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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 12 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. Newly found reference ORSINI is relied upon to teach the amended recitations of independent claims 8 and 12 as described in the rejection below.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 12/24/2025. 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.
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.
Claim(s) 8-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OGAWA (US 2023/0268735) in view of ORSINI (US 2018/0299852).
Regarding claim 8, OGAWA discloses a method for supplying electrical energy for an electrically-powered motor vehicle (vehicles EV2, EV3, EV4 shown in Fig. 3; ¶ 0020: V2G apparatus 50 is an apparatus that controls charge/discharge (charge and/or discharge) of the battery), the method comprising, by way of a supply device (50, Fig. 1A; 50-2, Fig. 3):
receiving electrical energy from a power grid (30, Figs. 1A & 3; ¶ 0016: power supplier 10 is, for example, an electricity retailer or an electricity transmission and distribution utility, which supplies power to a plurality of customers via a power system network 30; ¶ 0023: Each V2G apparatus 50 can include, for example, a power control unit 51…The power control unit 51 can include, for example,…a DC/DC converter 51b for the electric vehicle EV (EV DC/DC), and an AC/DC converter 51c (Grid AC/DC); ¶ 0025: AC/DC converter 51c converts the power (AC voltage) supplied from the power system network 30 into a DC voltage and supplies it to the DC/DC converter 51b),
receiving respective generation information for each respective energy packet of electrical energy received (¶ 0030: FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of the distributed ledger (trading information) in which the electric energy, the price, and the amount of CO.sub.2 emissions calculated by the management unit 52 of each V2G apparatus 50 are written, and shows an example in which the electric energy, the price, and the amount of CO.sub.2 emissions corresponding to each of steps S1 to S5 shown in FIG. 4 are written; ¶ 0031: Step S1 shows an example in which the V2G apparatus 50-1 sells the power (electric energy of 5 kWh) generated by the solar power generation equipment PV1. Since the power to be sold in this example is power derived from renewable energy, the management unit 52 of the V2G apparatus 50-1 writes “5 kWh” in the “sale” column of renewable energy in the distributed ledger as shown in FIG. 5, and transmits it to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53; each entry of the table/distributed ledger as shown in Figure 5 records an amount of energy received or transmitted, wherein the amount of energy received or transmitted can be considered an “energy packet”, and each entry records the “generation information”, which is whether the energy packet is renewable energy or exhaustible energy; ¶ 0021: the aggregator 20 and the plurality of V2G apparatuses 50 are connected to each other by peer-to-peer (P2P) such that they can directly trade power with each other, and share power trading information (distributed ledger) using a blockchain technique (distributed ledger technique); the disclosure of sharing power trading information and trading power implies each of the supply devices 50 receives the generation information for received energy packets), the respective generation information being assigned to the respective energy packet via a respective distributed ledger technology (40, Fig. 1A; ¶ 0030: FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of the distributed ledger (trading information) in which the electric energy, the price, and the amount of CO.sub.2 emissions calculated by the management unit 52 of each V2G apparatus 50 are written, and shows an example in which the electric energy, the price, and the amount of CO.sub.2 emissions corresponding to each of steps S1 to S5 shown in FIG. 4 are written; ¶ 0031: Step S1 shows an example in which the V2G apparatus 50-1 sells the power (electric energy of 5 kWh) generated by the solar power generation equipment PV1. Since the power to be sold in this example is power derived from renewable energy, the management unit 52 of the V2G apparatus 50-1 writes “5 kWh” in the “sale” column of renewable energy in the distributed ledger as shown in FIG. 5, and transmits it to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53) and characterizing a respective generation property which is assigned to the respective energy packet (each entry of the table/distributed ledger as shown in Figure 5 records an amount of energy received or transmitted, wherein the amount of energy received or transmitted can be considered an “energy packet”, and each entry records the “generation property”, which is whether the energy packet is renewable energy or exhaustible energy; ¶ 0032: Step S3 shows an example in which the V2G apparatus 50-2 sells part (electric energy of 5 kWh) of the electric energy stored in the battery 60 of the electric vehicle EV. Since the power to be sold in this example is power derived from exhaustible energy, the management unit 52 of the V2G apparatus 50-2 writes “5 kWh” in the “sale” column of exhaustible energy in the distributed ledger as shown in FIG. 5, and transmits it to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53; ¶ 0033: Step S4 shows an example in which the V2G apparatus 50-3 purchases power (electric energy of 10 kWh). Since the power to be purchased in this example is power derived from exhaustible energy, the management unit 52 of the V2G apparatus 50-3 writes “10 kWh” in the “purchase” column of exhaustible energy in the distributed ledger as shown in FIG. 5, and transmits it to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53),
