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 .
This Office Action responses to the Application filed on 04/07/2025.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP 2024 079581, filed on 05/15/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 04/07/2025 was considered.
Papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) have been placed of record in the file.
Claims 1-14 are pending for examination.
Examiner’s Note
In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
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)(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) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by SAUCKE et al., US Patent Publication 20170166079; hereinafter “SAUCKE”.
Regarding claim 1, SAUCKE discloses a battery system (Fig. 1) comprising:
a low-voltage battery (3);
a high-voltage battery (2) having a higher rated voltage than the tow-voltage battery [0009]; and
a processing circuit (7 and 8) configured to control charging of the high-voltage battery from the low-voltage battery [0020], wherein
the processing circuit is configured to execute
determining whether a stored electricity amount of the low-voltage battery is greater than a determination stored electricity amount [0020], and
controlling charging of the high-voltage battery such that the high-voltage battery is charged with a predetermined amount of electricity from the low-voltage battery on condition that the processing circuit determines that the stored electricity amount of the low-voltage battery is greater than the determination stored electricity amount [0020].
Regarding claim 2, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses the low-voltage battery is configured to be charged with electric power supplied from a solar power generation system (4 and 5) [0020].
Regarding claim 3, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses:
the battery system is mounted on a vehicle [0017]; and
the low-voltage battery and the high-voltage battery are configured to supply electric power to a component (6-8) mounted on the vehicle [0017].
Regarding claim 4, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses the battery system further comprising a bidirectional DC-DC converter (9), wherein the processing circuit is configured to boost a voltage of direct current electric power output from the low-voltage battery to charge the high-voltage battery from the low-voltage battery [0017].
Regarding claim 5, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses the processing circuit is configured to set the predetermined amount of electricity in accordance with a state of the high-voltage battery [0017].
Regarding claim 6, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses the processing circuit is configured to set the predetermined amount of electricity based on at least one of a charged state and a deteriorated state of the high-voltage battery [0013] [0017] [0023] (low SOC that requiring charging is consider a deteriorated state).
Regarding claim 7, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses the processing circuit is configured to set the predetermined amount of electricity such that the predetermined amount of electricity is greater when a frequency of charging the high-voltage battery from the low-voltage battery is high than when the frequency is low [0019]-[0023].
Regarding claim 8, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses
determining whether a capacity of the low-voltage battery is equal to or less than a determination capacity [0019]-[0023], and
making the predetermined amount of electricity smaller when the processing circuit determines that the capacity of the low-voltage battery is equal to or less than the determination capacity than when the processing circuit determines that the capacity is greater than the determination capacity [0019]-[0023].
Regarding claim 9, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses the processing circuit is configured to set the predetermined amount of electricity such that a voltage of the low-voltage battery does not fall below a lower limit guard [0019]-[0023].
Regarding claim 10, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 9 above, SAUCKE also discloses the processing circuit is configured to set the lower limit guard on condition that the processing circuit determines that a capacity of the low-voltage battery is equal to or less than a threshold [0019]-[0023].
Regarding claim 11, SAUCKE discloses the battery system according to claim 1 above, SAUCKE also discloses on condition that a voltage of the high-voltage battery becomes higher than a specified voltage while charging of the high-voltage battery from the low-voltage battery is being performed, the processing circuit is configured to stop the charging of the high-voltage battery [0020].
Regarding claim 12, SAUCKE discloses a vehicle (Fig. 1) [0017] comprising:
the battery system according to claim 1 above; and
a traction motor [0018] configured to be driven by electric power supplied from the high-voltage battery [0018].
Regarding claim 13, SAUCKE discloses a method of controlling a battery system (Fig. 1), the battery system including a low-voltage battery (3), and a high-voltage battery (2) having a higher rated voltage than the low-voltage battery [0009], the method comprising:
determining whether a stored electricity amount of the low-voltage battery is greater than a determination stored electricity amount [0020]; and
controlling charging of the high-voltage battery such that the high-voltage battery is charged with a predetermined amount of electricity from the low-voltage battery on condition that the stored electricity amount of the low-voltage battery is greater than the determination stored electricity amount [0020].
Regarding claim 13, SAUCKE discloses a non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions, the instructions being executable by one or more processors and causing the one or more processors to execute functions ([0020] “the control device 8 goes again into sleep mode” and [0023] “parameterizable, i.e., they are, for example, functions of the battery temperature, quiescent current consumption, and/or solar radiation” are a few example to indicate the control device is a processor which required a non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions) of:
determining whether a stored electricity amount of a low-voltage battery is greater than a determination stored electricity amount [0020]; and
controlling charging of a high-voltage battery having a higher rated voltage than the low-voltage battery such that the high-voltage battery is charged with a predetermined amount of electricity from the low-voltage battery on condition that the stored electricity amount of the low-voltage battery is greater than the determination stored electricity amount [0020].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI H TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0668. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 8:30 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rexford Barney can be reached at 571-272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THAI H TRAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2836
/REXFORD N BARNIE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2836