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 statements (IDS) submitted on 2/7/2024, 7/16/2024 and 12/12/2024 are 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.
Claims 1, 5, 11-13, 16-18 and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diamond et al. (US 2022/0080955) in view of Arimura et al. (US 2023/0344258).
Claim 1: Diamond teaches a system used in a factory (5-1) for manufacturing a vehicle (80-1) (Fig.1), comprising:
a remote control unit (70-1) (Fig.1) remotely controlling the vehicle (80-1) capable of running in the factory (5-1) by in a manufacturing process at the factory (5-1) (Par.34 and 44), the vehicle (80-1) including a communication device having a communication function for remote control (Par.36).
Diamond does not explicitly teach a secondary battery for running; a state-of-charge acquisition unit acquiring a state of charge of the secondary battery; and a state-of-charge adjustment determination unit acquiring a target value of the state of charge and determining whether or not to adjust the state of charge using the acquired target value and a current state of charge, wherein, when the state-of-charge adjustment determination unit determines that the state of charge is to be adjusted, the remote control unit executes a state-of-charge adjustment process by the remote control of the vehicle, thereby bringing the state of charge closer to the target value, the state-of-charge adjustment process including at least one of a discharging process for discharging the secondary battery and a charging process for charging the secondary battery.
Arimura teaches system (Fig.1) used in a factory (Par.34), comprising:
a remote control unit (3) remotely controlling a vehicle (2) capable of running in a factory in a manufacturing process at the factory, the vehicle (2) including a communication device (21) having a communication function for remote control (Par.42 and 63) and a secondary battery (24) for running (Par.21);
a state-of-charge acquisition unit (25) acquiring a state of charge of the secondary battery (24) (Par.47); and
a state-of-charge adjustment determination unit (32) acquiring a target value (E1) of the state of charge and determining whether or not to adjust the state of charge using the acquired target value and a current state of charge (Par.63),
wherein, when the state-of-charge adjustment determination unit (32) determines that the state of charge is to be adjusted, the remote control unit (3) executes a state-of-charge adjustment process by the remote control of the vehicle (2), thereby bringing the state of charge closer to the target value, the state-of-charge adjustment process including at least one of a charging process for charging the secondary battery (24) (Par.64).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Arimura in the system of Diamond to have had prevented a reduction in remaining capacity of a secondary battery beyond the necessary to operate the vehicle properly (Par.57).
Claim 5: Diamond in view of Arimura teaches the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Diamond does not explicitly teach the remote control unit moves the vehicle to a position where the secondary battery is allowed to be charged by a charging device for charging the secondary battery, as the charging process.
Arimura teaches wherein the remote control unit (3) moves the vehicle (2) to a position (A2/A3) where the secondary battery (24) is allowed to be charged by a charging device (4) for charging the secondary battery (24), as the charging process (Par.82-83).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Arimura in the system of Diamond to have had prevented a reduction in remaining capacity of a secondary battery beyond the necessary to operate the vehicle properly (Par.57).
Claims 11 and 20-21: Diamond teaches a server (70-1) (Fig.1) used in a factory (5-1) for manufacturing a vehicle (Par.34 and 64), the server (70-1) comprising:
a remote control unit remotely controlling the vehicle (80-1) capable of running in the factory (5-1) in a manufacturing process at the factory, the vehicle (80-1) including a communication device having a communication function for remote control (Par.36 and 44).
Diamond does not explicitly teach a secondary battery for running; a state-of-charge acquisition unit acquiring a state of charge of the secondary battery; and a state-of-charge adjustment determination unit acquiring a target value of the state of charge and determining whether or not to adjust the state of charge using the acquired target value and a current state of charge, wherein, when the state-of-charge adjustment determination unit determines that the state of charge is to be adjusted, at least one of a state-of-charge adjustment process using the remote control unit and a notification using the state-of-charge adjustment determination unit is executed, the state-of-charge adjustment process including at least one of a discharging process for discharging the secondary battery by the remote control of the vehicle and a charging process for charging the secondary battery by the remote control of the vehicle, the notification being for encouraging at least one of a manual discharging operation for manually discharging the secondary battery and a manual charging operation for manually charging the secondary battery.
