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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 6/16/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-5, 7-12, and 14-20 remain pending in the present application. Applicant’s amendments to the claims have overcome some of the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejections, however, the computer-readable medium claims of 15-20 still need to be addressed and thus remain rejected. Claims 6 and 13 have been cancelled.
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 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 15 recites, “A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions…”, which review of the specification, at least paragraph [0031] states that, “The computer-readable storage medium may be a non-transitory computer readable medium or a non-transitory computer readable storage medium.” (emphasis added). Per the specification, the computer-readable storage medium may be non-transitory, which allows for situations in which the storage medium could be interpreted as transitory signals per se and thus not eligible. Please amend claims 15-20 to recite, “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium…”, such that there is no question the claims do not encompass transitory signals per se.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1, 7-8, 15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yu et al. (US PGPUB 20220080852).
Regarding Claims 1, 8 and 15; Yu teaches; A method, comprising:
determining a time for utilizing stored energy at a location; (Yu; at least paragraphs [0026]-[0028]; disclose a home energy management system and method that includes determining potential for a planned or possible unplanned power outage in which stored energy in a home energy storage system as well as an electric vehicle can be utilized to power the home during the outage)
requesting a state-of-charge of an electric vehicle (EV) battery and a state-of-charge of an energy storage unit at the location; (Yu; at least paragraphs [0026]-[0030]; disclose wherein the system and method includes determining a current state of charge of a vehicle battery and home energy storage device in anticipation of the outage event)
selecting one of the EV battery and the energy storage unit based on the state-of-charges; and (Yu; at least paragraphs [0026]-[0030]; disclose selecting one or both energy storage devices to participate during the outage event based upon determined threshold state of charge)
controlling a power transfer switch to connect the location to the selected one of the EV battery and the energy storage unit and disconnect the location from an electrical grid, thereby shifting a source of energy supplied to the location. (Yu; at least Fig. 2; paragraphs [0026]-[0030]; disclose a power switch board for connecting/switch a home to utilize power from the grid or one of the vehicle batteries/home energy storage systems, wherein upon experiencing the outage, enacting a power outage plan by controlling the switch to connect the vehicle battery/home energy storage system to power the house).
Regarding Claims 7 and 20; Yu teaches; The method of claim 1, wherein the power transfer switch comprises a first input for connection to the EV battery, a second input for connection to the energy storage unit, and an output for connection to an electrical panel for providing power to the location. (Yu; at least Fig. 2; paragraphs [0020] and [0027]-[0029]).
Allowable Subject Matter
The office would like to first note that objected claims 16-19 currently have an outstanding 101 rejection that must be resolved prior to consideration of an allowance.
Claims 2-5, 9-12, 14, and 16-19 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8-10, filed 6/16/2026 with regards to the 101 rejection and pages 10-11 filed 6/16/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 6, 8, 13, 15, and 20 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of by Yu et al. (US PGPUB 20220080852) with respect to claims 1, 7-8, 15, and 20 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1).
Applicants’ arguments filed 6/16/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In particular, the applicant failed to address the previous 101 rejection for claims 15-20 in which the limitations are directed towards potential signals per se, and are thus not eligible. As addressed above, the office recommends amending the claims to recite: “A non-transitory computer-readable medium…”, in order to avoid any potential association with signals per se. This language also better aligns with how the system is described within the specification.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nakanishi (US PGPUB 20090026841): disclose a system and method for powering a house using a fuel cell of a vehicle in conjunction with an onsite storage battery to supplement each other for powering a house during an outage situation.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/CHRISTOPHER W CARTER/Examiner, Art Unit 2117
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