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 .
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 1-2, 8 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiura et al. (US 2014/0224914) in view of Loser (US 2023/0022676).
Claim 1: Sugiura teaches a charging device (10) (Fig.1), comprising:
a charging pile (12), having an inner space and a top opening (14) connected to the inner space (Fig.1) (Par.49);
a pulley set (20 and 50), disposed in the inner space (Par.47);
a charging cable (100), having a fixed end and a connecting end opposite to each other, wherein the fixed end is wound on the pulley set (20 and 50) (Par.50), and the connecting end extends out of the inner space through the top opening (Fig.2) (Par.48);
a charging gun (110), comprising a grip part, a charging connector opposite to the grip part (Par.70) (Fig.2).
Sugiura does not explicitly teach a cable connecting part between the grip part and the charging connector, wherein the connecting end of the charging cable is inserted into the cable connecting part such that the charging gun is adapted to rotate relative to the charging cable, and the cable connecting part has a connecting hole and a limiting slot located in the connecting hole; and a positioning member, sleeved on the connecting end, and located in the connecting hole, wherein the positioning member has a limiting part, and the limiting part is slidably disposed in the limiting slot to limit a rotation angle of the charging gun rotating relative to the charging cable.
Loser teaches a charging gun (1) (Fig.1), comprising a grip part (28), a charging connector (8) opposite to the grip part (28) (Par.23), and a cable connecting part (10), wherein the connecting end of a charging cable (3) is inserted into the cable connecting part (10) such that the charging gun (1) is adapted to rotate relative to the charging cable (1) (Par.23), and the cable connecting part (10) has a connecting hole (12) and a limiting slot (grooves) located in the connecting hole (12) (Fig.4) (Par.27); and
a positioning member (15), sleeved on the connecting end (Fig.5), and located in the connecting hole (12), wherein the positioning member (15) has a limiting part (20), and the limiting part (20) is slidably disposed in the limiting slot (grooves) to limit a rotation angle of the charging gun (1) rotating relative to the charging cable (3) (Par.27).
Positioning the cable connecting part between the grip part and the charging connector on the charging gun would be an obvious matter of design choice. The position of the cable connecting part would not have affected the operation of the device.
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 Loser in the system of Sugiura to have had allowed for sufficient rotation of the charging gun with respect to the charging cable for adequate orientation for connection to a vehicle without excessive torsion (Par.11) thereby protecting the charging cable from damage.
Claim 2: Sugiura in view of Loser teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Sugiura does not explicitly teach wherein the cable connecting part further has an inner thread in the connecting hole, the positioning member further has an outer thread, and the outer thread is rotatably connected to the inner thread.
Loser teaches the cable connecting part (10) (Fig.5) further has an inner thread in the connecting hole (12), the positioning member (15) further has an outer thread, and the outer thread is rotatably connected to the inner thread (Par.27).
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 Loser in the system of Sugiura to have had held the charging cable securely in the connecting part (Par.12) thereby preventing unwanted disconnection.
Claim 8: Sugiura in view of Loser teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Sugiura teaches wherein the pulley set (20 and 50) comprises a movable pulley (20) and two guide pulleys (32) pivotally connected to the movable pulley (20) (Fig.10) (Par.65), the fixed end of the charging cable is slidably connected between the two guide pulleys (32) (Par.67), the movable pulley (20) is adapted to slide between a first position (Fig.1) and a second position (Fig.3), the second position is closer to the top opening (14) than the first position (Fig.13), a length of the charging cable (100) exposed outside the top opening (14) is shortened when the movable pulley (20) slides toward the first position (Fig.2), and the length of the charging cable (100) exposed outside the top opening (14) is lengthened when the movable pulley (20) slides toward the second position (Fig.3) (Par.51).
Claim 10: Sugiura in view of Loser teach the limitations of claim 8 as disclosed above. Sugiura teaches wherein the pulley set further comprises a linear slide rail, and the movable pulley (20) is slidably disposed on the linear slide rail (Par.93).
Claim 11: Sugiura in view of Loser teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Sugiura teaches wherein the pulley set (20 and 50) further comprises a fixed pulley (50) disposed corresponding to the top opening (14) (Fig.2), and the fixed end of the charging cable (100) is slidably connected to the fixed pulley (50) (Par.50).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiura et al. (US 2014/0224914) in view of Loser (US 2023/0022676) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Liu et al. (US 2022/0140526).
Claim 3: Sugiura in view of Loser teach the limitations of claim 2 as disclosed above. Loser teaches wherein the outer thread (located in element 32) (Par.27) is located between an endpoint of the positioning member (15) and the limiting part (20) (Fig.5).
