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 Amendment
The amendment filed on 04/22/2026 has been entered. Claims 7, 21 have been cancelled. No claims have been newly added. Claims 1-6, 8-20, 22-25 remain pending in this application.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 8-9, 11-14, 17-20, 22-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ueo (US 2016/0207409) in combination of Son et al. US 2018/0037131 (hereinafter Son), Lehn et al. US 2021/0316623 (hereinafter Lehn) and Nasr et al. US 2021/0061125 (hereinafter Nasr).
Regarding claims 1, 17 and 25, Ueo discloses a power supply system for an electric vehicle, comprising:
a battery pack (fig. 2, element B and ¶ 0041) disposed at a first portion of an electric vehicle (100);
an inverter (fig. 2, element 32) disposed at another portion the electric vehicle and electrically (electrically and indirectly) coupled to the battery pack (B);
one or more switches (fig. 2, elements 21, 22; inverters include one or more switches) disposed between the inverter (fig. 2, element 32; electric power supply inverter) and a motor (fig. 2, elements MG1, MG2; motor generators) of said electric vehicle;
wherein the inverter is operable (able to be used), by operation of the one or more switches (21, 22), in a first mode of operation to power a motor of the electric vehicle (¶ 0044; the inverters 21, 22 convert the DC power supplied from the converter 10 to the AC power, and respectively drive the MG1, MG2) and in a second mode of operation to power a home (¶¶ 0030, 0049; V2H mode, the house receives a supply of electric power form the vehicle; the electric power supply inverter 32 can convert at least either of the stored electric power in the electric power storage device B or the generated electric power of the motor generator MG1 to he supplied electric power, and can output the thus-converted electric power to the house);
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wherein the inverter is configured to convert a direct current (DC) of the battery pack to an alternating current (AC) (¶ 0044; the inverters convert the DC power supplied from the converter 10 to the AC power, and the electric power supply inverter 32 is capable of converting DC power to the AC power),
wherein a need to back feed a power from the battery pack directly to a distribution box of said home in said second mode of operation is eliminated (no direct connection to distribution board, but the charging/discharging connector is directly connected to the charging/discharging stand 200; see fig. 4).
Ueo fails to teach wherein the inverter is configured to be connected to a meter of the home in said second mode of operation, in said second mode of operation, to power an entire load of the home up to a defined power limit of the battery pack.
However, Son further discloses wherein the inverter is configured to be connected to a meter (¶ 0061; the smart meter can include a communication module for transmitting information on the power usage amount to the HEMS gateway 100) of the home in said second mode of operation, in said second mode of operation, to power an entire load of the home up to a defined power limit of the battery pack (¶¶ 0063, 0114, 0116-0119; the control device can determine the power mode of the EV on the basis of the energy management information received from the gateway 100. The control unit 330 of the control device 300 can control the power of the battery provided in the EV 141 on the basis of the first energy management mode and the second energy management mode so that the EV 141 operates in one of the charging mode and the discharging mode).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo to incorporate with the teaching of Son by including the smart meter in the system and determining the power mode of the EV based on the remaining power amount of the battery of the EV, because it would be advantageous to prolong the service life of the EV battery and provide accurate real-time electricity usage insights.
Ueo in combination of Son fails to teach wherein the power supply system is configured to automatically switch from said first mode of operation to said second mode of operation based on information about available grid power.
Lehn further discloses wherein the power supply system is configured to switch from said first mode of operation to said second mode of operation (¶ 0014 and claims 2-3; a controller circuit is configured to toggle operation of the open wound motor between a locomotion state (motor) and an energy flow state).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo in combination of Son to incorporate with the teaching of Lehn by toggling operation of the open wound motor between a locomotion state and an energy flow state, because it would be advantageous to reduce weight and size and further increase bidirectional power flowing efficiency.
Ueo in combination of Son and Lehn fails to teach wherein the power supply system is configured to automatically switch from modes of operation based on information about available grid power.
Nasr further discloses wherein the power supply system is configured to automatically switch from modes of operation based on information about available grid power (¶¶ 0046, 0052 and claims 5 and 10; the control logic is configured to operate the electrical circuitry by switching between a boundary condition mode (BCM) and a hybrid BCM-continuous conduction mode (CCM). Automatic switching between modes may be done by the digital controller 320).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo in combination of Son and Lehn to incorporate with the teaching of Nasr by automatic switching between modes, because it would be advantageous to increase power transferring efficiency and enable higher power density.
Regarding claim 2, Ueo discloses a power supply system wherein the electric vehicle is a micro-grid utility vehicle (¶ 0030; V2H mode; the house receives a supply of electric power from the vehicle).
Regarding claim 8, Ueo discloses wherein the power supply system is configured to power the entire load of the home without direct connection (no direct connection to distribution board, but the charging/discharging connector is directly connected to the charging/discharging stand 200; see fig. 4) to any distribution box of a plurality of distribution boxes of the home.
Regarding claim 9, Ueo discloses wherein the inverter is further operable in a third mode of operation as a docking station to charge or provide power to one or more external standalone devices (¶ 0048; can output the thus-converted electric power to the electrical equipment).
