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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on December 4, 2025 has been entered.
Priority
Application 18/713,715 is a National Stage Patent Application of PCT International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2021/043628 (filed on November 29, 2021) under 35 U.S.C. 371.
Status of the Claims
Claims 1, 2, and 5-13 are currently pending. Claims 1, 2, and 8-12 were amended in the reply filed December 4, 2025. Claim 3 was cancelled and claim 13 was added.
Response to Arguments
101:
Applicant's arguments filed with respect to the rejection made under 35 U.S.C. § 101 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the claims recite a combination of additional elements that integrate the alleged judicial exception into a practical application (Remarks, p. 10-11). Examiner respectfully disagrees. Features such as (1) including a time period in the use plan (2) deriving a number of batteries, (3) determining a number of batteries to be transported, and (4) generating a transport plan are extensions of the abstract idea, not additional elements.
Furthermore, the improvement of deriving “the required number of batteries with high accuracy” (Remarks, p. 11) is an improvement to the abstract idea of making transport plans for distributing rental batteries at stations. An improvement in the abstract idea itself is not an improvement in technology and does not provide integration into a practical application. For example, in Trading Technologies Int’l v. IBG, 921 F.3d 1084, 1093-94, 2019 USPQ2d 138290 (Fed. Cir. 2019), the court determined that the claimed user interface simply provided a trader with more information to facilitate market trades, which improved the business process of market trading but did not improve computers or technology (See MPEP 2106.05(a)(II)).
Alone or in combination, the claims do not recite additional elements that integrate the recited judicial exception into a practical application, provide an inventive concept to the claim as a whole, or amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself (see the 101 rejection below for more detail). Accordingly, the rejection is maintained.
103:
Applicant's arguments filed with respect to the rejections made under 35 U.S.C. § 103 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
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 1, 2, and 5-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Independent Claims
MPEP 2106 Step 2A- Prong 1:
Independent claims 1, 10, and 11 recite, generating a transport plan of a battery that is to be attached to an electric apparatus from a hub base station where the battery is stored to local base stations where the battery is lent out to a user,
acquire use plan information including information representing a location in a plan of a use of the electric apparatus, and specify a nearby local base station out of the local base stations, which is a local base station located near the location in the plan of the use, based on the use plan information by referring to information representing a location of each of the local base stations,
generate the transport plan with the nearby local base station as a transport destination,
and output transport plan information representing the transport plan to the hub base station, wherein the use plan information further includes information representing a time period in the plan of the use of the electric apparatus,
and derive a required number of batteries required at the location in the plan of the use based on the use plan information;
determine a number of transport batteries to be transported from the hub base station to the nearby local base station based on the required number of batteries;
and generate the transport plan for transporting one or more batteries from the hub base station for the number of transport batteries to the nearby local base station by the time period in the plan of the use based on the use plan information.
The limitations above are processes that under broadest reasonable interpretation cover “certain methods of organizing human activity” (including sales activities or behaviors, or business relations). Specifically, making transport plans for distributing rental batteries at stations is establishing business relationships and performing sales activities.
Additionally, the limitations include mental processes (including an observation, evaluation, judgment, or opinion) because they can be performed in the human mind, or by a human using pen and paper. Specifically, claims to generate a transport plan, acquire use plan information, output transport plan information, and determining a number of batteries to be transported can all be practically performed in the human mind, or by a human using pen and paper.
MPEP 2106 Step 2A- Prong 2:
The judicial exceptions are not integrated into a practical application. Claims 1, 10, and 11 as a whole amount to: merely including instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea, or “apply it”.
Independent claims 1, 10, and 11 recite the following additional elements to perform the above recited steps: a transport plan generating device (claim 1), a database (claims 1, 10, and 11), a terminal device (claims 1, 10, and 11), a computer (claims 10 and 11), a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (claim 11). These additional elements are generic computer components performing generic computer functions at a high level of generality, and are recited at a high level of generality. These additional elements amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component.
Individually and as a whole, these additional elements do not integrate the judicial exceptions into a practical application because the claims do not: improve the functioning of the computer itself or any other technology or technical field; apply the judicial exception with, or by use of, a particular machine; effect a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing; add meaningful limitations beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment to transform the judicial exception into patent-eligible subject matter; amount to more than a recitation of the words "apply it" (or an equivalent) or are more than mere instructions to implement an abstract idea or other exception on a computer.
