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
Claims 1-7 are currently pending in this application.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ricci (US 2018/0009446-A1) in view of Li (CN-106802710-A).
With respect to claim 1, Ricci teaches a control device for power supply during traveling, the control device comprising a processor (a charging environment of a roadway charging system 250 along roadway 504 with moving vehicle 100, fig.5 and [0078]) configured to:
acquire control information from a vehicle (the electrical vehicle 100 is synchronized to move at the same speed, acceleration, and/or path as the moving charging area 520C [0080] or the moving charging area 520C is synchronized to move at the same speed, acceleration, and/or path as the electrical vehicle 100 [0080]; the synchronization is based on an exchange of information communicated across a communications channel between the electric vehicle 100 and the charging area 520C or the synchronization is based on information associated with a movement of the electric vehicle 100 and/or the moving charging area 520C [0080]); and
perform, based on the control information, control of a power supply lane that transmits electric power to the vehicle that is traveling (the static charging plate 520B allow a charge to be transferred while the electrical vehicle 100 is moving along the roadway 504… provides a transfer of energy when in a suitable range of a receiving unit (e.g., an inductor pick up, etc.)…the receiving unit may be a part of the charging panel associated with the electrical vehicle 100, [0078]; the electrical vehicle 100 may be configured to receive a charge, via a charging panel, while the vehicle 100 is moving [0080] and the electrical vehicle 100 is synchronized to move at the same speed, acceleration, and/or path as the moving charging area 520C or the moving charging area 520C is synchronized to move at the same speed, acceleration, and/or path as the electrical vehicle 100, fig.5 and [0080]).
With respect to claim 1, Ricci teaches a biometric detector provided in the vehicle (Ricci: the vehicle identity application 2332 can use one or more characteristics of biometric information to identify users within the vehicle 100, [0174], biometric information for the user…gathered by sensors, [0178, 0196]; biometric sensors 5417 of interior sensors 5437 of driving vehicle sensors 5404, fig. 54A-B) and a sensor provided in the power supply lane (Ricci: a separation distance sensor disposed on charging plates 520A-B of the charging environment of a roadway charging system 250 along roadway 504 with moving vehicle 100 to position the charging plate to a desired separation distance of the vehicle 100, fig.5, fig.5 and [0086]).
Nonetheless, Ricci does not appear to teach “performing control” of any type of detectors/sensors, particularly, performing control of a biometric type detector. However, it is known by Li to teach performing control of a biometric sensor (Li: biometric sensors including fingerprint sensor 131 and biological/biometric sensor 132, page 7; control to turn off the biometric sensor 132, page 8).
Because Li’s teaching is also directed to sensor detections (Li: pages 7-8; Ricci: [0086], it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate the teaching of performing control of a biometric sensor as taught by Li with the control of a power supply lane that transmits electric power to the vehicle that is traveling as taught by Ricci for the purpose of reducing the power consumption, prolong the service life, and improving the endurance ability of an electronic device (Li: page 8).
Claims 2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ricci (US 2018/0009446-A1) in view of Li (CN-106802710-A) and further in view of Murata et al. (US 2001/0003958).
With respect to claims 2 and 6, Ricci and Li combined teaches of a biometric detector provided in the vehicle (Ricci: the vehicle identity application 2332 can use one or more characteristics of biometric information to identify users within the vehicle 100, [0174], biometric information for the user…gathered by sensors, [0178, 0196]; biometric sensors 5417 of interior sensors 5437 of driving vehicle sensors 5404, fig. 54A-B); a sensor provided in the power supply lane (Ricci: a separation distance sensor disposed on charging plates 520A-B of the charging environment of a roadway charging system 250 along roadway 504 with moving vehicle 100 to position the charging plate to a desired separation distance of the vehicle 100, fig.5, fig.5 and [0086]); and the control information is a vehicle speed of the vehicle (Ricci: the electrical vehicle 100 is synchronized to move at the same speed, acceleration, and/or path as the moving charging area 520C [0080] or the moving charging area 520C is synchronized to move at the same speed, acceleration, and/or path as the electrical vehicle 100 [0080]; the synchronization is based on an exchange of information communicated across a communications channel between the electric vehicle 100 and the charging area 520C or the synchronization is based on information associated with a movement of the electric vehicle 100 and/or the moving charging area 520C [0080]).
