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
This office action has been issued in response to the amendment filed on March 2, 2026.
Claims 1-3, 7-12 and 14-20 are pending.
Applicant’s arguments have been carefully and respectfully considered. Rejections have been maintained where arguments were not persuasive. Also, new rejections based on the amended claims have been set forth. Accordingly, claims 1-2, 6-8, 12, 16 and 20 are rejected, and this action is made FINAL, as necessitated by amendment.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 15 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.
Applicant argues Zhang fails to teach at least turning on a first switch (e.g., SW1 in the present disclosure) to reconnect the system power supply (e.g., grid in the present disclosure) and the external load when the operation mode of the external on-board charger does not correspond to the mode for supplying power to the external load (e.g., V2H, vehicle-to-home in the present disclosure) during a power failure. In other words, when the on-board charger is unable to supply power to the external load (e.g., V2H is not available in the present disclosure), the claimed charger and system turn on the first switch to pre-connect the system power supply and the external load, instead of turning on the second switch to connect the on-board charger and the external load. Zhang does not disclose or suggest this control action. Zhang only discloses turning on a first switch (K1 in Zhang) to reconnect a grid and load after power failure is restored, and after confirming that the power supply from the vehicle to the load has stopped. See FIGS. 3a and 4 of Zhang.
Newly relied upon prior art Cooper (US 10,840,735) discloses the amended limitations: a controller (25a) configured to: turn on the first switch (15) based on an operation mode of an external charger (13) not corresponding to a mode for supplying power to an external load (Col.28, Lines 53-58; If power to the loads cannot be supplied from the external charger 13, the system power supply 12 is reconnected even if there is an outage in the system power supply 12.).
The rejection of claim 1 is based on the combination of Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk.
The rejection of claim 15 is based on the combination of a Zhang in view of Cooper, Funk and Lambert as seen in the office action below.
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.
Claims 1-6, 8-10 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO2021207985A1) in view of Cooper (US 10,840,735) and Funk (US 2022/0388410).
Claim 1: Zhang teaches a charger (Fig.2) comprising: a device (200) having a first terminal connected to a system power supply (400), a second terminal connected to an external load (300), a third terminal connected to an external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) (Par.56), and a switch unit (K1-K2) configured to selectively connect at least two of the first to third terminals (Par.68 and 70) (Fig.2),
wherein the switch unit (K1-K2) (Fig.2) comprises: a first switch (K1); and a second switch (K2), and
wherein one end (first end) of the first switch (K1) is connected to the first terminal (coupled to 400), the other end (second end) of the first switch (K1) is connected to one end (first end) of the second switch (K2) (Par.68), the other end (second end) of the second switch (K2) is connected to the third terminal (coupled to 100) (Par.70), and the second terminal (coupled to 300) is connected between the other end (second end) of the first switch (K1) and one end (first end) of the second switch (K2) (Par.68) (Fig.2); and
a controller (201) configured to control a connection state of the switch unit (K1 and K2) based on whether power failure occurs in the system power supply (400) and an operation mode of the external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) (Par.75-76),
wherein the controller (201) is further configured to:
turn off the first switch (K1) and the second switch (K2) based on the power failure occurring in the system power supply (400) (Par.75-76, The vehicle provides power to the load when the power supply stops supplying power.);
determine whether the operation mode of the external on-board charger corresponds to a mode for supplying power while the fist switch (K1) and the second switch (K2) are turned off (Par.86-87);
turn on the second switch (K2) based on the operation mode of the external on-board charger corresponding to the mode for supplying power to the external load (300) (Par.87).
Zhang does not explicitly teach the controller is configured to: turn on the first switch based on the operation mode of the external on-board charger not corresponding to the mode for supplying power to the external load.
Cooper teaches a charger (Fig.4) comprising: a first switch (15) having one end connected to a system power supply (12) (Col.18, Lines 29-33); and
a controller (25a) configured to: turn on the first switch (15) based on an operation mode of an external charger (13) not corresponding to a mode for supplying power to an external load (Col.28, Lines 53-58; If power to the loads cannot be supplied from the external charger 13 the system power supply 12 is reconnected even if there is an outage in the system power supply 12.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Cooper in the charger of Zhang to have had turned the switch to receive grid power when no back-up supply is available during a grid failure (Col.28, Lines 53-58) thereby allowing for faster supply of energy when the grid power is restored.
Furthermore, Zhang does not explicitly teach the device comprising a junction box.
