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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 5 should recite: --a flow of [[the]]a reference current value having occurred in the circuit;--.
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 5 should recite: --flow of [[the]]a reference current value having occurred in the circuit by a current detection circuit;--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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)(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 7-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Otsuka et al. (US PUB 2017/0212154), hereinafter Otsuka.
With respect to claim 1, Otsuka discloses a detection apparatus (See [12] in the abstract of Otsuka) which detects a measurement characteristic of a current measurement circuit (See the abstract of Otsuka) which measures a current value of a current that flows through a circuit (See paragraph [0009] of Otsuka), the detection apparatus comprising: a current detection circuit which detects (See [12] in paragraph [0035] of Otsuka), for a plurality of reference current values different from each other (See paragraph [0051] of Otsuka), a flow of the reference current value having occurred in the circuit (See paragraph [0044] in view of paragraph [0045] of Otsuka); and a control unit (See paragraph [0033] of Otsuka), wherein the control unit measures, when the flow of the reference current value is detected to have occurred (See paragraph [0038] of Otsuka), a plurality of current values by the current measurement circuit (See paragraph [0076] of Otsuka), and detects the measurement characteristic of the current measurement circuit based on the plurality of reference current values (See paragraph [0067] in view of paragraph [0051] of Otsuka) and the plurality of current values measured by the current measurement circuit (See paragraph [0074] of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 2, Otsuka discloses the detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit measures the current value by the current measurement circuit immediately when the flow of the reference current value is detected to have occurred (See the abstract of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 7, Otsuka discloses the detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit detects presence or absence of abnormality in the current measurement circuit by comparing the detected measurement characteristic with a threshold value (See paragraph [0004] in view of paragraph [0036], of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 8, Otsuka discloses the detection apparatus according to claim 7, wherein: the current detection circuit has a function of self-diagnosing the presence or absence of abnormality in the current detection circuit itself (See paragraph [0004] in view of paragraph [0036] of Otsuka); and the control unit determines that the current measurement circuit is abnormal in a case where a result of comparing the detected measurement characteristic with the threshold value indicates abnormality and a result of self-diagnosis of the current measurement circuit also indicates abnormality (See paragraph [0004] in view of paragraph [0036] of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 9, Otsuka discloses the detection apparatus according to claim 7, wherein if no abnormality is detected in the current measurement circuit (See paragraph [0004] in view of paragraph [0036] of Otsuka), the control unit sets a correction formula for correcting the current value measured by the current measurement circuit based on the detected measurement characteristic (See paragraph [0057] of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 10, Otsuka discloses the detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the detection apparatus is provided with a storage unit (See the abstract of Otsuka); and the control unit stores (See the abstract of Otsuka), in the storage unit (See the abstract of Otsuka), the current value measured by the current measurement circuit in response to detecting that a flow of the reference current value has occurred (See the abstract of Otsuka), and if the number of stored current values reaches a predetermined number or more, the control unit compares a current value (See paragraph [0051] in view of paragraph [0076] of Otsuka), which is thereafter measured by the current measurement circuit in response to detecting that a flow of the reference current value has occurred (See paragraph [0044] in view of paragraph [0045] of Otsuka), with a plurality of current values stored in the storage unit (See the abstract in view of paragraph [0051] and further in view of paragraph [0076] of Otsuka), thereby determining whether the measurement characteristic of the current measurement circuit has been changed (See paragraph [0069] of Otsuka), and detects, when it is determined that the measurement characteristic has been changed, the measurement characteristic (See paragraph [0069] of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 11, Otsuka discloses the detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein detection accuracy of the current detection circuit is equal to or higher than measurement accuracy of the current measurement circuit (See paragraph [0004] of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 12, Otsuka discloses an energy storage apparatus comprising: an energy storage cell; a current measurement circuit which measures a current value of a current that flows through a circuit to which the energy storage cell is connected; and the detection apparatus according to claim 1 (See paragraph [0112] in view of paragraph [0113] of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 13, Otsuka discloses the energy storage apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the energy storage apparatus is mounted on a vehicle having a load that needs to be supplied with electric power (See paragraph [0003] of Otsuka).
With respect to claim 14, Otsuka discloses a detection method of detecting a measurement characteristic of a current measurement circuit (See the abstract of Otsuka) which measures a current value of a current that flows through a circuit (See paragraph [0009] of Otsuka), the detection method comprising: a step of detecting (See [12] in paragraph [0035] of Otsuka), for a plurality of reference current values different from each other (See paragraph [0051] of Otsuka), a flow of the reference current value having occurred in the circuit by a current detection circuit (See paragraph [0044] in view of paragraph [0045] of Otsuka); and a step of measuring, when the flow of the reference current value is detected to have occurred (See paragraph [0038] of Otsuka), a plurality of current values by the current measurement circuit (See paragraph [0076] of Otsuka), and detecting the measurement characteristic of the current measurement circuit based on the plurality of reference current values (See paragraph [0067] in view of paragraph [0051] of Otsuka) and the plurality of current values measured by the current measurement circuit (See paragraph [0074] of Otsuka).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 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:
With respect to claim 3, the prior art of record neither shows nor suggests the combination of structural elements wherein: the measurement characteristic is an offset error; and the control unit detects, in a coordinate system in which one axis represents the reference current value and the other axis represents the current value measured by the current measurement circuit, an intercept of a line passing through the current value measured by the current measurement circuit in response to detecting that a flow of a first reference current value, which is one of the plurality of reference current values, has occurred, and the current value measured by the current measurement circuit in response to detecting that a flow of a second reference current value, which is one of the plurality of reference current values, has occurred as the offset error.
Claim 4 depends from objected to claim 3 and is therefore also objected to.
With respect to claim 5, the prior art of record neither shows nor suggests the combination of structural elements wherein: the measurement characteristic is a gain error; and the control unit detects, in a coordinate system in which one axis represents the reference current value and the other axis represents the current value measured by the current measurement circuit, a slope of a line passing through the current value measured by the current measurement circuit in response to detecting that a flow of a first reference current value, which is one of the plurality of reference current values, has occurred, and the current value measured by the current measurement circuit in response to detecting that a flow of a second reference current value, which is one of the plurality of reference current values, has occurred as the gain error.
Claim 6 depends from objected to claim 5 and is therefore also objected to.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US PUB 2013/0325303 discloses a semiconductor device, battery state monitoring module, and vehicle system.
US PUB 2009/0121725 discloses a test apparatus for testing device under test, has capacitor arranged between wire and common potential in series, and judging section for judging whether device under test is pass or failure based on integration value.
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/TEMILADE S RHODES-VIVOUR/ Examiner, Art Unit 2858
/GIOVANNI ASTACIO-OQUENDO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858 8/21/2026
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