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 .
This response to Application 18/616,651 filed on 03/26/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in the office action.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 11,949,330. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both claimed inventions would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date of claimed invention would achieve the similar result of using the multiple modes charging and discharge operation with varies power source (see the follow analysis).
As per claim 1: a system (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, l. 8) comprising:
a first module, wherein the first module comprises a power receiving module configured to receive an input power from an energy source (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 9-11);
a second module, wherein the second module comprises a power conversion module configured to convert the input power to an output power (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 12-14);
a third module, wherein the third module comprises a control module for configuring the first module and the second module to perform a charging operation and a discharging operation (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 15-18);
wherein the first module, the second module and the third module are functionally integrated to perform multiple modes of the charging operation and the discharging operation (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 19-22);
wherein the third module controls an impedance during the charging operation and the discharging operation by tuning an impedance matching network (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 23-25) to continuously operate one or more converters close to a resonant frequency throughout a voltage range of an electric charge storage and to minimize variation in switching frequency of the one or more converters; and
wherein the multiple modes of the charging operation and the discharging operation comprises at least one of (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 28-29):
charging of the electric charge storage through a power grid (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 30-31);
charging of the electric charge storage through a wireless source (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 32-33);
discharging of the electric charge storage to a DC voltage load (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 34-35); and
discharging of the electric charge storage to an AC voltage load (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 36-37).
The patent ‘330 does not teach tuning an impedance matching network to continuously operate one or more converters close to a resonant frequency throughout a voltage range of an electric charge storage and to minimize variation in switching frequency of the one or more converters, instead teaches tuning an impedance matching network by controlling switching of capacitors and inductors for the impedance matching network.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill int the art at the time of the effective filling date of claimed invention tuning an impedance matching network by controlling switching of capacitors and inductors for the impedance matching network that would achieve minimize variation in switching frequency of the one or more converters by continuously operate one or more converters close to a resonant frequency throughout a voltage range of an electric charge storage without undue experiment.
As per claim 2: the system of claim 1, wherein the power receiving module comprises a wired connection (‘330, claim 2, col. 15, ll. 38-39).
As per claim 3: the system of claim 1, wherein the power receiving module comprises a wireless connection (‘330, claim 3, col. 15, ll. 40-41)
As per claim 4: the system of claim 1, wherein the input power comprises an electrical power (‘330, claim 4, col. 15, ll. 42-43).
As per claim 5: the system of claim 1, wherein the energy source comprises the power grid, the wireless source, and the electric charge storage (‘330, claim 5, col. 15, ll. 44-46).
As per claim 6: The patent ‘330 teach the one or more converters convert the input to the power output (‘330, claim 17, col. 16, ll. 49-50).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date of claimed invention using the ‘330 converters convert an unregulated voltage to a fixed DC voltage, or in other words, ‘330’s converters convert an AC to DC voltage can be done without undue experiment.
As per claim 7: the system of claim 5, wherein the power grid comprises an alternating current power grid, a high voltage alternating current power grid, and a high voltage direct current power grid (‘330, claim 7, col. 15, ll. 50-53).
As per claim 8: the system of claim 5, wherein the third module controls the impedance in the second module (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 23-25) such that input power is received by the first module in case of a wireless connection (‘330, claim 1, col. 15, ll. 9-11).
‘330 does not teach maximum input power is received by the first module in case of a wireless connection.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filling date of claimed invention the maximum input power is received by the first module in case of a wireless connection would allow more quickly charge battery.
As per claim 9: the system of claim 5, wherein the electric charge storage comprises one of a battery and a storage capacitor (‘330, claim 10, col. 15, ll. 59-60).
As per claim 10: The patent ‘330 teach the one or more converters convert input to the power output (‘330, claim 17, col. 16, ll. 49-50) and also teaches a system also able to deal with high voltage and medium voltage (‘330, col. 15, ll. 50-53).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time od the effective filling date of claimed invention using the ‘330’s one or more converters convert DC voltage to one of high voltage and medium voltage can be done without undue experiment.
As per claim 11: the system of claim 5, wherein the charging operation comprises charging from the power grid, charging from the wireless source, and charging from the electric charge storage (‘330, claim 11, col. 15, ll. 61-64).