Funk teaches a charger (102) comprising a junction box (Par.18).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Funk in the charger of Zhang to have had enclosed connections to protect them from damage, as well as prevent accidental contact with potentially live wires or terminals (Par.18).
Claim 2: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the device (200) receives AC power from the system power supply (400) through the first terminal and supplies the AC power to at least one of the external load (300) or the external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) (Par.54) on the basis of the connection state of the switch unit (K1-K2) (Par.75 and 104), or receives AC power from the external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) through the third terminal and supplies the AC power to the external load (300) on the basis of the connection state of the switch unit (K1-K2) (Par.120).
Zhang does not explicitly teach the device comprising a junction box.
Funk teaches a charger (102) comprising a junction box (Par.18).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Funk in the charger of Zhang to have had enclosed connections to protect them from damage, as well as prevent accidental contact with potentially live wires or terminals (Par.18).
Claim 3: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches further comprising a communication device (203) configured to communicate with an external charging controller connected to the external on-board charger (Par.96), wherein the controller (201) receives the operation mode of the external on-board charger from the external charging controller through the communication device (203) (Par.96, The controller receives a signal from the vehicle indicating it is in a power supply mode.) (Par.108, The controller receives a signal from the vehicle indicating it is in a power receiving mode.).
Claim 8: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 3 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the controller (201) requests that the external charging controller change the operation mode through the communication device (203) such that the external on-board charger starts power supply when the second terminal (coupled to 300) and the third terminal (coupled to 100) are connected by controlling the connection state of the switch unit (K1-K2) (Par.90).
Claim 9: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 3 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the controller (201) controls the connection state of the switch unit (K1-K2) such that the first terminal (coupled to 400) and the second terminal (coupled to 300) are connected at the time of restoring power failure of the system power supply (400) (Par.75-76).
Claim 10: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 9 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the controller (201) controls the connection state of the switch unit (K1-K2) such that the first terminal (coupled to 400) and the third terminal (coupled to 100) are connected when the operation mode of the external on-board charger is a mode for receiving power from the system power supply (400) at the time of restoring the power failure of the system power supply (400) (Par.76 and 106-107).
Claim 12: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 9 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the controller (201) requests that the external charging controller change the operation mode through the communication device (203) such that the external on-board charger stops power supply when the operation mode of the external on-board charger is a mode for supplying power to the external load (300) at the time of restoring the power failure of the system power supply (400) (Par.124-126).
Claims 7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO2021207985A1) in view of Cooper (US 10,840,735) and Funk (US 2022/0388410) as applied to claims 3 and 9 above, and further in view of Lambert et al. (US 2017/0050529).
Claim 7: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 3 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the controller (201) requests that the external charging controller change the operation mode through the communication device (203) such that the external on-board charger stops power supply when the operation mode of the external on-board charger is a mode for supplying power (Par.102).
Zhang does not explicitly teach an operation mode of the external on-board charger being a mode for supplying power to the system power supply.
Lambert teaches a charger (101) (Fig.2) comprising a first terminal connected to a system power supply (102) (Par.13), a second terminal connected to an external load (108) (Par.26), and a third terminal connected to an external on-board charger (105) (Fig.2); the external on-board charger (105) including a mode for supplying power to the system power supply (102) (Par.14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Lambert in the system of Zhang to have had enabled the battery of a vehicle to be used as an auxiliary source during periods of peak demand and/or sell surplus power (Par.14) thereby providing profit for a user and alleviating grid overload.
Claim 11: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 9 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the controller (201) controls the connection state of the switch unit (K1-K2) such that the first terminal (coupled to 400) and the third terminal (coupled to 100) are disconnected from each other when the operation mode of the external on-board charger (intermediate state) does not correspond to any one of the mode for supplying power and the mode for receiving power from the system power supply during power failure restoration (Par.103 and 132).
Zhang does not explicitly teach an operation mode of the external on-board charger being a mode for supplying power to the system power supply.
Lambert teaches a charger (101) (Fig.2) comprising a first terminal connected to a system power supply (102) (Par.13), a second terminal connected to an external load (108) (Par.26), and a third terminal connected to an external on-board charger (105) (Fig.2); the external on-board charger (105) including a mode for supplying power to the system power supply (102) (Par.14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Lambert in the system of Zhang to have had enabled the battery of a vehicle to be used as an auxiliary source during periods of peak demand and/or sell surplus power (Par.14) thereby providing profit for a user and alleviating grid overload.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO2021207985A1) in view of Cooper (US 10,840,735) and Funk (US 2022/0388410) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sharifipour et al. (US 2022/0396167).
