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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/16/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 24 recites the limitation "said meter" in lines 8-9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 24 recites the limitation "a meter" in line 10. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. A claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth. The Office suggests to change the claim dependency of claim 18.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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, 7-9, 11-14, 17-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ueo (US 2016/0207409) in view of Son et al. US 2018/0037131 (hereinafter Son).
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);
PNG
media_image1.png
944
928
media_image1.png
Greyscale
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).
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.
Regarding claims 2 and 18, 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 claims 7, Ueo discloses 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 (¶ 0031; in an emergency mode).
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 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 21, Ueo discloses wherein the power supply system automatically switches from the first mode of operation or any other mode of operation to the second mode of operation responsive to determining that a grid power is unavailable (¶¶ 0030-0031; normal mode or V2H mode).
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.
Claim(s) 3-6, 10, 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ueo in view of Son as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zhu (US 2019/0389314).
Regarding claim 3, Ueo in view of Son 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 view of Son 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 view of Son 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 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 view of Son 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 view of Son 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 view of Son 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).
PNG
media_image2.png
200
400
media_image2.png
Greyscale
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ueo in view of Son 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 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).
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.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian Huffman can be reached at 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 published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ZIXUAN ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 10/08/2025