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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the "right to exclude" granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. See In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970);and, In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent is shown to be commonly owned with this application. See 37 CFR 1.130(b).
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-9 are rejected under the judicially created doctrine of obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-17 of U.S. Patent No. 11,688,887. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1-17 of prior art anticipate claims 1-9 of instant application as follows:
US application 18/741,198
U.S. Patent No. 11,688,887
1. A master battery management system (BMS) included in a battery system in which a plurality of slave BMSs and a master BMS communicate wirelessly, the master BMS comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive, from each respective slave BMS of the plurality of slave BMSs, (i) data of the respective slave BMS and (ii) data transmission information indicating that another slave BMS other than the respective slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS; and a determination unit configured to determine a state of the at least one of the plurality of slave BMSs based on the data and the data transmission information received from each slave BMS.
1. A master battery management system (BMS) included in a battery system in which a plurality of slave BMSs and a master BMS communicate wirelessly, the master BMS comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive during a transmission period, from each respective slave BMS of the plurality of slave BMSs, (i) data of the respective slave BMS and (ii) data transmission information indicating that another slave BMS other than the respective slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS, wherein each of the plurality of slave BMSs is configured to transmit data at least once during the transmission period; and a determination unit configured to: identify an error between the master BMS and at least one of the plurality of slave BMSs; and determine a cause of the error based on the data and the data transmission information received from each slave BMS during the transmission period.
2. The master BMS of claim 1, wherein the determination unit is configured to identify the error for a given slave BMS when there is no data directly received from the given slave BMS during the transmission period.
3. The master BMS of claim 2, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine that the cause of the error is a communication error between the given slave BMS and the master BMS based on the data transmission information received at the receiving unit including an indication that the given slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS and the data received at the receiving unit not including data from the given slave BMS.
4. The master BMS of claim 1, further comprising a noise measurement unit configured to measure noise of data received from the plurality of slave BMSs, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine a communication possible state in which communication with the plurality of slave BMSs is possible based on the noise measured in the noise measurement unit.
5. A first slave battery management system (BMS) included in a battery system in which a plurality of slave BMSs and a master BMS communicate wirelessly, the first slave BMS comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive a data signal from a second slave BMS, wherein the data signal is directed to the master BMS; a storage unit configured to store data transmission information indicating that the second slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS based on the received data signal; and a transmission unit configured to transmit, to the master BMS, the data transmission information indicating that the second slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS.
6. The slave BMS of claim 5, wherein during a transmission period, the transmission unit is configured to transmit data of the first slave BMS along with the data transmission information to the master BMS at least once.
7. A slave BMS inspection system including the master battery management system (BMS) of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of slave BMSs comprises: a slave receiving unit configured to receive a data signal from at least one other slave BMS, wherein the data signal is directed to the master BMS; a storage unit configured to store data transmission information indicating that the at least one other slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS based on the received data signal; and a transmission unit configured to transmit, to the master BMS, the data transmission information indicating that the at least one other slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS.
8. The slave BMS inspection system of claim 7, wherein the determination unit is configured to identify the error for a given slave BMS when there is no data directly received from the given slave BMS during the transmission period.
9. The slave BMS inspection system of claim 8, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine that the cause of the error is a communication error between the given slave BMS and the master BMS based on the data transmission information received at the receiving unit including an indication that the given slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS and the data received at the receiving unit not including data from the given slave BMS.
10. A slave battery management system (BMS) inspection method performed by a master BMS, the slave BMS inspection method comprising: receiving data signals sequentially from each of a plurality of slave BMSs, wherein the received data from each respective BMS includes (i) data of the respective slave BMS from which the data signals are received, received together with (ii) data transmission information indicating that another slave BMS other than the respective slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS; identifying an error between the master BMS and a specific slave BMS based on the received data signals; and determining a cause of the error based on a combination of the data and the data transmission information received from each of the plurality of slave BMSs.
11. The slave BMS inspection method of claim 10, wherein determining the cause of the error comprises determining that the cause of the error occurs in a specific slave BMS in response to determining that there is no data directly received from the specific slave BMS and that there is no data transmission information received from any of the plurality of slave BMSs indicating that the specific slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS.
12. The slave BMS inspection method of claim 10, wherein the determining the cause of the error comprises determining that the cause of the error is a communication error between the master BMS and a specific slave BMS in response to determining that there is data transmission information received from any of the plurality of slave BMSs indicating that the specific slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS but there is no data directly received from the specific slave BMS.
