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 . This Office Action responds to the Application and preliminary amendment filed on 6/21/2023, IDS filed on 6/21/2023 and 9/17/2025, AND Oath/Declaration filed on 8/25/2023. Claims 10-17 are pending, wherein claims 1-9 have been cancelled and claims 10-17 have been newly added.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 10-17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
As per claim 10¸”in particular in which” (line 17) should be –when—for greater clarification.
As per claim 11¸”in particular in which” (lines 1-2) should be –when—for greater clarification.
As per claim 14¸”in particular in which” (line 3) should be –when—for greater clarification.
As per claim 16, --, respectively—should be inserted after “unit” (line 4) to clearly identify that the first output are connected to the positive pole of the first DC voltage and the second output is connected to another positive pole of the second DC voltage).
As per claims 11-17, the claims are also objected to for incorporating the above errors into the respective claims by claim dependency.
Appropriate correction is required.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 6/21/2023 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(3)(i) because it does not include a concise explanation of the relevance, as it is presently understood by the individual designated in 37 CFR 1.56(c) most knowledgeable about the content of the information, of each reference listed that is not in the English language, wherein all references cited have been considered except for the reference Office Action issued August 12, 2021 in DE Appl. No. 10 2020 007 865.6”, which is not in the English language and there is no concise explanation of relevance as noted above. This reference has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 10-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Song et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 20190359073 A1).
As per claim 10, Figure 6 illustrates a charging device for charging an electrical energy storage unit (B1) of an electrically operable vehicle (see abstract), comprising:
a charging connection (C1) for electrically connecting the charging device to an external voltage supply,
a charging unit (Q1 to Q6, U,V,W) for converting a first DC voltage applied to the charging connection (C1) into a second DC voltage, which is intended for charging the electrical energy storage (i.e., battery B1);
a power distribution unit (R4, R5) having a first and a second output (outputs between the "power controller" and the "battery") for providing the first DC voltage applied at the charging connection (C1) and/or the second DC voltage converted by the charging unit (Q1 to Q6, U, V, W) at the electrical energy storage unit (i.e., battery B1) connected to the outputs as shown, the power distribution unit (R4, R5) including:
a first electrical connection for the charging connection (C1),
a second electrical connection for the charging unit (B1) as shown, and
the power distribution unit (R4, R5) has switches (R4, R5), using which, in a first charging state, the charging connection (C1) is switched to the first and the second output (R4 and R5 closed), and, in a second charging state, a first output (emitters of Q2, Q4, Q6) of the charging unit is switched to one of the outputs of the power distribution unit (R4, R5) and a second output (collectors of Q1, Q3 and Q5) of the charging unit is switched to the other of the outputs of the power distribution unit (R4, R5);
wherein in the second charging state, in particular in which the first DC voltage at the charging connection (C1) is lower than a setpoint voltage of the electrical energy storage unit (B1), the first output (emitters of Q2, Q4, Q6) of the charging unit is connected via the first switch (R4) of the power distribution unit to a first pole of the charging connection (C1) and directly to the first output of the power distribution unit (R4, R5),
wherein, by way of a connection of the first output (emitters of Q2, Q4, Q6) of the charging unit (130) to an output capacitor (capacitor in 130 as shown in Fig. 6, parallel to outputs of Q1, Q3, Q5 and Q2, Q3, Q6),
the first output (emitters of Q2, Q4, Q6) of the charging unit is simultaneously also used as an input of the charging unit (i.e., in the second charging state, the input of the inverter is taken directly from C1 by R6, and therefore the line from R4 corresponds to the input and to the output),
the second output (collectors of Q1, Q3 and Q5) of the charging unit is connected to the second output of the power distribution unit (R4, R5), and
an input of the charging unit (130) is connected to a second pole of the charging connection (C1) (via R6 as shown),
wherein a (third) switch (R6) is provided in the charging unit (130), which connects the input of the charging unit through to an input (601) of a DC-to-DC converter (U, V, W, Q1 to Q6) of the charging unit, which could be a step-up or step-down converter (see paragraph [0088]).
As per claim 11¸ wherein in the first charging state, in particular in which the first DC voltage at the charging connection (C1) is greater than or equal to the rated voltage of the electrical energy storage (i.e., greater than or equal to the target power), the first switch (R4) and the second switch (R5) are closed and the third switch (R6) is opened, wherein the first DC voltage is applied between the first output and the second output of the power distributor (see paragraph [0095]).
As per claims 12-13, wherein the first electrical connection of the power distributor unit comprises a two-pole high-current plug connector or three-pole connector (see paragraph [0074], i.e., plug connected with the connection inlet 150; see also paragraph [0072], Fig. 4b, terminals 511-1, 511-2, ground terminal 506).
As per claim 14, wherein a third electrical connection is provided at the charging unit, which is connected to the second electrical connection of the power distributor unit, in particular wherein the third electrical connection comprises a three-pole plug connector or two plug connectors with once one pole and once two poles (see Fig. 6; paragraph [0072], Fig. 4b, terminals 511-1, 511-2, ground terminal 506).
As per claim 15, wherein the second electrical connection of the power distributor unit and the third electrical connection of the charging unit are complementarily designed such that the second electrical connection of the power distributor unit is directly connectable to the third electrical connection of the charging unit without connection device (see Fig. 6).
As per claim 16, wherein in the second charging state, the positive pole of the poles of the charging connection represents a common reference of the first DC voltage applied to the charging connection (upper connection line at the outputs of Q1, Q3, Q5) and of the second DC voltage (lower connection line at Q2, Q4, Q6) applied to the first output and the second output of the power distributor unit (R1/R3 and R2 respectively).
As per claim 17¸ Fig. 6 illustrate the elements of the claims, comprising the charging device of claim 10 (see rejection of claim 10 above), comprising the steps of:
comparing a first DC voltage available at a charging connection (C1) with a setpoint voltage of the electrical energy storage unit (B1);
in case if the first DC voltage is greater than or equal to the setpoint voltage of the electrical energy storage unit, o closing a first and a second switch (R4, R5) of the power distribution unit so as to connect the charging connection (C1) to a first output and a second output of the power distribution unit; switching the first DC voltage to the first output and the second output via the first and the second switch (R4, R5); charging the electrical energy storage unit (60) with the first DC voltage; - if the first DC voltage is lower than the setpoint voltage of the electrical energy storage unit (B1), o closing the first switch (R4) SO as to connect a first pole of the charging connection (C1) to the first output of the electrical energy storage unit and a first output of a charging unit; o keeping open or opening the second switch (R5) of the power distribution unit and connecting an input of the charging unit (via R6) to a second pole of the charging connection (C1); o closing a third switch (R6) of the charging unit so as to connect the input of the charging unit to an input of a DC-to-DC converter of the charging unit; o switching a second DC voltage converted by the charging unit to the first output and the second output (of the power distribution unit); o charging the electrical energy storage unit (B1) with the second DC voltage.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHALLAKA KIK whose telephone number is (571)272-1895. The examiner can normally be reached Maxiflex Mon-Fri 8:30AM-5PM.
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Any response to this action should be mailed to:
Commissioner for Patents
P. O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
or faxed to:
571-273-8300
/PHALLAKA KIK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851 July 11, 2026
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