MPEP 2106 Step 2B:
Independent claims 1, 10, and 11 do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more (also known as an “inventive concept”) than the judicial exception. As discussed above, the additional elements are generic computer components performing generic computer functions at a high level of generality. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. Alone or in combination, the additional elements do not contribute significantly more than the judicial exception and as a result, the claims are ineligible.
Dependent Claims
Dependent claims 2, 5-9, 12, and 13 recite additional details that merely narrow the previously recited abstract idea limitations, without adding any additional elements for analysis. Thus, claims 2, 5-9, 12, and 13 are also ineligible for the reasons stated above with respect to independent claims 1, 10, and 11.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 2, 5-7, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0100809 to Wu (Wu) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0259043 to Koneri et al. (Koneri).
As to claims 1, 10, and 11, Wu teaches, A transport plan generating device for generating a transport plan of a battery that is to be attached to an electric apparatus from a hub base station where the battery is stored to local base stations where the battery is lent out to a user, the transport plan generating device being configured to (“… Furthermore, the swapping planning system 110 may be configured to generate a battery distribution plan for a road port by determining whether the number of available batteries at the road port meets the requirement on the number of available batteries according to the battery swapping information of this road port or not. The battery distribution plan at least may comprise information such as the number of batteries which need to be delivered to the road port. The battery distribution plan may also comprise information such as the number of batteries which need to be delivered to each battery swapping device or station 120 within the port …” [0039] Examiner notes that the “battery distribution plan” of Wu is a “transport plan”):
acquire use plan information including information representing a location in a plan of a use of the electric apparatus (“… The battery swapping relationship may be used to determine the number and/or the total capacity and/or the type of the batteries which need to be replaced at certain points (e.g., locations and/or time points) during vehicle travel along a travel path or route …” [0028-0029] Examiner notes that the “transportation plan” of Wu is a “plan of a use”),
generate the transport plan with the nearby local base station specified as a transport destination (“At S260, a corresponding battery distribution plan is generated based on the battery distribution path, the battery distribution time and the number of batteries for distribution at the road port …” [0081-0083] Examiner notes that the “road port” of Wu is a “nearby local base station”),
and output transport plan information representing the transport plan generated to a terminal device of the hub base station (“… and then a corresponding battery distribution plan is generated, so as to enable the available batteries after distribution to each road port to meet an actual battery swapping demand, and to ensure the accuracy of the battery distribution plan, and thus to realize automatic battery distribution to each road port during vehicle transportation …” [0081-0083]),
wherein the use plan information further includes information representing a time period in the plan of the use of the electric apparatus (“… The battery swapping demand may be also related to a (maximum) time duration of an electric vehicle operation when the vehicle carries a certain weight of goods … The transportation history information may include information about transportation plans of the vehicle over a certain time period (e.g., last 3 or 6 months, or another time period)” and “According to the example Embodiment I, the battery swapping information of the road port may include: stopping time for battery swapping at the road port, vehicle information corresponding to the stopping time for battery swapping at the road port, and/or a power exchange amount corresponding to the stopping time for battery swapping of the road port …” and “… Battery distribution time may be a time or a time period when the batteries should be or can be delivered to the road port” [030-0032 and 0053 and 0073-0074]),
and the transport plan generating device is further configured to: derive a required number of batteries required at the location in the plan of the use based on the use plan information (“… The battery swapping demand may be used to determine the number of batteries of the vehicle which need to be replaced at a certain road port” and “… The degree of battery distribution may correspond to the number of batteries which need to be delivered to a road port so that the road port has a number of batteries sufficient to perform battery replacement on the vehicles stopping at the road port …” [0029-0030 and 0077-0083]);
determine a number of transport batteries to be transported (“… The battery swapping demand may be used to determine the number of batteries of the vehicle which need to be replaced at a certain road port” and “… The degree of battery distribution may correspond to the number of batteries which need to be delivered to a road port so that the road port has a number of batteries sufficient to perform battery replacement on the vehicles stopping at the road port …” [0029-0030 and 0077-0083]);
and generate the transport plan for transporting one or more batteries for the number of transport batteries (“At S240, a battery distribution path and battery distribution time of the road port are determined according to the number of available batteries at the road port and the power exchange amount corresponding to the first stopping time for battery swapping …” [0073-0083] Examiner notes that this limitation is interpreted to mean that the one or more batteries are transported to the nearby local base station by the start time of the time period in the plan of use (see Applicant’s specification [0076 and 0095])).