13. The slave BMS inspection method of claim 10, further comprising: measuring noise of received data when communicating with the plurality of slave BMSs; and determining a state in which communication with the plurality of slave BMSs is possible based on the measured noise.
14. The first slave BMS of claim 5, wherein the receiving unit is configured to receive a respective data signal from each slave BMS other than the first slave BMS, wherein each data signal is directed to the master BMS, wherein the storage unit is configured to store data transmission information indicating that each other slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS based on the respective received data signals, and wherein the transmission unit is configured to transmit to the master BMS, the data transmission information indicating that each other slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS.
15. The first slave BMS of claim 5, wherein the data signal includes battery information of a battery module managed by the first slave BMS.
16. The slave BMS inspection system of claim 7, wherein the data signal includes battery information of a battery module managed by the first slave BMS.
17. The master BMS of claim 2, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine that the cause of the error occurs in a specific slave BMS in response to a determination that there is no data directly received from the specific slave BMS and that there is no data transmission information received from any of the plurality of slave BMSs indicating that the specific slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under the judicially created doctrine of obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-8 of U.S. Patent No. 12,040,458. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1-8 of prior art anticipate claims 1-9 of instant application as follows:
US application 18/741,198
U.S. Patent No. 12,040,458
1. A master battery management system (BMS), the master BMS comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive, from each respective slave BMS of a plurality of slave BMSs, (i) data of the respective slave BMS and (ii) data transmission information indicating that another slave BMS other than the respective slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS; and a determination unit configured to determine a state of the at least one of the plurality of slave BMSs based on the data and the data transmission information received from each slave BMS.
2. The master BMS of claim 1, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine that there is an error in a given slave BMS when there is no data directly received from the given slave BMS and there is no data transmission information including an indication that the given slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS.
3. The master BMS of claim 1, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine that the cause of the error is a communication error between a given slave BMS and the master BMS based on the data transmission information received at the receiving unit including an indication that the given slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS and the data received at the receiving unit not including data from the given slave BMS.
4. The master BMS of claim 1, further comprising a noise measurement unit configured to measure noise of data received from the plurality of slave BMSs, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine a communication possible state in which communication with the plurality of slave BMSs is possible based on the noise measured in the noise measurement unit.
5. The master BMS of claim 1, the receiving unit is configured to sequentially receive the data of the respective slave BMS and the data transmission information from each of the plurality of slave BMS during a first communication period, the determination unit is configured to increase a fail count corresponding to a first slave BMS when the data of the first slave BMS among the plurality of slave BMS is not received during the first communication period, wherein the determination unit is further configured to additionally increase the fail count before determining whether the data is received from the first slave BMS in a second communication period that is a communication period following the first communication period, when the data transmission information does not include data transmission information corresponding to the first slave BMS.
6. A slave battery management system (BMS), the slave BMS comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive a data signal from at least one other slave BMS, wherein the data signal is directed to a master BMS; a storage unit configured to store data transmission information indicating that the at least one other slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS based on the received data signal; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the data transmission information to the master BMS.
7. The slave BMS of claim 6, wherein during a transmission period, the transmission unit is configured to transmit, to the master BMS at least once, data including the data transmission information and battery information.
8. The slave BMS of claim 6, wherein the data signal includes battery information of a battery module managed by the at least one other slave BMS.
9. The slave BMS of claim 6, further comprising a control unit configured to activate the receiving unit to receive the data signal from at least one other slave BMSs when the transmission unit does not transmit the data transmission information to the master BMS.
1. A master battery management system (BMS) included in a battery system in which a plurality of slave BMSs and a master BMS communicate wirelessly, the master BMS comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive, from each respective slave BMS of the plurality of slave BMSs, (i) data of the respective slave BMS and (ii) data transmission information indicating that another slave BMS other than the respective slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS; and a determination unit configured to determine a state of the at least one of the plurality of slave BMSs based on the data and the data transmission information received from each slave BMS.
2. The master BMS of claim 1, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine that there is an error in a given slave BMS when there is no data directly received from the given slave BMS and there is no data transmission information including an indication that the given slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS.
3. The master BMS of claim 1, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine that the cause of the error is a communication error between a given slave BMS and the master BMS based on the data transmission information received at the receiving unit including an indication that the given slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS and the data received at the receiving unit not including data from the given slave BMS.
