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 .
Claim Status
Claims 1, 3-5, 7-9, and 11-12 are pending. Claims 2, 6, and 10 are canceled. Claims 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 are amended. Claims 4, 8, and 12 are original.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/10/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments on pages 12-13 of the remarks with respect to the amended recitation “a charging/discharging location on the travel route” in independent claims 1, 5, and 9 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. Newly found reference FISHER discloses this recitation as described in the rejection below.
In response to arguments on pages 13-14 of the remarks that primary reference KAWAMURA does not disclose the recitation “predetermined electricity purchased by a community”, it is submitted that the disclosure of a target KPI comprising power energy to be purchased implies that it is “predetermined”, and therefore reads on said recitation. Furthermore, the claims do not recite “management of electricity that has already been purchased” as argued by Applicant. It is submitted that KAWAMURA teaches this recitation within the broadest reasonable interpretation.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the replacement sheets for figures 1 and 5 are acceptable, but the replacement sheet for figure 7 has the word “GUIDANCE” misspelled. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-5, 8-9, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KAWAMURA (US PG Pub 2022/0376522; cited on IDS; cited in previous office action) in view of FISHER (US PG Pub 2013/0179057).
Regarding claim 1, KAWAMURA discloses a server apparatus (6, Fig. 1; ¶ 0032: region energy management device (CEMS) 6 coordinates with the energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N to manage energy of the entire business entity 4 via a communication network 19; ¶ 0062: FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a computing device 30 included in…. the region energy management device 6; ¶ 0063: computing device 30 is hardware used as a so-called computer. The computing device 30 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 31, a ROM (read only memory) 32, and a RAM (random access memory) 33 that are connected to a bus. The computing device 30 further includes a display device 34, an input device 35, nonvolatile storage 36, and a communication interface 37) comprising:
a communication interface (37, Fig. 3; ¶ 0067: As the communication interface 37, for example, an NIC (network interface card), a modem, or the like is used. The communication interface 37 is configured to transmit and receive various data to and from an external device via a LAN connected to a terminal, the communication network 19 such as the Internet, a dedicated line, or the like); and
a controller (31, Fig. 3; ¶ 0063: computing device 30 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 31) configured to communicate using the communication interface (¶ 0069: the CPU 31 (FIG. 3) of the region energy management device 6 (CEMS) uses the communication interface 37 to receive, from the energy management device (EMS) of each of the consumers 5, a predicted SOC value of each of the stationary battery device and the EV storage battery 14 of the parked electric vehicle 13 at each time and the rechargeable and dischargeable amount at each time), wherein the controller is configured to
receive, from a vehicle (13, Fig. 1) driven by electricity from a battery (14, Fig. 1; ¶ 0028: electric vehicle 13 includes a storage battery (“EVP” in the drawing) 14), operation information on operation of the vehicle (¶ 0058: Information to be provided to the region energy management device 6…..A predicted value of an SOC (amount of charge and available amount) (kWh) of the EV storage battery 14 of each EV 13 present at the corresponding consumer at each time; ¶ 0070: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to receive the traveling plan and a predicted SOC value of the EV storage battery 14 from the EV energy management device 15 (EV-EMS) installed in the electric vehicle 13 (S2)), the operation information includes information on a battery level of the vehicle and information on a travel route of the vehicle (¶ 0028: electric vehicle 13 arrives at each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N based on a traveling plan and is parked (present) for a predetermined period of time; ¶ 0046: Information from each of the energy management devices (FEMS8, HEMS9):…(2) A predicted value of an SOC (amount of charge and available capacity) (kWh) of the EV storage battery 14 of each EV 13 present at the corresponding consumer at each time; ¶ 0051: traveling plan is information of the destination (consumer 5 or the like) of the electric vehicle 13, an arrival time at the destination, a parking time, a movement time, and the like; ¶ 0060: SOC prediction unit 15a receives the “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for the EV storage battery” that has been calculated by the region energy management device 6 directly or via the energy management device of the consumer 5 at which the electric vehicle is present. Then, the energy management device 15 predicts an SOC for the EV storage battery 14 based on this charging/discharging plan (draft revision) and the traveling plan and retransmits the result of predicting the SOC and the traveling plan to the region energy management device 6 directly or via the energy management device of the consumer 5 at which the electric vehicle is present; ¶ 0078: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output a request to revise the traveling plan to the EV energy management device 15 of the electric vehicle 13 parked at the consumer 5 (S10). For example, examples of the revision of the traveling plan are a change in a period of time when the electric vehicle 13 is present at each consumer 5, a change in an arrival time when the electric vehicle arrives at a consumer 5 next, a change in a movement route of the electric vehicle 13, and the like),
