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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 4 recites the limitation “in a case where” this recitation rendered the subsequent limitations optional. Applicant should clarify the claim by amending the claim to recite “when”.
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)(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.
Claims 1-2 and 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Halker et al. (US 20150015419).
With respect to claim 1 and 5 Halker teaches an automatic parking system comprising: a vehicle (112) capable of being charged by an external charger (see charging external to vehicle shown in Fig. 1 for example); and an automatic charger (see 102 for example: paragraph 0042), installed in a parking space (see parking illustrated for example in Fig. 1 or 8: paragraph 0076, 41), configured to supply power to a vehicle parked in the parking space, the automatic parking system being configured to cause the vehicle to automatically park (see autopilot or autonomously) in the parking space where the automatic charger is installed, wherein the automatic charger includes a sensor (paragraph 0061-0062/77, further see guidance and communications positioning system shown in Fig. 3) that detects a positional deviation (see tolerable value paragraph 0040, also see alignment score) amount between a parking position of the vehicle parked in the parking space and a target parking position of the vehicle parked in the parking space, and a first communication device (see 362/352 for example) configured to perform a wireless communication (see for example paragraph 0100) with the vehicle to be parked in the parking space, and transmit (see 366/356) the positional deviation amount detected by the sensor to the vehicle, the vehicle includes a second communication device (364/654) configured to perform a wireless communication (see for example wireless channel seen in Fig. 3) with the automatic charger installed in the parking space to which the vehicle is to be parked, and receive (see for example paragraph 0060 0111, 105-106) the positional deviation amount transmitted from the first communication device, and a control device (see VCU and/or 344 further see steering servos paragraph 0040 and 61 controlling vehicle steering) configured to execute automatic parking control for automatically parking the vehicle in the parking space, and the control device is configured to, when the automatic parking control starts, cause the vehicle to automatically park (see autopilot or autonomously) in the target parking position in the parking space, correct the target parking position based on the positional deviation amount obtained from the automatic charger, and execute the automatic parking control again (for example placed again in alignment state paragraph 0106, paragraph 0105) so that the vehicle can park in the corrected target parking position.
With respect to claims 2 and 5 Halker teaches wherein the control device is configured to, transmit a parking signal indicating that the vehicle is parked in the target parking position (see paragraph 0105-106, see aligned and ready Fig. 9C validated alignment) after the automatic parking control is started, correct the target parking position and execute the automatic parking control again so that the vehicle can park in the corrected target parking position when the positional deviation amount is received from the automatic charger after the parking signal is transmitted, and complete parking in the parking space when the positional deviation amount is not received (alignment not valid) from the automatic charger after the parking signal is transmitted.
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Halker et al. (US 20150015419) in view of Yang (US 20210094431).
With respect to claim 3 Halker teaches the vehicle and charging connection is via a inductive connection rather a charging connected. Yang teaches the known alternative of an inlet (140), the automatic charger includes a charging connector (250) to be connected to the inlet and a connection mechanism (260), connected to the charging connector, that automatically changes a position of the charging connector so as to automatically connect the charging connector with the inlet, and the target parking position is set to a range in which the inlet is located within a range where the charging connector is connectable with the inlet. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to apply the parking system of Halker to the known alternative of a charging connector arrangement as shown in Yang for the predictable result of increased current transfer.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael Fin whose telephone number is (571)272-5921. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5:30.
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MICHAEL FIN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2836
/MICHAEL R. FIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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