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 § 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.
Claims 1-5 are 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.
The examiner has carefully reviewed certain language in claim 1 half a dozen times and finds it to be illogical:
“the processing circuitry is configured to stop supplying power to the auxiliary system and charging the drive battery in a case in which a charged power to the drive battery is less than a first threshold value and a supplied power to the auxiliary system is less than an average value of the supplied power during a previous charging of the drive battery.”
If the power supplied to the auxiliary system is less than it was during the previous charge cycle, why would this be a trigger to stop the power to the auxiliary system? The trigger to cut power to the auxiliary system would be if that power is too high, rather than too low. The language in this claim does not make sense.
As a point of contrast, lets look at the language in related application 18/591,225:
“stop supplying power to the auxiliary system and charging the drive battery in a case in which a difference obtained by subtracting an average value of a supplied power to the auxiliary system during a previous charging of the drive battery from the generated power is less than a first threshold value”
The language in the ‘225 application does make sense: You want to cut power to the auxiliary system if the difference between the solar generated power and the average power used by auxiliary system is too low: that means that too little power is left to charge the drive battery.
The meaning of the claim in the ‘225 application makes sense and is logical. The meaning in the instant claim 1 is not.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL A HESS whose telephone number is (571)272-2392. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, from 9 AM to 5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas K. Pham can be reached at (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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/DANIEL A HESS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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