DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to communication filed on 11/17/2025.
Status of Claims
Claims 1 – 19 are pending, of which claims 1, 10, and 11 are in independent form.
Drawings
In light of applicant’s amendments to the drawings, the examiner withdraws the previous objection to the drawings.
Claim Objections
In light of applicant’s amendments to the claims, the examiner withdraws the previous objection to the claims.
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.
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.
Claims 1 – 3, 7, 9, 10 – 13, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lofamia et al., U.S. Patent Application 2018/0276157 (hereinafter referred to as Lofamia) in view of Vandensande, U.S. Patent Application 2010/0283473 (hereinafter referred to as Vandensande).
Referring to claim 1, Lofamia discloses “A daisy chain connected master-slave communication system comprising a master and a concatenation of N slaves linked in a chain, N being an integer of 2 or more” (Fig. 4 and [0057] master 425 and slaves 430, 435, 440 daisy-chained), “wherein the master is connected to each of the N slaves through a communication line” (Fig. 4 master MOSI line 444 is directly connected to slave 430 and indirectly connected to slaves 435/440), “wherein the system is configured to use the communication line for unidirectional serial data communication from the master to the N slaves” (Fig. 4 MOSI 444 using unidirectional connection), “wherein a n-th slave is connected with a (n+1)-th slave through a chain line, n being an integer of 1 or more and less than N” (Fig. 4 links 446 and 450 connect slaves), “wherein the master comprises a communication port which is connected to a first slave of the N slaves through a first chain line” (Fig. 4 link 448 connects master MISO to MOSI of slave 440), “wherein the master-slave communication system is configured to be switchable between a configuration mode” “and a communication mode, in which full-duplex data communication is performed” ([0042] daisy-chain mode can be entered and configured from another mode called register addressable mode,” [0062] the disclosure describes a convenient way of entering SPI daisy chain mode from register addressable mode, and [0074] present disclosure allows a single SPI frame to simultaneously enable all devices in the chain to daisy chain mode), “and wherein the system is configured to employ the chain lines for unidirectional serial data communication from the slaves to the communication port of the master” (Fig. 4 slave 430 uses link 446 to communicate to slave 435. Slave 435 uses link 450 to communicate to slave 440. Slave 440 uses link 448 to communicate to the master. All unidirectional links), “thereby enabling full-duplex data communication between the master and the N slaves during the communication mode” ([0055] each SPI transfer is full-duplex).
Lofamia does not appear to explicitly disclose the “configuration mode, in which daisy chain address assignment is performed using the chain lines.”
However, configuring a daisy chain system commonly includes address assignment. For example, Vandensande discloses “configuration mode, in which daisy chain address assignment is performed using the chain lines” ([0023] daisy chain connection can be serial peripheral interface (SPI), "daisy-chain configuration that is bidirectional," and "controller 100 assigns addresses for the battery monitor control units 16.sub.1, . . . , 16.sub.m at initialization. Accordingly, at start-up, addresses are not assigned to battery monitor control units 16.sub.1, . . . , 16.sub.m. Controller 100 communicates with battery monitor control unit 16.sub.1, i.e., the battery monitor control unit to which it is directly connected, and assigns it an address. Thus, battery monitor control unit 16.sub.1 serves as a slave. Once battery monitor control unit 16.sub.1 has an address, controller 100 allows it to send a command to the next battery monitor control unit and controller 100 assigns an address to this battery monitor control unit. Once this second battery monitor control unit has received an address, the communication to the next battery monitor control unit is enabled. Controller 100 continues this process until all the battery monitor control units are enabled. After controller 100 assigns the addresses, it can communicate with each of battery monitor control units 16.sub.1, . . . , 16.sub.m").
Lofamia and Vandensande are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, which is SPI systems and daisy-chain connections.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lofamia and Vandensande before him or her, to modify the teachings of Lofamia to include the teachings of Vandensande so that daisy chain address assignment is performed in a configuration mode.