While Wu teaches, a transport plan, Wu does not teach a transport plan that includes a hub base station. However, Koneri teaches a transport plan that includes a hub base station (“… Nodes can include retail stores and warehouses. Warehouses serve to store inventory and also function as distribution centers …” and “A reactive transfer or shipping injection occurs as response to a reactive demand signal from a customer order made online or a purchase made in-store. For a reactive transfer, the reactive replenishment engine 318 sends a request to the inventory management system 202, but the full order cannot be completed at a single node. Therefore, portions of the order move through the network to land at a final processing node (normally the store) for combination and final order completion …” [0022-0024 and 0071-0072]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to use the hub base station, as taught by Koneri, with the transport plan of Wu. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Koneri that doing so would achieve the optimized inventory positions for items [0006].
Wu does not teach, and specify a nearby local base station out of the local base stations, which is a local base station located near the planned location in the plan of the use, based on the use plan information by referring to a database that stores information representing a location of each of the local base stations. However, Koneri teaches, and specify a nearby local base station out of the local base stations, which is a local base station located near the planned location in the plan of the use, based on the use plan information by referring to a database that stores information representing a location of each of the local base stations (“… The online ordering system 208 will assign orders to the node which is closest to the customer, meets the promised delivery date, and has the ability to consolidate the order …” [0091-0093]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to include, and specify a nearby local base station out of the local base stations, which is a local base station located near the planned location in the plan of the use, based on the use plan information by referring to a database that stores information representing a location of each of the local base stations, as taught by Kurokawa with the battery distribution system of Wu in view of Koneri. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Koneri that doing so would achieve the optimized inventory positions for items [0006].
As to claim 2, Wu in view of Koneri teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Wu does not teach, wherein the nearby local base station is a local base station closest to the location in the plan of the use out of the local base stations. However, Koneri teaches, wherein the nearby local base station is a local base station closest to the location in the plan of the use out of the local base stations (“… The online ordering system 208 will assign orders to the node which is closest to the customer, meets the promised delivery date, and has the ability to consolidate the order …” [0091-0093]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to include, wherein the nearby local base station is a local base station closest to the location in the plan of the use out of the local base stations, as taught by Koneri with the battery distribution system of Wu. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Koneri that doing so would achieve the optimized inventory positions for items [0006].
As to claim 5, Wu in view of Koneri teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Wu further teaches, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to determine the number of transport batteries based on a difference between the required number of batteries and a number of surplus batteries held in the nearby local base station (“… The battery distribution plan at least may comprise information such as the number of batteries which need to be delivered to the road port. The battery distribution plan may also comprise information such as the number of batteries which need to be delivered to each battery swapping device or station 120 within the port …” and “… The degree of battery distribution may correspond to the number of batteries which need to be delivered to a road port so that the road port has a number of batteries sufficient to perform battery replacement on the vehicles stopping at the road port …” [0039 and 0077]).
As to claim 6, Wu in view of Koneri teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Wu does not teach, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to generate the transport plan with the hub base station as a transport source, the hub base station having surplus batteries that are used for the number of transport batteries. However, Koneri teaches, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to generate the transport plan with the hub base station as a transport source, the hub base station having surplus [items] (“… Replenishment occurs by first determining, based on monitoring the inventory levels, which retail locations and distribution locations have inventory deficits and which have inventory surpluses. Transfer orders are generated and sent to distribution locations having surplus inventory or purchase orders are sent to vendors. Transportation is then arranged to take inventory from the vendor or distribution location having surplus inventory to the retail locations and distribution locations having deficits …” and “At operation 702, it is determined which retail locations and distribution locations have an inventory deficit and which have an inventory surplus …” [0006 and 0116-0118]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to include, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to generate the transport plan with the hub base station as a transport source, the hub base station having surplus [items]
While Koneri teaches transporting items, Koneri does not teach transporting batteries. However, Wu, transporting batteries (“… The battery distribution plan may include information related to the number of batteries which need to be delivered to the port, source(s) from which the batteries can be delivered to the port and a timeframe or a schedule for delivering the batteries …” [0035]). Since each individual element and its function are shown in the art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself—that is in the substitution of transporting batteries of Wu for the transporting items of Koneri. Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Wu that doing so would simplify battery distribution in road ports and improve accuracy and the high efficiency of battery distribution in road ports [0015].
