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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/12/2024, 01/07/2026, and 06/16/2026 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, 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.
With respect to claim 6, “the inlet cover” lacks antecedent basis. It appears claim 6 was meant to depend from claim 5 as that is where an inlet cover is introduced to be opened. The rejection below is examined under that presumption.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-4, 7-9, 11-16, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yang [US 2021/0094431].
With respect to claims 1, 11, and 16, Yang discloses a method of controlling opening and closing of a charging door of an electric vehicle performed by an electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) comprising a charging manipulator [Figs. 1 and 5], the method comprising: positioning the charging manipulator at a position corresponding to the charging door of the electric vehicle [S141 and/or S130]; performing a protocol for opening the charging door [S143]; checking whether the charging door is opened or not and coupling the charging manipulator to an inlet of the charging door [par. 0071-0074; S144 and S150/S160] and memory/processor/communication to perform the method [Figs 2-3].
With respect to claims 2 and 12, Yang further discloses unmating the charging manipulator from the inlet when a power transfer process for the electric vehicle is completed or terminated, performing a protocol for closing the charging door, and checking whether the charging door is closed or not [par. 0087].
With respect to claims 3 and 13, Yang further discloses receiving, from the electric vehicle, at least one of a shape, an opening type, or an opening direction of the charging door [par. 0079].
With respect to claims 4 and 14, Yang further discloses receiving, from the electric vehicle, information on whether an inlet cover is formed independently from the charging door or not [par. 0079, i.e. position and/or type].
With respect to claims 7 and 15, Yang further discloses wherein the positioning the charging manipulator at the position corresponding to the charging door of the electric vehicle comprises: determining a moving path of the charging manipulator, to move the charging manipulator to the position corresponding to the charging door, based on at least one of a position of the charging door relative to the electric vehicle, a distance from the electric vehicle to an adjacent vehicle, or a distance from the electric vehicle to the adjacent vehicle on an assumption that the charging door is opened [Fig. 5; par. 0071].
With respect to claim 8, Yang further discloses sharing with the electric vehicle that the charging manipulator is positioned at the position corresponding to the charging door; receiving, from the electric vehicle, a request for permission to open the charging door; and receiving, from the electric vehicle, a notification indicating that the charging door is opened [par. 0075, par. 0081-0084].
With respect to claim 9, Yang further discloses wherein the performing the protocol for opening the charging door comprises: sharing with the electric vehicle that the charging manipulator is positioned at the position corresponding to the charging door; receiving, from the electric vehicle, a request to open the charging door; controlling the charging manipulator to open the charging door based on at least one of a shape, an opening type, or an opening direction of the charging door; and- receiving, from the electric vehicle, a notification indicating that the charging door is opened [par. 0081-0084, 0046].
With respect to claim 18, Yang further discloses guiding a user to move and park the electric vehicle within an operating range of the EVSE comprising the charging manipulator among the plurality of EVSEs, or guiding the user to park the electric vehicle within the operating range of the EVSE comprising the charging manipulator [Fig. 1; the charging apparatus 200 and arm 260 provide a guide for the user to park within range].
With respect to claim 19, Yang further discloses providing the EVSE with at least one of information on whether the electric vehicle can automatically open the charging door or information on whether the electric vehicle can automatically close the charging door [par. 0081-0084].
With respect to claim 20, Yang further discloses receiving, from the EVSE, at least one of information on whether the charging manipulator can automatically open the charging door or information on whether the charging manipulator can automatically close the charging door [par. 0081-0084].
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) 5-6 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang [US 2021/0094431].
With respect to claims 5-6, Yang discloses monitoring for and performing protocols for opening and closing the vehicle charging door as detail above, however, fails to do the same process for an inlet cover. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention to modify Yang to include an additional inlet cover and duplicate the opening/closing process since it has been held that duplicating essential working parts is within the level of ordinary skill. The benefit to providing a secondary layer of protection, i.e. inlet cover under a charging door provides increased protection to the internal circuitry from the elements as well as increase security from tampering.
With respect to claim 17, Yang fails to disclose receiving identification information for a plurality of EVSEs; and selecting the EVSE comprising the charging manipulator among the plurality of EVSEs. However, duplication of essential working parts, i.e. duplicate charging arms and vehicles, is considered within the level of ordinary skill for a person having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention. The benefit to duplicating the invention to having multiple charging arms and multiple cars enables the recharging operation to be scaled higher and therefore provide energy to greater numbers of vehicles.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang [US 2021/0094431] in view of Van Der Weijde [US 2022/0194246].
With respect to claim 10, Yang further discloses wherein the performing the protocol for opening the charging door comprises: sharing with the electric vehicle that the charging manipulator is positioned at the position corresponding to the charging door [Fig. 4-5] but fails to explicitly disclose receiving that manual manipulation of a human is in progress.
Van Der Weijde relates to automated charging of an electric vehicle and teaches detecting and notifying that a human is positioned in its spatial operating area (charging door). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the instant invention to modify Yang to receiving a notification indicating that a process of opening the charging door by a manual manipulation of a human is in progress for the benefit of preventing harm to the user, i.e. pinch points or collision between the automated arms and users.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2022/0379750 to Harmon et al. additionally discloses an automated charging station that utilizes command to open a charging door on an electric vehicle.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANIEL R PELTON whose telephone number is (571)270-1761. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
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/NATHANIEL R PELTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