supplying electrical energy from at least one of the energy packets for the motor vehicle (¶ 0022: FIG. 3 illustrates a battery mounted on an electric vehicle EV as the battery 60 to be managed by each V2G apparatus 50; ¶ 0024: DC/DC converter 51b can be, for example, a charge/discharge equipment that controls charge/discharge of the electric vehicle EV; ¶ 0027: the management unit 52 calculates the trading (demand and supply) of the electric energy in the battery 60 by discrimination between the electric energy 61 derived from exhaustible energy and the electric energy 62 derived from renewable energy, writes each calculated electric energy in the distributed ledger (trading information), and transmits them to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53), and
delivering supply information for the motor vehicle which characterizes the respective generation property assigned to the at least one of the energy packets of the electrical energy supplied for the motor vehicle (each entry of the table/distributed ledger as shown in Figure 5 records an amount of energy received or transmitted, wherein the amount of energy received or transmitted can be considered an “energy packet”, and entries for the motor vehicles would record the “supply information for the motor vehicle which characterizes the respective generation property”, which is whether the energy packet is renewable energy or exhaustible energy; ¶ 0021: each V2G apparatus 50 manages the electric energy of the battery by discrimination between the electric energy derived from exhaustible energy and the electric energy derived from renewable energy. For example, each V2G apparatus 50 manages the trading (sale and purchase) of the electric energy of the battery by discrimination between the electric energy derived from exhaustible energy and the electric energy derived from renewable energy, and shares the traded electric energy as the trading information (distributed ledger) with the plurality of V2G apparatuses 50; ¶ 0027: the management unit 52 manages the electric energy of the battery 60 by discrimination between electric energy 61 derived from exhaustible energy (for example, power generated by the power supplier) and electric energy 62 derived from renewable energy (for example, power generated by the solar power generation equipment). Further, the management unit 52 calculates the trading (demand and supply) of the electric energy in the battery 60 by discrimination between the electric energy 61 derived from exhaustible energy and the electric energy 62 derived from renewable energy, writes each calculated electric energy in the distributed ledger (trading information), and transmits them to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53).
OGAWA fails to disclose the respective generation information is characteristic of a generation time point of electrical energy of the respective energy packet.
ORSINI discloses the respective generation information is characteristic of a generation time point of electrical energy of the respective energy packet (¶ 0025: For example, a photovoltaic panel creates a kilowatt of energy. The energy is measured and assigned a token value by a TAG element embedded in the photovoltaic system's inverter. The token value contains the quantity of energy generated, the portion of a REC (renewable energy certificate) created, the location, time; ¶ 0028: the transaction can be recorded to the blockchain ledger and value can be exchanged via the token between the TAG elements that have transacted; ¶ 0031: The disclosure involves creating a distributed network of computing devices that can provide for the security and operation of smart grid assets and distributed energy resources in the network, and functions as a fungible distributed computing resource. The disclosure describes equipment and methods to utilize grid-connected appliances. Examples of consumer-owned smart grid assets include grid-connected and responsive smart appliances (such as smart water heaters), load control switches, thermostats and electric vehicles; ¶ 0034: FIG. 1 illustrates an example of TransActive Grid (TAG) network 100. A TAG network is a distributed computing network that includes one or more decentralized TransActive Grid elements (TAGe) that operate as nodes. TAG network can function as a consensus system that can generate, route and confirm transactions on a cryptographically-secured, shared public ledger (for example, a blockchain ledger)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the respective generation information is characteristic of a generation time point as disclosed in ORSINI into the method for supplying electrical energy of OGAWA to produce an expected result of a method for supplying electrical energy including respective generation information characteristic of a generation time point. The modification would be obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to include a more precise and/or credible energy attribution for the respective generation information of OGAWA.
Regarding claim 9, OGAWA discloses supply information assigned to the motor vehicle is delivered to a superordinate computing device (¶ 0017, 0019, 0021).
Regarding claim 10, OGAWA discloses the respective generation property is assigned to the respective energy packet by way of a blockchain by way of distributed ledger technology (¶ 0021, 0026-0027, 0029, 0031-0032).
Regarding claim 11, OGAWA discloses the respective generation information is also characteristic of an energy source of the electrical energy of the respective energy packet (¶ 0021, 0032-0033).
