DETAILED ACTION
This is a first action on the merits, in response to the claims received 1/20/2023. Claims 1-12 are pending for prosecution below.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS)(s) file has been considered by the examiner. An initialed copy is attached herewith.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-3 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yerazunis et al, (Yerazunis), (USNO.2012/0217818).
As for claim 1, Yerazunis discloses and shows in Fig.7 a wireless power supply system that supplies power on a power supply floor, in a contactless manner, to a car moving in a hoistway (ref’s shaft) of an elevator, the wireless power supply system comprising: a power transmission unit that is provided on a side of the hoistway to supply the power in the contactless manner; a power reception unit that is provided on a side of the car to receive the power, in the contactless manner, supplied from the power transmission unit; a controller to control the power transmission unit and the power reception unit; and a power storage to store the power received by the power reception unit and supply the power to a load device provided in the car, wherein the power transmission unit includes a plurality of power transmission coils provided along the hoistway and at least one power transmitter transmission device that supplies the power to each of the plurality of power transmission coils, the power reception unit includes a plurality of power reception coils provided on a surface of the car opposite to the power transmission coil and at least one power receiver reception device that receives the power from each of the power reception coils, the plurality of power transmission coils include at least a first power transmission coil and a second power transmission coil, and a length of the second power transmission coil in a traveling direction of the car is longer than a length of the first power transmission coil (par.[0053,0065-0066,0079,0128,0146-0151]).
As for claim 2, Yerazunis discloses and shows in Fig.7 second power transmission coil is provided on a side closer to a direction in which the car enters the power supply floor than the first power transmission coil is
As for claim 3, Yerazunis discloses and shows in Fig.7 the controller causes the power transmitter transmission device to supply the power to the second power transmission coil when the power is stored in the power storage while the car is moving on the power supply floor; and the controller causes the power transmitter transmission device to supply the power to the first power transmission coil when the power is stored in the power storage while the car is stopped at the power supply floor
As for claim 8, Yerazunis discloses and shows in Fig. 7 a plurality of the second power transmission coils are provided along the hoistway on the power supply floor, the power transmission unit further includes a switch (via ref’s controller) to switch whether to electrically connect the power transmitter transmission device and any one of the plurality of second power transmission coils, and the controller switches the switch in accordance with the traveling direction of the car, and selects the second power transmission coil that supplies the power from the power transmitter
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7,9-12 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matte
Claim 4: a coupling degree when the first power transmission coil is opposite to the power reception coil is larger than a coupling degree when the second power transmission coil is opposite to the power reception coil
Claim 5: the controller causes the power transmitter transmission device to supply the power to the second power transmission coil when determining whether to cause the power storage to store the power when passing through the power supply floor in accordance with a power storage residual amount of the power storage or an operation status of the car.
Claim 6: when the car causes the power storage to store the power at the power supply floor and when a power storage residual amount of the power storage is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the controller causes the power transmitter transmission device to supply the power to the first power transmission coil and causes the power transmitter transmission device to supply the power to the second power transmission coil.
Claim 9: wherein the hoistway includes a first hoistway in which a first car moves and a second hoistway provided side by side with the first hoistway and in which a second car moves, the power supply floor is provided on a common floor in the first hoistway and the second hoistway, the first power transmission coil of the first hoistway and the first power transmission coil of the second hoistway that are provided in the power supply floor are connected to the common power transmitter transmission device, and the second power transmission coil of the first hoistway and the second power transmission coil of the second hoistway that are provided in the power supply floor are connected to the common power transmitter transmission device, in combination with the remaining limitations of independent claims
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARUN C WILLIAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-9765. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9 a.m. - 6 p.m..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian Huffman can be reached on 571-272-2147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ARUN C WILLIAMS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859