DETAILED ACTION
This is the first Office action on the merits of Application No. 18/761,406. Claims 1-8 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 7/2/2024 and 4/23/2025 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.
Claims 1-2 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamaguchi (Japanese document JP2023088200, cited on IDS).
Regarding claim 1, Yamaguchi discloses an electric work vehicle (A) comprising: a body (2) provided with a travel device (10, 11); a battery (5 or 9); a motor (M) configured to operate with power supplied from the battery and supply motive power to the travel device; a hood (12) in a front portion of the body; a driving section (3) behind the hood; and a connector section (52) to which a charger is connected to charge the battery, and wherein the connector section is in a front portion of the hood (shown in Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 2, Yamaguchi discloses the electric work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: the battery is within the hood (Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 7, Yamaguchi discloses the electric work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: the hood comprises a top portion, a front face portion, a right side face portion, and a left side face portion, and the connector section is disposed in a lower region of a front portion of the right side face portion or a lower region of a front portion of the left side face portion and oriented in such a manner that the charger is connected along a left-right direction (see Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 8, Yamaguchi discloses the electric work vehicle according to claim 7, wherein: the connector section is within the hood, and the right side face portion or the left side face portion comprises a cover portion (e.g. lid portion 52b) at a position corresponding to the connector section, the cover portion being openable and closable and configured to allow the charger to be connected to the connector section.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamamaru (US Patent Publication 20150191093).
Regarding claim 1, Yamamaru disclose an electric work vehicle (e.g. paragraph [0033], “electric vehicle”. Note, applicant states in paragraph [0075], “other electric work vehicles such as an electric cart and a transport vehicle”. Yamamaru for example transports people and things) comprising: a body (1) provided with a travel device (e.g. FL); a battery (5); a motor (2) configured to operate with power supplied from the battery and supply motive power to the travel device; a hood (12) in a front portion of the body; a driving section (e.g. R) behind the hood; and a connector section (62) to which a charger is connected to charge the battery, and wherein the connector section is in a front portion of the hood (Fig. 2 and 6).
Regarding claim 2, Yamamaru discloses the electric work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: the battery is within the hood (Fig. 1 and battery 9).
Regarding claim 3, Yamamaru discloses the electric work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: the hood comprises a top portion, a front face portion, a right side face portion, and a left side face portion, a right headlight and a left headlight are provided in a right region and a left region of an upper portion of the front face portion, and the connector section is disposed between the right headlight and the left headlight and oriented in such a manner that the charger is connected along a front-rear direction (Figs. 2-3).
Regarding claim 4, Yamamaru discloses the electric work vehicle according to claim 3, wherein: the connector section is within the hood, and the front face portion comprises a cover portion (e.g. 63) at a position corresponding to the connector section, the cover portion being openable and closable and configured to allow the charger to be connected to the connector section.
Regarding claim 5, Yamamaru discloses the electric work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: the hood comprises a top portion, a front face portion, a right side face portion, and a left side face portion, and the connector section is disposed in a front portion of the top portion and oriented in such a manner that the charger is connected along a front-rear direction or an up-down direction (Figs. 2-3).
Regarding claim 6, Yamamaru discloses the electric work vehicle according to claim 5, wherein: the connector section is within the hood, and the top portion comprises a cover portion (e.g. 63) at a position corresponding to the connector section, the cover portion being openable and closable and configured to allow the charger to be connected to the connector section.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Iwasa (US Patent Publication 20120055724) discloses an electric vehicle with charging ports (15).
Yamamaru (US Patent Publication 20150151645) discloses an electric vehicle with charging port (62).
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/LORI WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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