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 .
Claims 1-12 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by SHIMIZU et al. (hereinafter “SHIMIZU”) (US 20150283912 A1).
As to claim 1, SHIMIZU teaches an electric power management system [charge system 191] comprising a processor [Fig. 2] [0039-0040] configured to,
when an electric power shortage situation improves [end of DR event], cancel a vehicle-to-home electric power feeding state of a vehicle and a vehicle-to-home apparatus [Fig. 6B shows at the end of DR event period 669, cancel vehicle battery discharging operating state to stop battery discharging from vehicle to home (cancel current SoC path 666c) by operating schedule implementation module 214 and battery system 197] and cause the vehicle and the vehicle-to-home apparatus to transition to a charging suppression state [Fig. 6B shows after the end of DR event period 669, suppressing vehicle charging at the beginning of available charging period 667b to keep the current SoC 666d unchanged], the vehicle-to-home electric power feeding state being established in accordance with an electric power saving request, the charging suppression state being a state in which charging of the vehicle is suppressed [0029, 0060-0063, 0068-0069, 0082, 0090, 0099, 0101, 0116-0119], and
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when the electric power shortage situation changes to a chargeable situation, cancel the charging suppression state and cause the charging of the vehicle with electric power from the vehicle-to-home apparatus to start [suppressing vehicle charging at the beginning of available charging period 667b to keep the current SoC path 666d unchanged, waits until the current power rates getting lower (a chargeable situation) to start charging of the vehicle with SoC path 666e using charging time slot 664b] [Fig. 6B] [00691, 0101, 01162-0119].
As to claim 3, SHIMIZU teaches the electric power management system is provided in a server communicable with the vehicle [Fig. 1][0026].
As to claim 5, SHIMIZU teaches the electric power management system is provided in the vehicle [Fig. 1][0026].
As to claim 7, SHIMIZU teaches the electric power management system is provided in the vehicle-to-home apparatus [Figs. 1-2][0026, 0049, 0088-0090].
As to claim 9, SHIMIZU teaches the electric power management system is provided in a mobile terminal [Fig. 1][0022-0023, 0026, 0050].
As to claim 11, SHIMIZU teaches a non-transitory tangible computer-readable recording medium containing a program, the program causing, when executed by a computer, the computer to implement a method, the method comprising:
canceling, when an electric power shortage situation improves [end of DR event], a vehicle-to-home electric power feeding state of a vehicle and a vehicle-to-home apparatus [Fig. 6B shows at the end of DR event period 669, cancel vehicle battery discharging operating state for schedule implementation module 214 and battery system 197 to stop battery discharging from vehicle to home] and causing the vehicle and the vehicle-to-home apparatus to transition to a charging suppression state[Fig. 6B shows after the end of DR event period 669, suppressing vehicle charging at the beginning of available charging period 667b to keep the current SoC 666d unchanged], the vehicle-to-home electric power feeding state being established in accordance with an electric power saving request, the charging suppression state being a state in which charging of the vehicle is suppressed [0029, 0060-0063, 0068-0069, 0082, 0090, 0099, 0101, 0116-0119]; and
canceling, when the electric power shortage situation changes to a chargeable situation, the charging suppression state and causing the charging of the vehicle with electric power from the vehicle-to-home apparatus to start [suppressing vehicle charging at the beginning of available charging period 667b to keep the current SoC path 666d unchanged, waits until the current power rates getting lower (a chargeable situation) to start charging of the vehicle with SoC path 666e using charging time slot 664b] [Fig. 6B] [00693, 0101, 01164-0119].
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.
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.
Claim(s) 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SHIMIZU in view of Ayoola et al. (hereinafter “Ayoola”) (US 20230024900 A1).
As to claims 2 and 12, SHIMIZU teaches after the end of DR event period, determine that the chargeable situation is established and cancel the charging suppression state by waiting until the current power rates getting lower (a chargeable situation) to start charging of the vehicle with SoC path 666e using charging time slot 664b [Fig. 6B] [0069, 0101, 0116-0119]. SHIMIZU does not explicitly teach determine that the chargeable situation is established when an electric power reserve margin becomes greater than or equal to a threshold.