The motivation for doing so would have been to initialize a system with slaves that have no addresses, and “after controller 100 assigns the addresses, it can communicate with each of battery monitor control units” (as stated by Vandensande at [0023]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Vandensande with Lofamia to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
As per claim 2, Lofamia discloses “the communication port is a serial data port” ([0001] serial communication interfaces), “and wherein the chain lines form a serial communication link between the N slaves and the master for transferring sensory data of one or more slaves of the N slaves to the master” (Fig. 4 slave 430 uses link 446 to communicate to slave 435. Slave 435 uses link 450 to communicate to slave 440. Slave 440 uses link 448 to communicate to the master. Also [0007] and [0041] sensors).
As per claim 3, Lofamia discloses “each of the N slaves is configured to forward an entire set of data signals received from its preceding slave in the chain to another slave in the chain until the set of data signals reaches the master via chain lines” (Fig. 4 and [0058] - [0061] data sent through slaves and to the MISO pin of the master, “the “loop” is completed”).
As per claim 7, Lofamia discloses “wherein the N slaves are associated to system sensors and/or actuators” ([0007] and [0041] sensors).
As per claim 9, Lofamia discloses “the master is in series connection with the N slaves through the chain lines, wherein the series connection provides an indirect communication between the master and at least a subset of the N slaves” (Fig. 4 daisy chained slaves with master/slave direct connection via link 444 and 448, indirect connection of the master to slave 435 via link 446 and 450).
Referring to claim 10, claim 1 recites the corresponding limitations as that of claim 10. Therefore, the rejection of claim 1 applies to claim 10.
Referring to claim 11, claim 1 recites the corresponding limitations as that of claim 11. Therefore, the rejection of claim 1 applies to claim 11.
Further, Vandensande discloses “A battery system comprising a daisy chain connected master-slave communication system” ([0023] daisy chain connection can be serial peripheral interface (SPI), "daisy-chain configuration that is bidirectional," and "controller 100 assigns addresses for the battery monitor control units 16.sub.1, . . . , 16.sub.m at initialization. Accordingly, at start-up, addresses are not assigned to battery monitor control units 16.sub.1, . . . , 16.sub.m. Controller 100 communicates with battery monitor control unit 16.sub.1, i.e., the battery monitor control unit to which it is directly connected, and assigns it an address. Thus, battery monitor control unit 16.sub.1 serves as a slave. Once battery monitor control unit 16.sub.1 has an address, controller 100 allows it to send a command to the next battery monitor control unit and controller 100 assigns an address to this battery monitor control unit. Once this second battery monitor control unit has received an address, the communication to the next battery monitor control unit is enabled. Controller 100 continues this process until all the battery monitor control units are enabled. After controller 100 assigns the addresses, it can communicate with each of battery monitor control units 16.sub.1, . . . , 16.sub.m").
Lofamia and Vandensande are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, which is SPI systems and daisy-chain connections.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lofamia and Vandensande before him or her, to modify the teachings of Lofamia to include the teachings of Vandensande so that daisy chain address assignment is performed in a configuration mode.
The motivation for doing so would have been to initialize a system with slaves that have no addresses, and “after controller 100 assigns the addresses, it can communicate with each of battery monitor control units” (as stated by Vandensande at [0023]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Vandensande with Lofamia to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Note, claim 12 recites the corresponding limitations of claim 2. Therefore, the rejection of claim 2 applies to claim 12.
Note, claim 13 recites the corresponding limitations of claim 3. Therefore, the rejection of claim 3 applies to claim 13.
Note, claim 17 recites the corresponding limitations of claim 7. Therefore, the rejection of claim 7 applies to claim 17.
Note, claim 19 recites the corresponding limitations of claim 9. Therefore, the rejection of claim 9 applies to claim 19.
Claims 4 – 6 and 14 – 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lofamia in view of Vandensande, further in view of Fujita et al., Machine Translation of Japanese Patent Application JP 2016019058 (hereinafter referred to as Fujita).
