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
1. Claims 1 and 4-13 are currently pending.
2. Claims 2-3 are canceled.
3. Claims 1, 5,10, and 12-13 are currently amended.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Claims 1, 4-6, 9, and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kashiba (US 20150127203 A1), in view of Cheung (US 20210382501 A1), and in further view of Wang (CN 111497662 A).
8. Regarding Claim 1, Kashiba teaches an electric power supply management method, by a computer, the electric power supply management method comprising (Kashiba: [0001] and [0040]):
Receiving, from a certain house having power outage among a plurality of houses, first request information about a first request for an electric power supply to the certain house (Kashiba: [0050]);
Retrieving, with reference to a database associating the plurality of houses with a plurality of electric vehicles configured to supply electric power respectively to the plurality of houses, a candidate electric vehicle that enables the electric power supply to the certain house... (Kashiba: [0043] and [0054]);
Transmitting, to a terminal associated with the candidate electric vehicle, second request information about a second request for the electric power supply from the candidate electric vehicle to the certain house (Kashiba: [0058]);
Receiving, from the terminal, first reply information indicating acceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house; and transmitting location information about a location of the certain house to the terminal in accordance with the first reply information (Kashiba: [0030], [0060], and [0068] Note that the server determining the ignition is switched to the on state is equivalent to terminal reply information indicating acceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house. Also, note that the navigation unit determine a route from the current location to the destination is equivalent to transmitting location information about a location of the certain house to the terminal (vehicle).).
Kashiba fails to explicitly teach retrieving... a candidate electric vehicle that enables the electric power supply to the certain house among the plurality of electric vehicles associated with other houses among the plurality of houses, the other houses being different from the certain house.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Cheung teaches retrieving... a candidate electric vehicle that enables the electric power supply to the certain house among the plurality of electric vehicles associated with other houses among the plurality of houses, the other houses being different from the certain house (Cheung: [0039] and [0046]).
Kashiba and Cheung are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba to incorporate the teachings of Cheung to retrieve a candidate electric vehicle associated with other houses to enable electric power supply because it provides the benefit of selecting the candidate vehicle with an improved geographic distribution for anticipating demand at particular locations, as explicitly explained in [0063] of Cheung.
Kashiba and Cheung fail to explicitly teach in the retrieving of the candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle is retrieved from among potential electric vehicles associated with the other houses, based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house to at least one of items of a time required for each of the potential electric vehicles to reach the certain house, a suppliable electric power amount of each of the potential electric vehicles, an electricity price to occur in the electric power supply by each of the potential electric vehicles, a potential available time for each of the potential electric vehicles, and an evaluation of a user of each of the potential electric vehicles.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches in the retrieving of the candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle is retrieved from among potential electric vehicles associated with the other houses, based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house to at least one of items of a time required for each of the potential electric vehicles to reach the certain house, a suppliable electric power amount of each of the potential electric vehicles, an electricity price to occur in the electric power supply by each of the potential electric vehicles, a potential available time for each of the potential electric vehicles, and an evaluation of a user of each of the potential electric vehicles (Wang: [Page 3, Lines 37-42] and [Page 7, Lines 29-31] Note that the user independent selecting the mobile charging terminal based on reference information is equivalent to retrieving the candidate electric vehicle from among potential electric vehicles based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house.).
Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management and mobile charging stations. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba and Cheung to incorporate the teachings of Wang to retrieve the candidate electric vehicle based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house because it provides the benefit of the user selecting a suitable mobile charging terminal according to their needs as explicitly explained in [Page 7, Lines 29-31] of Wang.
9. Regarding Claim 4, Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Cheung teaches in the retrieving of the candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle provides a largest residual amount in subtraction of the power consumptive amount from the battery remaining amount thereof, from among the potential electric vehicles (Cheung: [0014] and [0026]).
10. Regarding Claim 5, Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Wang teaches in the retrieving of the candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle has a shortest travel time from the current position thereof to the certain house among the potential electric vehicles or has a shortest travel distance from a current position thereof to the certain house among the electric vehicles (Wang: [Page 3, Lines 21-24]).
