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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This is a non-final Office Action on the merits. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and are addressed below.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for priority application No. KR10-2024-0107835 filed on 8/12/2024.
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 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.
(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) 1-5 and 13-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nimi et al. (US 2020/0198563).
Regarding claim 1:
Nimi teaches a method for controlling one or more batteries (first and second battery, B1 and B2, see at least abstract, ¶0031) for an electric vehicle (may be electric vehicle, see at least ¶0020) including a plurality of wheels (wheels 54), a driving motor (first and second motors MG1, MG2) configured to supply power to the plurality of wheels, and a controller configured to at least control one of power supply to the driving motor or charging the one or more batteries with electric power generated by the driving motor (HV-ECU 102, see at least ¶0035-0037), the method comprising:
determining, by the controller, a plurality of operating areas for the driving motor (operating ranges, R1, R2, R3, R11, R12, R13, see at least Fig. 3, 8, ¶0038-0039) based on references determined using a state of charge (SOC) of a first battery and an SOC of a second battery (adjusting operating region size/shape based on differences of SOC in first and second battery, see at least ¶0059);
determining, by the controller, one between the first battery and the second battery based on an operating area that an operating point of the driving motor corresponds among the plurality of operating areas (selecting among series, parallel, single B1 or single B2 based on SOC and required power, see at least Fig. 6, ¶0059-0060); and
controlling, by the controller, at least one of the power supply or the charging by using the determined battery (see at least ¶0059-0060).
Regarding claim 2:
Nimi further teaches wherein the determining the plurality of operating areas comprises adjusting reference data for determining the plurality of operating areas based on the SOCs of the first battery and the second battery (see at least ¶0059-0060, Fig. 8).
Regarding claim 3:
Nimi further teaches wherein the plurality of operating areas comprise a high-voltage area and a low-voltage area, and
wherein the controlling the at least one of the power supply or the charging comprises:
controlling the power supply or the charging by using a higher-voltage battery among the first battery and the second battery when the operating point corresponds to the high-voltage area; or
controlling the power supply or the charging by using a lower-voltage battery among the first battery and the second battery when the operating point corresponds to the low-voltage area (see at least Fig. 4, ¶0038).
Regarding claim 4:
Nimi further teaches wherein the adjusting the reference data comprises:
a first adjustment of adjusting the reference data in a lower-voltage battery charging-oriented mode or higher-voltage battery discharging-oriented mode when a first SOC of a lower-voltage battery among the first battery and the second batter is less than a second SOC of a higher-voltage battery among the first battery and the second battery; or
a second adjustment of adjusting the reference data in a lower-voltage battery discharging-oriented mode or higher-voltage battery charging-oriented mode when the first SOC is greater than the second SOC (Nimi teaches discharging the higher SOC battery when appropriate, see at least Fig. 6. Nimi further teaches wherein B1 and B2 have different voltages, see at least ¶0045. Therefore, in at least some scenarios, such as wherein the higher voltage battery also has the higher SOC, the claim limitations are met by the teachings of Nimi).
Regarding claim 5:
Nimi further teaches wherein the adjusting the reference data further comprises maintaining the reference data without any adjustments when the first SOC is equal to the second SOC (see at least Fig. 6).
Regarding claims 13-17, Nimi teaches an electric vehicle as in claims 1-5 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-12 and 18-20 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN J RINK whose telephone number is (571)272-4863. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anna Momper can be reached on (571) 270-5788. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Ryan Rink/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619
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