transmit, to the vehicle or a charging/discharging apparatus (10, Fig. 1; ¶ 0030: power supply equipment 10 of each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N includes a charging/discharging device 10a that has a terminal to be electrically connected to the EV storage battery 14 of the electric vehicle 13 and charges and discharges the EV storage battery 14), information on a charging/discharging plan for charging the battery (¶ 0075: the region operation planning unit 6b calculates a charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for each EV storage battery 14 from the SOC distribution of the EV storage battery 14 of each electric vehicles 13 and the amount (power to be output/received by each of the consumers) of power to be interchanged between the consumers 5 (S7); ¶ 0077: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output the charging/discharging plan (draft revision) of the EV storage battery 14 to the EV energy management device 15 of each electric vehicle 13 directly or via the energy management devices (EMSs) of the consumers 5 (S9). The “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the region energy management device 6 as needed. In addition, since the charging/discharging plan needs to be changed due to a change in the traveling plan for the electric vehicle 13 or a change (change in a decrease rate of a remaining battery level of the EV storage battery 14) in the state of the EV storage battery 14, the “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the EV energy management device 15 as needed) with predetermined electricity purchased (¶ 0033: region energy management device 6 receives various information from the energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9, EV-EMS15) of the consumers 5 included in the business entity 4, transmits an instruction to each of the energy management devices, and manages energy of the entire region, that is, energy of each of the consumers 5 such that a target KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of the entire region (in the business entity 4) is satisfied. Examples of the KPI are…. Primary energy (power energy to be purchased)) by a community (¶ 0023: FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of the energy system including the plurality of consumers present in the region to which the region energy management device according to the embodiment is applied. In FIG. 1, a region energy management device (CEMS: Community EMS) 6 is applied to a business entity 4 including a plurality of consumers 5-1 to 5-N (N is an integer of 2 or greater), each of which is constituted by a building, a factory, a home, or the like), the charging/discharging plan including a charging/discharging location within the community and a charging/discharging timing for the vehicle at the charging/discharging location (¶ 0052: the region operation planning unit 6b makes a “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for an EV rechargeable battery” of each electric vehicle 13 for the business entity 4 and transmits the plan to each electric vehicle 13. For the “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for the EV rechargeable battery”, only a difference from the previous “charging/discharging plan for the EV rechargeable battery” may be calculated. Furthermore, to change an SOC for each of the consumers 5, the region operation planning unit 6b instructs (requests) a change in a traveling plan for each electric vehicle 13 as needed; ¶ 0077: “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the region energy management device 6 as needed. In addition, since the charging/discharging plan needs to be changed due to a change in the traveling plan for the electric vehicle 13 or a change (change in a decrease rate of a remaining battery level of the EV storage battery 14) in the state of the EV storage battery 14, the “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the EV energy management device 15 as needed; ¶ 0078: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output a request to revise the traveling plan to the EV energy management device 15 of the electric vehicle 13 parked at the consumer 5 (S10). For example, examples of the revision of the traveling plan are a change in a period of time when the electric vehicle 13 is present at each consumer 5, a change in an arrival time when the electric vehicle arrives at a consumer 5 next, a change in a movement route of the electric vehicle 13, and the like; ¶ 0127: the EV storage battery 14 is discharged to the lower limit “SOC min” for demand response from 11:00 to 13:00 (time zone t2) and is charged with surplus power of the PV or the cogeneration system (power supply equipment 10) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3). Furthermore, the EV storage battery 14 is discharged for traveling to go home from 17:00 to 18:00 and discharged from 18:00 to 19:00 (time zone t4) in accordance with an instruction from the home energy management device 9 (HEMS) in response to a request for adjustment power from the region energy management device 6 (CEMS). From 19:00 to 24:00, the EV storage battery discharges power for the home. In this case, surplus power is generated from the factory energy management device 8 (FEMS) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3), and the region energy management device 6 (CEMS) makes a plan for interchanging power from the factory to the home using the EV storage battery 14 based on information that requires adjustment power from 18:00 to 19:00 (time zone t4)), and
control the vehicle or the charging/discharging apparatus at the charging/discharging location to execute the charging/discharging plan (¶ 0030: power supply equipment 10 of each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N includes a charging/discharging device 10a that has a terminal to be electrically connected to the EV storage battery 14 of the electric vehicle 13 and charges and discharges the EV storage battery 14; ¶ 0031: Various energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N make an operation plan for the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10,… and the load equipment 12 and controls the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10; ¶ 0127: the EV storage battery 14 is discharged to the lower limit “SOC min” for demand response from 11:00 to 13:00 (time zone t2) and is charged with surplus power of the PV or the cogeneration system (power supply equipment 10) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3)).
KAWAMURA fails to disclose the charging/discharging location on the travel route.
FISHER discloses the charging/discharging location on the travel route (¶ 0008: the system provides information to a user regarding charging stations located either nearby or along a proposed route, for recharging the vehicle. Range analysis, mentioned above, combined with route planning and charging station data can be used to identify charging stations along the route, to check their suitability for the vehicle, to check their availability, and to make a reservation for charging at a selected charging station; ¶ 0084: travel planner may be used to calculate routes based on current location and taking into account the vehicle charge level. If necessary, a route may be modified in order to visit a charging station along the way. FIG. 17 shows an example of a client application screen display for adding a route point or adding a charging station for planning a trip. The display may include indications of the car's current location, charge level and estimated range).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the charging/discharging location on the travel route in order to reduce anxiety that may be caused by uncertainty as to whether or not an electric vehicle has sufficient charge to carry out its agenda for the remainder of the day (FISHER, ¶ 0007).
Regarding claim 4, KAWAMURA discloses the controller is configured to create the charging/discharging plan taking into account a consumption of the predetermined electricity by a power load within the community (¶ 0053, 0058, 0069).
Regarding claim 5, KAWAMURA discloses a system comprising:
a vehicle (13, Fig. 1) driven by electricity from a battery (14, Fig. 1; ¶ 0028: electric vehicle 13 includes a storage battery (“EVP” in the drawing) 14);
a charging/discharging apparatus configured to charge/discharge the battery (10, Fig. 1; ¶ 0030: power supply equipment 10 of each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N includes a charging/discharging device 10a that has a terminal to be electrically connected to the EV storage battery 14 of the electric vehicle 13 and charges and discharges the EV storage battery 14); and
a server apparatus (6, Fig. 1; ¶ 0032: region energy management device (CEMS) 6 coordinates with the energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N to manage energy of the entire business entity 4 via a communication network 19; ¶ 0062: FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a computing device 30 included in…. the region energy management device 6; ¶ 0063: computing device 30 is hardware used as a so-called computer. The computing device 30 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 31, a ROM (read only memory) 32, and a RAM (random access memory) 33 that are connected to a bus. The computing device 30 further includes a display device 34, an input device 35, nonvolatile storage 36, and a communication interface 37) configured to communicate with the vehicle and the charging/discharging apparatus (¶ 0031: Various energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N make an operation plan for the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10, the heat source equipment 11, and the load equipment 12 and controls the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10; ¶ 0032: region energy management device (CEMS) 6 coordinates with the energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N to manage energy of the entire business entity 4 via a communication network 19; ¶ 0077: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output the charging/discharging plan (draft revision) of the EV storage battery 14 to the EV energy management device 15 of each electric vehicle 13 directly or via the energy management devices (EMSs) of the consumers 5 (S9). The “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the region energy management device 6 as needed. In addition, since the charging/discharging plan needs to be changed due to a change in the traveling plan for the electric vehicle 13 or a change (change in a decrease rate of a remaining battery level of the EV storage battery 14) in the state of the EV storage battery 14, the “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the EV energy management device 15 as needed), wherein
