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 .
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.
Claims 1 – 19 are pending.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1,2, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hwang et al. (US 2023/0324470 A1; hereinafter Hwang).
Regarding Claim 1, Hwang discloses an apparatus (Fig. 1, item 100) for inspecting a battery defect based on a charging profile (para [0005]; an apparatus and a method for determining a defect of a battery cell, which performs an aging process for inspecting a defective battery cell), comprising:
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a voltage detector (Fig. 1, item 140) generating a voltage profile including a detection voltage, detected during charging for a plurality of battery cells included in a tray (para [0050]; voltage measurement unit 140 may be configured to measure open circuit voltages (hereinafter, “OCVs”) of the battery cell at the start of aging and at the end of aging);
a temperature detector (Fig. 1, item 110) generating a temperature profile including a detection temperature detected during the charging (para [0045]; temperature measurement unit 110 may be configured to measure an aging temperature of the battery cell. For example, the temperature measurement unit 110 may measure the aging temperature by periodically measuring a storage temperature of the battery cell at a predetermined time interval during aging of the battery cell);
a first processing unit obtaining a voltage differentiation value based on the voltage profile (para[0053]; the defect determination unit 150 may determine, from the defect determination reference voltage table, the defect determination reference voltage matched to the aging temperature, the aging period, the SOC at the start of aging and the OCV at the start of aging of the battery cell);
a second processing unit obtaining a temperature error value based on the temperature profile (para[0053]; the defect determination unit 150 may determine, from the defect determination reference voltage table, the defect determination reference voltage matched to the aging temperature, the aging period, the SOC at the start of aging and the OCV at the start of aging of the battery cell); and
a defect determination unit (Fig. 1, item 150) determining a defective state or a normal state for the plurality of battery cells included in the tray, based on the voltage differentiation value and the temperature error value (para[0051]; defect determination unit 150 may be configured to determine the defect determination reference voltage to be applied to the battery cell based on the aging temperature, the aging period, the SOC at the start of aging and the OCV at the start of aging).
Regarding Claim 2, Hwang discloses the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a charger (Fig. 1, item 160) performing the charging for the plurality of battery cells included in the tray (para[0069]; the charging/discharging unit 160 may measure the rated capacity of the battery cell by charging the battery cell that has been determined to be normal to SOC 100% and then discharging the battery cell to SOC 10%).
Regarding Claim 12, Hwang discloses a method for inspecting a battery defect based on a charging profile (para [0005]; an apparatus and a method for determining a defect of a battery cell, which performs an aging process for inspecting a defective battery cell), comprising:
a charging operation of performing charging of a plurality of battery cells included in a tray (para[0069]; the charging/discharging unit 160 may measure the rated capacity of the battery cell by charging the battery cell that has been determined to be normal to SOC 100% and then discharging the battery cell to SOC 10%);
a voltage detection operation of generating a voltage profile including a detection voltage, detected during the charging for the plurality of battery cells included in the tray (para [0050]; voltage measurement unit 140 may be configured to measure open circuit voltages (hereinafter, “OCVs”) of the battery cell at the start of aging and at the end of aging);
a temperature detection operation of generating a temperature profile including a detection temperature detected during the charging (para [0045]; temperature measurement unit 110 may be configured to measure an aging temperature of the battery cell. For example, the temperature measurement unit 110 may measure the aging temperature by periodically measuring a storage temperature of the battery cell at a predetermined time interval during aging of the battery cell);
a first processing operation of obtaining a voltage differentiation value based on the voltage profile (para[0053]; the defect determination unit 150 may determine, from the defect determination reference voltage table, the defect determination reference voltage matched to the aging temperature, the aging period, the SOC at the start of aging and the OCV at the start of aging of the battery cell);
a second processing operation of obtaining a temperature error value based on the temperature profile (para[0053]; the defect determination unit 150 may determine, from the defect determination reference voltage table, the defect determination reference voltage matched to the aging temperature, the aging period, the SOC at the start of aging and the OCV at the start of aging of the battery cell); and
a defect determination operation of determining a defective state or a normal state of the plurality of battery cells included in the tray, based on the voltage differentiation value and the temperature error value (para[0051]; defect determination unit 150 may be configured to determine the defect determination reference voltage to be applied to the battery cell based on the aging temperature, the aging period, the SOC at the start of aging and the OCV at the start of aging).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 11 and 13 – 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including 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:
Regarding Claim 3, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the first processing unit comprises any one of: a first differentiation value generating unit generating a first voltage differentiation value, based on the voltage profile for each of the plurality of battery cells included in the tray; or a second differentiation value generating unit generating a second voltage differentiation value, based on the voltage profile for each of the plurality of battery cells included in the tray” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 3.