Claim 14: Zhang in view of Cooper and Funk teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Zhang does not explicitly teach the device comprising a junction box.
Funk teaches a charger (102) comprising a junction box (Par.18).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Funk in the charger of Zhang to have had enclosed connections to protect them from damage, as well as prevent accidental contact with potentially live wires or terminals (Par.18).
The combination of Zhang in view of Funk does not explicitly teach further comprising: a converter configured to convert AC power supplied through at least one of the first terminal or the third terminal into DC power; and a battery configured to store the DC power converted through the converter, wherein the junction box further comprises a fourth terminal connected to the converter and selectively connects at least two of the first to fourth terminals.
Sharifipour teaches a charger (300) (Fig.3A) comprising: a converter (124) configured to convert AC power supplied through a first terminal connected to a system power supply (110) (Par.32); and a battery (103) configured to store the DC power converted through the converter (124) (Par.37), wherein a fourth terminal connected to the converter (124) and selectively connects at least two of the first to fourth terminals (Par.37; The battery connected to the fourth terminal can selectively receive power from the grid in the first terminal.) (The battery connected to the fourth terminal can selectively receive power from a vehicle connected to a third terminal (Fig.3B)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Sharifipour in the combination of Zhang in view of Funk to have had increased a charging rate by the addition of a DC source (Par.38); and/or have had supplemented a source when additional energy is needed to charge an electric vehicle (Par.54).
Claims 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO2021207985A1) in view of Cooper (US 10,840,735), Funk (US 2022/0388410) and Lambert et al. (US 2017/0050529).
Claim 15: Zhang teaches a charging system (Fig.2) comprising: an external on-board charger (onboard electric vehicle 100) configured to supply power (Par.90) or to receive power from a system power supply (400) (Par.108);
an external charging controller configured to control the external on-board charger (Par.90 and 108; The vehicle controls the charging/discharging of its internal battery.); and
a charger (Fig.2) comprising a device (200) having a first terminal connected to a system power supply (400), a second terminal connected to an external load (300), a third terminal connected to the external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) (Par.56), and a switch unit (K1-K2) configured to selectively connect at least two of the first to third terminals (Par.68 and 70) (Fig.2); wherein the switch unit (K1-K2) (Fig.2) comprises: a first switch (K1); and a second switch (K2), and
wherein one end (first end) of the first switch (K1) is connected to the first terminal (coupled to 400), the other end (second end) of the first switch (K1) is connected to one end (first end) of the second switch (K2) (Par.68), the other end (second end) of the second switch (K2) is connected to the third terminal (coupled to 100) (Par.70), and the second terminal (coupled to 300) is connected between the other end (second end) of the first switch (K1) and one end (first end) of the second switch (K2) (Par.68) (Fig.2); and
a controller (201) configured to control a connection state of the switch unit (K1 and K2) based on whether power failure occurs in the system power supply (400) and an operation mode of the external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) (Par.75-76);
wherein the controller (201) is further configured to:
turn off the first switch (K1) and the second switch (K2) based on the power failure occurring in the system power supply (400) (Par.75-76, The vehicle provides power to the load when the power supply stops supplying power.);
determine whether the operation mode of the external on-board charger corresponds to a mode for supplying power while the fist switch (K1) and the second switch (K2) are turned off (Par.86-87);
turn on the second switch (K2) based on the operation mode of the external on-board charger corresponding to the mode for supplying power to the external load (300) (Par.87).
Zhang does not explicitly teach the controller is configured to: turn on the first switch based on the operation mode of the external on-board charger not corresponding to the mode for supplying power to the external load.
Cooper teaches a charger (Fig.4) comprising: a first switch (15) having one end connected to a system power supply (12) (Col.18, Lines 29-33); and
a controller (25a) configured to: turn on the first switch (15) based on an operation mode of an external charger (13) not corresponding to a mode for supplying power to an external load (Col.28, Lines 53-58; If power to the loads cannot be supplied from the external charger 13 the system power supply 12 is reconnected even if there is an outage in the system power supply 12.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Cooper in the charger of Zhang to have had turned the switch to receive grid power when no back-up supply is available during a grid failure (Col.28, Lines 53-58) thereby allowing for faster supply of energy when the grid power is restored.
