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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Information processing method, information processing device, and non-transitory medium for controlling vehicle to grid aggregation based on parallel waiting times.
Election/Restrictions
Claim 26 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/08/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 14-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea without significantly more.
The claim(s) recite(s) a mental process directed to specifying a degree of contribution to the aggregator by the electric vehicle according to the connection status and giving a benefit in association with a user of the electric vehicle according to the specified degree of contribution, claim 14 (e.g. see opinion, observation, and judgment); specifying the degree of contribution on the basis of a parallel waiting time of the electric vehicle for the charger/discharger, the number of parallel waiting operations, the number of times the electric vehicle is charged and discharged through the charger/discharger, a charge and discharge time, charge and discharge power, or an amount of charge and discharge power, claim 15; specifying the degree of contribution on the basis of the parallel waiting time of the electric vehicle in a designated time period designated by the aggregator, claim 16 ; giving a benefit capable of being used to settle a charging fee at a public charger that is dispersively disposed according to the degree of contribution, claim 18l giving points capable of being exchanged for the charging fee at the public charger are given as a benefit., claim 19 , giving a free period during which charging is capable of being performed for free at the public charger as a benefit., claim 20
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because acquiring information indicating a connection status of an electric vehicle to a charger/discharger managed by an aggregator, claim 14; acquiring a request to adjust power supply and demand in a power transmission and distribution network to which the charger/discharger is connected, and specifying the degree of contribution on the basis of the parallel waiting time of the electric vehicle in an adjustment time period designated in the adjustment request, claim 17; reading a benefit corresponding to the user from a storage unit when the user uses the public charger, and performing a process of settling the charging fee according to the read benefit. claim 21,
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the insignificant extra solution activity is well known, conventional, or routine, MPEP 2106.05(d).
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) 14-23 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pollack (PG/PUB 20080040223).
Claim 14. Pollack teaches an information processing method (ABSTRACT, summary of invention) for causing a computer to execute processing of:
acquiring information indicating a connection status of an electric vehicle to a charger/discharger managed by an aggregator; (0094, 0135 -0136, 0149, 0155-0158*, Figure 9 e.g. “In another implementation, the newly-connected electric resource 112 searches for locally connected resources by broadcasting a ping or message that includes the unique identifier 1006 of the electric resource 112. In this implementation, the ID unit 910 does not need to trust or reuse the wireless connection, and does not respond back to the remote IPF module 134 of the mobile electric resource 112, but responds 1008 directly to the flow control server 106 with a message that contains its own unique identifier 1004 and the unique identifier 1006 of the electric resource 112 that was received in the ping message. The central flow control server 106 then associates the unique identifier 1006 of the mobile electric resource 112 with a “connected” status and uses the other unique identifier 1004 of the ID unit 910 to determine or approximate the physical location of the electric resource 112. The physical location does not have to be approximate, if a particular ID unit 910 is associated with only one exact network location. The remote IPF module 134 learns that the ping is successful when it hears back from the flow control center 106 with confirmation.”)
specifying a degree of contribution to the aggregator by the electric vehicle according to the connection status; (0045, 0062, 0093, 0098, 0103, 0135 e.g. “For example, the constraint optimizer 710 can signal an electric vehicle 200 to charge its battery bank 202 at a certain charging rate and later to discharge the battery bank 202 for uploading power to the power grid 114 at a certain upload rate: the power transfer rates and the timing schedules of the power transfers optimized to fit the tracked individual connect and disconnect behavior of the particular electric vehicle 200 and also optimized to fit a daily power supply and demand “breathing cycle” of the power grid 114.”)
giving a benefit in association with a user of the electric vehicle according to the specified degree of contribution. 0054, 0173, 0177 , 0181, 0182 0231 e.g. “Likewise, vehicle owners 408 may not be interested in participating without participation being made easy, and without there being incentive to do so. By creating value through aggregated management, the power aggregation system 100 can provide incentives to owners in the form of payments, reduced charging costs, etc. The power aggregation system 100 can also make the control of vehicle charging and uploading power to the grid 114 automatic and nearly seamless to the vehicle owner 408, thereby making participation palatable.”)