As to claim 7, Wu in view of Koneri teaches all of the limitations of claim 6 as discussed above. Wu does not teach, wherein when there is a plurality of hub base stations each having surplus batteries for the number of transport batteries, the transport plan generating device generates the transport plan with a hub base station closest to the nearby local base station among the plurality of hub base stations as the transport source. However, Koneri teaches, wherein when there is a plurality of hub base stations each having surplus [items] (“… Replenishment occurs by first determining, based on monitoring the inventory levels, which retail locations and distribution locations have inventory deficits and which have inventory surpluses. Transfer orders are generated and sent to distribution locations having surplus inventory or purchase orders are sent to vendors. Transportation is then arranged to take inventory from the vendor or distribution location having surplus inventory to the retail locations and distribution locations having deficits …”and “… The online ordering system 208 will assign orders to the node which is closest to the customer, meets the promised delivery date, and has the ability to consolidate the order …” and “At operation 702, it is determined which retail locations and distribution locations have an inventory deficit and which have an inventory surplus …” [0006 and 0093 and 0116-0118]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to include, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to generate the transport plan with the hub base station as a transport source, the hub base station having surplus [items]
While Koneri teaches transporting items, Koneri does not teach transporting batteries. However, Wu, transporting batteries (“… The battery distribution plan may include information related to the number of batteries which need to be delivered to the port, source(s) from which the batteries can be delivered to the port and a timeframe or a schedule for delivering the batteries …” [0035]). Since each individual element and its function are shown in the art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself—that is in the substitution of transporting batteries of Wu for the transporting items of Koneri. Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Wu that doing so would simplify battery distribution in road ports and improve accuracy and the high efficiency of battery distribution in road ports [0015].
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0100809 to Wu (Wu) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0259043 to Koneri et al. (Koneri), as applied to claim 1 above, and in further view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0112290 to Ye et al. (Ye).
As to claim 8, Wu in view of Koneri teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Wu in view of Koneri does not teach, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to determine a number of times of transport for transporting the number of transport batteries from the hub base station to the nearby local base station based on the number of transport batteries and an upper limit number of batteries that can be transported per one transport. However, Ye teaches, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to determine a number of times of transport for transporting the number of transport [items] from the hub base station to the nearby local base station based on the number of transport [items] and an upper limit number of [items] that can be transported per one transport (“… the transportation management module 214 validates if the total volume and the total weight corresponding to each of the one or more products is greater than the predefined threshold by comparing the total volume and the total weight corresponding to each of the one or more products with predefined threshold associated with desired trailer. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the predefined threshold may be a break-even point for loading a product in the desired trailer in order to earn profit from the transportation of the product. The predefined threshold may be less than maximum loading capacity of the desired trailer … Further, the transportation management module 214 determines number of one or more vehicles 110 required for transporting one or more products from source location to destination location and number of round trips between source location and destination location based on the determined number of one or more desired trailers, travel distance between the source location and the destination location, the one or more cost factors and desired shipping time of the one or more products …” [0030-0031]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to include, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to determine a number of times of transport for transporting the number of transport [items] from the hub base station to the nearby local base station based on the number of transport [items] and an upper limit number of [items] that can be transported per one transport, as taught by Ye with the battery distribution system of Wu in view of Koneri. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Ye that doing so would help reduce shipment delays as well as reduce the overall cost of transportation [0002-0003].
While Ye teaches transporting items, Ye does not teach transporting batteries. However, Wu, transporting batteries (“… The battery distribution plan may include information related to the number of batteries which need to be delivered to the port, source(s) from which the batteries can be delivered to the port and a timeframe or a schedule for delivering the batteries …” [0035]). Since each individual element and its function are shown in the art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself—that is in the substitution of transporting batteries of Wu for the transporting items of Ye. Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Wu that doing so would simplify battery distribution in road ports and improve accuracy and the high efficiency of battery distribution in road ports [0015].