the server apparatus is configured to
receive operation information on operation of the vehicle from the vehicle (¶ 0058: Information to be provided to the region energy management device 6…..A predicted value of an SOC (amount of charge and available amount) (kWh) of the EV storage battery 14 of each EV 13 present at the corresponding consumer at each time; ¶ 0070: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to receive the traveling plan and a predicted SOC value of the EV storage battery 14 from the EV energy management device 15 (EV-EMS) installed in the electric vehicle 13 (S2)), the operation information includes information on a battery level of the vehicle and information on a travel route of the vehicle (¶ 0028: electric vehicle 13 arrives at each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N based on a traveling plan and is parked (present) for a predetermined period of time; ¶ 0046: Information from each of the energy management devices (FEMS8, HEMS9):…(2) A predicted value of an SOC (amount of charge and available capacity) (kWh) of the EV storage battery 14 of each EV 13 present at the corresponding consumer at each time; ¶ 0051: traveling plan is information of the destination (consumer 5 or the like) of the electric vehicle 13, an arrival time at the destination, a parking time, a movement time, and the like; ¶ 0060: SOC prediction unit 15a receives the “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for the EV storage battery” that has been calculated by the region energy management device 6 directly or via the energy management device of the consumer 5 at which the electric vehicle is present. Then, the energy management device 15 predicts an SOC for the EV storage battery 14 based on this charging/discharging plan (draft revision) and the traveling plan and retransmits the result of predicting the SOC and the traveling plan to the region energy management device 6 directly or via the energy management device of the consumer 5 at which the electric vehicle is present; ¶ 0078: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output a request to revise the traveling plan to the EV energy management device 15 of the electric vehicle 13 parked at the consumer 5 (S10). For example, examples of the revision of the traveling plan are a change in a period of time when the electric vehicle 13 is present at each consumer 5, a change in an arrival time when the electric vehicle arrives at a consumer 5 next, a change in a movement route of the electric vehicle 13, and the like), and
transmit information on a charging/discharging plan for charging the battery (¶ 0075: the region operation planning unit 6b calculates a charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for each EV storage battery 14 from the SOC distribution of the EV storage battery 14 of each electric vehicles 13 and the amount (power to be output/received by each of the consumers) of power to be interchanged between the consumers 5 (S7); ¶ 0077: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output the charging/discharging plan (draft revision) of the EV storage battery 14 to the EV energy management device 15 of each electric vehicle 13 directly or via the energy management devices (EMSs) of the consumers 5 (S9). The “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the region energy management device 6 as needed. In addition, since the charging/discharging plan needs to be changed due to a change in the traveling plan for the electric vehicle 13 or a change (change in a decrease rate of a remaining battery level of the EV storage battery 14) in the state of the EV storage battery 14, the “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the EV energy management device 15 as needed) with predetermined electricity purchased (¶ 0033: region energy management device 6 receives various information from the energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9, EV-EMS15) of the consumers 5 included in the business entity 4, transmits an instruction to each of the energy management devices, and manages energy of the entire region, that is, energy of each of the consumers 5 such that a target KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of the entire region (in the business entity 4) is satisfied. Examples of the KPI are…. Primary energy (power energy to be purchased)) by a community (¶ 0023: FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of the energy system including the plurality of consumers present in the region to which the region energy management device according to the embodiment is applied. In FIG. 1, a region energy management device (CEMS: Community EMS) 6 is applied to a business entity 4 