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 4/28/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-4 remain pending in the application, and no claims have been canceled. Applicant’s amendments to the Specification and Claims have overcome every specification and claim objection and 112 and 103 rejection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed 2/5/2026. The new grounds of rejection presented below are necessitated by the amendments. Accordingly, this Office Action is made Final.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ichikawa et al. (US 20120091958 A1) in view of Ochiai (US 5952813 A, published 9/14/1999).
Regarding independent claim 1, Ichikawa teaches an electric vehicle comprising:
a power storage device (Fig. 1: 150);
a charging device (Fig. 1: 160) capable of charging the power storage device using power from an external power source (402);
a vehicle side connector (Fig. 1: 270) that can be connected to a cable side connector (310) of a cable device (300) that connects the external power source to the charging device (Fig. 1: charging device 160 connected to external power source 402 through lines ACL1 and ACL2 and charging cable 300);
a connection detection device that detects presence or absence of a connection between the vehicle side connector and the cable side connector (Figs. 1, 17 and ¶[95, 99]: the voltage on line L3 indicates to the connection detection circuit 312 whether a connection is made between the charging connector 310 and vehicle inlet 270); and
a controller programmed to control the charging device when charging the power storage device using power from the external power source (¶[68]: Electric Control Unit ECU 170 controls charging device 160 to charge power storage device 140) and calculates remaining charge time required to fully charge the power storage device based on a value of supplied power from the external power source (Fig. 8 and ¶[132-135, esp. 135]: If the cable is connected between the charging connector 310 and vehicle inlet 270, ECU receives state signal STAT and determines whether the connection was made within a time set time period. Charging information such as time to complete charging is determined):
the electric vehicle is characterized by
wherein the cable device has a connection switch that connects and disconnects a power line from the external power source to the charging device (Fig. 17 and ¶[70, 72-73]: cable device 300 has control pilot circuit 334 that controls CCID relay 332 to connect or disconnect power in the power lines 340 and 350.), the connection switch transmitting a connection signal to the controller indicating a connection state in which the power line from the external power source to the charging device is connected or a disconnection state in which the connection is disconnected (Fig. 17 and ¶[72, 129]: cable device 300 has connection detection unit 312 that outputs connection signal CNCT indicating whether charging cable 300 is connected to external power supply 402) (¶[113] and Fig. 9: if CNCT is not less than or equal to V11, the charging cable 300 is not connected to the power supply 402); and
the controller (Fig. 8 and ¶[133-136]: charging information including time to complete charging is retained in charging information setting unit 710 and charging information storage unit 720) when:
(i) the connection signal of the disconnection state is received by operating the connection switch during a charging session wherein the charging device is to be charging the power storage device using power from the external power source with the charging device connected to the external power source via the cable device, and
(ii) the connection between the vehicle side connector and the cable side connector is detected by the connection detection device
(¶[90] and Fig. 1: when leakage detector detects leakage, the contact of CCID relay 332 is turned off disconnecting the external power supply 402 from the system. The examiner interprets this occurrence as liable to happen any time the system is in operation including when power supply 160 is charging power storage device 150).
Ichikawa does not explicitly teach the controller retains the value of supplied power before receiving the connection signal in the disconnection state and calculates the remaining charge time when:
(i) the connection signal of the disconnection state is received by operating the connection switch during a charging session wherein the charging device is to be charging the power storage device using power from the external power source with the charging device connected to the external power source via the cable device, and
(ii) the connection between the vehicle side connector and the cable side connector is detected by the connection detection device.
Ochiai teaches the controller retains the value of supplied power before receiving the connection signal in the disconnection state and calculates the remaining charge time (Col 5, line 16-25: “When the charging control computer 30 detects recovery of the external AC power supply 36 from the failure, the charging control computer 30 determines, as a new target charging time, a remaining charging time that is calculated by subtracting the charged time from the initial target charging time.” The examiner considers “charged time” as equivalent to supplied power and it is retained before a failure of the power supply 36) when:
(i) the connection signal of the disconnection state is received by operating the connection switch during a charging session wherein the charging device is to be charging the power storage device using power from the external power source with the charging device connected to the external power source via the cable device (Col 5, line 1-15: While battery 12 is being charged by the external AC power supply 36, a failure in the power supply is detected), and
(ii) the connection between the vehicle side connector and the cable side connector is detected by the connection detection device (Col 5, line 16-25).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to incorporate the supplied power and remaining time calculation of Ochiai into the system of Ichikawa to accurately determine remaining time to charge, taking into account battery self-discharge, during the recovery of a failure in the power supply.
Regarding claim 2, Ichikawa teaches the electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller clears the value of supplied power when a disconnection between the vehicle side connector and the cable side connector is detected by the connection detection device, when the connection signal of the disconnection state is received during charging of the power storage device (¶[174, 135] and Figs. 8-9: If charging connector 310 is disconnected, stored timer time TIM is reset. The resetting of TIM is interpreted by the examiner to be also including the reset of other time information such as a time to complete charging).
Regarding claim 3, Ichikawa teaches the electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the controller reports the remaining charge time (Fig. 8 and ¶[63-64, 68, 132, 135, 137]: charging information, including time to complete charging, from display setting unit 740 is displayed via display device 172).
Regarding claim 4, Ichikawa teaches the electric vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the controller reports the remaining charge time (Fig. 8 and ¶[63-64, 68, 132, 135, 137]: charging information, including time to complete charging, from display setting unit 740 is displayed via display device 172).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ryu-Sung P. Weinmann whose telephone number is (703)756-5964. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm ET.
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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.
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/Ryu-Sung P. Weinmann/Examiner, Art Unit 2859 July 9, 2026
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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