Claim 15. The information processing method according to claim 14, further causing a computer to execute processing of specifying the degree of contribution on the basis of a parallel waiting time of the electric vehicle for the charger/discharger (Applicant’s published specification teaches “ In addition, the “parallel waiting” means a state in which the electric vehicle is connected to the charger/discharger 3 (a state in which charging and discharging are possible), regardless of whether charging or discharging is performed,” 0059. As interpreted, parallel waiting time is a connection state in which power flow is possible. Here, Pollack teaches multiple parallel waiting times as connection states enabling power flow, 0094, 0135 -0136, 0149, 0155-0158*, Figure 9; 0045, 0062, 0093, 0098, 0103, 0135)
the number of parallel waiting operations (e.g. see number of identified connections, 0094, 0135 -0136, 0149, 0155-0158*, Figure 9)
the number of times the electric vehicle is charged and discharged through the charger/discharger (0041,0062 e.g. see connection behavior)
a charge and discharge time (0062 e.g. time of connect/disconnect)
charge and discharge power (0089 e.g. connect time, connect duration,) or
an amount of charge and discharge power (0045 e.g. controlling the amount, direction, and timing)
claim 16. (New) The information processing method according to claim 14, further causing a computer to execute processing of specifying the degree of contribution on the basis of the parallel waiting time of the electric vehicle in a designated time period designated by the aggregator (0045, 0062, *0093, 0098, 0103, 0135 e.g. see controlling the amount and duration of power based upon the connection status within designed time periods or schedules)
claim 17. (New) The information processing method according to claim 14, further causing a computer to execute processing of: acquiring a request to adjust power supply and demand in a power transmission and distribution network to which the charger/discharger is connected (e.g. see requesting power via vehicles in light of grid levels or balance (e.g. supply and demand imbalanced, see 0096-0101)
specifying the degree of contribution on the basis of the parallel waiting time of the electric vehicle in an adjustment time period designated in the adjustment request (0096-0101 e.g. see controlling connected vehicles to charge/discharge for balancing power grid levels)
claim 18. (New) The information processing method according to claim 14, further causing a computer to execute processing of giving a benefit capable of being used to settle a charging fee at a public charger that is dispersively disposed according to the degree of contribution (0054, 0177, 0181)
claim 19. (New) The information processing method according to claim 18, further causing
sing a computer to execute processing of giving points capable of being exchanged for the charging fee at the public charger are given as a benefit (0054, 0182 e.g. see incentives as giving points in place of otherwise charging fees)
claim 20. (New) The information processing method according to claim 18, further causing a computer to execute processing of giving a free period during which charging is capable of being performed for free at the public charger as a benefit (0054 e.g. see free parking and/or charging)
Claim 21. (New) The information processing method according to claim 18, further causing a computer to execute processing of: reading a benefit corresponding to the user from a storage unit when the user uses the public charger, and performing a process of settling the charging fee according to the read benefit. ( 0169 , 0180, 0182)
Claim 22. (New) The information processing method according to claim 14, further causing a computer to execute processing of: acquiring an identifier of the charger/discharger or a public charger and an identifier of the user or the electric vehicle when the electric vehicle is connected to the charger/discharger or the public charger, and storing the identifier of the charger/discharger or the public charger, the identifier of the electric vehicle or the user, and a connection date and time of the electric vehicle in a storage unit in association with one another (0084 0091, 0149, 0155-0158, 0180)
claim 23. (New) The information processing method according to claim 22, further causing a computer to execute processing of predicting a connection trend of the electric vehicle to each charger/discharger or each public charger on the basis of a connection history of each charger/discharger or each public charger stored in the storage unit (0041, 0062, 0078, 0088-95)
claim 25. (New) An information processing device comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to: acquire information indicating a connection status of an electric vehicle to a charger/discharger managed by an aggregator; specify a degree of contribution to the aggregator by the electric vehicle according to the connection status; and give a benefit in association with a user of the electric vehicle according to the specified degree of contribution (0045, 0062, 0093, 0098, 0103, 0135, see also benefits 0054, 0173, 0177 , 0181, 0182 0231)
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) 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pollack (PG/PUB 20090063680) in view over Hafner (PG/PUB 20090313104).
Claim 24. (New) The information processing method according to claim 14 but does not expressly teach the introduction information described below. Hafner teaches the introduction information described below
further causing a computer to execute processing of: acquiring introduction information indicating that the user has newly introduced the charger/discharger, and giving a benefit in association with the user in a case where the introduction information is acquired (0048 e.g. see giving benefit to first time customer e.g. “time options and trade-offs for a particular trip. For example, energy decision assistant 304 may monitor available incentives, weather conditions, a travel route, traffic information, and other real-time data to identify the best electric vehicle charging options for a particular trip. Energy decision assistant 304 may also serve as a source of incentives. Energy decision assistant 304 may receive incentives from one or more third parties and process the incentives prior to sending the incentives to incentive service 305. Processing the incentives includes, without limitation, filtering the incentives, sorting the incentives, and/or prioritizing the incentives. Filtering the incentives may include identifying incentives that are still valid and discarding incentives that are expired. Incentives may be valid, without limitation, on a particular time of day, date, at a particular location, or by a particular type of customer, such as a first time customer, senior citizen, child under the age of twelve, or a customer rewards member.”)
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention applying the teachings of Hafner for providing benefits to new customers for providing vehicle to grid services to the teachings of Pollack for providing incentives to vehicle to grid customers would achieve an expected and predictable result of incentivizing new customers to provide grid services in exchange for continued participation. Hafner is in the same field of endeavor and pertinent to a problem of maximizing revenue and providing grid stabilization, ABSTRACT, summary of invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
20090313174 describes transaction plans for approval based on preferences for vehicle to grid power flow, figure 5, figure 12.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARRIN D DUNN whose telephone number is (571)270-1645. The examiner can normally be reached M-Sat (10-8) PST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Fennema can be reached at 571-272-2748. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DARRIN D DUNN/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2117
Prosecution Insights