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 .
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) s 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kaneyasu et al (JP2014-27720) in view of Endo (US20240372367).
Referring to claim 1. Kaneyasu et al (herein “Kaneyasu”) discloses a “Charging System For Vehicle And Mechanical Parking Facility”. See Figs. 1-8 and respective portions of the specification. Kaneyasu further discloses a parking management system comprising a mechanical parking facility including a plurality of movable pallet that can be moved in a parking space with a vehicle mounted on them (See Sect. 0003, 0015, 0035), a plurality of charging (10) devices that are installed in chargeable and dischargeable spaces (See Sects. 0017), a controller that is programmed to control movement of the pallets, the controller is programmed to move a pallet (feedable pallet) carrying an electric vehicle (See at least 0024-0025). Kaneyasu doesn’t explicitly disclose a dischargeable device installed in a dischargeable parking space or wherein the controller is programmed to control the charging and discharging devices. Endo discloses a “Charging/Discharging System, Method of Controlling Charging/Discharging System, And Computer Program”. See Figs. 1-9 and respective portions of the specification. Endo further discloses bidirectional charging system comprising a plurality of charging/discharging devices (51) provided in stations/parking spaces that discharges an energy storage apparatus from a vehicle (3) (See Sect. 0065-0066) and wherein electric power discharged from the energy storage apparatus is supplied to loads via a power line (29d). Likewise, Endo discloses a control device (25) and teaches controller-based power management, disclosing that a control device changes the target value of received power based on a predicted value of power consumption of a demand facility and that the control device can grasp the power demand-supply capability of the in-vehicle battery and schedule a certain point in time the charging or discharging of electricity from the vehicle (See Sect. 0090-0091). It should be noted that this is generally understood to support selecting vehicles capable of feeding power. Likewise, it should be noted that Kaneyasu teaches controller-driven pallet management and Endo teaches identifying vehicles capable of supplying power via discharged to facilities, that a combined system would have been capable of moving a pallet carrying an electric vehicle to supply power to a chargeable and dischargeable parking space. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the parking management system/facility of Kaneyasu to include bidirectional charging and discharging functionality as taught by Endo in order to allow parked electric vehicles to function as distributed energy sources capable of supplying facilities with energy during periods of elevated demand or power interruption.
Referring to claim 2. Kaneyasu in view of Endo disclose the combination as described above in detail. Kaneyasu doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the chargeable and dischargeable parking spaces has a fist parking space with a short feed line and a second parking space with a longer feed line compared to the first parking space to the facility, and a controller programmed to preferentially move the feedable pallet to the first parking space. Endo discloses controller-based management of power distribution based on facility demand. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select a parking space with a shorter feed line than a longer feed line compared to the first, as selecting a parking space with a shorter feed line would have been obvious design and operation optimization because reducing electrical path length decreased transmission losses, improves efficiency and minimizes voltage drop.
Referring to claim 3. Kaneyasu discloses stacking pallets in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction and further discloses wherein the parking facility has three rows and three levels, thus teaching a multi-story parking structure (See Sect. 0015).
Referring to claims 4-5. Kaneyasu doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the parking management system is equipped with a plurality of charging devices installed in a chargeable parking space that can only be used for charging, with a controller programmed to move the feedable pallet to the chargeable and dischargeable parking space when the feedable pallet is in general parking space where neither charging nor feeding is allowed or wherein the chargeable/dischargeable parking spaces are located a short distance to the facility. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide different parking spaces with different electrical capabilities in order to manage infrastructure costs, distribute electrical loads and allocate bidirectional equipment where most beneficial which reflect routine engineering design driven to optimize operational requirement and economic considerations and minimizing the distance between a power source and a load is a well-established engineering objective as shorter distance reduce losses and improve overall electrical efficiency, thus selecting parking spaces closer to the facility represents an obvious matter of design optimization.
Referring to claim 6. Kaneyasu in view of Endo disclose the combination as described above in detail. Endo teaches controlling power supply based on predicted facility demand and available vehicle energy (See at least Sect. 0090-0091). Likewise, determining whether a vehicle can supply power involves evaluating battery condition or available charge, and selecting vehicles capable of supplying power constitutes routine logic within energy management systems. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Endo wherein the controller is programmed to preferentially move the pallet carrying electric vehicles whose on-board batters are in a condition to feed power to a facility to the chargeable and dischargeable parking space, so that the system was optimized for efficiency and energy management, wherein the electric vehicles with the best fit of energy storage were provided to feed power.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERRELL HOWARD MATTHEWS whose telephone number is (571)272-5929. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM EST.
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/TERRELL H MATTHEWS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653