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 Loser in the system of Sugiura to have had a configuration that held the charging cable securely in the connecting part (Par.12) thereby preventing unwanted disconnection.
The combination of Sugiura in view of Loser does not explicitly teach further comprising: a waterproof ring, sleeved on the positioning member, and contacting an inner wall surface of the connecting hole.
Liu teaches a charging device comprising: a charging gun (1) (Fig.1) comprising a cable connecting part (2) (Par.16); a waterproof ring (23) (Par.19), sleeved on a positioning member (2), and contacting an inner wall surface of a connecting hole (Figs.4-5; Hole receiving cable 3.).
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 Liu in the combination of Sugiura in view of Loser to have had prevented water or liquid from flowing into the charging gun via the gap between the charging gun and the charging cable (Par.19) thereby improving safety while charging.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiura et al. (US 2014/0224914) in view of Loser (US 2023/0022676) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Pavlovic et al. (US 11,476,609).
Claim 4: Sugiura in view of Loser teach the limitations of claim 2 as disclosed above. Loser teaches a positioning member (15) comprising a coupling part (grooves 34) (Par.27); a limiting part (20) located between the outer thread and the coupling part (grooves 34) (Fig.5) (Par.27); and the limiting slot (groove corresponding to limiting part 20) is located between the inner thread and a part (22) corresponding to the coupling part (grooves 34) (Fig.5) (Par.27).
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 Loser in the system of Sugiura to have had a configuration that held the charging cable securely in the connecting part (Par.12) thereby preventing unwanted disconnection.
The combination of Sugiura in view of Loser does not explicitly teach wherein the positioning member further has a magnetic part, the cable connecting part is disposed with a magnet corresponding to the magnetic part, the magnet generates a magnetic attraction force to the magnetic part.
Pavlovic discloses a positioning (1530) (Fig.67) comprising a magnetic part, a cable connecting part (1220) disposed with a magnet corresponding to the magnetic part, the magnet generates a magnetic attraction force to the magnetic part (Col.34, Lines 39-56).
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 utilized magnets instead of grooves and projections in the combination of Sugiura in view of Loser to have had utilized a known coupling method (Col.34, Lines 39-56) as taught in Pavlovic to have had the expected result of providing adequate attachment between the positioning member and the cable connecting member.
Claims 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiura et al. (US 2014/0224914) in view of Loser (US 2023/0022676) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Van Keuren, II et al. (US 2015/0314999).
Claim 5: Sugiura in view of Loser teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Sugiura does not explicitly teach wherein the pulley set comprises two movable pulleys, the fixed end of the charging cable is wound on the two movable pulleys, the two movable pulleys are adapted to slide in the inner space along opposite directions, a length of the charging cable exposed outside the top opening is shortened when the two movable pulleys slide away from each other, and the length of the charging cable exposed outside the top opening is lengthened when the two movable pulleys slide close to each other; wherein the pulley set further comprises two linear slide rails, and the two movable pulleys are slidably disposed on the two linear slide rails, respectively.
Van Keuren, II teaches a pulley set comprises two movable pulleys (52 and 54) (Fig.2), a fixed end of a cable (22) is wound on the two movable pulleys (52 and 54) (Par.24), the two movable pulleys (52 and 54) are adapted to slide in an inner space along opposite directions (Par.23; Positive X direction and Negative X direction), a length of the cable (22) is shortened when the two movable pulleys (52 and 54) slide away from each other (Fig.2) (Par.26), and the length of the cable (22) is lengthened when the two movable pulleys (52 and 54) slide close to each other (Par.23).
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 utilized two movable pulleys in the system of Sugiura to have had the expected result of extending and retracting the cable based on the movable pulley positions (Par.13); while providing stability of the cable (Par.5) as taught in Van Keuren, II.
Claim 7: Sugiura in view of Loser and Van Keuren, II teach the limitations of claim 5 as disclosed above. Van Keuren, II discloses the two movable pulleys (52 and 54) slide (Par.13).
Van Keuren, II does not explicitly teach wherein the pulley set further comprises two linear slide rails, and the two movable pulleys are slidably disposed on the two linear slide rails, respectively.
Sugiura teaches a linear slide rail, and a movable pulley (20) slidably disposed on the linear slide rail (Par.93).
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 two movable pulleys slidably disposed on two linear slide rails, respectively in the combination of Sugiura in view of Van Keuren, II to have had rails to guide each movable pulleys (Par.93) thereby allowing for smooth pull out and wind up of the cable (Par.85).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiura et al. (US 2014/0224914) in view of Loser (US 2023/0022676) and Van Keuren, II et al. (US 2015/0314999) as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Marcos Moreira da Silva et al. (US 2024/0067010).