including a plurality of consumers 5-1 to 5-N (N is an integer of 2 or greater), each of which is constituted by a building, a factory, a home, or the like), the charging/discharging plan including a charging/discharging location within the community and a charging/discharging timing for the vehicle at the charging/discharging location (¶ 0052: the region operation planning unit 6b makes a “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for an EV rechargeable battery” of each electric vehicle 13 for the business entity 4 and transmits the plan to each electric vehicle 13. For the “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for the EV rechargeable battery”, only a difference from the previous “charging/discharging plan for the EV rechargeable battery” may be calculated. Furthermore, to change an SOC for each of the consumers 5, the region operation planning unit 6b instructs (requests) a change in a traveling plan for each electric vehicle 13 as needed; ¶ 0077: “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the region energy management device 6 as needed. In addition, since the charging/discharging plan needs to be changed due to a change in the traveling plan for the electric vehicle 13 or a change (change in a decrease rate of a remaining battery level of the EV storage battery 14) in the state of the EV storage battery 14, the “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the EV energy management device 15 as needed; ¶ 0078: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output a request to revise the traveling plan to the EV energy management device 15 of the electric vehicle 13 parked at the consumer 5 (S10). For example, examples of the revision of the traveling plan are a change in a period of time when the electric vehicle 13 is present at each consumer 5, a change in an arrival time when the electric vehicle arrives at a consumer 5 next, a change in a movement route of the electric vehicle 13, and the like; ¶ 0127: the EV storage battery 14 is discharged to the lower limit “SOC min” for demand response from 11:00 to 13:00 (time zone t2) and is charged with surplus power of the PV or the cogeneration system (power supply equipment 10) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3). Furthermore, the EV storage battery 14 is discharged for traveling to go home from 17:00 to 18:00 and discharged from 18:00 to 19:00 (time zone t4) in accordance with an instruction from the home energy management device 9 (HEMS) in response to a request for adjustment power from the region energy management device 6 (CEMS). From 19:00 to 24:00, the EV storage battery discharges power for the home. In this case, surplus power is generated from the factory energy management device 8 (FEMS) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3), and the region energy management device 6 (CEMS) makes a plan for interchanging power from the factory to the home using the EV storage battery 14 based on information that requires adjustment power from 18:00 to 19:00 (time zone t4)), and
the vehicle or the charging/discharging apparatus is configured to receive the information on the charging/discharging plan and execute the charging/discharging plan (¶ 0030: power supply equipment 10 of each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N includes a charging/discharging device 10a that has a terminal to be electrically connected to the EV storage battery 14 of the electric vehicle 13 and charges and discharges the EV storage battery 14; ¶ 0031: Various energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N make an operation plan for the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10,… and the load equipment 12 and controls the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10; ¶ 0127: the EV storage battery 14 is discharged to the lower limit “SOC min” for demand response from 11:00 to 13:00 (time zone t2) and is charged with surplus power of the PV or the cogeneration system (power supply equipment 10) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3)).
KAWAMURA fails to disclose the charging/discharging location on the travel route.
FISHER discloses the charging/discharging location on the travel route (¶ 0008: the system provides information to a user regarding charging stations located either nearby or along a proposed route, for recharging the vehicle. Range analysis, mentioned above, combined with route planning and charging station data can be used to identify charging stations along the route, to check their suitability for the vehicle, to check their availability, and to make a reservation for charging at a selected charging station; ¶ 0084: travel planner may be used to calculate routes based on current location and taking into account the vehicle charge level. If necessary, a route may be modified in order to visit a charging station along the way. FIG. 17 shows an example of a client application screen display for adding a route point or adding a charging station for planning a trip. The display may include indications of the car's current location, charge level and estimated range).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the charging/discharging location on the travel route in order to reduce anxiety that may be caused by uncertainty as to whether or not an electric vehicle has sufficient charge to carry out its agenda for the remainder of the day (FISHER, ¶ 0007).