Regarding claim 11, Ueo discloses wherein the inverter is configured to convert a direct current (DC) of the battery pack to alternating current (AC) of variable frequency to drive said motor (¶ 0044; the inverters 21, 22 convert the DC power supplied from the converter 10 to the AC power, and respectively drive the MG1, MG2).
Regarding claim 12, Ueo discloses wherein the one or more switches are one or more contactors and wherein said one or more contactors are controlled by a processor of the power supply system (¶ 0042; the system main relay SMR).
Regarding claim 13, Ueo discloses wherein the defined power limit is about (interpret as “above or below”) 100kW.
Regarding claim 14, Ueo in view of Son discloses the power supply system further comprising:
an automatic switch provided with the meter of the home (Son, ¶ 0061; the smart meter can include a communication module for transmitting information on the power usage amount to the HEMS gateway 100);
wherein said automatic switch is configured to determine an availability of a grid power and to cause, responsive to determining that said grid power is unavailable, an automatic changeover of the operation of the inverter from the first mode of operation or any other mode of operation to the second mode of operation (¶¶ 0030, 0049; switching from normal mode to V2H).
regarding claim 18, Ueo discloses wherein the defined power limit of the battery pack is about (interpret as “above or below”) 100kW and the electric vehicle is a micro-grid utility vehicle (¶ 0030; V2H mode; the house receives a supply of electric power from the vehicle).
Regarding claim 19, Ueo discloses the method comprising: operating the invertor in the second mode (¶ 0030; V2H mode) of operation at a constant output AC frequency of between 50 - 60 Hz (the US alternating current [AC] frequency is 60 Hz).
Regarding claim 20, Ueo does not disclose the method further comprising: operating the invertor in the second mode of operation at an output AC voltage of 208V. However, to choose an output AC voltage of 208V, absent any criticality, is only considered to be the “optimum” value of the output AC voltage, as stated above, that a person having ordinary skill in the art would have been able to determine using routine experimentation based, among other things, on the desired accuracy and since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. See In re Boesch, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980) and MPEP 2144.04 and 2144.05.
Regarding claim 22, Ueo does not disclose the method further comprising: ending an ability to operate the inverter in said second mode of operation, responsive to determining that a power requirement of the home exceeds a threshold battery power.
However, Son further discloses the method further comprising:
ending an ability to operate the inverter in said second mode of operation, responsive to determining that a power requirement of the home exceeds a threshold battery power (¶¶ 0117, 0148; when the remaining power amount of the battery of the EV 141 is less than the minimum charging amount; the EV 141 can terminate the discharging mode to switch the discharging mode into the charging mode; therefore, the inverter is not being operated).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo to incorporate with the teaching of Son by maintaining the minimum charging amount of the EV and terminating the discharging mode, because it would be advantageous to prevent the user from being interrupted in use of the EV.
Regarding claim 23, Ueo in view of Son does not disclose the method further comprising: determining that the home has a power requirement less than 60kW, prior to operating the inverter in said second mode of operation; wherein the defined power limit of the battery pack is greater than 60kW. However, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a defined power limit of the battery pack is greater than 60kW, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the “optimum range” involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. See MPEP 2144.05.
Regarding claim 24, Ueo discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program instructions which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform a procedure comprising the steps of:
operating the inverter of an electric vehicle in a first mode of operation, using the one or more switches (21, 22), to power a motor of the electric vehicle (¶ 0044; the inverters 21, 22 convert the DC power supplied from the converter 10 to the AC power, and respectively drive the MG1, MG2);
operating the inverter in a second mode of operation, using the one or more switches, to power an entire load of the home by converting a direct current (DC) of the battery pack to an alternating current (AC) [¶¶ 0030, 0049; V2H mode, the house receives a supply of electric power form the vehicle; the electric power supply inverter 32 can convert at least either of the stored electric power in the electric power storage device B or the generated electric power of the motor generator MG1 to he supplied electric power, and can output the thus-converted electric power to the house];
wherein a need to back feed a power from the battery pack directly to a distribution box of said home in said second mode of operation is eliminated (no direct connection to distribution board, but the charging/discharging connector is directly connected to the charging/discharging stand 200; see fig. 4).
Ueo fails to teach wherein the inverter is connected to a meter of the home in said second mode of operation, in said second mode of operation, to power an entire load of the home up to a defined power limit of the battery pack.
However, Son further discloses wherein the inverter is configured to be connected to a meter (¶ 0061; the smart meter can include a communication module for transmitting information on the power usage amount to the HEMS gateway 100) of the home in said second mode of operation, in said second mode of operation, to power an entire load of the home up to a defined power limit of the battery pack (¶¶ 0063, 0114, 0116-0119; the control device can determine the power mode of the EV on the basis of the energy management information received from the gateway 100. The control unit 330 of the control device 300 can control the power of the battery provided in the EV 141 on the basis of the first energy management mode and the second energy management mode so that the EV 141 operates in one of the charging mode and the discharging mode).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo to incorporate with the teaching of Son by including the smart meter in the system and determining the power mode of the EV based on the remaining power amount of the battery of the EV, because it would be advantageous to prolong the service life of the EV battery and provide accurate real-time electricity usage insights.
