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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 15 November 2023, 26 February 2025, 23 April 2025, and 31 October 2025 were filed on and after the mailing date of this present application. These submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-6, 9-13, and 16-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding Claims 1, 20, and 21, the limitation “substantially equal to one another” recited on lines 24, 25, and 24 respectively is unclear. “substantially equal to one another” is unclear because it is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. This term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Regarding Claims 3, 6, 10, and 13, the limitation “substantially coaxially with one another” recited on lines 3, 4, 3-4, and 4, respectively is unclear. “substantially coaxially with one another” is unclear because it is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. This term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Regarding Claims 5 and 12, the limitation “substantially parallel to the coil axis of the power transmission coil” recited on lines 3 and 3, respectively, is unclear. “substantially parallel to the coil axis of the power transmission coil” is unclear because it is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. This term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Regarding Claim 12, the limitation “substantially a same amount of power” recited on line 1 is unclear. “substantially a same amount of power” is unclear because it is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. This term is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Regarding Claims 2-6, 9-13, and 16-19, they depend from Claim 1 and are also rejected for the reasons stated above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Regarding Claims 1, 20, and 21, Mita (US 20130015699) teaches a wireless power feeding system that transmits and receives power using magnetism, the wireless power feeding system (power supply system 4, fig. 1) comprising:
a power transmission device (power supply apparatus 1, fig. 1) that includes
a power transmission-side resonance circuit including a power transmission coil (repeater coil L3, fig. 1) and
at least one power feeding coil (power transfer coil L1, fig. 1) that is provided to be capable of magnetic field coupling to the power transmission coil and transmits power to be fed from its input end to the power transmission coil using a magnetic field resonance method (The power supply system 4 is a system (contactless power supply system) that transfers power (supplies power) using magnetic fields (using magnetic resonance or the like; same below), refer to [0032]);
a power reception device (electric vehicle 2, fig. 1) that includes
a power reception-side resonance circuit including a power reception coil (power receiving coil L2, fig. 1) and feeds power received by the power reception coil to a load (battery 23, fig. 1).
Mita is however silent regarding an impedance matching mechanism that performs impedance matching processing by changing a coupling strength in magnetic field coupling between the power feeding coil and the power transmission coil with inductance values of the power feeding coil substantially equal to one another depending on a variation of a load-side impedance as an impedance of a circuit on a load side from the input end of the power transmission device to alleviate a difference between the load-side impedance and an input-side impedance as an impedance of a circuit on a power supply device side from the input end of the power transmission device.
Claims 1-6, 9-13, and 16-21 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding Claims 1, 20, and 21, the prior arts of record, taken alone or in combination, do not teach or fairly suggest a wireless power feeding system that transmits and receives power using magnetism, the wireless power feeding system comprising: a power transmission device that includes a power transmission-side resonance circuit including a power transmission coil and at least one power feeding coil that is provided to be capable of magnetic field coupling to the power transmission coil and transmits power to be fed from its input end to the power transmission coil using a magnetic field resonance method; a power reception device that includes a power reception- side resonance circuit including a power reception coil and feeds power received by the power reception coil to a load; and an impedance matching mechanism that performs impedance matching processing by changing a coupling strength in magnetic field coupling between the power feeding coil and the power transmission coil with inductance values of the power feeding coil substantially equal to one another depending on a variation of a load-side impedance as an impedance of a circuit on a load side from the input end of the power transmission device to alleviate a difference between the load-side impedance and an input-side impedance as an impedance of a circuit on a power supply device side from the input end of the power transmission device.
Regarding Claims 2-6, 9-13, and 16-19, the depend from Claim 1 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN K BAXTER whose telephone number is (571)270-0258. The examiner can normally be reached 10-7:00 PM Monday-Thursday.
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/BRIAN K BAXTER/Examiner, Art Unit 2836
6 January 2026
/DANIEL CAVALLARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836