However, Ayoola teaches a system and method for providing real-time distributed micro-grid optimization to an electrical grid system. Especially, Ayoola teaches determine that the chargeable situation is established when an electric power reserve margin becomes greater than or equal to a threshold [If the grid reserves are above the threshold, then the algorithm may decrease the grid reserve capacity because if grid demand is satisfied and there are excess reserves such that the threshold was not crossed, then there is more reserve capacity allocated to grid operations that may be optimally used by transferring to EV XFC reserves for EV charging operations] [0080-0082].
SHIMIZU and Ayoola are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of power management for grid and energy storage during on and off-peak hours. At the time before the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to allocate excess power for EV charging operations after determining the grid reserves are currently above a predetermined threshold. The suggestion for doing so would have been obvious because power rates will be decreased to a lower level when the grid reserves is accumulated toward and above a threshold after a peak period. Therefore, it would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Ayoola with the teachings of SHIMIZU for the purpose of providing a charge solution by determine that the chargeable situation is established for EV charging operations when the grid reserves are above the threshold as specified in the claims 2 and 12.
As to claim 4, SHIMIZU teaches the electric power management system is provided in a server communicable with the vehicle [Fig. 1][0026].
As to claim 6, SHIMIZU teaches the electric power management system is provided in the vehicle [Fig. 1][0026].
As to claim 8, SHIMIZU teaches the electric power management system is provided in the vehicle-to-home apparatus [Figs. 1-2][0026, 0049, 0088-0090].
As to claim 10, SHIMIZU teaches the electric power management system is provided in a mobile terminal [Fig. 1][0022-0023, 0026, 0050].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIPENG WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5437. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10-7.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini Shah can be reached at 5712722279. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHIPENG WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115
1 [0069] In another example, if the power rate during a DR event period is much higher than power rates in other times, the discharging determination module 208 may determine to discharge power from the battery system 197 to a home energy management system using a maximal discharging rate during the DR event period. In this example, a maximal amount of power can be discharged from the battery system 197 to the home energy management system during the DR event period. Thus, the home energy management system may use as less power as possible from the regional power grid system during the DR event period. After discharging power from the battery system 197 to the home energy management system, the battery system 197 may be recharged during a following available charging period, since the power rate in the following available charging period is much lower than the power rate in the DR event period.
2 [0116] Referring to FIG. 6B, the graphic representation 660 illustrates a first graph 663 depicting a power rate as a function of time and a second graph 665 depicting an available state zone 662. The schedule module 212 determines a sequence of states including a start state of charge at a DR event start time (illustrated by a point 668) and an end state of charge at a DR event end time (illustrated by a point 670). The sequence of states satisfies the available state zone 662. The battery system 197 may be charged using charging time slots 664a and 664b that have the lowest power rates based on the start state of charge at the point 668 and the end state of charge at the point 670. A difference between the start state of charge at the DR event start time and the end state of charge at the DR event end time is equal to an amount of power to be discharged during a DR event period 669.
3 [0069] In another example, if the power rate during a DR event period is much higher than power rates in other times, the discharging determination module 208 may determine to discharge power from the battery system 197 to a home energy management system using a maximal discharging rate during the DR event period. In this example, a maximal amount of power can be discharged from the battery system 197 to the home energy management system during the DR event period. Thus, the home energy management system may use as less power as possible from the regional power grid system during the DR event period. After discharging power from the battery system 197 to the home energy management system, the battery system 197 may be recharged during a following available charging period, since the power rate in the following available charging period is much lower than the power rate in the DR event period.
4 [0116] Referring to FIG. 6B, the graphic representation 660 illustrates a first graph 663 depicting a power rate as a function of time and a second graph 665 depicting an available state zone 662. The schedule module 212 determines a sequence of states including a start state of charge at a DR event start time (illustrated by a point 668) and an end state of charge at a DR event end time (illustrated by a point 670). The sequence of states satisfies the available state zone 662. The battery system 197 may be charged using charging time slots 664a and 664b that have the lowest power rates based on the start state of charge at the point 668 and the end state of charge at the point 670. A difference between the start state of charge at the DR event start time and the end state of charge at the DR event end time is equal to an amount of power to be discharged during a DR event period 669.