As per claim 12: the system of claim 5, wherein the discharging operation comprises discharging of the electric charge storage to a direct current voltage load and discharging of the electric charge storage to an alternating current voltage load (‘330, claim 12, col. 16, ll. 1-4).
As per claim 13: the system of claim 12, wherein the output power to the direct current voltage load is during charging from the power grid, charging through the wireless source, discharging of the electric charge storage to the direct current voltage load and discharging of the electric charge storage to the alternating current voltage load (‘330, claim 13, col. 16, ll. 5-10).
As per claim 14: a method comprising:
receiving an input power from an energy source using a first module, wherein the first module comprises a power receiving module configured to receive the input power from the energy source (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 12-15);
converting the input power to an output power using a second module, wherein the second module comprises a power conversion module configured to convert the input power to the output power (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 16-19); and
performing a charging operation and a discharging operation using a third module, wherein the third module comprises a control module for configuring the first module and the second module to perform the charging operation and the discharging operation (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 20-24);
wherein the first module, the second module and the third module are functionally integrated to perform multiple modes of the charging operation and the discharging operation (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 25-28);
wherein the third module controls an impedance during the charging operation and the discharging operation by tuning an impedance matching network (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 28-30);
wherein the multiple modes of the charging operation and the discharging operation (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 33-34) comprises at least one of:
charging of the electric charge storage through a power grid (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 35-36);
charging of the electric charge storage through a wireless source (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 37-38);
discharging of the electric charge storage to a DC voltage load (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 39-40); and
discharging of the electric charge storage to an AC voltage load (‘330, claim 14, col. 16, ll. 41-42).
The patent ‘330 does not teach tuning an impedance matching network to continuously operate one or more converters close to a resonant frequency throughout a voltage range of an electric charge storage and to minimize variation in switching frequency of the one or more converters, instead teaches tuning an impedance matching network by controlling switching of capacitors and inductors for the impedance matching network.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill int the art at the time of the effective filling date of claimed invention tuning an impedance matching network by controlling switching of capacitors and inductors for the impedance matching network that would achieve minimize variation in switching frequency of the one or more converters by continuously operate one or more converters close to a resonant frequency throughout a voltage range of an electric charge storage without undue experiment.
As per claim 15: the method of claim 14, wherein the power receiving module comprises at least one of a wireless connection and a wired connection (‘330, claim 15, col. 16, ll. 62-63).
As per claim 16: the method of claim 14, wherein the energy source comprises the power grid, the wireless source, and the electric charge storage (‘330, claim 16, col. 16, ll. 43-45).
As per claim 17: the method of claim 14, wherein converting the input power to the output power comprises: configuring a circuit of the second module using the control module, by switching a switch and the one or more converters to perform the charging operation and the discharging operation (‘330, claim 17, col. 16, ll. 49-53).
As per claim 18: the method of claim 14, wherein the charging operation comprises charging from the power grid, charging from the wireless source, and charging from the electric charge storage (‘330, claim 18, col. 16, ll. 54-57).
As per claim 19: the method of claim 14, wherein the control module is configured to control the impedance of the input power and the output power through the impedance matching network (‘330, claim 19, col. 16, ll. 58-61).
As per claim 20: the method of claim 14, wherein the multiple modes of the charging operation are operable one at a time (‘330, claim 20, col. 16, ll. 62-63).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if the proper Terminal Disclaimer, rewritten or amended to overcome the Double Patenting Rejection as set forth.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not teach or suggest the combination of claimed limitations, comprise: wherein the first module, the second module and the third module are functionally integrated to perform multiple modes of the charging operation and the discharging operation; wherein the third module controls an impedance during the charging operation and the discharging operation by tuning an impedance matching network to continuously operate one or more converters close to a resonant frequency throughout a voltage range of an electric charge storage and to minimize variation in switching frequency of the one or more converters; and wherein the multiple modes of the charging operation and the discharging operation comprises at least one of: charging of the electric charge storage through a power grid; charging of the electric charge storage through a wireless source; discharging of the electric charge storage to a DC voltage load; and discharging of the electric charge storage to an AC voltage load, recited in claims 1 and 14.
Conclusion
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NGHIA M. DOAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2851
/NGHIA M DOAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851
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