As per claim 4, Lofamia discloses “the data is buffered and sent out to a downstream neighbor slave as soon as the slave has finished transmitting its own data” ([0059] slave device stores received serial data in memory, buffer, or register).
Neither Lofamia nor Vandensande appears to explicitly disclose “each of the N slaves are configured to transmit their data to a downstream neighbor slave in case of a broadcast request sent by the master to the slaves.”
However, daisy-chain broadcast requests are known in the art. For example, Fujita discloses “each of the N slaves are configured to transmit their data to a downstream neighbor slave in case of a broadcast request sent by the master to the slaves” (first paragraph of page 5 "When the slave node 300 receives the frame from the cable 103, the slave node 300 transmits the frame to the cable 104. When the slave node 300 recognizes the command 2, the values of the DSEQ1 field and the cell voltage measurement value 1 field that match the node number of the slave node 300 are received." "Similarly, the slave nodes 400 and 500 transmit the stored DSEQ and the cell voltage measurement value of the corresponding cell circuit in the corresponding field of the upstream frame 910 and transmit it. By receiving the upstream frame 910, the master node 200 can capture cell voltage measurement values from all slave nodes").
Lofamia, Vandensande, and Fujita are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, which is master/slave daisy chain communications
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lofamia, Vandensande, and Fujita before him or her, to modify the teachings of Lofamia and Vandensande to include the teachings of Fujita so that a broadcast request is used to receive data from all slaves.
The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a means for a single command/request for gathering all slaves’ data. This saves time and processing power.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Fujita with Lofamia and Vandensande to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
As per claim 5, Lofamia discloses “each of the N slaves are configured to transmit their data to a downstream neighbor slave” “wherein the data is directly piped from one slave to another until the data transmitted by all the slaves has been received by the master” (Fig. 4 and [0058] - [0061] data sent through slaves and to the MISO pin of the master, “the “loop” is completed”).
As above, neither Lofamia nor Vandensande appears to explicitly disclose “each of the N slaves are configured to transmit their data to a downstream neighbor slave in case of a broadcast request sent by the master to the slaves.”
However, daisy-chain broadcast requests are known in the art. For example, Fujita discloses “each of the N slaves are configured to transmit their data to a downstream neighbor slave in case of a broadcast request sent by the master to the slaves, wherein the data is directly piped from one slave to another until the data transmitted by all the slaves has been received by the master” (first paragraph of page 5 "When the slave node 300 receives the frame from the cable 103, the slave node 300 transmits the frame to the cable 104. When the slave node 300 recognizes the command 2, the values of the DSEQ1 field and the cell voltage measurement value 1 field that match the node number of the slave node 300 are received." "Similarly, the slave nodes 400 and 500 transmit the stored DSEQ and the cell voltage measurement value of the corresponding cell circuit in the corresponding field of the upstream frame 910 and transmit it. By receiving the upstream frame 910, the master node 200 can capture cell voltage measurement values from all slave nodes").
Lofamia, Vandensande, and Fujita are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, which is master/slave daisy chain communications
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lofamia, Vandensande, and Fujita before him or her, to modify the teachings of Lofamia and Vandensande to include the teachings of Fujita so that a broadcast request is used to receive data from all slaves.
The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a means for a single command/request for gathering all slaves’ data. This saves time and processing power.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Fujita with Lofamia and Vandensande to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
As per claim 6, Lofamia discloses “the master is configured to receive data” (Fig. 4 master receives via MISO) “the slaves are connected to each other in the daisy chain” (Fig. 4).
Neither Lofamia nor Vandensande appears to explicitly disclose “the master is configured to receive data packages in an order in which the slaves are connected to each other in the daisy chain, and wherein the master is configured to determine locations of the slaves in the daisy chain based on said order.”
