant to its maximum capacity Ci at the start of life, ¶ [41]) based on the quantity of charge charged into the battery (maximum capacity Cmaxi is calculated based on XEi which is balancing capacity charged for an accumulator i, ¶ [38]).
Brun-Buisson further teaches calibrating a state of health value of the battery based on the state of health value of each cell ( by combining the quantity of charge from the series phase (X) with the cell-level balancing offsets (XEi and XEmin), the SOH of each individual accumulator is calculated utilizing following formula:
S
O
H
i
=
(
X
+
X
E
i
)
×
100
C
i
×
X
+
X
E
m
i
n
X
,¶ [41]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify calibration method of Ma by integrating cell-level SOH calculation of Brun-Buisson to account for individual cell degradation, because relying only on a pack level average SOH mask hides localized cell degradation, which can lead to premature battery failure or inaccurate remaining-range displays.
Ma also doesn’t disclose a low-voltage battery.
Wang teaches a low-voltage lithium battery where the sensor IBS monitors individual cell voltages, (¶ [15 & 17]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to apply active physical calibration routine to Wang’s low-voltage battery. Doing so ensures the startup battery’s health is calculated with high accuracy, preventing unexpected battery failure and ensuring the vehicle starts reliably every time.
Claim 13 is an apparatus-level counterpart to the method of claim 1, reciting analogous functional units. Ma teaches an apparatus for updating the SOH of a battery, ¶ [1]. Ma teaches the apparatus comprising a first discharge module and a stop discharge module,¶ [27-28]( a discharge control unit), A charging module and A stop charging module ¶[29-30] (a charge control unit), An update module, ¶ [31]( a charge quantity acquisition unit, a state calibration unit).
Because claim 13 merely recites the analogous limitations as claim 1, claim 13 is rejected for the same reason as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 3, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang teaches the method according to claim 1 for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 1.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang further teaches obtaining the state of health value of each cell (Brun-Buisson, the SOH of each individual accumulator (cell) i is calculated as the ratio of its maximum capacity Cmaxi at a given instant to its maximum capacity Ci at the start of life, ¶ [41]) based on the quantity of charge charged (Brun-Buisson, maximum capacity Cmaxi is calculated based on XEi which is balancing capacity charged for an accumulator i, ¶ [38])into the low-voltage battery (Wang,¶ [15 & 17]).
Ma in view of Wang teaches that SOH can be determined as a ratio of the actual charging capacity to the ratio of the rated capacity. Ma in view of Wang further teaches obtaining a rated capacity of the battery pack to be tested, (Ma, ¶ [20 &21])
However, Ma in view of Wang doesn’t teach obtaining a pre-calibration rated capacity of the cell.
Brun-Buisson teaches obtaining a pre-calibration rated capacity of the cell (Ci represents the maximum capacity at the start of life of the accumulator i ¶ [15]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to use pre-calibration rated capacity of the cell rather than the pack as the Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang method calculates the states of health at the cell level (as discussed with respect to rejection of claim 1). By using individual cell reference capacity to calculate a distinct SOH for each cell, the BMS can identify which specific cells are failing so they can be balanced, isolated, or replaced.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang further teaches calculating a ratio of the quantity of charge charged into the low-voltage battery to the rated capacity (Brun-Buisson ,by combining the quantity of charge from the series phase (X) with the cell-level balancing offsets (XEi and XEmin), the SOH of each individual accumulator is calculated utilizing following formula:
S
O
H
i
=
(
X
+
X
E
i
)
×
100
C
i
×
X
+
X
E
m
i
n
X
,¶ [41]) to obtain the state of health value of each cell (Brun-Buisson,
S
O
H
i
,¶ [41]).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma, Brun-Buisson, Wang, and further in view Vinit et al. (EP3276364A1) hereinafter Vinit, see the English Translation
Regarding claim 4, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang teaches the method according to claim 3 for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 3.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang further teaches calibrating the state of health value of the low-voltage battery based on the state of health value of each cell (Brun-Buisson ,by combining the quantity of charge from the series phase (X) with the cell-level balancing offsets (XEi and XEmin), the SOH of each individual accumulator is calculated utilizing following formula:
S
O
H
i
=
(
X
+
X
E
i
)
×
100
C
i
×
X
+
X
E
m
i
n
X
,¶ [41]) and (Ma, updates SOH [14]).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang doesn’t teach calibrating the state of health value of the low-voltage battery based on the state of health value of each cell comprises: taking a smallest value among the state of health value of each cell as a current state of health value of the low-voltage battery.