4. The master BMS of claim 1, further comprising a noise measurement unit configured to measure noise of data received from the plurality of slave BMSs, wherein the determination unit is configured to determine a communication possible state in which communication with the plurality of slave BMSs is possible based on the noise measured in the noise measurement unit.
5. The master BMS of claim 1, the receiving unit is configured to sequentially receive the data of the respective slave BMS and the data transmission information from each of the plurality of slave BMS during a first communication period, the determination unit is configured to increase a fail count corresponding to a first slave BMS when the data of the first slave BMS among the plurality of slave BMS is not received during the first communication period, wherein the determination unit is further configured to additionally increase the fail count before determining whether the data is received from the first slave BMS in a second communication period that is a communication period following the first communication period, when the data transmission information does not include data transmission information corresponding to the first slave BMS.
6. A slave battery management system (BMS) included in a battery system in which a plurality of slave BMSs and a master BMS communicate wirelessly, the slave BMS comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive a data signal from at least one other slave BMS, wherein the data signal is directed to the master BMS; a storage unit configured to store data transmission information indicating that the at least one other slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS based on the received data signal; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the data transmission information to the master BMS.
7. The slave BMS of claim 6, wherein during a transmission period, the transmission unit is configured to transmit, to the master BMS at least once, data including the data transmission information and battery information.
8. The slave BMS of claim 6, wherein the data signal includes battery information of a battery module managed by the at least one other slave BMS.
The skilled artisan would find that the operation of the already patent claims encompasses the limitations as set forth in the instant application. The remaining dependent claims are also subject to the same analysis and would be obvious to the skilled artisan in light of the parent’s disclosure.
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.
Claim(s) 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sim et al. (US PGPub 2011/0161024, IDS record).
Regarding claim 6, Sim teaches a slave battery management system (BMS) (Figure 2, item 100), the slave BMS comprising:
a receiving unit configured to receive a data signal from at least one other slave BMS, wherein the data signal is directed to a master BMS (¶8; ¶35);
a storage unit configured to store data transmission information indicating that the at least one other slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS based on the received data signal (Fig. 2 item 113; ¶32; and ¶35); and
a transmission unit configured to transmit the data transmission information to the master BMS (¶38, “master communication unit 112”; ¶39).
Regarding claim 7, Sim teaches wherein during a transmission period, the transmission unit is configured to transmit, to the master BMS at least once, data including the data transmission information and battery information (¶59 “transmits a signal”; ¶66 “through a periodic protocol and a non-periodic protocol”).
Regarding claim 8, Sim teaches wherein the data signal includes battery information of a battery module managed by the at least one other slave BMS (Figure 2).
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sim et al. (US PGPub 2011/0161024, IDS record) in view of Hwang et al. (US PGPub 2018/0145521, IDS record).
Regarding claim 1, Sim teaches a master battery management system (BMS) included in a battery system in which a plurality of slave BMSs (Fig. 1, item 100 “Master BMS”) and a master BMS communicate wirelessly (¶34, “broadcasting method”; ¶59, “transmits a signal”; ¶61, “broadcasting method”) the master BMS comprising:
a receiving unit configured to receive, from each respective slave BMS of the plurality of slave BMSs (¶¶59-62),
(i) data of the respective slave BMS (¶63; “requests the first block master BMS 120_1 again for the specific battery data”; ¶64 “specific battery data requesting operation S5”; Figure 4, item S5) and
(ii) data transmission information indicating that another slave BMS other than the respective slave BMS transmitted data to the master BMS (¶34; ¶37; ¶40).
Sim fails to teaxch:
a determination unit configured to determine a state of the at least one of the plurality of slave BMSs based on the data and the data transmission information received from each slave BMS.
Hwang teaches a determination unit configured to determine a state of the at least one of the plurality of slave BMSs based on the data and the data transmission information received from each slave BM. (¶51, “status information may include prediction information…regarding whether the battery unit is abnormal may represent information associated with a prediction … abnormal status”; ¶57, “controller 130 may transmit information about abnormal status and physical quantity data to the master processing device”). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine both teachings. Sim teaches the wireless communication between the slave and master BMS with regards to battery information including abnormal status (¶37 and ¶51). Hwang teaches a specific criteria for determining the abnormal batteries (¶51). Sim suggests the use of a particular criteria to determine abnormal status; therefore, the skilled artisan would find it obvious to use the criteria taught by Hwang to promote an effective battery monitoring system.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN H LE whose telephone number is (571)272-2275. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 7:00am – 3:30pm Eastern Time.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Shelby A. Turner can be reached on (571) 272-6334. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN H LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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