However, Fujita discloses “the master is configured to receive data packages in an order in which the slaves are connected to each other in the daisy chain, and wherein the master is configured to determine locations of the slaves in the daisy chain based on said order” (Fig. 4 upstream frame 910 with DSEQ1, DSEQ2, DSEQ3 from corresponding slaves. First paragraph of page 5 "Similarly, the slave nodes 400 and 500 transmit the stored DSEQ and the cell voltage measurement value of the corresponding cell circuit in the corresponding field of the upstream frame 910 and transmit it. By receiving the upstream frame 910, the master node 200 can capture cell voltage measurement values from all slave nodes").
Lofamia, Vandensande, and Fujita are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, which is master/slave daisy chain communications
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lofamia, Vandensande, and Fujita before him or her, to modify the teachings of Lofamia and Vandensande to include the teachings of Fujita so that a broadcast request is used to receive data from all slaves in the order of the slaves.
The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a means for a single command/request for gathering all slaves’ data. This saves time and processing power.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Fujita with Lofamia and Vandensande to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Note, claim 14 recites the corresponding limitations of claim 4. Therefore, the rejection of claim 4 applies to claim 14.
As above, in regards to claim 11, Vandensande discloses a battery system comprising a daisy chain connected master-slave communication system ([0023]).
Note, claim 15 recites the corresponding limitations of claim 5. Therefore, the rejection of claim 5 applies to claim 15.
As above, in regards to claim 11, Vandensande discloses a battery system comprising a daisy chain connected master-slave communication system ([0023]).
Note, claim 16 recites the corresponding limitations of claim 6. Therefore, the rejection of claim 6 applies to claim 16.
As above, in regards to claim 11, Vandensande discloses a battery system comprising a daisy chain connected master-slave communication system ([0023]).
Claims 8 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lofamia in view of Vandensande, further in view of ‘LIN Extra Wire Daisy Chain Slave Node Position Detection’ (hereinafter referred to as LIN).
As per claim 8, Lofamia discloses “the master is in” “connection with each of the N slaves through the communication line” (Fig. 4 master MOSI line 444 is directly connected to slave 430 and indirectly connected to slaves 435/440).
Neither Lofamia nor Vandensande appears to explicitly disclose “the master is in parallel connection with each of the N slaves through the communication line, wherein the parallel connection provides a direct communication between the master and the N slaves.”
However, LIN teaches “the master is in parallel connection with each of the N slaves through the communication line, wherein the parallel connection provides a direct communication between the master and the N slaves” (Figure 3-1 and section 3.2 a daisy chain configuration with an extra wire so that the master is directly connected to each slave using a parallel connection. LIN also shows optional signal lines connecting the slaves to the master in a daisy chain configuration).
Lofamia, Vandensande, and LIN are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, which is master and slave communication methods.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lofamia, Vandensande, and LIN before him or her, to modify the teachings of Lofamia and Vandensande to include the teachings of LIN so that the system includes parallel, direct connections to the slaves.
The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a means for configuring the system (as described by LIN at section 3.2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine LIN with Lofamia and Vandensande to obtain the invention as specified in the instant claim.
Note, claim 18 recites the corresponding limitations of claim 8. Therefore, the rejection of claim 8 applies to claim 18.
As above, in regards to claim 11, Vandensande discloses a battery system comprising a daisy chain connected master-slave communication system ([0023]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 – 19 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
European Patent Application EP 3742679 A1 teaches an address assignment command and an address-assignment operation for N slaves 320. During the address-assignment operation, each slave 320 receives the network address of the immediate upstream node, increments that address, stores the incremented address as its network address, and transmits its network address to the immediate downstream node.
WIPO Publication WO 2012110497 A1 teaches a daisy chain connection between the master module and slave modules is based on the serial peripheral interface. The modules communicate in a master/slave mode where the master module initiates a data frame. The multiple slave devices are interconnected. Each slave is assigned a unique address by address allocation procedure by the master.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN G SNYDER whose telephone number is (571)270-1971. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00am-4:30pm (flexible).
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/STEVEN G SNYDER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2184