As to claim 9, Wu in view of Koneri and in further view of Ye teaches all of the limitations of claim 8 as discussed above. Wu in view of Koneri does not teach, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to advance a time of starting transport from the hub base station to the nearby local base station as the number of times of transport increases. However, Ye teaches, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to advance a time of starting transport from the hub base station to the nearby local base station as the number of times of transport increases (“At step 308, number of one or more vehicles 110 required for transporting one or more products from source location to destination location and number of round trips between the source location and the destination location may be determined based on the determined number of one or more desired trailers, travel distance between the source location and the destination location, the one or more cost factors and desired shipping time of the one or more products …” and “… Furthermore, the one or more vehicles 110 are no longer required to wait for sorting the one or more products at the sorting centre 112. The one or more vehicles 110 may leave the sorting centre 112 as soon as the one or more desired trailers are dropped off at the sorting centre …” [0041 and 0048] Examiner notes that leaving as soon as a trailer is dropped off is the equivalent of increasing the start time of a transport in proportion to its readiness and that the readiness of a trailer is affected by the number of round trips it makes).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to include, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to advance a time of starting transport from the hub base station to the nearby local base station as the number of times of transport increases, as taught by Ye with the battery distribution system of Wu in view of Koneri. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Ye that doing so would help reduce shipment delays as well as reduce the overall cost of transportation [0002-0003].
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0100809 to Wu (Wu) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0259043 to Koneri et al. (Koneri), as applied to claim 1 above, in further view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0367278 to Nakano et al. (Nakano) and in further view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0202910 to Venkatakrishnan et al. (Venkatakrishnan).
As to claim 12, Wu in view of Koneri teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Wu further teaches, and derive the required number of batteries required at the location in the plan of the use based on the [unit time] power consumption and a storable power amount of the electrical apparatus (“… The above information can be provided to accurately analyze the power consumption of the vehicle during the transportation, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the battery swapping information upon stopping of the vehicle at each road port” and “… and the information such as the battery swapping number of the vehicle (the number of the vehicle batteries which need to be replaced) and, e.g., time until the next battery replacement upon or after stopping at each road port can be obtained according to the power consumption, so as to generate the transportation plan of the vehicle …” [0071-0072 and 0089-0092]).
Wu in view of Koneri does not teach, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to: perform machine learning on past work performance of use of the electrical apparatus to derive a daily power consumption of the electrical apparatus; and derive the required number of batteries required at the planned location of the use based on the daily power consumption and a storable power amount of the electrical apparatus. However, Nakano teaches, wherein the transport plan generating device is further configured to: perform machine learning on past work performance of use of the electrical apparatus to derive a [unit time] power consumption of the electrical apparatus (“… The training unit 319 uses the training information stored in the training information storage unit 318 to perform machine learning with respect to a model (to be referred to as a power consumption model) hereinafter) for estimating the power consumption per unit time …” and “… Among these, the power consumption data are used as the ground truth data (alternatively, to be also referred to as “training data”) during machine learning. Note that “unit time” refers to a predetermined length of time” and “… In step S1003, the combined data composed of the set temperature and the data correlated with the power consumption are input to the power consumption model 601 by the training unit 319 to execute the power consumption model 601 …” [0053-0056 and 0063 and 0108-0114]);
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to include, perform machine learning on past work performance of use of the electrical apparatus to derive a [unit time] power consumption of the electrical apparatus, as taught by Nakano with the battery distribution system of Wu in view of Koneri. One having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for the benefit of more accurately estimating the number of batteries needed.
While Wu and Nakano teach a unit time power consumption of the electrical apparatus, Wu and Nakano do not teach a daily power consumption of the electrical apparatus. However, Venkatakrishnan teaches, a daily power consumption of the electrical apparatus (“5. Daily power consumption cost chart sent to remote device (e.g., computing device, hand held device, etc). In one embodiment the daily power consumption cost chart expresses the daily consumption of power by one or more of the accessories and/or overall consumption of the premises or home (FIG. 11)” [0130]). Since each individual element and its function are shown in the art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself—that is in the substitution of the daily power consumption of Venkatakrishnan for the unit time power consumption of Wu and Nakano. Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Venkatakrishnan that doing so would decrease customer cost, increase flexibility, and decrease system complexity [0009 and 0014].
