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 Status
Claims 1-3 and 8 are pending. Claims 4-7 are canceled. Claims 1-3 and 8 are amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. It is noted that primary reference TEMP discloses the amended recitation of unique identification numbers of the power transmission coils.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 7/11/2025. These drawings are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TEMP (EP2612784A1; previously cited) in view of KANESAKI (WO2020/213308A1; previously cited; English Machine translation was included with previous office action) and KEES (US PG Pub 2015/0231981).
Regarding claim 1, TEMP discloses a charging system (¶ 0025) comprising:
a plurality of electrified vehicles (130, Fig. 1; ¶ 0072: Said method may be repeated for multiple vehicles), each of the plurality of electrified vehicles including a power-receiving coil (102, Fig. 1);
a charging device including a plurality of power supply segments (comprising at least 101, 112, Figure 1), each of the plurality of power supply segments including a power-transmitting coil having a unique identification number (as shown in the table of paragraph 0074) and being configured to supply charging power in a non-contact manner to the power-receiving coil of any of the plurality of electrified vehicles in proximity to the power supply segment (¶ 0008, 0018, 0021); and
a management device (120, Fig. 1) configured to
manage the charging device (¶ 0025, 0028, 0071),
communicate with the electrified vehicles (¶ 0027-0028, 0042, 0046), and
determine that there is an abnormality in the power supply segment (¶ 0082-0085).
TEMP fails to disclose when any of the electrified vehicles detects an abnormality in power supply from the power-transmission coil of any of the power supply segments, receive, from any of the plurality of electrified vehicles, an abnormality signal including the unique identification number corresponding to the power-transmission coil of the power supply segment for which the abnormality in the power supply has been detected, and when the management device receives the abnormality signal from a predetermined number greater than one of the plurality of electrified vehicles regarding any of the plurality of power supply segments, determine that there is an abnormality in the power supply segment, wherein each of the plurality of electrified vehicles (a) stores the unique identification numbers of the power-transmission coils of the plurality of power supply segments, and (b) upon detecting the abnormality in the power supply, identifies the unique identification number of the power-transmission coil, for inclusion in the abnormality signal.
KANESAKI discloses when any of the electrified vehicles (¶ 0044 discloses a plurality of vehicles) detects an abnormality in power supply from the power-transmission coil (40, Fig. 1) of any of the power supply segments (SG, Fig. 1), receive, from any of the plurality of electrified vehicles, an abnormality signal including the unique identification corresponding to the power-transmission coil of the power supply segment for which the abnormality in the power supply has been detected (¶ 0018: transmits a message that the segment SG is abnormal), wherein each of the plurality of electrified vehicles (a) stores the unique identification of the power-transmission coils of the plurality of power supply segments (¶ 0018: segment recognition unit 221 recognizes from which segment SG the vehicle 202 is receiving power supply; the identification is at least temporarily stored), and (b) upon detecting the abnormality in the power supply, identifies the unique identification of the power-transmission coil, for inclusion in the abnormality signal (¶ 0018: the in-motion power receiving system 200 on the vehicle 202 side includes a segment recognition unit 221, an electrical characteristic acquisition unit 222, an electrical characteristic storage unit 223, an electrical characteristic comparison unit 224, an abnormality determination unit 225, and a transmission unit 226. The segment recognition unit 221 recognizes from which segment SG the vehicle 202 is receiving power supply. The electrical characteristic acquisition unit 222 acquires the current and voltage of each circuit of the in-motion power receiving system 200 on the vehicle 202 side. The electrical characteristic storage unit 223 stores the electrical characteristics acquired by the electrical characteristic acquisition unit 222 in association with the segment SG from which the electrical characteristics were acquired when power was supplied. The electrical characteristic comparison unit 224 compares the electrical characteristics of each segment SG. The abnormality determination unit 225 uses the comparison result of the electrical characteristic comparison unit 224 to determine whether the electrical characteristic of the segment SG has an abnormal value. When the number of times the value is determined to be abnormal exceeds a predetermined number, the transmitting unit 226 receives an instruction from the abnormality determining unit 225 and transmits a message that the segment SG is abnormal). It is noted that primary reference TEMP utilizes unique identification numbers for the coils (see ¶ 0074 of TEMP), and it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to refer to the coils by number. It is further noted that primary reference TEMP discloses determining that there is an abnormality in the power supply segment based on signal from a predetermined number greater than one of the plurality of electrified vehicles regarding any of the plurality of power supply segments (see ¶ 0082). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to transmit the abnormality signal of KANESAKI to the management device of TEMP, which would teach the recitations “when the management device receives the abnormality signal from a predetermined number greater than one of the plurality of electrified vehicles regarding any of the plurality of power supply segments, determine that there is an abnormality in the power supply segment”.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include receiving an abnormality signal from the electrified vehicle as recited in order to provide redundant abnormality detection and therefore improve the reliability of the abnormality detection in the charging system.
TEMP as modified by KANESAKI fails to disclose each of the plurality of electrified vehicles (a) stores the unique identification numbers of the power-transmission coils of the plurality of power supply segments in association with position information indicating a position of each of the power supply segments, and (b) upon detecting the abnormality in the power supply, identifies the unique identification number of the power-transmission coil, for inclusion in the abnormality signal, by determining which of the position information that has been stored for the plurality of power supply segments is closest to a position of the electrified vehicle at a time of detecting the abnormality in the power supply.
KEES discloses each of the plurality of electrified vehicles (plurality of vehicles are disclosed in ¶ 0010, 0055) stores the unique identification of the power-transmission coils (¶ 0010: inductive charging points, which typically use induction coils to transfer the energy) of the plurality of power supply segments in association with position information indicating a position of each of the power supply segments, and identifies the unique identification of the power-transmission coil by determining which of the position information that has been stored for the plurality of power supply segments is closest to a position of the electrified vehicle (¶ 0057: a database stored in the vehicle 1…, wherein the database includes a record of the locations of fixed inductive charging points 9. The system may query this database to determine the general location of a fixed inductive charging point 9 and display this information to the driver of the vehicle 1. When the vehicle 1 is in close proximity to the fixed inductive charging point 9, the positioning of the vehicle 1 can be performed using data from another part of the system). It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to identify the unique identification number of the power-transmission coil for which the abnormality has been detected as disclosed in TEMP as modified by KANESAKI by association with position information of the power-transmission coils as disclosed in KEES.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include associating unique identification numbers of the power-transmission coils with position information as recited in order to improve the reliability of the identification of the coils by using the position information which is independent of a communication link with the power supply segments.
Regarding claim 2, TEMP discloses each of the plurality of electrified vehicles is configured to transmit the abnormality signal to the management device when a difference between a required power required of the power supply segment and a received power received from the power supply segment is equal to or more than a predetermined value (¶ 0048, 0084).
Regarding claim 3, TEMP discloses each of the plurality of electrified vehicles is configured to transmit the abnormality signal to the management device when electric power is not received from the power supply segment (¶ 0048, 0084: it is inherent that if power is not received, the efficiency value will deviate from the average by more than the threshold).
Regarding claim 8, TEMP discloses the power-transmitting coil of each of the plurality of power supply segments is embedded in a road surface (¶ 0018-0021).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANUEL HERNANDEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-7916. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9a-5p ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Drew Dunn can be reached at (571) 272-2312. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Manuel Hernandez/Examiner, Art Unit 2859 10/8/2025
/DREW A DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859