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 1-20 are pending.
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 November 22, 2023; October 31, 2024; February 28, 2025 and October 6, 2025 have been considered by the examiner.
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) 1 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chinese Patent No. CN112277846 to Zheng et al. in view of U.S. Publication No. 2019/0265664 to Sato et al. (A machine translation is included with this action and referred to herein).
Regarding claim 1, the Zheng patent teaches a battery movement detection apparatus (this is interpreted as a vehicle) comprising: a speed sensor (this is the vehicle speed and the tray is considered the vehicle) configured to obtain speed information of a tray accommodating a battery; a power supply unit configured to provide a driving power; an environment sensor configured to obtain environment information about a surrounding environment of the battery movement detection apparatus; a communication unit 3, 7 configured to transmit the speed information to a battery position detection apparatus; and a controller configured to calculate an available limit of the power supply unit based on the environment information and control an operation of the communication unit based on the available limit of the power supply unit. See abstract and page 5 of the translation that states the battery charge determines what functions are rendered.
However, the Zheng patent lacks a specific teaching of an environment sensor.
The Sato publication teaches an environment sensor 30 used in conjunction with a power supply device 1. See paragraph 0040.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the subject invention to modify the Zheng patent to have the environment sensor as taught Sato as it would have been combining known prior art elements using known methods to provide the predictable result of more accurate control of the power supply depending on the ambient temperature extended use.
Regarding claim 4, the environment information comprises at least one of temperature information. Paragraph 0040 of Sato.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 5 and 6 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 7-20 are allowed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Publication No. 2015/0156745 to Shcheglov et al. teaches a positioning sensor.
U.S. Publication No. 2013/0130068 to Song et al. teaches a battery tray and system.
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/JUSTIN HOLMES/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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