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0100809 to Wu (Wu) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0259043 to Koneri et al. (Koneri), as applied to claim 1 above, in further view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0202910 to Venkatakrishnan et al. (Venkatakrishnan) and in further view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0289717 to Matsuzawa (Matsuzawa).
As to claim 13, Wu in view of Koneri teaches all of the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. Wu further teaches, determine [unit time] power consumption of the electric apparatus based on the time period in the plan of the use of the electric apparatus (“… The above information can be provided to accurately analyze the power consumption of the vehicle during the transportation, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the battery swapping information upon stopping of the vehicle at each road port” and “… and the information such as the battery swapping number of the vehicle (the number of the vehicle batteries which need to be replaced) and, e.g., time until the next battery replacement upon or after stopping at each road port can be obtained according to the power consumption, so as to generate the transportation plan of the vehicle …” [0071-0072 and 0089-0092]);
and derive the required number of batteries required at the location in the plan of the use based on the daily power consumption of the electric apparatus and the storable power amount of the batteries stored in the hub base station (“… The above information can be provided to accurately analyze the power consumption of the vehicle during the transportation, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the battery swapping information upon stopping of the vehicle at each road port” and “… and the information such as the battery swapping number of the vehicle (the number of the vehicle batteries which need to be replaced) and, e.g., time until the next battery replacement upon or after stopping at each road port can be obtained according to the power consumption, so as to generate the transportation plan of the vehicle …” [0071-0072 and 0089-0092]).
While Wu teaches a unit time power consumption of the electrical apparatus, Wu does not teach a daily power consumption of the electrical apparatus. However, Venkatakrishnan teaches, a daily power consumption of the electrical apparatus (“5. Daily power consumption cost chart sent to remote device (e.g., computing device, hand held device, etc). In one embodiment the daily power consumption cost chart expresses the daily consumption of power by one or more of the accessories and/or overall consumption of the premises or home (FIG. 11)” [0130]). Since each individual element and its function are shown in the art, albeit shown in separate references, the difference between the claimed subject matter and the prior art rests not on any individual element or function but in the very combination itself—that is in the substitution of the daily power consumption of Venkatakrishnan for the unit time power consumption of Wu. Thus, the simple substitution of one known element for another producing a predictable result renders the claim obvious. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Venkatakrishnan that doing so would decrease customer cost, increase flexibility, and decrease system complexity [0009 and 0014].
Wu in view of Koneri and in further view of Venkatakrishnan does not teach, determine a storable power amount of batteries stored in the hub base station, the storable power amount of the batteries stored in the hub base station varying depending on a state of health of the batteries stored in the hub base station. However, Matsuzawa teaches, determine a storable power amount of batteries stored in the hub base station, the storable power amount of the batteries stored in the hub base station varying depending on a state of health of the batteries stored in the hub base station (“… Moreover, it should be noted that the SOH is expressed as a percentage of the amount of electrical power (Ah) of the current battery at a time of being fully charged to the amount of electrical power (Ah) of a new battery at a time of being fully charged, wherein the SOH of the new one is taken to be 100%” and “… Moreover, instead of the SOH for each of the batteries, the state of usage storage unit 42 may store the number of charging times or the number of discharging times of each of the batteries” [0025-0031 and 0043]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filling date of the invention to include, determine a storable power amount of batteries stored in the hub base station, the storable power amount of the batteries stored in the hub base station varying depending on a state of health of the batteries stored in the hub base station, as taught by Matsuzawa with the battery distribution system of Wu in view of Koneri and in further view of Venkatakrishnan. Motivation to do so comes from the teachings of Matsuzawa that doing so would provide an inventory management system which is capable of realizing both the features of enabling batteries to be used again and ensuring convenience of electrically powered products for which the batteries are used again [0004].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
JP 2001306961 A to Kurokawa et al. (Kurokawa) teaches a server computer, a rental control system, a rental control method and a battery charging system.
JP 2007182310 A to Yamanaka et al. (Yamanaka) teaches a battery distribution managing system for managing the distribution of charged batteries between a plurality of stations where the batteries are replaced.
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/S.S.W./Examiner, Art Unit 3628
/RUPANGINI SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628