Claim 6: Sugiura in view of Loser and Van Keuren, II teach the limitations of claim 5 as disclosed above. Sugiura teaches wherein the charging pile (10) further has a gun hanging slot (13) (Par.48), the gun hanging slot (13) is located below the top opening (14) (Fig.2), the movable pulley (20) slides to the first position, the length of the charging cable (100) is shortened, when the charging gun (110) is hung in the gun hanging slot (13) (Fig.2), and the movable pulley (20) slides to the second position, the length of the charging cable (100) is lengthened, when the charging gun (110) leaves the gun hanging slot (13) (Fig.3) (Par.51).
Sugiura does not explicitly teach the two movable pulleys slide away from each other when the sensor senses that the charging gun is hung in the gun hanging slot, and the two movable pulleys slide close to each other when the sensor senses that the charging gun leaves the gun hanging slot.
Van Keuren, II teaches a cable (22) length is shortened when the two movable pulleys (52 and 54) slide away from each other (Fig.2) (Par.26), and the length of the cable (22) is lengthened when the two movable pulleys (52 and 54) slide close to each other (Par.23).
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 utilized two movable pulleys in the system of Sugiura to have had the expected result of extending and retracting the cable based on the movable pulley positions (Par.13); while providing stability of the cable (Par.5) as taught in Van Keuren, II.
The combination of Sugiura in view of Van Keuren, II does not explicitly teach a sensor is disposed in the gun hanging slot and adapted to sense the charging gun.
Marcos Moreira da Silva teaches a charging pile (100) (Fig.1) comprising a sensor disposed in a gun hanging slot (rest bracket) and adapted to sense a charging gun (104) (Par.164); moving to a first position when the charging gun (104) is hung in the gun hanging slot (Par.169); and moving to a second position when the charging gun (104) leaves the gun hanging slot (Par.164).
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 Marcos Moreira da Silva in the combination of Sugiura in view of Van Keuren, II to have had automatically extended and retracted the charging cable without requiring intervention by a user (Par.32) and without requiring strength by the sure thereby ensuring user comfort (Par.42).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiura et al. (US 2014/0224914) in view of Loser (US 2023/0022676) as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Marcos Moreira da Silva et al. (US 2024/0067010).
Claim 9: Sugiura in view of Loser teach the limitations of claim 8 as disclosed above. Sugiura teaches wherein the charging pile (10) further has a gun hanging slot (13) (Par.48), the gun hanging slot (13) is located below the top opening (14) (Fig.2), the movable pulley (20) slides to the first position when the charging gun (110) is hung in the gun hanging slot (13) (Fig.2), and the movable pulley (20) slides to the second position when the charging gun (110) leaves the gun hanging slot (13) (Fig.3) (Par.51).
Sugiura does not explicitly teach a sensor is disposed in the gun hanging slot and adapted to sense the charging gun.
Marcos Moreira da Silva teaches a charging pile (100) (Fig.1) comprising a sensor disposed in a gun hanging slot (rest bracket) and adapted to sense a charging gun (104) (Par.164); moving to a first position when the charging gun (104) is hung in the gun hanging slot (Par.169); and moving to a second position when the charging gun (104) leaves the gun hanging slot (Par.164).
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 Marcos Moreira da Silva in the system of Sugiura to have had automatically extended and retracted the charging cable without requiring intervention by a user (Par.32) and without requiring strength by the sure thereby ensuring user comfort (Par.42).
Conclusion
Hagmann et al. (US 2023/0335959) teaches a charging gun (205) (Fig.20), comprising a grip part, a charging connector opposite to the grip part, and a cable connecting part (150(2)) between the grip part and the charging connector (Fig.20), wherein the connecting end of a charging cable (110) is inserted into the cable connecting part (150(2)) such that the charging gun (205) is adapted to rotate relative to the charging cable (110) (Par.77), and the cable connecting part (150(2)).
Swanson (US 5,423,438) discloses pulleys (61a-61b) moving close to each other (Fig.11) when a cable (45) is shortened (Fig.7) (Col.6, Line 68) (Col.8, Lines 28-30); and the pulleys (61a-61b) moving away from each other (Fig.12) when the cable is extended (Fig.9) (Col.7, Lines 1-2) (Col.8, Lines 30-32).
Ford (US 2010/0314503) discloses a length of a cable (1300) is shortened when two pulleys (1400A-B and 1500A-B) slide away from each other (Fig.1C) (Par.26), and the length of the cable (1300) is lengthened when the two pulleys (1400A-B and 1500A-B) slide close to each other (Fig.1D) (Par.28).
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 Loser in the system of Sugiura to have had
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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