Vinit teaches taking a smallest value among the state of health value of each cell as a current state of health value of the low-voltage battery (a limiting cell, C1, that defines the capacity of the battery, Qtot, and this cell is the first cell to trigger the end of a cycle, ¶ [22]. Vinit further teaches using this Qtot to calculate the capacity of other cells, ¶ [23] and calculating the SOH of cells based on the value of the capacity of the cells Qtot+ ΔQCi, (ΔQCi is positive value representing the remaining charge variation), ¶ [9]. This shows that limiting cell, C1, has the smallest actual capacity compared to other cells. Dividing the smallest capacity, Qtot by the nominal capacity results in smallest SOH which represents the overall SOH of the battery)
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang to take the smallest SOH value as the current overall SOH of the low voltage batter, as taught by Vinit, because Ma mentions that as a battery pack undergoes long-term use, the individual cells will experience inconsistent gaining and polarization. Ma notes that the divergence leads to the “weakest cell” effect, ¶ [45] meaning that the overall performance of a battery pack is limited by the weakest cell in series. By using the SOH of the weakest cell for battery one can resolve the “weakest cell” problem raised by Ma.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and further in view of Du et al. (US-20210141028-A1) hereinafter Du.
Regarding claim 2, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang teaches the method according to claim 1 for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 1.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang teaches controlling the low-voltage battery (Ma, the battery pack controls the bidirectional AC-to-DC controller and the bidirectional DC-to-DC controller to turn on a discharge mode ¶ [14]) to discharge at a first discharge rate (Ma, start discharging at a predetermined first current threshold ¶ [14]) but the combination is silent on requiring a controlled idle state before initiating its discharge cycle. In Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang’s environment, the discharge starts actively as soon as the general controller issues the SOH maintenance instruction.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang doesn’t teach the method of claim 1, further comprising, before the controlling the low-voltage battery to discharge at the first discharge rate: within a first duration, controlling the low-voltage battery to be in an idle state.
Du teaches before controlling the low-voltage battery to discharge at the first discharge rate (steps 101 and 102 check for the standing state first. SOH correction calculations are only initiated once this rest baseline is cleared, fig. 1 & ¶ [53]) within a first duration (requires that the zero-current state be maintained longer than a preset time, ¶ [58]), controlling the low-voltage battery to be in an idle state (Enforces a battery standing condition where the BMS confirms there is no current flowing through the external circuit, ¶ [58]) .
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to force the low-voltage battery, as taught by Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang, to be in idle state before starting discharge, as taught by Ma. This idle period lets the battery settle into a stable state, allowing BMS to isolate a true OCV baseline in the non-hysteresis zone, which guarantees the subsequent calibration calculations are accurate and free from hysteresis errors (Du, ¶ [57]).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and further in view of Jang et al. (US-20200180464-A1) hereinafter Jang.
Regarding claim 5, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang teaches the method according to claim 1 for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 1.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang teaches Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang teaches controlling the low-voltage battery (Ma, the battery pack controls the bidirectional AC-to-DC controller and the bidirectional DC-to-DC controller to turn on a discharge mode ¶ [14]) to discharge at a first discharge rate (Ma, start discharging at a predetermined first current threshold ¶ [14]). Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang further teaches the low-voltage battery (Wang, a low-voltage lithium battery where the sensor IBS monitors individual cell voltages, ¶ [15 & 17]).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson doesn’t teach the low-voltage battery is provided in an electric vehicle.
Wang teaches the low-voltage battery is provided in an electric vehicle (discloses a management method of a low-voltage lithium battery of an electric vehicle, Abstract).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to apply the method of SOH calibration for low-voltage battery as taught by Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang, for a low-voltage battery in electric vehicle to monitor the SOH of the battery and improve the vehicle driving range.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson doesn’t teach the method further comprising, before controlling the low-voltage battery to discharge at the first discharge rate: in an event that the electric vehicle is in an idle condition, obtaining a second duration based on an SOC value of the low-voltage battery; wherein the second duration is a duration for calibrating the state of the low-voltage battery.