Regarding Claim 4, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the second processing unit comprises: a temperature median value generating unit generating a temperature median value of the plurality of battery cells at a preset time, based on the temperature profile for each of the plurality of battery cells included in the tray; and a temperature comparison unit generating a temperature error value using a temperature value of each of the plurality of battery cells and the temperature median value therebetween” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 4.
Regarding Claim 5, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the defect determination unit comprises: a first comparison unit comparing whether the voltage differentiation value is within a range of a voltage reference and outputting a first comparison signal; a second comparison unit comparing whether the temperature error value is within a range of a temperature reference and outputting a second comparison signal; and a state determination unit determining a defective state or a normal state for the plurality of battery cells included in the tray, based on the first comparison signal and the second comparison signal” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 5.
Regarding Claims 6 – 11, the claims are allowed as they further limit allowed claim 5.
Regarding Claim 13, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the first processing operation comprises any one of: a first differentiation value generation operation of generating a first voltage differentiation value based on the voltage profile for each of the plurality of battery cells included in the tray; or a second differentiation value generation operation of generating a second voltage differentiation value based on the voltage profile for each of the plurality of battery cells included in the tray” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 13.
Regarding Claim 14, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the second processing operation comprises: a temperature comparison operation of generating a temperature error value between a temperature median value of the plurality of battery cells and a temperature value of each of the plurality of battery cells at a preset time, based on the temperature profile for each of the plurality of battery cells included in the tray” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 14.
Regarding Claim 15, the prior art of record does not teach claimed limitation: “wherein the defect determination operation comprises: a first comparison operation of comparing whether the voltage differentiation value is within a range of a voltage reference and outputting a first comparison signal; a second comparison operation of comparing whether the temperature error value is within a range of a temperature reference and outputting a second comparison signal; and a state determination operation of determining a defective state or a normal state for the plurality of battery cells included in the tray, based on the first comparison signal and the second comparison signal” in combination with all other claimed limitations of claim 15.
Regarding Claims 16 – 19, the claims are allowed as they further limit allowed claim 15.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Lee (US 12,235,322 B2) teaches an apparatus for diagnosing a battery located in a battery system including one or more batteries, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and a memory configured to store instructions executed by the at least one processor to: collect state of charge information of the battery when the battery system is in a standby mode; calculate an amount of power change of the battery during a maintaining period of the standby mode based on the collected state of charge information and pre-stored initial state of charge information; and compare the calculated amount of power change with an expected amount of discharge power of the battery and to determine whether a leakage current occurs in the battery system based on the comparison (see claim 1).
Lee et al. (US 12,411,179 B2) suggest a battery diagnosing apparatus for diagnosing a connection state of a battery pack that includes a plurality of battery banks, each battery bank including a respective plurality of battery modules connected in parallel to one another, each battery module including one or more battery cells, the battery diagnosing apparatus comprising: one or more sensors configured to measure one or more properties of each battery bank during each of a charging process and a discharging process of the battery pack; and a control unit configured to: determine which one of the plurality of battery banks has a greatest voltage value among the plurality of battery banks at a first time point during the charging process of the battery pack based on the one or more measured properties of the battery banks measured during the charging process of the battery pack, determine which one of the plurality of battery banks has a smallest voltage value among the plurality of battery banks at a second time point during the discharging process of the battery pack based on the one or more measured properties of the battery banks measured during the discharging process of the battery pack, determine a failure in a connection state of at least one battery bank of the plurality of battery banks based on a same battery bank being determined to have the greatest voltage at the first time point and the smallest voltage at the second time point, and turn off a charging/discharging path of the battery pack based on the determined failure in the connection state of the at least one battery bank (see claim 1).
Loftus et al. (US 9,784,780 B2) disclose a switching circuitry connected across the analog output circuitry, the circuitries collectively having a first state and a second state, the second state having an increased capacitance that hinders rates of change in the test voltage to the test vehicle-battery-controller relative to the first state (see claim 1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIOVANNI ASTACIO-OQUENDO whose telephone number is (571)270-5724. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm.
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/GIOVANNI ASTACIO-OQUENDO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858 8/22/2026
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