Furthermore, Zhang does not explicitly teach the device comprising a junction box.
Funk teaches a charger (102) comprising a junction box (Par.18).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Funk in the charger of Zhang to have had enclosed connections to protect them from damage, as well as prevent accidental contact with potentially live wires or terminals (Par.18).
In addition, Zhang does not explicitly teach the external on-board charger is configured to supply power to the system power supply.
Lambert teaches a charger (101) (Fig.2) comprising a first terminal connected to a system power supply (102) (Par.13), a second terminal connected to an external load (108) (Par.26), and a third terminal connected to an external on-board charger (105) (Fig.2); the external on-board charger (105) configured for supplying power to the system power supply (102) (Par.14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Lambert in the system of Zhang to have had enabled the battery of a vehicle to be used as an auxiliary source during periods of peak demand and/or sell surplus power (Par.14) thereby providing profit for a user and alleviating grid overload.
Claim 16: Zhang in view of Cooper, Funk and Lambert teach the limitations of claim 15 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the charger (Fig.2) further comprises a communication device (203) configured to communicate with the external charging controller (Par.96), wherein the controller (201) receives an operation mode of the external on-board charger from the external charging controller through the communication device (203) (Par.96, The controller receives a signal from the vehicle indicating it is in a power supply mode.) (Par.108, The controller receives a signal from the vehicle indicating it is in a power receiving mode.), or requests that the external charging controller change the operation mode of the external on-board charger (Par.90).
Claim 17: Zhang in view of Cooper, Funk and Lambert teach the limitations of claim 16 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the external charging controller determines whether the external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) is able to supply power to the external load (300) when preset conditions are satisfied (Par.91), and controls the operation mode of the external on-board charger to be changed on the basis of a determination result (Par.91, Switches to the power supply mode if the conditions are met.).
Claim 18: Zhang in view of Cooper, Funk and Lambert teach the limitations of claim 17 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein, when the operation mode of the external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) is changed, the external charging controller transmits the changed operation mode of the external on-board charger (of vehicle 100) to the controller (201) through the communication device (203) (Par.96).
Claim 19: Zhang in view of Cooper, Funk and Lambert teach the limitations of claim 17 as disclosed above. Zhang teaches wherein the external charging controller determines whether power is able to be supplied to the external load (300) on the basis of at least one of a state of charge (SOC) of an external battery (charge balance) connected to the external on-board charger or whether the external on-board charger normally operates (Par.91).
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO2021207985A1) in view of Cooper (US 10,840,735), Funk (US 2022/0388410) and Lambert et al. (US 2017/0050529) as applied to claim 15 above, and further in view of Ge et al. (US 2021/0221249) and Nasr et al. (US 2021/0061125).
Claim 20: Zhang in view of Cooper, Funk and Lambert teach the limitations of claim 15 as disclosed above. Zhang does not explicitly teach wherein, when the operation mode is a mode for supplying power to the system power supply or a mode for receiving power from the system power supply, the external charging controller performs output current control through the external on- board charger to correspond to the system power supply, and when the operation mode is a mode for supplying power to the external load, the external charging controller performs voltage and frequency control through the external on-board charger to correspond to the external load.
Ge teaches when an operation mode is a mode for receiving power from a system power supply (external power), an external charging controller performs output current control through an external on-board charger (400) (Fig.4) (Par.41) to correspond to the system power supply (Par.37-38), and when the operation mode is a mode for supplying power to an external load (122), the external charging controller performs voltage and frequency control through the external on-board charger (400) to correspond to the external load (122) (Par.39).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Ge in the system of Zhang to have had effectively controlled the amount of energy drawn from a power source (Par.38); and have had generated a desired voltage with output frequency required by the loads (Par.39).
The combination of Zhang in view of Ge does not explicitly teach when the operation mode is a mode for supplying power to the system power supply or a mode for receiving power from the system power supply, the external charging controller performs output phase control through the external charging controller.
Nasr teaches when an operation mode is a mode for supplying power to a system power supply (V2G) or a mode for receiving power from the system power supply (G2V), an external charging controller (320) (Fig.3) performs output phase control through the external charging controller (320) (Par.43).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Nasr in the combination of Zhang in view of Ge to have had used precise current control for grid phase locking (Par.46) thereby transferring power safely and efficiently.
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.
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/JOHALI A TORRES RUIZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2859 /TAELOR KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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