Jang teaches before controlling the low-voltage battery to discharge at the first discharge rate: in an event that the electric vehicle is in an idle condition (teaches triggering the diagnostic/charging cycle only when the vehicle is at a standstill, ¶ [31]), obtaining a second duration based on an SOC value of the low-voltage battery (teaches calculating the active supplementary charging execution time based on the estimated available capacity (SOC), Abstract); wherein the second duration is a duration for calibrating the state of the low-voltage battery (the DC-DC convertor(LDC) is active to adjust SOC, SOH, or a voltage of an auxiliary battery during the executions period, ¶ [32]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the SOH calibration method of Ma in view of Brun-Buisson and Wang by incorporating the SOC-based duration calculation steps taught by Jang to allow the vehicle to schedule the calibration cycle safely without risking mid-cycle vehicle startup or power failure.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and further in view of Saint-Marcoux et al. (US 20170144561 A1) hereinafter Saint-Marcoux.
Regarding claim 6, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang teaches the method according to claim 5 for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 5.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang teaches obtaining a second duration based on an SOC value of the low-voltage battery (Jang teaches calculating the active supplementary charging execution time based on the estimated available capacity (SOC), Abstract).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang doesn’t teach displaying the second duration through the electric vehicle.
Saint-Marcoux teaches displaying a duration through the electric vehicle (teaches a method to estimate a duration of a battery performance rehabilitation phase, Abstract. Saint-Marcoux teaches displaying the duration of the battery performance rehabilitation time on display on the dashboard of the vehicle, ¶ [56].)
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to program Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang ‘s vehicle-side BMS controller to send the calculated second duration to the vehicle’s display as taught by Saint-Marcoux. This provides the driver with a highly visible countdown at the vehicle end, so the driver is informed of the remaining wait time.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and further in view of Li (CN-113147503-B), see the English Translation.
Regarding claim 7, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang teaches the method according to claim 5 for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 5.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang teaches obtaining a second duration based on an SOC value of the low-voltage battery (Jang teaches calculating the active supplementary charging execution time based on the estimated available capacity (SOC), Abstract).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang doesn’t teach on an occasion that the second duration is not displayed through the electric vehicle, determining calibration of the low-voltage battery as a failure in an event that the calibration of the low-voltage battery is not completed within the second duration.
Li teaches determining a failure in an event that is not completed within a duration (teaches that if the process fails to complete within a set time envelope, the controller determines the action has not been successful (declares a failure) and disables the active operation, ¶ [87-88]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to apply the time-out-to-failure safety method of Li to Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang’s calibration cycle when executed in a silent background state (not being displayed on a vehicle’s display). Because the driver is unaware of a silent test, they are more likely to interrupt it. By aborting the cycle and flagging it as a failure if it is not completed at the present time (second duration), one can preserve battery diagnostic accuracy.
Claims 8-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and further in view of Murthy-Bellur et al. (US 20220332206 A1) hereinafter Murthy-Bellur.
Regarding claim 8, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang teaches the method according to claim 5 for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 5.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang teaches an electrical vehicle with a low voltage battery (Wang, ¶ [15 & 17] and Abstract). Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang discloses controlling a bidirectional DC-to-DC controller to charge or discharge the battery (Ma, ¶ [14]).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang further teaches controlling the low-voltage battery to discharge at the first discharge rate (Ma, the battery pack controls the bidirectional AC-to-DC controller and the bidirectional DC-to-DC controller to turn on a discharge mode and start discharging at a predetermined first current threshold ¶ [14])
However, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang’s bidirectional DC-to-DC controller is not in vehicle side.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang doesn’t teach the electric vehicle further comprises a high-voltage battery, a bidirectional DC/DC module, and a low-voltage load, wherein the high-voltage battery is connected to the low-voltage battery through the bidirectional DC/DC module, and the low-voltage battery is connected to the low-voltage load; and controlling the low-voltage battery to discharge at the first discharge rate comprises: controlling the bidirectional DC/DC module to control the low-voltage battery to discharge to the high-voltage battery at the first discharge rate.
