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 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN114834283A to Lu et al. (CN114834243A).
Figure 1 of Lu is shown below:
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It is clear that a charger is deployed on a moveable rail in a manner that is extremely similar to the claimed invention. Compare figure 1 of the prior art above with figure 1 of the instant invention.
As for the use of electromagnets on guide that carries the charging cable, Lu et al. teaches (see English language translation supplied herewith):
“In this embodiment, a spring 325 is connected between the moving plate 324 and the connecting shaft 33 . The spring 325 moves the moving plate 324 in a direction close to the rolling gear 32 in a natural state, and makes the limit block 322 connect with the groove. The edges of 321 are separated, thereby releasing the locking of the rolling gear 32 by the limit block 322. The sliding table 3 is fixed with an electromagnet 326 around the position where the connecting shaft 33 is close to one end of the moving plate 324, and the electromagnet 326 can be energized. The adsorption moving plate 324 moves away from the rolling gear 32 , and makes the limiting block 322 fit with the edge of the groove 321 , so that the limiting block 322 locks the rolling gear 32 .
In specific implementation, when a vehicle with a charging function (green license plate) drives into any parking space in the charging area, the vehicle detection module 16 recognizes the location information of the target parking space, and sends an instruction to control the driving device 9 and the active winding device 13 to make the charging pile 4 Stay above the parking space of the vehicle with the charging function, and at the same time, the active winding device 13 locks the active pulling rope 11, and the electromagnet 326 is energized to lock the sliding table 3, so that the charging pile 4 is stably kept in this position. The lower charging gun 7 is charged, and after the charging gun 7 is vacant for a period of time, when the vehicle detection module 16 detects that another vehicle with charging function has entered the charging area, the charging pile 4 moves to the parking space of another target vehicle in the same steps. , In addition, the usage of the charging pile 4 can be prompted by means of light, sound, text, online information, etc., so as to guide the parking of the vehicle.”
Figure 4 of Lu et al. is shown below.
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Thus, the charging cable can be controlled and deployed to a specific spot using electromagnets to control the cable moving along the rail.
Regarding details such as the precise placement of the electromagnet and other details of the dependent claims, these are a matter of obvious design choice.
Retracting when a vehicle has completed charging to deploy to another vehicle is a matter of obviousness.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL A HESS whose telephone number is (571)272-2392. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, from 9 AM to 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas K. Pham can be reached at (571)272-3689. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL A HESS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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