DETAILED ACTION
Summary
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a first Office Action on the merits.
Claims 1-10 are currently pending.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 7, 9, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by KURIMOTO et al, US 2014/0253034.
Re claim 1:
KURIMOTO discloses a charging system, comprising:
A setting section that sets a charging plan for a plurality of vehicles (i.e., station control device 26 includes an electricity supply planning unit 51, wherein the electricity supply planning unit is defined as a schedule setting unit for setting a schedule for charging multiple vehicles 40 when multiple vehicles are connected to the charging station 20 [0035] [0036] [0059]), and
A control section that controls charging of a battery of each of the plurality of vehicles based on the charging plan (i.e., station control device 26 includes a switching control unit 52 for controlling charging of the multiple vehicles based on the charging plan set by the electricity supply planning unit [0037]),
Wherein, when charging of at least one of the plurality of vehicles based on the charging plan is interrupted, the setting section revises the charging plan (i.e., when the charging process is interrupted by operation of a user, the charging plan is adjusted [0070] [Figure 3]).
Re claim 7:
KURIMOTO teaches a management terminal connectable to the charging system according to claim 1, the management terminal comprising:
a function section that presents a scheduled departure time, a target level of charge, or a time for preparation work of at least one of the plurality of vehicles to the charging system or a function section that obtains, from the charging system, a charging amount of at least one of the plurality of vehicles or a scheduled connection time at which at least one of the plurality of vehicles is scheduled to be connected to the charging system, and a scheduled charging end time of at least one of the plurality of vehicles in the charging plan (i.e., an input operation of the user at the station control device presents a scheduled departure time and target charging amount to the charging system [0054]-[0056] [0069]).
Re claims 9-10:
KURIMOTO discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing therein a program causing a computer to perform a process comprising:
Setting a charging plan for a plurality of vehicles [0035] [0036] [0059] [0061]-[0063] [Figure 3],
Controlling charging of a battery of each of the plurality of vehicles based on the charging plan [0037] [0064]-[0067] [Figure 3], and
Revising the charging plan when charging of at least one of the plurality of vehicles based on the charging plan is interrupted (i.e., when the charging process is interrupted by operation of a user, the charging plan is adjusted [0070] [Figure 3]).
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KURIMOTO et al, US 2014/0253034 in view of NIIKAWA et al, US 2020/0156494.
Re claim 5:
KURIMOTO discloses the changing system according to claim 1, further comprising:
An obtaining section that obtains information regarding a vehicle state from each of the plurality of vehicles (i.e., station control device obtains an initial charging state of the vehicles [0052] [0055]); and
A determination section that detects occurrence of an interruption of the charging based on the information regarding the vehicle state (i.e., the detection of the charging process interrupted by operation of the user is implicit [0070]).
KURIMOTO does not specifically teach the determination section determines, when at least one of the plurality of vehicles that is being charged based on the charging plan and in which an abnormality has occurred and a charger are not connected to each other, that the charging has been interrupted.
NIIKAWA teaches a charging system comprising a connection sensor configured to sense connection of a charging cable to a vehicle [0046]. A signal from the connection sensor is output to an ECU to recognize a connection state of the charging cable based on the connection sensor [0046]. The ECU determines, when the vehicle is being charged according to a charging schedule and when the user removes the charging connector of charging cable from the vehicle during the charging schedule, that charging has been interrupted [0050] [0051].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further incorporate the teachings of NIIKAWA in the system of KURIMOTO such that the determination section determines, when at least one of the plurality of vehicles that is being charged based on the charging plan and in which an abnormality has occurred and a charger are not connected to each other, that the charging has been interrupted. Removing a charging connector of a charging cable from the vehicle during charging is merely one common way a user may interrupt charging of a vehicle. Incorporating the connection sensor of NIKAWA in the system of KURIMOTO would be for the purpose of facilitating the detection of the interruption of charging of the vehicle by the user.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KURIMOTO et al, US 2014/0253034 in view of MATSUDA, US 2024/0177544.
Re claim 8:
KURIMOTO discloses the charging system according to claim 1, but does not teach a vehicle connectable to the charging system comprising a display section that displays a percentage of a charge amount with respect to a full charge or a percentage of the charge amount with respect to a target level of charge.
MATSUDA teaches a vehicle (3) connectable to a charging system (4) comprising a display section (38) that displays a percentage of a charge amount with respect to a full charge or a percentage of the charge amount with respect to a target level of charge [0071] [0115] [0116] [Figure 15A-15B].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to further incorporate the teachings of MATSUDA in the system of KURIMOTO for the purpose of reliably notifying users of the vehicle about the vehicle state of charge.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAURA A GUDORF whose telephone number is (571)270-7607. If the Examiner cannot be reached by telephone, she can be reached through the following e-mail address: laura.gudorf@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 6:00-4:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Pham, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-3689. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAURA A GUDORF/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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