Regarding claim 12, OGAWA discloses a supply device (50, Fig. 1A; 50-2, Fig. 3) for supplying electrical energy for an electrically-powered motor vehicle (vehicles EV2, EV3, EV4 shown in Fig. 3; ¶ 0020: V2G apparatus 50 is an apparatus that controls charge/discharge (charge and/or discharge) of the battery), the supply device comprising:
a first terminal (51c, Fig. 3), by way of which electrical energy is sourceable from a power grid (¶ 0023: Each V2G apparatus 50 can include, for example, a power control unit 51… FIG. 3 shows the arrangement of the V2G apparatus 50-2, and each of the V2G apparatuses 50-1, 50-3, and 50-4 can have the arrangement similar to that of the V2G apparatus 50-2. The power control unit 51 can include…an AC/DC converter 51c (Grid AC/DC); ¶ 0025: the AC/DC converter 51c converts the power (AC voltage) supplied from the power system network 30 into a DC voltage and supplies it to the DC/DC converter 51b),
an electronic receiver (53, Fig. 3; i.e., part of communication unit 53 which receives communications; ¶ 0026: communication unit 53 is an interface that enables communication with the network 40 (blockchain platform)), by way of which, for respective energy packets of electrical energy received from the power grid, respective generation information which is assigned to the respective energy packet by way of a distributed ledger technology is receivable (¶ 0026: management unit 52 is formed from a processor represented by a CPU, a storage device such as a semiconductor memory, an interface with an external device, and the like, and manages power trading (demand and supply) based on the distributed ledger (trading information) shared by the plurality of V2G apparatuses 50; ¶ 0030: FIG. 5 is a table showing an example of the distributed ledger (trading information) in which the electric energy, the price, and the amount of CO.sub.2 emissions calculated by the management unit 52 of each V2G apparatus 50 are written, and shows an example in which the electric energy, the price, and the amount of CO.sub.2 emissions corresponding to each of steps S1 to S5 shown in FIG. 4 are written; ¶ 0031: Step S1 shows an example in which the V2G apparatus 50-1 sells the power (electric energy of 5 kWh) generated by the solar power generation equipment PV1. Since the power to be sold in this example is power derived from renewable energy, the management unit 52 of the V2G apparatus 50-1 writes “5 kWh” in the “sale” column of renewable energy in the distributed ledger as shown in FIG. 5, and transmits it to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53; each entry of the table/distributed ledger as shown in Figure 5 records an amount of energy received or transmitted, wherein the amount of energy received or transmitted can be considered an “energy packet”, and each entry records the “generation information”, which is whether the energy packet is renewable energy or exhaustible energy; ¶ 0021: the aggregator 20 and the plurality of V2G apparatuses 50 are connected to each other by peer-to-peer (P2P) such that they can directly trade power with each other, and share power trading information (distributed ledger) using a blockchain technique (distributed ledger technique); the disclosure of sharing power trading information and trading power implies each of the supply devices 50 receives the generation information for received energy packets), wherein the respective generation information is characteristic of a respective generation property assigned to the respective energy packet (each entry of the table/distributed ledger as shown in Figure 5 records an amount of energy received or transmitted, wherein the amount of energy received or transmitted can be considered an “energy packet”, and each entry records the “generation property”, which is whether the energy packet is renewable energy or exhaustible energy; ¶ 0032: Step S3 shows an example in which the V2G apparatus 50-2 sells part (electric energy of 5 kWh) of the electric energy stored in the battery 60 of the electric vehicle EV. Since the power to be sold in this example is power derived from exhaustible energy, the management unit 52 of the V2G apparatus 50-2 writes “5 kWh” in the “sale” column of exhaustible energy in the distributed ledger as shown in FIG. 5, and transmits it to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53; ¶ 0033: Step S4 shows an example in which the V2G apparatus 50-3 purchases power (electric energy of 10 kWh). Since the power to be purchased in this example is power derived from exhaustible energy, the management unit 52 of the V2G apparatus 50-3 writes “10 kWh” in the “purchase” column of exhaustible energy in the distributed ledger as shown in FIG. 5, and transmits it to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53),
a second terminal (51b, Fig. 3), by way of which electrical energy from at least one of the energy packets is available for delivery to the motor vehicle (¶ 0023: Each V2G apparatus 50 can include, for example, a power control unit 51…FIG. 3 shows the arrangement of the V2G apparatus 50-2, and each of the V2G apparatuses 50-1, 50-3, and 50-4 can have the arrangement similar to that of the V2G apparatus 50-2. The power control unit 51 can include… a DC/DC converter 51b for the electric vehicle EV (EV DC/DC); ¶ 0024: DC/DC converter 51b can be, for example, a charge/discharge equipment that controls charge/discharge of the electric vehicle EV. The DC/DC converter 51b regulates the voltage of the power (DC voltage) supplied from the DC/DC converter 51a or the AC/DC converter 51c, and charges the electric vehicle EV with the power), and