Ueo in combination of Son fails to teach wherein the power supply system is configured to automatically switch from said first mode of operation to said second mode of operation based on information about available grid power.
Lehn further discloses wherein the power supply system is configured to switch from said first mode of operation to said second mode of operation (¶ 0014 and claims 2-3; a controller circuit is configured to toggle operation of the open wound motor between a locomotion state (motor) and an energy flow state).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo in combination of Son to incorporate with the teaching of Lehn by toggling operation of the open wound motor between a locomotion state and an energy flow state, because it would be advantageous to reduce weight and size and further increase bidirectional power flowing efficiency.
Ueo in combination of Son and Lehn fails to teach wherein the power supply system is configured to automatically switch from modes of operation based on information about available grid power.
Nasr further discloses wherein the power supply system is configured to automatically switch from modes of operation based on information about available grid power (¶¶ 0046, 0052 and claims 5 and 10; the control logic is configured to operate the electrical circuitry by switching between a boundary condition mode (BCM) and a hybrid BCM-continuous conduction mode (CCM). Automatic switching between modes may be done by the digital controller 320).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo in combination of Son and Lehn to incorporate with the teaching of Nasr by automatic switching between modes, because it would be advantageous to increase power transferring efficiency and enable higher power density.
Claim(s) 3-6, 10, 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn and Nasr as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zhu (US 2019/0389314).
Regarding claim 3, Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn and Nasr teaches a power supply system further comprising: a plurality of switching devices (Ueo, fig. 2, elements 21, 22; the inverters of Ueo include a plurality of switching devices) located in the inverter and configured to be selectively switched by a microcontroller (see fig. 2 of Ueo, element 50) to produce an output AC frequency and an output AC voltage of the inverter for the first mode of operation (Ueo, ¶ 0044; the inverters 21, 22 convert the DC power supplied from the converter 10 to the AC power, and respectively drive the MG1, MG2) and the second mode of operation (Ueo, ¶¶ 0030, 0049; V2H mode, the house receives a supply of electric power form the vehicle; the electric power supply inverter 32 can convert at least either of the stored electric power in the electric power storage device B or the generated electric power of the motor generator MG1 to he supplied electric power, and can output the thus-converted electric power to the house).
Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn and Nasr fails to disclose the switching devices are transistors.
Zhu further discloses an electronic device includes an inverter is capable of converting received DC power to AC power using a plurality of switches. The switches are power transistors (e.g., power MOSFETs, insulated-gate bipolar transistors [IGBTs]) in ¶ 0077.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn and Nasr to incorporate with the teaching of Zhu by including power transistors (such as MOSFETs) in the inverters, because it would be advantageous to lower heat generation and have longer service life.
Regarding claim 4, Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn, Nasr and Zhu discloses wherein the plurality of transistors is selected from the group consisting of insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), metal-oxide- semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) [Zhu, ¶ 0077], Silicon Carbide transistors, and gallium nitride (GaN) transistors.
Regarding claim 5, Ueo discloses wherein in the second mode of operation, the output AC frequency of the inverter (¶ 0030; in V2H mode) is kept constant at a value between 50-60Hz (the US alternating current [AC] frequency is 60 Hz), based on a timing of a switching operation the plurality of transistors.
Regarding claim 6, Ueo discloses wherein in the second mode of operation, an output AC voltage of the inverter is set to a value between 100 and 280V (¶ 0032; 100-V or 200V AC power), based on a switching frequency of pulses of the DC.
Regarding claim 10, Ueo discloses wherein the battery pack is coupled to a solar panel (see fig.1, element 301), but Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn, Nasr does not disclose the solar panel is able to recharge the battery pack.
Zhu discloses the EV 141 can receive power from the PV module 111 or the power system 121 on the basis of the charging control message received from the HEMS gateway in ¶ 0147.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn, Nasr to incorporate with the teaching of Zhu by charging the vehicle via the PV module, because it would be advantageous to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on the electrical grid.
Regarding claim 15, Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn, Nasr fails to disclose the power supply system further comprising: a user interface configured to display information about a state of charge (SOC) and/or state of health of batteries of the battery pack.
Zhu discloses a user interface configured to display information about a state of charge (SOC) and/or state of health of batteries of the battery pack (¶ 0128 and fig. 5A).
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It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn, Nasr to incorporate with the teaching of Zhu by including a user interface in the system, because it would be advantageous to empower drivers or operators to make charging/discharging adjustment based on the displayed information.
Regarding claim 16, Ueo in combination of Son, Lehn, Nasr and Zhu discloses wherein the user interface further displays information about a remaining time for providing power continuously to the home (see fig. 7 of Zhu).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 9-10, filed 04/22/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 17, 24-25 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Lehn and Nasr.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZIXUAN ZHOU whose telephone number is (571)272-6739. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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/ZIXUAN ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 07/06/2026
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