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 .
Status of Claims
Due to communications filed 8/4/23, the following is a non-final first office action. Claims 1-7 are pending in this application and are rejected as follows. The previous rejection has been modified to reflect claim amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC §101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title,
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C, 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (l.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
In addition, independent claims 1, 6 and 7 recite a judicial exception. The claims as a whole recites a battery management system, a battery management device, and a terminal device with limitations including analyzing historical battery replacement status information to generate an unavailability index, determining notification content based on user needs and the unavailability index, and generating a notification screen. These limitations constitute collecting information, analyzing information, and providing information, which are mental processes and certain methods of organizing human activity, and are therefore abstract. The mere nominal recitation of a generic computer/computer network does not take the claim out of the mental processes and certain methods of organizing human activity groupings. Thus, the claim recites an abstract idea.
Furthermore, independent claims 1, 6 and 7 are not integrated into a practical application. The additional elements of a battery replacement device, battery station, server device, terminal device, and a network merely perform generic computer and communication functions of receiving, processing, transmitting, and displaying information. The claim does not recite an improvement to the battery technology, charging technology, computer functionality, or any other technological field. Simply implementing the abstract idea on a generic computer is not a practical application of the abstract idea, and the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application.
Finally, when considered individually and as an ordered combination, the additional elements of independent claims 1, 6 and 7 amount to no more than well-understood, routine and conventional computer implementation of the abstract idea. Therefore the claims do not recite significantly more than the judicial exception. Thus, even when viewed as a whole, nothing in the claim adds significantly more (i.e., an inventive concept) to the abstract idea. The claim is ineligible.
Dependent claims 2-5 are also directed to same grouping of mental processes and certain methods of organizing human activity. The additional elements of the server device, battery management system, and battery in claims 2 and 3, the severe device, battery and screen in claim 4; the server device, and terminal device of claim 5 are additional elements do no more than generally link the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use. Accordingly, in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bell (US 11308537 B1).
As per claim 1, Bell discloses:
a plurality of battery replacement devices placed at a battery station configured to accommodate a battery device returned by a user to charge the returned battery device, and lease a charged battery device to the user in exchange for the returned battery device, ((1) An electronic commerce system may include listings of items offered for sale, lease, download, rent, etc., by many different merchants. Users may use the electronic commerce system to purchase, lease, download, rent, etc., items of interest.); (11) FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate examples of user interfaces 103 (e.g., 103a, 103b) that include multiple item listings 106 (e.g., 106a, 106b, 106c, 106d, 106e, 106f, 106g) of items that have been previously purchased by the user in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. According to various embodiments, the item listings 106 associated with the different items can be arranged in the user interface 103a according to a category type associated with the item (e.g., produce, meat, beverages, etc.), a user preference, a frequency of purchase, a recency of purchase, a cadence of purchase (e.g., purchased item every three months), recommendations, and/or other factors as can be appreciated.);
a server device connected to the plurality of battery replacement devices via a network
and configured to manage battery replacement statuses of the battery replacement devices, ((25) The item recommendation engine 218 is executed to identify alternative items for out-of-stock or otherwise temporarily unavailable items when generating a listing of previously purchased items offered for sale, lease, rent, download, etc., via one or more electronic commerce systems. To this end, the item recommendation engine 218 may identify items within the item catalog 224 that can be considered similar to the unavailable item);
a terminal device carried by the user and connected to the server device via the network, ((38) The client device 206 may be configured to execute various applications such as a client application 249 and/or other applications. The client application 249 may be executed in a client device 206, for example, to access network content served up by the computing environment 203 and/or other servers, thereby rendering a user interface 103 on the display 246);
wherein the server device is configured to:
for each battery station, analyze historical information on past battery replacement
statuses to generate an unavailability index representing a degree of unavailability of battery
lease, ((25) In some embodiments, the item recommendation engine 218 may evaluate one or more factors associated with the user, the unavailable item, and items in the same category to identify alternative items. The factors may include for example, item data (e.g., attributes, item title, price, etc.), interaction history data 233, preference data 236, and/or other factors. For example, item attributes 241, item titles 243, and other factors associated with items in the same category as the unavailable item can be compared with the unavailable item to determine a similarity. Further, interaction history data 233 can be used to determine if the user has had a negative or positive interaction (e.g., reject a recommendation, purchase an item, etc.) with any given item); and
when a specific event associated with battery replacement occurs, generate a notification screen for notification of the specific event based on setting information on the user's needs regarding battery replacement and the unavailability index, and cause the terminal device to display the notification screen, (See Claim 1 of Bell: “select a plurality of alternate items from the plurality of available items based at least in part on the hierarchical ranking and user preference data associated with the user account; and generate a user interface comprising an item listing associated with the particular item, the item listing comprising a first user interface object corresponding to the particular item and a plurality of second user interface objects corresponding to the plurality of alternate items, the plurality of second user interface objects being arranged on the user interface according to the hierarchical ranking, the first user interface object being disabled and a display region associated with the first user interface object being at least one of dimmed, shaded, grayed-out, or transparent, and the plurality of second user interface objects being enabled such that a user interaction with a respective second user interface object of the plurality of second user interface objects triggers a modification of a user interface view to include a user interface element that includes an item characteristic indicating why a corresponding alternate item associated with the respective second user interface object was selected; and transmit the user interface to a client device.”).
