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 .
This is in response to Application 18/540,188 filed on 12/14/2023. Claims 1-20 are pending in the office action.
Examiner Remarks
As per claims 3 and 13, recited “a third difference and a fourth difference”, but “a second difference” had not disclosed in the claim chain. Examiner suggests the order of these elements should consist of the sequence in the next response.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 11, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI, Hung-Yuan (U.S. Pub. 20200359123).
As per claims 1 and 11: Li teaches a method for charging headset, comprising:
obtaining a first voltage of a charging port of headset (‘123, fig. 2, charge pin/port 126, first voltage Vo as power conversion circuit 242 input pin/port 126, and also see fig. 3, step. S310, par. [0038] [0039], fig. 4, S414);
determining a target buck value based on the first voltage (‘123, fig. 3, S320), adjusting a voltage on a buck side of a buck-boost converter of headset charger based on the target buck value, and sending the target buck value to controller circuit to enable power conversion circuit to determine an output voltage of the charging device based on the target buck value (‘123, fig. 2, power conversion 242 includes boost circuit 2422 and buck circuit 2424, control circuit 246, current detecting circuit 244, par. [0028] [0029], fig. 3, S320, and fig. 4, S414-S422, par. [0043]);
increasing a charging demand current of headset to a maximum allowable charging current of headset (‘123, par. [0007] [0026], the first reference current value (Ir1) is a maximum charging current value, par. [0028], fig. 3, S330, fig. 4, S422 and S426, par. [0043] [0044]); and
charging headset according to the maximum allowable charging current (‘123, par. [0007] [0026], the first reference current value (Ir1) is a maximum charging current value, par. [0038] [0045]).
Li does not teach a charge pile for charging a vehicle.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date of claimed invention using Li’s charging device concept to modify the charging device for charging a headset to a charging pile for charging vehicle with bigger scale for handling larger voltage/power that maintain the current value of the charging current at maximum charging current values (‘123, the abstract and par. [0007] [0026]).
As per claims 4 and 14: The method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a charging current of the vehicle, and adjusting the target buck value based on the charging current (‘123, fig. 2, charging current Ic, par. [0011] [0045]).
Claim(s) 10 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li, Hung-Yuan (U.S. Pub. 20200359123) in view of Lin et al., (U.S. Puub. 20190160955)
As per claims 10 and 20: Li teaches the first reference current value (Ir1) is a maximum charging current value (‘123, par. [0007] [0026]). Hence, the first voltage is a maximum voltage of the charging port.
Li does not teach the first voltage is a maximum voltage of the charging port before transmission of a handshake message between the vehicle and the charging pile stops.
Lin also teaches J1772 in North America and IEC 61851 standard use a very simple but effective pilot circuit and handshake in the EVSE. For charging a vehicle using alternating current (AC), the control electronics 22 generate a 12 Vdc pilot voltage. The 12 Vdc pilot voltage is provided to the pilot pin 4 of FIG. 1. When the EVSE cable and connector 10 is plugged into an EV inlet 11 of a compliant vehicle 12, the vehicle's circuit has a resistor 14 and a diode 16 in series that ties to ground 18 in order to drop the 12 Vdc to 9 Vdc. After the EVSE 20 sees this drop in voltage, it turns on a pulse-width modulated (PWM) generator in control electronics 22 that defines the maximum available line current (ALC) on the charging circuit. The vehicle charge controller 24 reads the percentage of the duty cycle of the PWM signal, which is equivalent to a certain amperage, and sets the maximum current draw on the onboard vehicle rectifier/charger 26, in order to not trip an upstream circuit interrupter (not shown). The vehicle 12, in turn, adds another resistor 28 in parallel with the resistor 14 of the vehicle's resistor and diode 14,16 series combination, which then drops the top level of the PWM pilot signal to 6 Vdc. This tells the EVSE 20 that the vehicle 12 is ready to charge. In response, the EVSE 20 closes an internal relay/contactor 30 to allow AC power to flow to the vehicle 12 (‘955, par. [0007])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date of claimed invention using Li’s charging device concept to modify the charging device for charging a headset to Lin’s electrical circuit for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), the electrical circuit including a pilot control signal unit structured to generate a pilot control signal based on the J1772 in North America and IEC 61851 standard use a very simple but effective pilot circuit and handshake in the EVSE.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 5-9, 12-13, and 15-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if claims 2, 3, 5, 7, 12, 13, 15, and/or 17 is/are 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 does not teach:
As per claim 2 and 12: wherein the first voltage value is less than a first difference, and the first difference is a difference between the maximum allowable charging voltage and a first value; in response to that the first voltage is greater than the first voltage value and less than or equal to the first difference, determining that the target buck value is a second difference, and performing the buck charging; wherein the second difference is a difference between the first voltage and a second value; and in response to that the first voltage is greater than the first difference, determining that the target buck value is the power battery voltage, and performing fully open charging.
As per claims 3 and 13: in response to that the maximum allowable output voltage is less than a smaller one of the maximum allowable charging voltage and a voltage threshold, increasing the target buck value to a smaller one of a third difference and a fourth difference, and performing buck charging; wherein the third difference is a difference between the power battery voltage and a fourth value, and the fourth difference is a difference between the maximum allowable output voltage and a fifth value; and in response to that the maximum allowable output voltage is greater than or equal to the smaller one of the maximum allowable charging voltage and the voltage threshold, increasing the target buck value to the power battery voltage, and performing fully open charging.
As per claims 5 and 15: wherein the determining the target buck value based on the first voltage comprises: in response to that the first voltage is less than or equal to a first difference, determining that the target buck value is a first voltage value, and performing boost charging; wherein the first voltage value is less than the first difference, and the first difference is a difference between a maximum allowable charging voltage and a first value; and in response to that the first voltage is greater than the first difference, determining that the target buck value is the first voltage value, and performing the boost charging.
As per claims 7 and 17: in response to that the first voltage is greater than the second voltage value and less than or equal to a first difference, determining that the target buck value is a smaller one of a second difference and a third difference, and performing the boost charging; wherein the first difference is a difference between a maximum allowable charging voltage of the vehicle and a first value, the second difference is a difference between the first voltage and a second value, and the third difference is the difference between a power battery voltage and a fourth value; and in response to that the first voltage is greater than the first difference, determining that the target buck value is the power battery voltage, and performing fully open charging.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NGHIA M DOAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5973. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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NGHIA M. DOAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2851
/NGHIA M DOAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851
Prosecution Insights