11. Regarding Claim 6, Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Kashiba teaches receiving, from the certain house, power outage ceases information indicating that the power outage has ceased, after transmitting the second request information (Kashiba: [0051] and [0052]);
And transmitting, to the terminal, cancellation information about cancellation of the request for the electric power supply to the certain house (Kashiba: [0062]).
12. Regarding Claim 9, Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang remain as applied above in Claim 1, and further, Kashiba teaches transmitting the current position of the candidate electric vehicle after receiving, from the terminal, the first reply information (Kashiba: [0055]).
13. Regarding Claim 12, Kashiba teaches an electric power supply management device comprising (Kashiba: [0001] and [0040]):
A first request information receiving section that receives, from a certain house having power outage among a plurality of houses, first request information about a first request for an electric power supply to the certain house (Kashiba: [0050]);
A retrieving section that retrieves, with reference to a database associating the plurality of houses with a plurality of electric vehicles configured to supply electric power respectively to the plurality of houses, a candidate electric vehicle that enables the electric power supply to the certain house… (Kashiba: [0043] and [0054]);
A second request information transmitting section that transmits, to a terminal associated with the candidate electric vehicle, second request information about a second request for the electric power supply from the candidate electric vehicle to the certain house (Kashiba: [0058]);
And a location information transmitting section that receives, from the terminal, first reply information indicating acceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house, and transmits location information about a location of the certain house to the terminal in accordance with the first reply information (Kashiba: [0030], [0060], and [0068] Note that the server determining the ignition is switched to the on state is equivalent to terminal reply information indicating acceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house. Also, note that the navigation unit determine a route from the current location to the destination is equivalent to transmitting location information about a location of the certain house to the terminal (vehicle).).
Kashiba fails to explicitly teach retrieving… a candidate electric vehicle that enables the plurality of electric power supply to the certain house among electric vehicles associated with other houses among the plurality of houses, the other houses being different from the certain house.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Cheung teaches retrieving… a candidate electric vehicle that enables the plurality of electric power supply to the certain house among electric vehicles associated with other houses among the plurality of houses, the other houses being different from the certain house (Cheung: [0039] and [0046]).
Kashiba and Cheung are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba to incorporate the teachings of Cheung to retrieve a candidate electric vehicle associated with other houses to enable electric power supply because it provides the benefit of selecting the candidate vehicle with an improved geographic distribution for anticipating demand at particular locations, as explicitly explained in [0063] of Cheung.
Kashiba and Cheung fail to explicitly teach the retrieving section retrieves the candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle is retrieved from among potential electric vehicles associated with the other houses, based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house to at least one of items of a time required for each of the potential electric vehicles to reach the certain house, a suppliable electric power amount of each of the potential electric vehicles, an electricity price to occur in the electric power supply by each of the potential electric vehicles, a potential available time for each of the potential electric vehicles, and an evaluation of a user of each of the potential electric vehicles.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches in the retrieving section retrieves the candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle is retrieved from among potential electric vehicles associated with the other houses, based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house to at least one of items of a time required for each of the potential electric vehicles to reach the certain house, a suppliable electric power amount of each of the potential electric vehicles, an electricity price to occur in the electric power supply by each of the potential electric vehicles, a potential available time for each of the potential electric vehicles, and an evaluation of a user of each of the potential electric vehicles (Wang: [Page 3, Lines 37-42] and [Page 7, Lines 29-31] Note that the user independent selecting the mobile charging terminal based on reference information is equivalent to retrieving the candidate electric vehicle from among potential electric vehicles based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house.).
Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management and mobile charging stations. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba and Cheung to incorporate the teachings of Wang to retrieve the candidate electric vehicle based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house because it provides the benefit of the user selecting a suitable mobile charging terminal according to their needs as explicitly explained in [Page 7, Lines 29-31] of Wang.