Arimura teaches server (3) (Fig.1) used in a factory (Par.34), the server (3) comprising:
a remote control unit (30) remotely controlling a vehicle (2) capable of running in a factory in a manufacturing process at the factory (Par.36), the vehicle (2) including a communication device (21) having a communication function for remote control (Par.42 and 63) and a secondary battery (24) for running (Par.21);
a state-of-charge acquisition unit (25) acquiring a state of charge of the secondary battery (24) (Par.47); and
a state-of-charge adjustment determination unit (32) acquiring a target value (E1) of the state of charge and determining whether or not to adjust the state of charge using the acquired target value and a current state of charge (Par.63),
wherein, when the state-of-charge adjustment determination unit (32) determines that the state of charge is to be adjusted (Par.64), at least one of a state-of-charge adjustment process using the remote control unit (30) is executed, the state-of-charge adjustment process including at least one of a charging process for charging the secondary battery (24) by the remote control of the vehicle (2) (Par.65).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Arimura in the system of Diamond to have had prevented a reduction in remaining capacity of a secondary battery beyond the necessary to operate the vehicle properly (Par.57).
Claims 12 and 16-17: Diamond teaches a method of manufacturing a vehicle (80-1) (Par.34), comprising the steps of:
running a vehicle (80-1) (Fig.1) in a factory (5-1) by remote control (70-1) in a manufacturing process at the factory (5-1) (Par.34 and 44).
Diamond does not explicitly teach determining whether or not to adjust a state of charge of a secondary battery for running by using a current state of charge of the secondary battery and a target value of the state of charge, the secondary battery being mounted on the vehicle; and executing by the remote control at least one of discharging of the secondary battery and charging of the secondary battery by the remote control of the vehicle when the state of charge is determined to be adjusted, thereby bringing the state of charge closer to the target value.
Arimura teaches a method comprising:
running a vehicle (2) in a factory by remote control (30) in a manufacturing process at the factory (Par.42 and 63);
determining whether or not to adjust a state of charge of a secondary battery (24) for running (Par.21) by using a current state of charge of the secondary battery (24) and a target value of the state of charge (Par.63), the secondary battery (24) mounted on the vehicle (2) (Fig.2); and
executing by the remote control (30) at least one of charging of the secondary battery (24) (Par.64) by the remote control of the vehicle (2) when the state of charge is determined to be adjusted, thereby bringing the state of charge closer to the target value (Par.64).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Arimura in the system of Diamond to have had prevented a reduction in remaining capacity of a secondary battery beyond the necessary to operate the vehicle properly (Par.57).
Claims 13 and 18: Diamond teaches a method of manufacturing a vehicle (80-1) (Par.34), comprising the steps of:
running a vehicle (80-1) (Fig.1) in a factory (5-1) by remote control (70-1) in a manufacturing process at the factory (5-1) (Par.34 and 44).
Diamond does not explicitly teach determining whether or not to adjust a state of charge of a secondary battery for running by using a current state of charge of the secondary battery and a target value of the state of charge, the secondary battery mounted on the vehicle; and causing a charging device for charging the vehicle to charge the secondary battery such that the state of charge becomes closer to the target value when the state of charge is determined to be adjusted.
Arimura teaches a method comprising:
running a vehicle (2) in a factory by remote control (30) in a manufacturing process at the factory (Par.42 and 63);
determining whether or not to adjust a state of charge of a secondary battery (24) for running (Par.21) by using a current state of charge of the secondary battery (24) and a target value of the state of charge (Par.63), the secondary battery (24) mounted on the vehicle (2) (Fig.2); and
causing a charging device (4) for charging the vehicle (2) to charge the secondary battery (24) such that the state of charge becomes closer to the target value when the state of charge is determined to be adjusted (Par.64-65).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Arimura in the system of Diamond to have had prevented a reduction in remaining capacity of a secondary battery beyond the necessary to operate the vehicle properly (Par.57).
Claim 21: Diamond teaches a server (70-1) (Fig.1) comprising:
a remote control unit running a vehicle (80-1) in a factory (5-1) by remote control in a manufacturing process at the factory (Par.36 and 44).
Diamond does not explicitly teach wherein the remote control unit causes a charging device for charging the vehicle to charge a secondary battery mounted on the vehicle for running such that a current state of charge of the secondary battery becomes closer to a target value.
