3DETAILED 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 5-7 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.
The term “unreliable” in claim 5 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “unreliable” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. What defines “unreliable?” What standard deviation defines unreliable CV phase signals? What percentage from the norm defines unreliable CV phase signals? What does one have to see to know that a CV phase signal is “unreliable?” Claims 5-7 are rejected because claims 6-7 are dependent on claim 5.
Regarding claim 5,
The method according to claim 1, further including, for said at least one CV phase, estimating a statistical reliability of the CV phase, according to the intrinsic components of the floating current derivative signal, and filtering the CV phase if the latter is found to be unreliable.
Regarding claim 6,
The method according to claim 5, wherein the statistical reliability of the CV phase is estimated according to an entropy calculated for a sum of the intrinsic components of the floating current derivative signal.
Regarding claim 7,
The method according to claim 5, wherein determining the incidence value, for said at least one CV phase, comprises:- calculating an energy for each intrinsic component,- calculating a total intrinsic energy equal to a sum of the energies of the intrinsic components,- determining the incidence value according to the total intrinsic energy thus calculated, and wherein the statistical reliability of the CV phase is estimated by comparing the total intrinsic energy with a predetermined energy threshold, or with the total intrinsic energies calculated for all or part of the previous CV phases.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4 & 8-14 are allowed.
Claims 5-7 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art listed does not anticipate alone or combine in an obvious manner to teach the invention claimed by applicant. The claims of the present application were found to be allowable in a preliminary French search report and written opinion. The French report stated that “the empirical mode decomposition is performed on the time derivative of the "floating current" signal obtained during a constant-voltage charging phase, which is a signal that is less smooth than the current signal itself.” The prior art of record makes “no mention of the possibility of calculating a derivative of the "floating current" signal.” “Any combination of the listed prior art would appear unlikely. “Even if a person skilled in the art were to combine the listed prior art, the subject-matter of claim 1 would not be arrived at, at the very least because no determination would be made—for said at least one CV phase and based on the intrinsic components thus obtained—of an incidence value representative of the cell's state of health.” Examiner concurs with that opinion after further search and consideration. For these reasons, the above listed claims are allowed.
Regarding Independent claim 1,
A method for detecting a failure of a cell of a Lithium-Ion battery, the method including, for at least one "constant-voltage" phase, or CV phase, of a "constant- current - constant-voltage" charging cycle, or CC-CV charging cycle, of the cell:- collecting a plurality of current measurements taken at the cell during said at least one CV phase, said plurality of measurements forming a "floating current" signal,- deriving the floating current signal to obtain a floating current derivative signal,- decomposing into empirical modes the floating current derivative signal in order to obtain therefrom a representation in the form of a sum of a residual signal and of one or more intrinsic component(s),- determining an incidence value representative of a state-of-health of the cell, for said at least one CV phase, based on the intrinsic components thus obtained,- assessing a detection criterion of a failure of the cell according to the incidence value of said at least one CV phase.
Regarding claim 2,
The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the incidence value, for said at least one CV phase, comprises: - calculating an energy for each intrinsic component, - calculating a total intrinsic energy equal to a sum of the energies of the intrinsic components, - determining the incidence value according to the total intrinsic energy thus calculated.
Regarding claim 3,
The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the incidence value, for said at least one CV phase, comprises: - calculating a spectral density for each intrinsic component, - calculating a total intrinsic spectral density equal to a sum of the spectral densities of the different intrinsic components, - determining the incidence value according to the total intrinsic spectral density thus calculated.
Regarding claim 4,
The method according to claim 3, wherein, for each intrinsic component, the spectral density of the intrinsic component is calculated based on a Hilbert transform of the intrinsic component.
Regarding claim 8,
The method according to claim 1, wherein assessing the detection criterion of a failure of the cell includes comparing the incidence value with a predetermined incidence threshold, for said at least one CV phase.
Regarding claim 9,
The method according to claim 1, wherein assessing the detection criterion of a failure of the cell includes comparing a slope of a linear interpolation performed for a set of several incidence values corresponding to several consecutive CV phases with a predetermined slope threshold.
Regarding claim 10,
The method according to claim 1, wherein assessing the detection criterion of a failure of the cell includes comparing the incidence value for said at least one CV phase with an incidence value of a previous CV phase.
Regarding claim 11,
The method according to claim 1, wherein, when a failure is detected, the method further includes verifying whether the detected failure is related to the environment in which the cell has evolved.
Regarding claim 12,
The method according to claim 11, wherein verifying whether the detected failure is related to the environment comprises comparing, for a given period including said at least one CV phase, incidence values determined for the cell during said period with incidence values determined for at least one other cell subjected to the same environment during said period.
Regarding claim 13,
The method according to claim 11, wherein verifying whether the detected failure is related to the environment comprises comparing, for a given period including said at least one CV phase, environment measurements performed during said period with a predetermined threshold.
Regarding claim 14,
A device for detecting a failure of a cell of a Lithium-Ion battery, said device including:- a battery management system configured to supply current measurements taken at the cell during a "constant-voltage" phase, or CV phase, of a "constant-current - constant-voltage" charging cycle, or CC-CV charging cycle, of the cell,- a computing unit connected to the battery management system, said computing unit being configured to implement a method according to claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art listed but not cited represents the previous state of the art and analogous art that teaches some of the limitations claimed by applicant. The closest prior art found by Examiner that has not been previously listed are to Viswanathan et al (U.S. PGPub # 2022/0057451), Kim et al (U.S. PGPub # 2016/0365571), and to Kernahan et al (U.S. # 2008/0191667) that teach the use of the CC/CV charging method in regard to the determination of faults in batteries.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER P MCANDREW whose telephone number is (469)295-9025. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6-4:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lee Rodak can be reached on 571-270-5628. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER P MCANDREW/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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