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 09/26/2023 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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Feng et al. [CN 111216576].
With respect to claims 1 and 10, Feng discloses a charging station for an electric vehicle [Fig. 1], which is adapted to be mounted on a building wall [it has been held that the recitation “adapted to” is not a positive limitation but only requires the ability to so perform], comprising: a rail system having at least one rail [7]; a charging device configured to move along the at least one rail of the rail system [4]; and a trailing cable connected to the charging device, the trailing cable running within the rail system along the at least one rail and connected to a connection point of a power supply [10].
Claim(s) 1-4 and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhao et al. [US 10,828,770].
With respect to claims 1 and 10, Zhao discloses a charging station for an electric vehicle [Fig. 5], which is adapted to be mounted on a building wall [it has been held that the recitation “adapted to” is not a positive limitation but only requires the ability to so perform], comprising: a rail system having at least one rail [608]; a charging device configured to move along the at least one rail of the rail system [602/604]; and a trailing cable connected to the charging device, the trailing cable running within the rail system along the at least one rail and connected to a connection point of a power supply [606].
With respect to claim 2, Zhao further discloses wherein the rail system comprises two parallel running rails and wherein the trailing cable runs between the rails [see 608 and/or the vertical posts supporting the rails].
With respect to claim 3, Zhao further discloses comprising a motor drive unit configured to move the charging device along the at least one rail [col. 6 lines 25-35].
With respect to claim 4, Zhao further discloses comprising a controller configured to control the motor drive unit and to move the charging device into a given position [604].
With respect to claim 9, Zhao further discloses wherein the charging station is configured to be mounted on a building wall such that the rail system runs in the vertical direction [i.e. the rails run in the vertical direction].
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(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. [US 10,828,770] as applied above, and further in view of Tsuge et al. [US 2022/0169132].
With respect to claims 5 and 6, Zhao further discloses wherein the controller is configured to utilize multiple given positions for the charging device and to move the charging device into a position selected from the multiple given positions [Fig. 5; i.e. the multiple positions of the vehicles; col. 6 lines 30-40]. However, Zhao fails to disclose saving the position or allowing user input/control.
Tsuge relates to a control system for charging a mobile vehicle and teaches a processor (i.e. instructions/memory for saving) allows a position of the multiple given positions is selected by user input [claims 7, 14, and 20; i.e. user selected location of a charger].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention to modify Zhao to provide user control/selection and saving of the movement of the charger for the benefit of providing precise alignment with the parking spots of the vehicles and for enabling a user to possess specific control, i.e. for maintenance or re-alignment.
Claim(s) 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. [US 10,828,770] and Tsuge et al. [US 2022/0169132] as applied above, and further in view of Schneider et al. [US 2014/0217966].
With respect to claims 7-8, Tsuge as applied above fails to automatically recognize and position the charger/vehicle based on RFID. However, such a concept is well-known in the art. For example, Schneider relates to alignment verification between a charger and vehicle and teaches wherein a controller is configured to automatically recognize vehicles and wherein a position of the multiple given positions is selected by automatic vehicle recognition and wherein the controller comprises a reader for RFID transponders and wherein the reader for RFID transponders is configured to automatically recognize vehicles [par. 0013, 0015, 0032, 0043].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention to modify Zhao as applied above in view of Tsuge to further utilize RFID to automatically position the vehicle and charger for the benefit of automating and making more efficient the recharging process for the user.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANIEL R PELTON whose telephone number is (571)270-1761. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
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/NATHANIEL R PELTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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