Arimura teaches a control unit (100) causes a charging device (4) for charging the vehicle (2) to charge the secondary battery (24) such that the state of charge becomes closer to the target value when the state of charge is determined to be adjusted (Par.64-65).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Arimura in the system of Diamond to have had prevented a reduction in remaining capacity of a secondary battery beyond the necessary to operate the vehicle properly (Par.57).
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diamond et al. (US 2022/0080955) in view of Arimura et al. (US 2023/0344258) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of and Yeakle et al. (US 2023/0031294).
Claims 2-3: Diamond in view of Arimura teaches the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Diamond teaches a system used in a factory for manufacturing a vehicle (80-1) (Fig.1) (Par.34), comprising:
a remote control unit (70-1) adjusts an acceleration of the vehicle (80-1) when the vehicle (80-1) runs in the factory (Par.21, 39 and 50).
The combination of Diamond in view of Arimura does not explicitly teach adjusting an acceleration of the vehicle as the state-of-charge adjustment process; wherein the remote control unit executes at least one of an increase in the acceleration and an increase in number of times the vehicle is accelerated, as the discharging process.
Yeakle teaches a control unit (100) adjusting an acceleration of a vehicle (10), as a state of charge adjustment process (Par.44); wherein the control unit executes at least one of an increase in the acceleration, as a discharging process (Par.44).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Yeakle in the combination of Diamond in view of Arimura to have had yielded higher fuel economy or longer electric propulsion operation (Par.34).
Claim 4: Diamond in view of Arimura teaches the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. The combination of Diamond in view of Arimura does not explicitly teach wherein the remote control unit drives an auxiliary device consuming power of the secondary battery as the discharging process to increase power consumption of the auxiliary device.
Yeakle teaches a control unit (100) drives an auxiliary device consuming power of a secondary battery of a vehicle (10) as the discharging process to increase power consumption of the auxiliary device (Par.34).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Yeakle in the combination of Diamond in view of Arimura to have had provided higher battery capacity to maximize energy capture (Par.34).
Claims 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diamond et al. (US 2022/0080955) in view of Arimura et al. (US 2023/0344258) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yeakle et al. (US 2023/0031294) and Brouwer (US 2018/0015830).
Claims 6-8: Diamond in view of Arimura teaches the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Diamond in view of Arimura does not explicitly teach wherein the remote control unit further executes a discharging suppression process for suppressing the discharging of the secondary battery as the state-of-charge adjustment process; wherein the remote control unit executes at least one of a reduction in an acceleration of the vehicle when the vehicle runs in the factory and a reduction in number of times the vehicle is accelerated, as the discharging suppression process.
Yeakle teaches a control unit (100) further executes a discharging suppression process for suppressing the discharging of the secondary battery as a state-of-charge adjustment process (Par.44); wherein the control unit (100) executes at least one of a reduction in an acceleration of the vehicle when the vehicle runs in the factory, as the discharging suppression process (Par.44; Deceleration).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Yeakle in the combination of Diamond in view of Arimura to have had provided longer electric propulsion operation (Par.34).
The combination of Diamond in view of Arimura does not explicitly teach a charging suppression process for suppressing the charging of the secondary battery, as the state-of-charge adjustment process; wherein the remote control unit reduces an amount of regenerative power of the vehicle, as the charging suppression process.
Brouwer reaches a charging suppression process for suppressing the charging of a secondary battery, as a state-of-charge adjustment process (Par.39); wherein a control unit reduces an amount of regenerative power of a vehicle, as the charging suppression process (Par.40).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Brouwer in the combination of Diamond in view of Arimura to have had reduced/stopped charging the battery when the state of charge reaches a target (Par.39) thereby preventing overcharging and battery damage.
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diamond et al. (US 2022/0080955) in view of Arimura et al. (US 2023/0344258) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Upton (US 2021/0347278).
Claim 9: Diamond in view of Arimura teaches the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. The combination of Diamond in view of Arimura does not explicitly teach wherein the target value is set using a state of charge required when the vehicle is shipped.
Upton teaches a target value set using a state of charge required when a vehicle is shipped (Par.58-59).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Upton in the combination of Diamond in view of Arimura to have had modified a charging of a vehicle if needed to prevent the SOC of the vehicle from surpassing a maximum amount allowed prior to shipment at the end of an assembly line (Par.58-59).