Ricci and Li combined does not appear to teach the control information is a detection range of the detector or whether the detector needs to operate; wherein the processor reduces a detection range of the detector, or does not operate the detector when the vehicle speed is high, compared to when the vehicle speed is low.
However, it is known by Murata to teach wherein: the control information is a detection range of the detector or whether the detector needs to operate; wherein the processor reduces a detection range of the detector, or does not operate the detector when the vehicle speed is high, compared to when the vehicle speed is low (Murata: when vehicle is moving at high speed, reduce the detection range of a sensor, [0019-0022]).
Because Murata’s teaching is also directed to sensor detections (Murata: [0019-0020]; Li: pages 7-8; Ricci: [0086], it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate the teaching of reducing a detection range of the detector as taught by Murata with the control of a power supply lane that transmits electric power to the vehicle that is traveling as taught by Ricci in order to stop a vehicle moving at a high speed before colliding with an obstruction, it is necessary to allow for a braking distance to start braking (Murata: [0019]).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ricci (US 2018/0009446-A1) in view of Li (CN-106802710-A) and further in view of Chakrapani et al. (US-10589672-B1).
With respect to claim 3, Ricci and Li combined teaches of a biometric detector provided in the vehicle (Ricci: the vehicle identity application 2332 can use one or more characteristics of biometric information to identify users within the vehicle 100, [0174], biometric information for the user…gathered by sensors, [0178, 0196]; biometric sensors 5417 of interior sensors 5437 of driving vehicle sensors 5404, fig. 54A-B); a sensor provided in the power supply lane (Ricci: a separation distance sensor disposed on charging plates 520A-B of the charging environment of a roadway charging system 250 along roadway 504 with moving vehicle 100 to position the charging plate to a desired separation distance of the vehicle 100, fig.5, fig.5 and [0086]); and the control information is a vehicle speed of the vehicle (Ricci: the electrical vehicle 100 is synchronized to move at the same speed, acceleration, and/or path as the moving charging area 520C [0080] or the moving charging area 520C is synchronized to move at the same speed, acceleration, and/or path as the electrical vehicle 100 [0080]; the synchronization is based on an exchange of information communicated across a communications channel between the electric vehicle 100 and the charging area 520C or the synchronization is based on information associated with a movement of the electric vehicle 100 and/or the moving charging area 520C [0080]).
Ricci and Li combined does not appear to teach operating the detector when the vehicle is stopped.
However, it is known by Chakrapani to teach of a vehicle (Chakrapani: fig.1) and operating the detector when the vehicle is at a stop (Chakrapani: monitoring the speed of the vehicle via the speedometer until the vehicle has stopped and activate the sensor 34, col.7 lines 31-42).
Because Chakrapani’s teaching is also directed to sensor detections (Chakrapani: fig.1; Li: pages 7-8; Ricci: [0086], it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate the teaching of operating the detector when the vehicle is at a stop as taught by Chakrapani with the control of a power supply lane that transmits electric power to the vehicle that is traveling as taught by Ricci for the purpose of alerting vehicle occupants of certain vehicle related events (Chakrapani: col.1 lines 18-24).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 and 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious, which makes the following claims allowable over the prior art:
With respect to claim 4, wherein: the control information is presence or absence of a living body in vicinity of the power supply lane; and the processor operates the biometric detector when there is a living body in the vicinity of the power supply lane.
With respect to claim 5, wherein: the control information is presence or absence of a living body in vicinity of the power supply lane; and the processor stops electric power transmission to the vehicle when there is a living body in the vicinity of the power supply lane.
With respect to claim 7, wherein the processor performs control of the biometric detector after pairing between a power transmission device provided in the power supply lane and a power reception device provided in the vehicle is completed.
Conclusion
The additional prior arts made of record and have not been relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure as follows: US-20160068075-A1, US-20180189683-A1, US-20250260076-A1, WO-2024134760-A1, KR_20210129769_A, WO_2022255339_A1, and WO_2024134760_A1.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HIEN (CINDY) D KHUU whose telephone number is (571)272-8585. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9am-5:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ken Lo can be reached on 571-272-9774. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HIEN D KHUU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116 February 21, 2026