DETAILED ACTION
Examiner acknowledges receipt of amendment to application 17/935,403 filed on June 9, 2026. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 8-24 are still pending, with claims 8, 10 and 12-16 being currently amended, and claims 17-24 being newly added. Claims 1-7 are cancelled.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on June 9, 2026 has been entered.
Examiner notes that the claims are addressed in this action in view of the Examiner’s amendment, which was authorized by Applicant, laid out in the Notice of Allowance mailed May 22, 2026. This action is in response to the RCE and IDS filed June 9, 2026, which was not accompanied with a statement under 37 CFR 1.97(e).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claims 8, 10-11, 15 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Baxter et al. US PGPUB 2010/0134067 in view of Ahmed et al. US PGPUB 2019/0105994, and further in view of Zhang et al. CN 110660236 A (It is noted that the Zhang citations are taken from machine translation, until a translation is obtained.)
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Baxter discloses a charging station information system for dynamically providing information about charging stations [figs. 1 & 3] comprising:
a plurality of charging stations [par. 45; fig. 3, charging stations 310, 315, 120, 325 & 330], wherein each charging station is assigned at least one identification parameter and one position parameter of an assigned charging point [par. 50; the charging stations are separately addressed and allocated current thus identified separately; par. 30, 44-45, 48, 50 & 57-58, each charging station belongs to a wiring group and information related to charging that is sent to the server 180 is indicated as being related to a particular wiring group], wherein at least one or more of the plurality of charging stations are configured to determine at least their occupancy state [par. 31; the availability of charging stations is determined and indicated to the sever; par. 49-50; charging sessions are tracked and controlled by the controller 305], and wherein the plurality of charging stations comprises a subgroup of charging stations associated with at least one charging park [fig. 3, charging stations 310, 315, 120, 325, 330 comprise a plurality of stations that can be grouped in different sub groups (i.e. the LAN connection between 315 and 120 and 325 and 330), they may all be in a parking lot (par. 4 & 41)];
a plurality of vehicles, comprising a first subset of vehicles equipped with a communication device for wireless communication, and a second subset of vehicles not equipped with a communication device for wireless communication [fig. 1; when the user with communication device for wireless communication is in the vehicle 110, the vehicle is equipped with the device for wireless communication; when the user is not in the vehicle, the vehicle is not equipped with that particular device 150; par. 33]; and
wherein the subgroup of charging stations of at least one charging park are networked in a wired manner and designed to exchange at least a respective identification parameter and a determined occupancy state as charging-relevant data [par. 30-31, 45 & 49-50; fig. 3, charging stations 310, 315, 120, 325 & 330 are networked in a wired manner (LAN) and exchange parameter identifying each of the separate charging stations with information regarding sessions and availability], wherein at least one or more charging stations of the subgroup of charging stations networked in a wired manner are configured to wirelessly transmit the charging-relevant data together with the respective position parameters of the assigned charging points [par. 28, 30, 44-45, 48, 50 & 57-58, each charging station belongs to a wiring group and information related to charging that is sent to the server 180 is indicated as being related to a particular wiring group, the stations are also in a radio group, the information is sent to the server 180 in a wireless manner (radio group].
Regarding claim 17, the method steps disclosed therein are deemed as being inherent in the assembly and operation of the prior art reference(s) applied above, since the prior art of record herein is construed as teaching or suggesting all of the elements recited in the method claim, as pointed out in the above rejection of claim 8. The claim is accordingly rejected.
Baxter does not explicitly disclose that charging relevant data is wirelessly transmitted to the vehicles.
However, Ahmed discloses an electric vehicle charging system with a group of charging stations [fig. 1B, 125] wherein charging relevant data is wirelessly transmitted to the vehicles [fig. 1B; charging date is transmitted wirelessly from a charging group base station 130 to a vehicle (par. 32)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Baxter to further include charging relevant data is wirelessly transmitted to the vehicles for the purpose of indicating the charging capabilities of the group of charging stations, as taught by Ahmed (par. 32).
The combination of Baxter and Ahmed does not explicitly disclose the wireless transmission is by means of position-based routing.