Regarding claim 8, KAWAMURA discloses the server apparatus is configured to create the charging/discharging plan taking into account a consumption of the predetermined electricity by a power load within the community (¶ 0053, 0058, 0069).
Regarding claim 9, KAWAMURA discloses an operating method of a system comprising a vehicle (13, Fig. 1) driven by electricity from a battery (14, Fig. 1; ¶ 0028: electric vehicle 13 includes a storage battery (“EVP” in the drawing) 14), a charging/discharging apparatus configured to charge/discharge the battery (10, Fig. 1; ¶ 0030: power supply equipment 10 of each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N includes a charging/discharging device 10a that has a terminal to be electrically connected to the EV storage battery 14 of the electric vehicle 13 and charges and discharges the EV storage battery 14), and a server apparatus (6, Fig. 1; ¶ 0032: region energy management device (CEMS) 6 coordinates with the energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N to manage energy of the entire business entity 4 via a communication network 19; ¶ 0062: FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a computing device 30 included in…. the region energy management device 6; ¶ 0063: computing device 30 is hardware used as a so-called computer. The computing device 30 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 31, a ROM (read only memory) 32, and a RAM (random access memory) 33 that are connected to a bus. The computing device 30 further includes a display device 34, an input device 35, nonvolatile storage 36, and a communication interface 37) configured to communicate with the vehicle and the charging/discharging apparatus (¶ 0031: Various energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N make an operation plan for the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10, the heat source equipment 11, and the load equipment 12 and controls the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10; ¶ 0032: region energy management device (CEMS) 6 coordinates with the energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N to manage energy of the entire business entity 4 via a communication network 19; ¶ 0077: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output the charging/discharging plan (draft revision) of the EV storage battery 14 to the EV energy management device 15 of each electric vehicle 13 directly or via the energy management devices (EMSs) of the consumers 5 (S9). The “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the region energy management device 6 as needed. In addition, since the charging/discharging plan needs to be changed due to a change in the traveling plan for the electric vehicle 13 or a change (change in a decrease rate of a remaining battery level of the EV storage battery 14) in the state of the EV storage battery 14, the “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the EV energy management device 15 as needed), the operating method comprising:
receiving, by the server apparatus, operation information on operation of the vehicle from the vehicle (¶ 0058: Information to be provided to the region energy management device 6…..A predicted value of an SOC (amount of charge and available amount) (kWh) of the EV storage battery 14 of each EV 13 present at the corresponding consumer at each time; ¶ 0070: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to receive the traveling plan and a predicted SOC value of the EV storage battery 14 from the EV energy management device 15 (EV-EMS) installed in the electric vehicle 13 (S2)), the operation information includes information on a battery level of the vehicle and information on a travel route of the vehicle (¶ 0028: electric vehicle 13 arrives at each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N based on a traveling plan and is parked (present) for a predetermined period of time; ¶ 0046: Information from each of the energy management devices (FEMS8, HEMS9):…(2) A predicted value of an SOC (amount of charge and available capacity) (kWh) of the EV storage battery 14 of each EV 13 present at the corresponding consumer at each time; ¶ 0051: traveling plan is information of the destination (consumer 5 or the like) of the electric vehicle 13, an arrival time at the destination, a parking time, a movement time, and the like; ¶ 0060: SOC prediction unit 15a receives the “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for the EV storage battery” that has been calculated by the region energy management device 6 directly or via the energy management device of the consumer 5 at which the electric vehicle is present. Then, the energy management device 15 predicts an SOC for the EV storage battery 14 based on this charging/discharging plan (draft revision) and the traveling plan and retransmits the result of predicting the SOC and the traveling plan to the region energy management device 6 directly or via the energy management device of the consumer 5 at which the electric vehicle is present; ¶ 0078: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output a request to revise the traveling plan to the EV energy management device 15 of the electric vehicle 13 parked at the consumer 5 (S10). For example, examples of the revision of the traveling plan are a change in a period of time when the electric vehicle 13 is present at each consumer 5, a change in an arrival time when the electric vehicle arrives at a consumer 5 next, a change in a movement route of the electric vehicle 13, and the like); and