at least one of an electronic transmitter (53, Fig. 3; ; i.e., part of communication unit 53 which transmits communications; ¶ 0026: communication unit 53 is an interface that enables communication with the network 40 (blockchain platform)) or an interface, by way of which supply information for the motor vehicle is deliverable, wherein the supply information is characteristic of the respective generation property assigned to the at least one of the energy packets of electrical energy supplied for the motor vehicle (each entry of the table/distributed ledger as shown in Figure 5 records an amount of energy received or transmitted, wherein the amount of energy received or transmitted can be considered an “energy packet”, and entries for the motor vehicles would record the “supply information” which “is characteristic of the respective generation property.. of electrical energy supplied for the motor vehicle”, which is whether the energy packet is renewable energy or exhaustible energy; ¶ 0021: each V2G apparatus 50 manages the electric energy of the battery by discrimination between the electric energy derived from exhaustible energy and the electric energy derived from renewable energy. For example, each V2G apparatus 50 manages the trading (sale and purchase) of the electric energy of the battery by discrimination between the electric energy derived from exhaustible energy and the electric energy derived from renewable energy, and shares the traded electric energy as the trading information (distributed ledger) with the plurality of V2G apparatuses 50; ¶ 0027: the management unit 52 manages the electric energy of the battery 60 by discrimination between electric energy 61 derived from exhaustible energy (for example, power generated by the power supplier) and electric energy 62 derived from renewable energy (for example, power generated by the solar power generation equipment). Further, the management unit 52 calculates the trading (demand and supply) of the electric energy in the battery 60 by discrimination between the electric energy 61 derived from exhaustible energy and the electric energy 62 derived from renewable energy, writes each calculated electric energy in the distributed ledger (trading information), and transmits them to the network 40 (blockchain platform) by the communication unit 53).
OGAWA fails to disclose the respective generation information is characteristic of a generation time point of electrical energy of the respective energy packet.
ORSINI discloses the respective generation information is characteristic of a generation time point of electrical energy of the respective energy packet (¶ 0025: For example, a photovoltaic panel creates a kilowatt of energy. The energy is measured and assigned a token value by a TAG element embedded in the photovoltaic system's inverter. The token value contains the quantity of energy generated, the portion of a REC (renewable energy certificate) created, the location, time; ¶ 0028: the transaction can be recorded to the blockchain ledger and value can be exchanged via the token between the TAG elements that have transacted; ¶ 0031: The disclosure involves creating a distributed network of computing devices that can provide for the security and operation of smart grid assets and distributed energy resources in the network, and functions as a fungible distributed computing resource. The disclosure describes equipment and methods to utilize grid-connected appliances. Examples of consumer-owned smart grid assets include grid-connected and responsive smart appliances (such as smart water heaters), load control switches, thermostats and electric vehicles; ¶ 0034: FIG. 1 illustrates an example of TransActive Grid (TAG) network 100. A TAG network is a distributed computing network that includes one or more decentralized TransActive Grid elements (TAGe) that operate as nodes. TAG network can function as a consensus system that can generate, route and confirm transactions on a cryptographically-secured, shared public ledger (for example, a blockchain ledger)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the respective generation information is characteristic of a generation time point as disclosed in ORSINI into the method for supplying electrical energy of OGAWA to produce an expected result of a method for supplying electrical energy including respective generation information characteristic of a generation time point. The modification would be obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to include a more precise and/or credible energy attribution for the respective generation information of OGAWA.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OGAWA in view of ORSINI as applied to claims 8-12 above, and further in view of GEORG (WO2020/141175A2; previously cited).
Regarding claim 13, OGAWA as modified by ORSINI teaches the method for supplying electrical energy for the electrically-powered motor vehicle as applied to claim 8, and OGAWA further discloses a computer product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program code which, when executed, carries out the method according to claim 8 (¶ 0026: management unit 52 is formed from a processor represented by a CPU, a storage device such as a semiconductor memory, an interface with an external device, and the like, and manages power trading (demand and supply) based on the distributed ledger (trading information) shared by the plurality of V2G apparatuses 50).
OGAWA fails to disclose the program code is executed on a microprocessor.
However, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize executing program code on a microprocessor to be a known expedient in the art. For example GEORG discloses program code executed on a microprocessor (pg. 28, lines 22-32).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to incorporate the program code executed on a microprocessor into the computer product of OGAWA to produce an expected result of a computer product including program code executed on a microprocessor. The modification would be obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the known characteristics of microprocessors, such as high computational power and compact size, and/or to utilize the known architecture of microprocessors based on system design.
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, Taelor Kim can be reached at (571) 270-7166. 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 1/19/2026
/TAELOR KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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