Claim 10: Diamond in view of Arimura teaches the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. The combination of Diamond in view of Arimura does not explicitly teach wherein the target value is set for each process in the manufacturing process.
Upton teaches setting a target value of a state of charge for each process in a manufacturing process (Par.65).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Upton in the combination of Diamond in view of Arimura to have had controlled battery charge to guarantee the vehicle includes a sufficient amount of power for performing a manufacturing process (Par.64-65).
Claims 14 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diamond et al. (US 2022/0080955) in view of Arimura et al. (US 2023/0344258) and Ichikawa (US 2018/0178668).
Claims 14 and 19: Diamond teaches a method of manufacturing a vehicle (80-1) (Par.34), comprising the steps of:
running a vehicle (80-1) (Fig.1) in a factory (5-1) by remote control (70-1) in a manufacturing process at the factory (5-1) (Par.34 and 44).
Diamond does not explicitly teach determining whether or not to adjust a state of charge of a secondary battery for running by using a current state of charge of the secondary battery and a target value of the state of charge, the secondary battery being mounted on the vehicle.
Arimura teaches a method comprising:
running a vehicle (2) in a factory by remote control (30) in a manufacturing process at the factory (Par.42 and 63);
determining whether or not to adjust a state of charge of a secondary battery (24) for running (Par.21) by using a current state of charge of the secondary battery (24) and a target value of the state of charge (Par.63), the secondary battery (24) mounted on the vehicle (2) (Fig.2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Arimura in the system of Diamond to have had prevented a reduction in remaining capacity of a secondary battery beyond the necessary to operate the vehicle properly (Par.57).
The combination of Diamond in view of Arimura does not explicitly teach transmitting information regarding the target value to a charging device for charging the vehicle when the state of charge is determined to be adjusted.
Ichikawa teaches a remote control (30) transmitting information regarding a target value, of a state of charge of a secondary battery (15) mounted on a vehicle (10), to a charging device (40) for charging the vehicle (10) when the state of charge is determined to be adjusted (Par.85).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Ichikawa in the combination of Diamond in view or Arimura to have had controlled the charging of the vehicle to reach a target SOC (Par.47) that reduces the possibility of power wasting (Par.56).
Claims 15 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diamond et al. (US 2022/0080955) in view of Ichikawa (US 2018/0178668).
Claim 22: Diamond teaches a server (70-1) (Fig.1) comprising:
a remote control unit running a vehicle (80-1) in a factory (5-1) by remote control in a manufacturing process at the factory (Par.36 and 44).
Diamond does not explicitly teach a communication unit transmitting information regarding a target value of a state of charge of the vehicle to a charging device for charging the vehicle.
Ichikawa teaches a remote control (30) transmitting information regarding a target value, of a state of charge of a secondary battery (15) mounted on a vehicle (10), to a charging device (40) for charging the vehicle (10) when the state of charge is determined to be adjusted (Par.85).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Ichikawa in the system of Diamond to have had controlled the charging of the vehicle to reach a target SOC (Par.47) that reduces the possibility of power wasting (Par.56).
Claim 15: Diamond teaches a factory for manufacturing a vehicle (80-1) (Par.34) (Fig.1); the vehicle (80-1) capable of running in a manufacturing process at the factory (Par.36 and 44).
Diamond does not explicitly teach a charging device used in the factory, the charging device comprising: a communication unit receiving a target value of a secondary battery for running in a manufacturing process at the factory, the secondary battery being included in the vehicle capable of running in the factory; and a charging control unit adjusting a charging condition of the secondary battery by using the received target value.
Ichikawa teaches a charging device (40) (Fig.2) comprising:
a communication unit (44) receiving a target value of a secondary battery (15), the secondary battery (15) being included in a vehicle (10) (Par.51, 54 and 85); and
a charging control unit (48) adjusting a charging condition of the secondary battery (15) by using the received target value (Par.85).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Ichikawa in the system of Diamond to have had controlled the charging of the vehicle to reach a target SOC (Par.47) that reduces the possibility of power wasting (Par.56).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHALI ALEJANDRA TORRES RUIZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1262. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am-6:00pm.
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/JOHALI A TORRES RUIZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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