Bell does not specifically disclose a battery management system for a battery device, however,
with respect to implementation in a battery environment, examiner interprets that a change of environment does not change the operation of the system. In other words, the functionality of the system would remain the same regardless of the environment.
As per claim 2, The battery management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the server device
acquires an amount of time during which battery lease is unavailable within a unit of time, as
the unavailability index for each battery station, ((21) The computing environment 203 may comprise, for example, a server computer or any other system providing computing capability. Alternatively, the computing environment 203 may employ a plurality of computing devices that may be arranged, for example, in one or more server banks or computer banks or other arrangements. Such computing devices may be located in a single installation or may be distributed among many different geographical locations. For example, the computing environment 203 may include a plurality of computing devices that together may comprise a hosted computing resource, a grid computing resource, and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. In some cases, the computing environment 203 may correspond to an elastic computing resource where the allotted capacity of processing, network, storage, or other computing-related resources may vary over time);
As per claim 5, Bell discloses:.
wherein the server device acquires and stores the setting information in response to the user's operation on the terminal device, the setting information relating to at least one of information records of a replacement frequency, a wait time, alert use settings, and display settings of the notification screen, ((11) FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate examples of user interfaces 103 (e.g., 103a, 103b) that include multiple item listings 106 (e.g., 106a, 106b, 106c, 106d, 106e, 106f, 106g) of items that have been previously purchased by the user in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. According to various embodiments, the item listings 106 associated with the different items can be arranged in the user interface 103a according to a category type associated with the item (e.g., produce, meat, beverages, etc.), a user preference, a frequency of purchase, a recency of purchase, a cadence of purchase (e.g., purchased item every three months), recommendations, and/or other factors as can be appreciated).
As per claim 6, this claim recites limitations similar to those disclosed in independent claim 1, and is therefore rejected for similar reasons.
As per claim 7, this claim recites limitations similar to those disclosed in independent claim 1, and is therefore rejected for similar reasons.
Claim(s) s 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bell (US 11308537 B1), and further in view of EBISU et al (US 20200384879 A1).
As per claim 3, Bell does not disclose the following, however EBISU et al discloses:
wherein when the specific event occurs in which the server device provides a user with information that leads the user to a battery station, the server device determines a battery station at which battery replacement can be made in such a way that meets the user's needs, and generates the notification screen in which positions of the determined battery stations are overlaid on a map, and causes the terminal device to display the notification screen, (EBISU et al (US 20200384879 A1), [0101] The station guidance screen includes icons 82 of the battery station superimposed on an area map 81 (map image). These battery station icons 82 show the number of battery packs 2 that can be exchanged, or in other words, the number of fully charged battery packs 2 that can be lent out at each battery station); [0102] In addition, an electric vehicle icon 83 representing the current location of the electric vehicle 1 is superimposed on the area map 81 on the station guidance screen. The management server 4 acquires position information from the user terminal 5, and displays the electric vehicle icon 83 according to the acquired position information; [0103] When any one of the battery station icons 82 is operated (for example, tapped), detailed information on the corresponding battery station (location, contact information, etc.) is displayed; [0104] This station guidance screen shows only those battery stations where the user can exchange the necessary number of battery packs 2. In other words, the battery station icon 82 is displayed for each of the battery stations that have the necessary number of fully charged battery packs for the electric vehicle operated by the user, and not for the battery stations that do not have the necessary number of fully charged battery packs 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include the above limitations as taught by EBISU et al in the systems of Bell, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
As per claim 4, Bell does not disclose the following, however EBISU et al discloses:
wherein the server device acquires information about a reservation for battery replacement, in response to the user's operation on the notification screen displayed on the terminal device, ([0106] It may be arranged such that when the icon 82 for a battery station is operated (pressed for a certain time period, for instance), the station guidance screen changes to a battery exchange reservation screen (see FIG. 7); [0107] The battery exchange reservation screen that may be displayed on the user terminal 5 is described in the following. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the battery exchange reservation screen; [0108] This battery exchange reservation screen can be produced by operating the icon 82 for a battery station in the station guidance screen (see FIG. 6); [0109] The battery exchange reservation screen includes a battery station display section 91 and an exchange number display section 92. The battery station display section 91 shows information (such as the name and location) on the battery station at which the battery exchange is to be performed. The exchange number display section 92 shows the number of battery packs 2 to be exchanged).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to include the above limitations as taught by EBISU et al in the systems of Bell, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Akiba Robinson whose telephone number is 571-272-6734 and email is Akiba.Robinsonboyce@USPTO.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 6:30am-4:30pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor, Nathan Uber can be reached on 571-270-3923. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is (703) 305-3900.
June 17, 2026
/AKIBA K ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3626
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