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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 23-26 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected claims, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 10/10/2025.
Applicant’s arguments that the embodiments share substantial overlapping structure, operation, and purpose and therefore do not present a serious burden have been fully considered but are not persuasive. Examiner disagrees that the embodiments are not patentably distinct and said burden is further amplified by the generic nature of both the disclosure and claims which in itself crosses into a variety of technologies and not limited to any one requiring broad searches across plural technology platforms.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 35-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding Claim 35
The claim attempts to claim “at least on control component disposed between the first electrical interface and the second electrical interface” however the disclosure fails to provide support for a single control device and only teaches that of plural control devices (ie plural switches and said converter, ie see FIGURE 11).
The claim will be examined as best understood as “the at least one control component comprising at least one of each of a DC to DC power converter and a controllable switch”.
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.
Claim(s) 22, 28, 42, 43, 44, 46-59 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugano US 2016/0121735 in view of DeBoer et al. US 2013/0141040 and Chen et al. US 2013/0214738.
Sungano teaches:
22. A power manager comprising:
an electronic controller (ie various control sections 11, FIG10);
an internal communication network including at least one communication network channel (read on by communication line channels between said control sections 11 and devices controlled, FIG10) ; and
a first device port (connection point of source 1 to 10, FIG10) and a second device port (output of 10 to vehicle(s) 50, 43) wherein the first device port is connectable to the second device port over a power pathway comprising:
a DC to DC power converter (11d) comprising an input terminal (input side connection terminals) at a first power amplitude and an output terminal (converter output side connection terminals) for delivering output power at a second power amplitude; and
a first power channel having a current flow path extending from the first electrical connection interface to the input terminal, through the DC to DC power converter to the output terminal, and from the output terminal to the second electrical connection interface (See FIG10); and
at least one configurable switch, wherein the DC to DC power converter and the at least one configurable switch are each electronically connected with the electronic controller over the communication network to receive control signals therefrom (see FIG10), and
wherein said controller is configured to operate an energy management schema for determining an operating characteristic of one or more external power devices each operably connected to a one of the first and second device ports, for determining an operational configuration of the power manager, and for controlling the at least one configurable switch and the DC to DC power converter to enable the operational configuration (see Specification @ [0066-0068]).
Sungano fails to teach:
Said fist and second device comprise a first and second device port comprising a first electrical connection interface and a second electrical connection interface respectively.
DeBoer teaches a first device (AC power supply) comprising a first electrical connection interface (read on by said meter and/or circuit breaker 110, FIG1).
It would have been obvious to incorporate the meter/breaker as taught by DeBoer into the system of Sungano with the motivation or providing desirable/required metering and protection.
Chen teaches a second device (EV vehicle FIG3) comprising a second electrical interface (plug/socket charging cord configuration, FIG13).
It would have been obvious to include the plug/socket of Chen into the system of Sungano with the motivation of providing desirable standardized EV charging interface.
28. The power manager of claim 22, wherein the electronic controller is further operable to configure the DC to DC power converter to modulate a current of a power signal provided to the second device port according to the power characteristics of the external power load (read on by characteristic current going to the external load 50/53 as measured by the sensor 11f and controlled by 11e, FIG10 and [0066-0067]).
Sungano teaches:
42. A power manager comprising:
an electrical circuit comprising:
a first electrical connection side (connection side between 1 and 10, FIG10) and a second electrical connection side (connection between 10 and 50/53, FIG10);
a switch (11k) disposed between the first electrical connection interface and the second electrical connection interface; and
a power converter (11d) disposed between the first electrical connection interface and the second electrical connection interface, the power converter for receiving an input power signal at a first power amplitude and for delivering an output power signal at a second power amplitude;
the first device side connecting an external power device (ie grid) to the power manager;
a power sensor (11a) associated with first device port;
a communication interface (connection between sensor and control section) for communicating one or more characteristics of the external power device to a controller (controller section, FIG10),
wherein the electrical circuit is configurable to deliver the output electrical power signal to the first device side (ie EV), the output power signal compatible with the external power device (compatible to charge said EV).
Sungano fails to teach:
Said first and second connection sides comprise a first and second device port comprising a first electrical connection interface and a second electrical connection interface respectively.
DeBoer teaches a first device (AC power supply) comprising a first electrical connection interface (read on by said meter and/or circuit breaker 110, FIG1).
It would have been obvious to incorporate the meter/breaker as taught by DeBoer into the system of Sungano with the motivation or providing desirable/required metering and protection.
Chen teaches a second device (EV vehicle FIG3) comprising a second electrical interface (plug/socket charging cord configuration, FIG13).
It would have been obvious to include the plug/socket of Chen into the system of Sungano with the motivation of providing desirable standardized EV charging interface.
Sungano further teaches:
43. The power manager of claim 42, further comprising the controller wherein the controller is operable to control the power converter to configure the electrical circuit to deliver the output electrical power signal to the device port (via 11e, FIG10).
Sungano further teaches:
44. The power manager of claim 43, wherein the controller is configured to operate an energy management schema (ie opening switch 11k and/or controlling Dc/DC converter 11d) for determining an operating characteristic of the external power device (characteristic current flowing into device as determined by 11f and/or operating characteristic of upstream power via 11a) operably connected to the first device port, for determining an operational configuration of the power manager (open/close switch 11k and/or controlling DC/DC 11d), and for controlling the power converter (via 11e) to enable the operational configuration.
Sungano further teaches:
46. The power manager of claim 42, wherein the electrical circuit is configurable to convert a voltage of the input power signal to generate the output power signal (via AC/DC and/or DC/DC converter, FIG10).
Sungano further teaches:
47. The power manager of claim 42, wherein the power converter is configurable to modulate a current amplitude of the output power signal (as achieved and defined by operation of a/the DC/DC converter 11d, FIG10).
Sungano fails to teach:
48. The power manager of claim 42, wherein the power manager comprises one or more capacitors for reducing electrical noise comprising the output power signal provided to the external power device.
Official Notice is taken that both the concept and advantages of providing for noise controlling capacitors in electrical power distribution systems are well known and expected in the art. It would have been obvious to have included the capacitor in Sungano as these components are known to provide desirable power stability, filtering and noise reduction.
49. The power manager of claim 42, wherein the power manager comprises a second device port and the second electrical connection interface is electrically connected to the second device port (read on by the second vehicle connection 53, FOG10).
50. The power manager of claim 42, wherein the second electrical connection interface is electrically connected to a power bus architecture (read on by the standardized architecture EV connector of Chen, noting that “bus architecture” is neither a positive recitation of structure nor standardized term in the art therefore BRI of “bus architecture” read on by standardized EV charging cable architecture design that is connectable to a bus).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 27, 29, 45 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.
Claim 35 would be allowable if re-written to overcome the 112 rejection above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL CAVALLARI whose telephone number is (571)272-8541. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 0900-18:30.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rexford Barnie can be reached at (571)272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DANIEL CAVALLARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836