DETAILED ACTION
This is the first Office action on the merits of Application No. 18/665,383. Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 5/15/2024 and 5/28/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
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.
(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.
Claims 1, 7, and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ma (European document EP3708445).
Regarding claim 1, Ma discloses a positioning adjustment method (claim 11, “A method for positioning control of a battery swap transportation apparatus”), comprising: determining start position information of an adjusted member (see claim 11, “measuring position information of the transportation body in the predetermined direction” and paragraph [0009]); determining target position information to determine a target movement distance based on the target position information and the start position information of the adjusted member (see claim 11, “controlling, in a closed loop manner, the motion of the transportation body in the predetermined direction based on the position information fed back”), wherein the target position information is determined based on preset installation information of a target battery (see claim 13); and moving the adjusted member to a target position based on the target movement distance (claim 11, “comprising a transportation body being capable of moving in a predetermined direction”).
Regarding claim 7, Ma discloses a positioning tool, configured for adjusting an adjusted member to adapt the adjusted member to a battery position, wherein the positioning tool comprises one or more positioning adjustment assembles and a controller (Figs. 1-7 and paragraphs [0007-0013] and [0038-0060]) for: controlling the positioning adjustment assemblies to move from a reference zero point to determine start position information of the adjusted member under a condition that the positioning adjustment assemblies detect the adjusted member (see claim 11, “measuring position information of the transportation body in the predetermined direction” and paragraph [0009]); determining target position information to determine a target movement distance based on the target position information and the start position information of the adjusted member (see claim 11, “controlling, in a closed loop manner, the motion of the transportation body in the predetermined direction based on the position information fed back”), wherein the target position information is determined based on preset installation information of a target battery (see claim 13); and controlling the positioning adjustment assemblies to move the adjusted member to a target position based on the target movement distance (claim 11, “comprising a transportation body being capable of moving in a predetermined direction”).
Regarding claim 13, Ma discloses a positioning adjustment apparatus, comprising at least one control processor and a memory for communicating with the at least one control processor; wherein the memory stores thereon instructions executable by the at least one control processor that are executed by the at least one control processor to enable the at least one control processor to perform the positioning adjustment method of claim 1 (e.g. paragraph [0025]).
Regarding claim 14, Ma discloses a formation and capacity grading device, comprising the positioning adjustment device of claim 13, or the positioning tool of claim 7 (e.g. Figs. 1-7).
Regarding claim 15, Ma discloses a computer readable storage medium storing thereon computer-executable instructions for enabling a computer to perform a positioning adjustment method, comprising: determining start position information of an adjusted member (see claim 11, “measuring position information of the transportation body in the predetermined direction” and paragraph [0009]); determining target position information to determine a target movement distance based on the target position information and the start position information of the adjusted member (see claim 11, “controlling, in a closed loop manner, the motion of the transportation body in the predetermined direction based on the position information fed back”), wherein the target position information is determined based on preset installation information of a target battery (see claim 13); and moving the adjusted member to a target position based on the target movement distance (claim 11, “comprising a transportation body being capable of moving in a predetermined direction”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 8-12, and 16-20 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 2, the prior art does not disclose or render obvious he positioning adjustment method wherein the determining of the start position information of the adjusted member comprises: obtaining first positioning information and second positioning information, wherein the first positioning information is position information of one end of the adjusted member, and the second positioning information is position information of another end of the adjusted member; determining position difference information of the adjusted member based on the first positioning information and the second positioning information, wherein the position difference information is configured to indicate whether the one end and the another end of the adjusted member are aligned with each other; in response to the position difference information indicating that the one end and the another end of the adjusted member are not aligned with each other, correcting the adjusted member to align the one end and the another end of the adjusted member; and determining position information of the corrected adjusted member as the start position information of the adjusted member, in combination with the other elements required by claim 1.
Claims 3-6 are dependent on an allowable claims.
Regarding claim 8, the prior art does not disclose or render obvious the positioning tool wherein the positioning adjustment assemblies comprise a first positioning adjustment assembly and a second positioning adjustment assembly, the first positioning adjustment assembly and the second positioning adjustment assembly are correspondingly provided with driving assemblies, the driving assemblies comprise a first driving assembly and a second driving assembly, the first driving assembly and the second driving assembly are respectively mounted on opposite sides of the positioning tool and provided with a sensor, and both ends of the adjusted member are provided with a positioning structure, and the controller is further configured for: obtaining first positioning information and second positioning information, wherein the first positioning information is position information of one end of the adjusted member obtained in response to the sensor of the first positioning adjustment assembly detecting the positioning structure, and the second positioning information is position information of another end of the adjusted member obtained in response to the sensor of the second positioning adjustment assembly detecting the positioning structure; determining position difference information based on the first positioning information and the second positioning information, wherein the position difference information is configured to indicate whether the one end and the another end of the adjusted member are aligned with each other; in response to the position difference information indicating that the one end and the another end of the adjusted member are not aligned with each other, controlling the first driving assembly and the second driving assembly to drive respective positioning adjustment assemblies to move alone with the one end and the another end of the adjusted member for correction to align the one end and the another end of the adjusted member; and determining position information of the corrected positioning structure as the start position information of the adjusted member, in combination with the other elements required by claim 7.
Claims 8-12 are dependent on an allowable claims.
Regarding claim 16, the prior art does not disclose or render obvious the computer readable storage medium wherein the determining of the start position information of the adjusted member comprises: obtaining first positioning information and second positioning information, wherein the first positioning information is position information of one end of the adjusted member, and the second positioning information is position information of another end of the adjusted member; determining position difference information of the adjusted member based on the first positioning information and the second positioning information, wherein the position difference information is configured to indicate whether the one end and the another end of the adjusted member are aligned with each other; in response to the position difference information indicating that the one end and the another end of the adjusted member are not aligned with each other, correcting the adjusted member to align the one end and the another end of the adjusted member; and determining position information of the corrected adjusted member as the start position information of the adjusted member, in combination with the other elements required by claim 15.
Claims 17-20 are dependent on an allowable claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang (US Patent Publication 20230234234) discloses a battery positioning system (e.g. Fig. 5).
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/LORI WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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