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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Borrelli et al. (US 20230053922).
With respect to claims 1-3, 6, 12-16 Borrelli teaches a method for carrying out an automated charging (paragraph 0014, 22) process for a battery of a motor vehicle, the method comprising the following steps:
transmitting a charging request for the battery of the motor vehicle (see reporting data at arrival paragraph 0019) from a first data transmission unit to a second data transmission unit (transmission from 102 see paragraph 0013 for example) which is part of a charging management system (see management performed between vehicle/user and cloud) and is connected to a computing unit (sever) of the charging management system, wherein the charging management system is assigned a parking lot for motor vehicles (see Fig. 1), and the parking lot includes a plurality of stop positions (shown in Fig. 1); determining a battery status of the battery (see SoC, charging power, capacity paragraph 0019); determining, by the computing unit of the charging management system, a charging strategy (see solving and optimizing charging paragraph 0020, 25, see SPCM paragraph 0028) for the motor vehicle for charging the battery taking into account the battery status (paragraph 0036); moving (automated paragraph 0022 or user driver) the motor vehicle to a suitable charging position (see stations Fig. 1) of the parking lot, and charging the battery of the motor vehicle (EV or PHEV batteries paragraph 0035-37) according to the charging strategy in the suitable charging position by a charging station assigned (see assigned time and location paragraph 0020) to the suitable charging position at a charging time and for a charging duration (see desired SOC at departure, expected departure paragraph 0019), wherein at least the charging time and the charging duration arise from the charging strategy.
With respect to claim 5 Borrelli teaches the battery status or a component of the battery status is part of the charging request (paragraph 0019-20) and/or the battery status is transmitted to the charging management system separately from the charging request and/or the battery status is transmitted to the charging management system (see paragraph 0013) by an external computing unit connected to the charging management system.
With respect to claim 7 Borrelli teaches determination of the charging strategy includes determining and/or taking into account the suitable charging position (paragraph 0018) and/or the charging time and/or the charging duration and/or a target state of charge and/or a method of charging the battery (paragraph 0019, 0025, 31, 33 36).
With respect to claim 9 Borrelli teaches wherein the determination of the charging strategy is carried out taking into account: i) other charging strategies of other motor vehicles, and/or ii) charging requests for batteries of other motor vehicles (paragraph 0020-24).
With respect to claim 10 Borrelli teaches before and/or after moving the motor vehicle to the suitable charging position (see assigned spot and time paragraph 0020), the computing unit of the charging management system determines a stop position and a stop period for the stop position, and that the motor vehicle is moved to the determined stop position and the motor vehicle is parked in the determined stop position for the determined stop period (see charging until finished and move next vehicle on waitlist into position paragraph 0020-24).
With respect to claim 11 Borreilli teaches the computing unit of the charging management system redetermines the charging strategy for the motor vehicle: when another motor vehicle has transmitted its own charging request for its own battery to the second data transmission unit (see adding vehicles to waitlist and solving parking/path/charging requirements for reporting vehicle).
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-10 and 12-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yoon (US 20200198489).
With respect to claims 1-3, 6, and 12-16 Yoon teaches a method for carrying out an automated charging process for a battery of a motor vehicle, the method comprising the following steps:
transmitting a charging request for the battery of the motor vehicle (see vehicles Fig. 3) from a first data transmission unit (see paragraph 0039: see Fig. 2) to a second data transmission unit (paragraph 0033-34) which is part of a charging management system (see control system infrastructure for example paragraph 0033) and is connected to a computing unit (server) of the charging management system, wherein the charging management system is assigned a parking lot for motor vehicles (Seen bet in Fig. 3/8), and the parking lot includes a plurality of stop positions (see areas and spaces); determining a battery status of the battery (paragraph 0083); determining, by the computing unit of the charging management system, a charging strategy (see Fig. 9) for the motor vehicle for charging the battery taking into account the battery status (see paragraph 0083); moving (see step e Fig. 9) the motor vehicle to a suitable charging position (see charging spaces Fig .3/8) of the parking lot, and charging the battery of the motor vehicle (paragraph 0025 and 83) according to the charging strategy in the suitable charging position by a charging station assigned (see step d Fig. 9) to the suitable charging position at a charging time and for a charging duration (when desired percentage is reached paragraph 0087), wherein at least the charging time and the charging duration arise from the charging strategy.
With respect to claim 5 Yoon teaches the battery status or a component of the battery status (see paragraph 0083) is part of the charging request (see step b/c Fig. 9) and/or the battery status is transmitted to the charging management system separately (when charging is desired by user) from the charging request and/or the battery status is transmitted to the charging management system (sent from vehicle or phone to central controller infrastructure) by an external computing unit connected to the charging management system.
With respect to claim 7 Yoon teaches determination of the charging strategy includes determining and/or taking into account the suitable charging position (see step d Fig. 9) and/or the charging time and/or the charging duration and/or a target state of charge (paragraph 0087) and/or a method of charging the battery.
With respect to claim 9 Yoon teaches wherein the determination of the charging strategy is carried out taking into account: i) other charging strategies of other motor vehicles, and/or ii) charging requests for batteries of other motor vehicles (see allocating spaces for charging and automated movement of vehicles).
With respect to claim 10 Yoon teaches before and/or after moving the motor vehicle to the suitable charging position (see assigned spot step d/e Fig. 9), the computing unit of the charging management system determines a stop position (step f/g Fig. 9) and a stop period for the stop position, and that the motor vehicle is moved to the determined stop position and the motor vehicle is parked in the determined stop position for the determined stop period (see charging until finished desired percentage reached).
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borrelli et al. (US 20230053922) in view of Moghe et al. (US 20190202304)
With respect to claim 4 Borrelli teaches the determining a charging strategy however does not teach using expected remaining life of the battery. Moghe teaches the known use of taking into account an expected remaining battery life (paragraph 0034) of the battery after the battery has been charged. Moghe teaches the known advantages of battery life in configuring charging capabilities. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify Borrelli to include the known use of taking battery life into account for the benefit of determining appropriate charging parameters.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borrelli et al. (US 20230053922) in view of Moghe et al. (US 20190202304) in view of Borhan (US 20150326037)
With respect to claim 8 Borrelli teaches the charging strategy however does not teach maximizing battery life. It is known to account for and maximize life of a battery (paragraph 0026) as seen for example in Borhan. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify Borelli to maximize life for the benefit of reduced user expense.
Conclusion
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MICHAEL FIN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2836
/MICHAEL R. FIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836