14. Regarding Claim 13, Kashiba teaches a non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing an electric power supply management program of causing a computer to perform functions, the functions comprising (Kashiba: [0001], [0040], and [0041]):
Receiving, from a certain house having power outage among a plurality of houses, first request information about a first request for an electric power supply to the certain house (Kashiba: [0050]);
Retrieving, with reference to a database associating the plurality of houses with a plurality of electric vehicles configured to supply electric power respectively to the plurality of houses, a candidate electric vehicle that enables the electric power supply to the certain house… (Kashiba: [0043] and [0054]);
Transmitting, to a terminal associated with the candidate electric vehicle, second request information about a second request for the electric power supply from the candidate electric vehicle to the certain house (Kashiba: [0058]);
Receiving, from the terminal, first reply information indicating acceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house; and transmitting location information about a location of the certain house to the terminal in accordance with the first reply information (Kashiba: [0030], [0060], and [0068] Note that the server determining the ignition is switched to the on state is equivalent to terminal reply information indicating acceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house. Also, note that the navigation unit determine a route from the current location to the destination is equivalent to transmitting location information about a location of the certain house to the terminal (vehicle).).
Kashiba fails to explicitly teach retrieving… a candidate electric vehicle that enables the electric power supply to the certain house among the plurality of electric vehicles associated with other houses among the plurality of houses, the other houses being different from the certain house.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Cheung teaches retrieving… a candidate electric vehicle that enables the electric power supply to the certain house among the plurality of electric vehicles associated with other houses among the plurality of houses, the other houses being different from the certain house (Cheung: [0039] and [0046]).
Kashiba and Cheung are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba to incorporate the teachings of Cheung to retrieve a candidate electric vehicle associated with other houses to enable electric power supply because it provides the benefit of selecting the candidate vehicle with an improved geographic distribution for anticipating demand at particular locations, as explicitly explained in [0063] of Cheung.
Kashiba and Cheung fail to explicitly teach in the retrieving of the candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle is retrieved from among potential electric vehicles associated with the other houses, based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house to at least one of items of a time required for each of the potential electric vehicles to reach the certain house, a suppliable electric power amount of each of the potential electric vehicles, an electricity price to occur in the electric power supply by each of the potential electric vehicles, a potential available time for each of the potential electric vehicles, and an evaluation of a user of each of the potential electric vehicles.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Wang teaches in the retrieving of the candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle is retrieved from among potential electric vehicles associated with the other houses, based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house to at least one of items of a time required for each of the potential electric vehicles to reach the certain house, a suppliable electric power amount of each of the potential electric vehicles, an electricity price to occur in the electric power supply by each of the potential electric vehicles, a potential available time for each of the potential electric vehicles, and an evaluation of a user of each of the potential electric vehicles (Wang: [Page 3, Lines 37-42] and [Page 7, Lines 29-31] Note that the user independent selecting the mobile charging terminal based on reference information is equivalent to retrieving the candidate electric vehicle from among potential electric vehicles based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house.).
Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management and mobile charging stations. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba and Cheung to incorporate the teachings of Wang to retrieve the candidate electric vehicle based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house because it provides the benefit of the user selecting a suitable mobile charging terminal according to their needs as explicitly explained in [Page 7, Lines 29-31] of Wang.
15. Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kashiba (US 20150127203 A1), in view of Cheung (US 20210382501 A1), in view of Wang (CN 111497662 A), and in further view of Ehrenhalt (US 20220258632 A1).
16. Regarding Claim 7, Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang remain as applied above in Claim 1.
Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang fail to explicitly teach calculating an incentive to be given to a user of the candidate electric vehicle for the electric power supply to the certain house by the candidate electric vehicle; and transmitting information about the incentive to the terminal.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Ehrenhalt teaches calculating an incentive to be given to a user of the candidate electric vehicle for the electric power supply to the certain house by the candidate electric vehicle; and transmitting information about the incentive to the terminal (Ehrenhalt: [0040]).
Kashiba, Cheung, Wang, and Ehrenhalt are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management and mobile charging stations. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang to incorporate the teachings of Ehrenhalt to calculate an incentive to be given to a user of the candidate electric vehicle for the electric power supply and transmit the information to the terminal because it provides the benefit of a pay as you charge billing arrangement for automatically billing as the service is completed. Ehrenhalt explicitly teaches this benefit in [0040].
17. Regarding Claim 8, Kashiba, Cheung, Wang, and Ehrenhalt remain as applied above in Claim 7, and further, Ehrenhalt teaches wherein, in the calculating of the incentive, the incentive is calculated to increase in accordance with an increase in the amount of the electric power supply from the candidate electric vehicle to the certain house, in a traveling time of the candidate electric vehicle to the certain house, or in a power supplying time of the candidate electric vehicle to the certain house (Ehrenhalt: [0040]).
18. Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kashiba (US 20150127203 A1), in view of Cheung (US 20210382501 A1), in view of Wang (CN 111497662 A), and in further view of Ishiguma (US 20130218405 A1).
19. Regarding Claim 10, Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang remain as applied above in Claim 1.
Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang fails to explicitly teach transmitting, to the certain house, vehicle presentation information for presenting information about the one or more candidate electric vehicles before a resident of the certain house; receiving, from the certain house, selected vehicle information about a candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle being selected from the one or more candidate electric vehicles by the resident.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Ishiguma teaches transmitting, to the certain house, vehicle presentation information for presenting information about the one or more candidate electric vehicles before a resident of the certain house; receiving, from the certain house, selected vehicle information about a candidate electric vehicle, the candidate electric vehicle being selected from the one or more candidate electric vehicles by the resident (Ishiguma: [0034]).
Kashiba, Cheung, Wang, and Ishiguma are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang to incorporate the teachings of Ishiguma to transmit to the certain house vehicle presentation information for presenting information about the retrieved candidate electric vehicles before a resident of the certain house because it provides the benefit of the user making a selection based on the vehicle information. This provides the additional benefit of giving the user more control over the selection of the vehicle to be used next.
20. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kashiba (US 20150127203 A1), in view of Cheung (US 20210382501 A1), in view of Wang (CN 111497662 A), and in further view of Fujiwara (US 20210053458 A1).
21. Regarding Claim 11, Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang remain as applied above in Claim 1.
Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang fails to explicitly teach receiving, from a second candidate electric vehicle among the potential electric vehicles, second reply information indicating unacceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house from the terminal, wherein the retrieving, with reference to the database, of the candidate electric vehicle is in response to the second candidate electric vehicle indicating the unacceptance.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Fujiwara teaches receiving, from a second candidate electric vehicle among the potential electric vehicles, second reply information indicating unacceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house from the terminal, wherein the retrieving, with reference to the database, of the candidate electric vehicle is in response to the second candidate electric vehicle indicating the unacceptance (Fujiwara: [0063] and [0066] Note that vehicles that have received an electric power request not providing electrical power is equivalent to indicating unacceptance of the electric power supply. The vehicles that accept the power supply request is equivalent to the retrieved candidate vehicles.).
Kashiba, Cheung, Wang, and Fujiwara are considered to be analogous to the claim invention because they are in the same field of vehicle power supply management. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kashiba, Cheung, and Wang to incorporate the teachings of Fujiwara to receive second reply information indicating unacceptance of the electric power supply to the certain house because it provides the benefit of requesting permission to use the candidate electric vehicle and give more flexibility to use the electric power of the vehicle. The owner of the electric vehicle can make a decision based on an incentive provided for supplying the power. Therefore, if the incentive is too low of a price, the electric vehicle can deny to supply power.
Response to Arguments
22. Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claims 1 and 4-13 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. Wang (CN 111497662 A) has been applied to teach the amended subject matter of retrieving candidate electric vehicle based on a priority given by a resident of the certain house in the rejection above as cited in at least [Page 3, Lines 37-42] and [Page 7, Lines 29-31]. Wang teaches that the user may select the candidate mobile power supply based on the reference information (including price of each mobile charging terminal).
23. The cited prior in the rejections above teach all aspects of the invention. The rejection is modified according to the newly amended language but still maintained with the current prior art of record.
24. Claims 1 and 4-13 remain rejected under their respective grounds and rational as cited above, and as stated in the prior office action which is incorporated herein. Also, although not specifically argued, all remaining claims remain rejected under their respective grounds, rationales, and applicable prior art for these reasons cited above, and those mentioned in the prior office action which is incorporated herein.
Conclusion
25. 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.
26. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T SILVA whose telephone number is (571)272-6506. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Tues: 7AM - 4:30PM ET; Wed-Thurs: 7AM-6PM ET; Fri: OFF.
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/MICHAEL T SILVA/Examiner, Art Unit 3663 /ANGELA Y ORTIZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3663
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