Murthy-Bellur teaches an electric vehicle (EV system 200, fig. 2 &¶ [21]) comprises a high-voltage battery (HV battery 102, fig. 2 & ¶ [23]), a bidirectional DC/DC module ( the bidirectional DC-DC converter 202, fig. 2 &¶ [23]), and a low-voltage load (LV loads 126, fig. 2 &¶ [23]), wherein the high-voltage battery is connected to the low-voltage battery ( LV battery 104, fig. 2 &¶ [23]) through the bidirectional DC/DC module, and the low-voltage battery ( LV battery 104, fig. 2 &¶ [23]) is connected to the low-voltage load (LV loads 126, fig. 2 &¶ [22]).
Murthy-Bellur further teaches controlling the bidirectional DC/DC module to control the low-voltage battery to discharge to the high-voltage battery (the EV system 200 is capable of using the low-voltage battery 104 to charge the high-voltage battery 102, ¶ [23]) at the first discharge rate (management systems may include circuitry capable of regulating, managing, and/or controlling the available voltage differences and/or current. The controllers and management systems may also determine when and how to transfer energy to and from one or more of the energy storage devices, ¶ [21]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to implement calibration routine on board an electric vehicle using bidirectional vehicle power loop taught by Murthy-Bellur. Discharging the low-voltage battery would normally require dissipating its energy as waste heat through cabin loads. Utilizing Murthy-Bellur’s EV system 200, allows this calibration discharge current to be stored in high-voltage battery and prevents energy waste.
Regarding claim 9, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur teaches the method according to claim 8 for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 8.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang teaches controlling the low-voltage battery to charge at the first charge rate (Ma, controls the bidirectional DC-to-DC controller to turn on a charge mode, making each individual battery pack be charged at a predetermined second current threshold, ¶ [14]). Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur teaches the bidirectional DC/DC module (Murthy-Bellur, the bidirectional DC-DC converter 202, fig. 2 &¶ [23]).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang doesn’t teach controlling the low-voltage battery to charge at the first charge rate comprises: controlling the bidirectional DC/DC module to control the high-voltage battery to charge the low-voltage battery at the first charge rate.
Murthy-Bellur teaches controlling the bidirectional DC/DC module to control the high-voltage battery to charge the low-voltage battery (having two or more separate sources of energy (e.g. batteries 102 and 104) is advantageous because when one of the sources (a first energy source) is low on energy, the other source (a second energy source) is capable of charging the source with the lower energy, ¶ [22]) at the first charge rate (management systems may include circuitry capable of regulating, managing, and/or controlling the available voltage differences and/or current. The controllers and management systems may also determine when and how to transfer energy to and from one or more of the energy storage devices, ¶ [21]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to utilize the DC-DC bidirectional controller to charge the low-voltage battery using high voltage battery. Since a bidirectional DC-DC converter is already integrated into the vehicle’s hardware to handle the calibration discharge phase, it is logical and cost efficient to use the same bidirectional converter to run the forward charge phase. This eliminates the need for any separate external hardware.
Regarding claim 10. Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang teaches an electric vehicle (Wang, discloses a management method of a low-voltage lithium battery of an electric vehicle, Abstract) comprising: a low-voltage battery (Wang, ¶ [15 & 17]).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang further teaches a server, including a
processor and a memory, the memory storing at least one instruction and the instruction set being loaded and executed by the processor to implement the method of updating the battery pack SOH at a charging and swapping station, (Ma, ¶ [40]). However, the server (controller) taught by Ma, is not on board the electric vehicle.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang doesn’t teach an electric vehicle with a main control unit comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to perform the method according to claim 1.
Murthy-Bellur teaches an electric vehicle equipped with a vehicle controller or energy storage device management systems, ¶ [21].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to integrate the SOH calibration instructions executed by the server directly into the controller on-board of a vehicle as taught by Murthy-Bellur allowing the vehicle to calibrate its SOH without requiring external station infrastructure.
Regarding claim 11, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur teaches the electric vehicle according to claim 10, for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 10.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, and Jang doesn’t teach The electric vehicle further comprising: a high-voltage battery and a bidirectional DC/DC module; wherein: the high-voltage battery is connected to the low-voltage battery through the bidirectional DC/DC module, and the bidirectional DC/DC module is connected to the main control unit; the main control unit is configured to control the bidirectional DC/DC module, so that the high-voltage battery charges the low-voltage battery, or the low-voltage battery charges the high-voltage battery.