However, Zhang discloses a vehicle parking system [abs.; fig. 1] wherein the wireless transmission is by means of position-based routing [pars. 38-39; vehicles receive information about available parking spots via an iBeacon system which uses a broadcast method to transmit the information at a range of 200m, thus position-based routing (routing the information to vehicles within a position of 200 meters)].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Baxter and Ahmed to further include wherein the wireless transmission is by means of position-based routing for the purpose of pushing the information to vehicles efficiently, as taught by Zhang (pars. 12 & 32).
Regarding claim 10, Baxter discloses wherein the plurality of charging stations are distributed over a plurality of charging parks, and wherein at least the respective charging stations in each charging park are networked in a wired manner [par. 28, 30, 44-45, 48, 50 & 57-58; fig. 3; stations are wired in groups (a charging park) and a plurality of groups exist].
Regarding claim 11, Baxter discloses wherein the charging-relevant data further comprises at least one data element from the following group of data elements:
position of at least one unoccupied charging station networked in a wireless manner;
position and time of the end of a current charging process of at least one charging station networked in a wired manner;
charging point size or actually available charging point size of at least one charging station;
or maximum possible charging capacity of at least one charging station [par. 53, 57-58, 67 & 69; the maximum amount of current for a charging station is determined].
Regarding claim 15, Baxter discloses wherein the position parameters of the charging points of the charging stations of a charging park are stored in at least one charging station, and networked in a wired manner [figs. 2-3; pars. 44-45, 48, 50 & 57-58; one charging station 315 can be wired to the controller 305 through another charging station 120, thus the information from 315 and 120 are both stored in 120 for at least some time before the information is transferred to 305].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9, 12-14 and 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.
Claims 16, 18-19 and 21-24 are allowed.
With respect to claim 9, the following is an examiner's statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fails to further teach or suggest “wherein at least one connected vehicle of the first subset is configured to wirelessly transmit the charging-relevant data together with the position parameters of the assigned charging points to the first subset of vehicles” in combination with all the other elements recited in claim 8, from which claim 9 depends.
With respect to claim 12, the following is an examiner's statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fails to further teach or suggest “wherein at least one vehicle coupled to a charging station is configured to determine the occupancy state of at least one adjacent charging point assigned to another charging station, the charging station being networked in a wireless manner, using at least one onboard sensor device, and configured to transmit the determined occupancy state as part of the charging-relevant data” in combination with all the other elements recited in claim 12, from which claim 9 depends.
With respect to claim 13, the following is an examiner's statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fails to further teach or suggest “wherein at least one vehicle coupled to a charging station is configured to determine the available charging point size of at least one adjacent charging point assigned to another charging station, the charging station being networked in a wireless manner, using at least one onboard sensor device, and configured to transmit the determined charging point size as part of the charging-relevant data” in combination with all the other elements recited in claim 13, from which claim 9 depends.
With respect to claim 14, the following is an examiner's statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fails to further teach or suggest “wherein a position parameter of a charging point of an adjacent charging station networked in a wireless manner is determined from the position parameter of the charging point from which the onboard sensor device makes a corresponding determination, and from a relative position thereto of the charging point of the adjacent, non-networked charging station, and wherein the position parameter is transmitted as part of the charging-relevant data” in combination with all the other elements recited in claim 14, from which claim 9 depends.
With respect to claim 16, the following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art fails to further teach or suggest "equipping a first subset of vehicles with a communication device for wireless communication and not equipping a second subset of vehicles with a communication device for wireless communication" and "transmitting wirelessly, by at least one of the first subset of vehicles, the charging- relevant data received via its respective charging cable to respective other vehicles of the first subset of vehicles" in combination with all the other elements recited in claim 16.
Claims 18-19, being dependent on claim 16, are allowable for the same reasons as claim 16.
Claims 20 and 21 recites similar limitations as claim 16, and is therefore allowable for the same reasons as claim 16.
Claims 22-24, being dependent on claim 21, is allowable for the same reasons as claim 21.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Sham US PGPUB 2018/0334039 discloses an electric vehicle charging system comprising a plurality of charging points networked which gathers availability information.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID V HENZE whose telephone number is (571)272-3317. The examiner can normally be reached M to F, 9am to 7pm.
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/DAVID V HENZE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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