transmitting, by the server apparatus, information on a charging/discharging plan for charging the battery (¶ 0075: the region operation planning unit 6b calculates a charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for each EV storage battery 14 from the SOC distribution of the EV storage battery 14 of each electric vehicles 13 and the amount (power to be output/received by each of the consumers) of power to be interchanged between the consumers 5 (S7); ¶ 0077: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output the charging/discharging plan (draft revision) of the EV storage battery 14 to the EV energy management device 15 of each electric vehicle 13 directly or via the energy management devices (EMSs) of the consumers 5 (S9). The “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the region energy management device 6 as needed. In addition, since the charging/discharging plan needs to be changed due to a change in the traveling plan for the electric vehicle 13 or a change (change in a decrease rate of a remaining battery level of the EV storage battery 14) in the state of the EV storage battery 14, the “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the EV energy management device 15 as needed) with predetermined electricity purchased (¶ 0033: region energy management device 6 receives various information from the energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9, EV-EMS15) of the consumers 5 included in the business entity 4, transmits an instruction to each of the energy management devices, and manages energy of the entire region, that is, energy of each of the consumers 5 such that a target KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of the entire region (in the business entity 4) is satisfied. Examples of the KPI are…. Primary energy (power energy to be purchased)) by a community (¶ 0023: FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of the energy system including the plurality of consumers present in the region to which the region energy management device according to the embodiment is applied. In FIG. 1, a region energy management device (CEMS: Community EMS) 6 is applied to a business entity 4 including a plurality of consumers 5-1 to 5-N (N is an integer of 2 or greater), each of which is constituted by a building, a factory, a home, or the like), the charging/discharging plan including a charging/discharging location within the community and a charging/discharging timing for the vehicle at the charging/discharging location (¶ 0052: the region operation planning unit 6b makes a “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for an EV rechargeable battery” of each electric vehicle 13 for the business entity 4 and transmits the plan to each electric vehicle 13. For the “charging/discharging plan (draft revision) for the EV rechargeable battery”, only a difference from the previous “charging/discharging plan for the EV rechargeable battery” may be calculated. Furthermore, to change an SOC for each of the consumers 5, the region operation planning unit 6b instructs (requests) a change in a traveling plan for each electric vehicle 13 as needed; ¶ 0077: “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the region energy management device 6 as needed. In addition, since the charging/discharging plan needs to be changed due to a change in the traveling plan for the electric vehicle 13 or a change (change in a decrease rate of a remaining battery level of the EV storage battery 14) in the state of the EV storage battery 14, the “charging/discharging plan for the EV storage battery” is updated by the EV energy management device 15 as needed; ¶ 0078: the CPU 31 of the region energy management device 6 uses the communication interface 37 to output a request to revise the traveling plan to the EV energy management device 15 of the electric vehicle 13 parked at the consumer 5 (S10). For example, examples of the revision of the traveling plan are a change in a period of time when the electric vehicle 13 is present at each consumer 5, a change in an arrival time when the electric vehicle arrives at a consumer 5 next, a change in a movement route of the electric vehicle 13, and the like; ¶ 0127: the EV storage battery 14 is discharged to the lower limit “SOC min” for demand response from 11:00 to 13:00 (time zone t2) and is charged with surplus power of the PV or the cogeneration system (power supply equipment 10) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3). Furthermore, the EV storage battery 14 is discharged for traveling to go home from 17:00 to 18:00 and discharged from 18:00 to 19:00 (time zone t4) in accordance with an instruction from the home energy management device 9 (HEMS) in response to a request for adjustment power from the region energy management device 6 (CEMS). From 19:00 to 24:00, the EV storage battery discharges power for the home. In this case, surplus power is generated from the factory energy management device 8 (FEMS) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3), and the region energy management device 6 (CEMS) makes a plan for interchanging power from the factory to the home using the EV storage battery 14 based on information that requires adjustment power from 18:00 to 19:00 (time zone t4)); and
receiving, by the vehicle or the charging/discharging apparatus, the information on the charging/discharging plan and executing the charging/discharging plan (¶ 0030: power supply equipment 10 of each of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N includes a charging/discharging device 10a that has a terminal to be electrically connected to the EV storage battery 14 of the electric vehicle 13 and charges and discharges the EV storage battery 14; ¶ 0031: Various energy management devices (BEMS7, FEMS8, HEMS9) of the consumers 5-1 to 5-N make an operation plan for the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10,… and the load equipment 12 and controls the equipment such as the power supply equipment 10; ¶ 0127: the EV storage battery 14 is discharged to the lower limit “SOC min” for demand response from 11:00 to 13:00 (time zone t2) and is charged with surplus power of the PV or the cogeneration system (power supply equipment 10) from 15:00 to 17:00 (time zone t3)).