Murthy-Bellur teaches the electric vehicle (EV system 200, fig. 2 &¶ [21]) further comprising: a high-voltage battery (HV battery 102, fig. 2 & ¶ [23]), and a bidirectional DC/DC module ( the bidirectional DC-DC converter 202, fig. 2 &¶ [23]); wherein: the high-voltage battery (HV battery 102, fig. 2 & ¶ [23]) is connected to the low-voltage ( LV battery 104, fig. 2 &¶ [23]) battery through the bidirectional DC/DC module ( the bidirectional DC-DC converter 202, fig. 2 &¶ [23]), and the bidirectional DC/DC module ( the bidirectional DC-DC converter 202, fig. 2 &¶ [23]) is connected to the main control unit (Each of the energy storage devices may be controlled by one or more energy storage device controllers or energy storage device management systems. Such controllers and management systems may include circuitry capable of regulating, managing, and/or controlling the available voltage differences and/or current. The controllers and management systems may also determine when and how to transfer energy to and from one or more of the energy storage devices, ¶ [21]).
the main control unit is configured to control the bidirectional DC/DC module, so that the high-voltage battery charges the low-voltage battery, or the low-voltage battery charges the high-voltage battery (because of the DC-DC converter 202 is bidirectional, the energy transfer can be achieved from the high-voltage battery 102 to the low-voltage battery 104, from the low-voltage battery 104 to the high-voltage battery 102, from the high-voltage battery 102 to the low-voltage loads 126, and from the low-voltage battery 104 to any of the high-voltage accessory loads 114, 118, 122 as well as to the high-voltage motor/generator 108, ¶ [23]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to implement calibration routine on board an electric vehicle using bidirectional vehicle power loop taught by Murthy-Bellur. Discharging the low-voltage battery would normally require dissipating its energy as waste heat through cabin loads. Utilizing Murthy-Bellur’s EV system 200, allows this calibration discharge current to be stored in high-voltage battery and prevents energy waste. Since a bidirectional DC-DC converter is already integrated into the vehicle’s hardware to handle the calibration discharge phase, it is logical and cost efficient to use the same bidirectional converter to run the forward charge phase. This eliminates the need for any separate external hardware.
Regarding claim 12, Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur teaches the electric vehicle according to claim 11, for the same reasons as set forth with respect to rejection of claim 11.
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur further teaches the main control unit comprises a vehicle controller (Ma, controller (server) in electric vehicle, ¶ [40]), a low-voltage battery control unit (Ma, the battery pack under the test, Abstract), a logic control unit for the bidirectional DC/DC module (Ma, the bidirectional DC/DC module, ¶ [14]), and a high-voltage battery control unit ( Ma, the battery pack under the test, Abstract ¶ [14]).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur further teaches the vehicle controller is configured to control the low-voltage battery control unit, the logic control unit for the bidirectional DC/DC module, and the high-voltage battery control unit (Each of the energy storage devices may be controlled by one or more energy storage device controllers or energy storage device management systems. Such controllers and management systems may include circuitry capable of regulating, managing, and/or controlling the available voltage differences and/or current. The controllers and management systems may also determine when and how to transfer energy to and from one or more of the energy storage devices, ¶ [21]).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur further teaches the low-voltage battery control unit is configured to control charging and discharging of the low-voltage battery (Ma, the battery pack under test sending a State of Health (SOH) update command to the central control unit. The main controller sends maintenance commands to the battery pack under test. The battery pack under test is activated to discharge mode. After setting a first-time threshold, the charging mode is activated, so that each of the Individual cells are charged at a preset second current threshold, Abstract);
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur further teaches the logic control unit for the bidirectional DC/DC module is configured to control the bidirectional DC/DC module (Ma, a bidirectional DC-to-DC controller is used to send maintenance commands to the battery pack under test. The battery pack under test controls the bidirectional DC-to-DC controller to start the discharge mode based on the received maintenance command ¶ [13-14]).
Ma in view of Brun-Buisson, Wang, Jang, and Murthy-Bellur further teaches the high-voltage battery control unit is configured to control charging and discharging of the high-voltage battery (Ma, the battery pack under test sending a State of Health (SOH) update command to the central control unit. The main controller sends maintenance commands to the battery pack under test. The battery pack under test is activated to discharge mode. After setting a first-time threshold, the charging mode is activated, so that each of the Individual cells are charged at a preset second current threshold, Abstract).
Conclusion
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/SAEEDE NAFOOSHE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2857
/ANDREW SCHECHTER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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