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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/29/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ichikawa et al. US 2013/0300354 (hereinafter Ichikawa).
Regarding claim 1, Ichikawa discloses a traveling noncontact power supply system (fig. 1-2 and abstract) that supplies, in a noncontact manner (abstract: vehicle is able to contactlessly receive electric power from a power transmitting device and to charge a mounted electrical storage device),
power from a road-side power supply device (fig. 2, element 200) to a traveling vehicle (fig. 2, element 100) in which a vehicle-side power receiving device (fig. 2, element 110; ¶ 0059: the power transmitting unit 220 contactlessly outputs electric power to the power receiving unit 110 of the vehicle 100 via an electromagnetic field that is generated around the power transmitting unit 220) is mounted, and charges a power storage device (fig. 2, element 190 and ¶ 0072; the electrical storage device) mounted on the vehicle (fig. 2, element 100), wherein:
the road-side power supply device (fig. 2, element 200) includes a first communication device (fig. 2, element 230 and ¶ 0066) that performs wide-area wireless communication (¶¶ 0119, 0130, 0132; by executing communication range switching control for appropriately switching the communication range of the communication unit in a vehicle and/or the communication unit in a power transmitting device between a wide-area communication range and a narrow-area communication range) with the vehicle-side power receiving device (fig. 2, element 160), and
a second communication device (fig. 2, element 210) that performs narrow-area wireless communication with the vehicle-side power receiving device (¶¶ 0119, 0124, 0130, 0132; by configuring the communication unit 230 in this way, it is possible to switch the communication range between wide-area communication range and narrow-area communication range as needed);
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the vehicle-side power receiving device includes a third communication device (fig. 2, element 160) that performs the wide-area wireless communication with the road-side power supply device (¶¶ 0124, 0128; When the power transmitting device 200 is not supplying electric power to a vehicle, the operation mode is set to a standby mode, and carries out wide-area communication by which it is possible to communicate with a vehicle that is present within the communication range AR1), and a fourth communication device (fig. 2, element 160) that performs the narrow-area wireless communication with the road-side power supply device (¶¶ 0124, 0128);
the vehicle is able to charge the power storage device by performing regenerative braking (¶ 0079; The motor generator 130 is able to generate electric power using the rotational force of the drive wheels 150 during regenerative braking operation of the vehicle 100); and
when compatibility between the road-side power supply device and the vehicle-side power receiving device is satisfied (¶ 0112; when the vehicle and the station is coupled) and there is a possibility that the power storage device is overcharged (interpret as “the power storage device might be overcharged or might not be overcharged”), predetermined charging control is performed through the narrow-area wireless communication (¶¶ 0124, 0130; by configuring the communication unit 230 in this way, it is possible to switch the communication range between wide-area communication range and narrow-area communication range as needed; the power transmitting device 200 is switched to a charging mode, and switches the communication range to the narrow-area communication range AR2), and
when compatibility between the road-side power supply device and the vehicle-side power receiving device is satisfied (¶ 0112; when the vehicle and the station is coupled) and there is a possibility that the power storage device is overcharged (interpret as “the power storage device might be overcharged or might not be overcharged”),
the predetermined charging control is not performed through the narrow-area wireless communication (¶ 0132; the power transmitting device 200 is switched to the standby mode again, and switches the communication range to the wide-area communication range).
Ichikawa only discloses the power supply device 210 having one communication unit 230 and a vehicle having one communication unit 160. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide at least two communication devices in the power supply device and at least two communication devices in the vehicle, since it has been held that the mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art in order to suppress unnecessary error signal. See St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8 and MPEP 2144.04.
Regarding claim 2, Ichikawa discloses wherein as the predetermined charging control, the regenerative braking is permitted (¶ 0079; the motor generator 130 is able
to generate electric power using the rotational force of the drive wheels 150 during regenerative braking operation of the vehicle 100) when a power command is able to be issued from the vehicle-side power receiving device to the road-side power supply device through the narrow-area wireless communication (¶¶ 0130, 0143; the power transmitting device 200 is switched to a charging mode, and switches the
communication range to the narrow-area communication rangeAR2; the power transmitting ECU 240 searches for the vehicle 100 again within the narrowed communication range AR2), and the regenerative braking is prohibited when the power command is not able to be issued from the vehicle-side power receiving device to the road-side power supply device (¶¶ 0133, 0141; The timing at which communication is switched from narrow-area communication to wide-area communication is not limited to the timing after completion of charging, including regenerative braking; when the charging request signal has been received from the vehicle 100, the process proceeds to S140, and the power transmitting ECU 240 switches the operation mode from the standby mode to the charging mode, and switches the communication range to the narrow-area communication range).
Regarding claim 3, Ichikawa discloses wherein as the predetermined charging control, a power request is made from the vehicle-side power receiving device to the road-side power supply device through the narrow-area wireless communication (¶ 0141; When the charging request signal has been received from the vehicle 100 (YES in S130), the process proceeds to S140, and the power transmitting ECU 240 switches the operation mode from the standby mode to the charging mode, and switches the communication range to the narrow-area communication range AR2) when a brake of the vehicle is on (¶ 0149; When operation for parking the vehicle 100 to the parking space in which the power transmitting device 200 is provided has been completed through user's operation (YES in S320) and then instructions to start charging are issued, the vehicle ECU 300 outputs the charging request signal to the power transmitting device 200 (S330)), and no power request is made from the vehicle-side power receiving device to the road-side power supply device through the narrow-area wireless communication when the brake is off (¶ 0146; the power transmitting ECU 240 stops transmitting electric power to the vehicle 100 (S210), switches the operation mode to the standby mode, and switches the communication range to the wide-area communication range, and ready to operate).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZIXUAN ZHOU whose telephone number is (571)272-6739. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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/ZIXUAN ZHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 07/24/2026
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