KAWAMURA fails to disclose the charging/discharging location on the travel route.
FISHER discloses the charging/discharging location on the travel route (¶ 0008: the system provides information to a user regarding charging stations located either nearby or along a proposed route, for recharging the vehicle. Range analysis, mentioned above, combined with route planning and charging station data can be used to identify charging stations along the route, to check their suitability for the vehicle, to check their availability, and to make a reservation for charging at a selected charging station; ¶ 0084: travel planner may be used to calculate routes based on current location and taking into account the vehicle charge level. If necessary, a route may be modified in order to visit a charging station along the way. FIG. 17 shows an example of a client application screen display for adding a route point or adding a charging station for planning a trip. The display may include indications of the car's current location, charge level and estimated range).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the charging/discharging location on the travel route in order to reduce anxiety that may be caused by uncertainty as to whether or not an electric vehicle has sufficient charge to carry out its agenda for the remainder of the day (FISHER, ¶ 0007).
Regarding claim 12, KAWAMURA discloses the server apparatus creates the charging/discharging plan taking into account a consumption of the predetermined electricity by a power load within the community (¶ 0053, 0058, 0069).
Claim(s) 3, 7, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KAWAMURA in view of FISHER as applied to claims 1, 4-5, 8-9, and 12 above, and further in view of HERSHKOVITZ (US PG Pub 2010/0094496; cited in previous office action).
Regarding claim 3, KAWAMURA as modified by FISHER teaches the server apparatus as applied to claim 1 but fails to disclose the information on the travel route includes a guidance route and a history of the travel route.
HERSHKOVITZ discloses the information on the travel route includes a guidance route and a history of the travel route (¶ 0135, 0137, 0149-0154, 0238).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the guidance route and a history of the travel route in order to ensure sufficient vehicle charge after the charging/discharging plan and therefore provide increased user convenience (HERSHKOVITZ , ¶ 0003-0004, 0009-0010).
Regarding claim 7, KAWAMURA as modified by FISHER teaches the system as applied to claim 5, but fails to disclose the information on the travel route includes a guidance route and a history of the travel route.
HERSHKOVITZ discloses the information on the travel route includes a guidance route and a history of the travel route (¶ 0135, 0137, 0149-0154, 0238).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the guidance route and a history of the travel route in order to ensure sufficient vehicle charge after the charging/discharging plan and therefore provide increased user convenience (HERSHKOVITZ , ¶ 0003-0004, 0009-0010).
Regarding claim 11, KAWAMURA as modified by FISHER teaches the operating method as applied to claim 9, but fails to disclose the information on the travel route includes a guidance route and a history of the travel route.
HERSHKOVITZ discloses the information on the travel route includes a guidance route and a history of the travel route (¶ 0135, 0137, 0149-0154, 0238).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the guidance route and a history of the travel route in order to ensure sufficient vehicle charge after the charging/discharging plan and therefore provide increased user convenience (HERSHKOVITZ , ¶ 0003-0004, 0009-0010).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANUEL HERNANDEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-7916. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9a-5p ET.
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/Manuel Hernandez/Examiner, Art Unit 2859 12/9/2025
/DREW A DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859