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 .
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 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.
Examiner’s Note
This Office Action is in response to application filed on 8/5/2024, where claims 1-15 are currently pending.
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 12-15 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 12-15 are rejected to because of the following: claim 12 recites “the event stream processing platform to process a message that the status of the charging station is updated”. The element “message” is recited with an article “a”, which indicates it is the first instance of such element. However, the same element is also recited in claim 11, which it depends from, and there is no unique identifier to differentiate the two elements. Therefore, it is unclear to one of ordinary skill in the art, whether they are the same element or are different and distinct elements. As such, renders the claim indefinite.
Claims 13-15 are rejected to as having the same deficiencies as the claim they depend from.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-8 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al., (CN 114240053 A) (hereinafter Liu).
Referring to claim 1, Liu teaches a charging station management system, comprising:
a connection port connected to at least one charging station through a network interface (Pg. 6 lines 9-14 “the charging station automatic fault reporting system comprises: device self-checking module 10, fault analysis module 20 and information issuing module 30, device self-checking module 10. fault analysis module 20 and information issuing module 30 through the Internet for communication”);
a remote server connected to the connection port, the remote server being used to remotely manage the charging station to support an open charge point protocol service (Pg. 6 lines 30-35, “sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server…sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server can pass through the 2 G or 4 G network”. ”. Examiner notes, Liu does not explicitly disclose that open charge point protocol is used; however, there is a finite number of protocols that can be used to interface between devices for charging, thus it is the choice of the interface designer to select the best protocol that best suits the needs including open charge point protocol.); and
a status database used to record a status of the charging station (Pg. 6 lines 31-34, “the preset server refers to the preset database server, for storing and maintaining fault self-checking information of charging station”),
wherein when a fault event occurs at the charging station, the remote server receives a fault information from the charging station to update the status of the charging station (Pg. 6 lines 34-38, “sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server, so that the preset server can store the fault self-checking information to the fault information management table”), and retrieves a troubleshooting guidance information based on the fault information to support a charging station troubleshooting service (Pg. 6 lines 55-59, “maintenance notification information is used for notifying maintenance personnel to maintain the information, can include the failure mode to be maintained”).
Referring to claim 2, Liu further teaches the charging station management system of claim 1, wherein the remote server comprises an open charge point protocol service application, and the remote server communicates with the charging station through the open charge point protocol service application (Pg. 6 lines 30-38, “sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server…sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server can pass through the 2 G or 4 G network, or other means, This embodiment is not limited. sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server, so that the preset server can store the fault self-checking information to the fault information management table”. Pg. 11 lines 78-80, “Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above embodiment method can be realized by means of software”.)
Referring to claim 3, Liu further teaches the charging station management system of claim 2, wherein the remote server comprises an event stream processing platform, wherein when the status of the charging station changes, the open charge point protocol service application transmits the status of the charging station to the event stream processing platform (Pg. 6 lines 40-42, “the failure analysis module 20,obtaining the failure information management table from the preset server”. Examiner recognizes the interface for the analysis module 20 to obtain the failure information management table as the event stream processing platform.)
Referring to claim 4, Liu further teaches the charging station management system of claim 3, wherein the remote server includes a charging station service application, and the open charge point protocol service application communicates with the charging station service application through the event stream processing platform to update the status of the charging station (Pg. 6 lines 40-46, “the failure analysis module 20,obtaining the failure information management table from the preset server refers to: fault analysis module 20 downloads the fault information management table of the latest version maintained by the preset server from the preset server, then according to the fault information management table to obtain the updated state information”).
Referring to claim 5, Liu further teaches the charging station management system of claim 4, wherein when the status of the charging station is "fault", the charging station service application updates the status of the charging station to "fault" (Pg. 6 lines 44-50, “according to the fault information management table to obtain the updated state information, wherein the update state information refers to the fault information management table obtained in this time and the fault self-check information newly changed and added by the last obtained version. then generating fault reporting record according to the updating state information”) and stores the status of the charging station updated to "fault" in the status database (Pg. 6 lines 34-38, “sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server, so that the preset server can store the fault self-checking information to the fault information management table”).
Referring to claim 6, Liu further teaches the charging station management system of claim 4, wherein the remote server comprises a web application that displays the status of the charging station, the fault information and the troubleshooting guidance information on a web page (Pg. 6 lines 54-60, “the maintenance notification information can be issued in the preset web page, website or APP, the embodiment is not limited. maintenance notification information is used for notifying maintenance personnel to maintain the information, can include the failure mode to be maintained, fault occurrence time, specified target maintenance personnel and so on information.”)
Referring to claim 7, Liu further teaches the charging station management system of claim 6, wherein when the status of the charging station is “fault”, the web application marks the charging station as "fault" and displays the fault information and the troubleshooting guidance information on the web page (Pg. 6 lines 54-60, “the maintenance notification information can be issued in the preset web page, website or APP, the embodiment is not limited. maintenance notification information is used for notifying maintenance personnel to maintain the information, can include the failure mode to be maintained, fault occurrence time, specified target maintenance personnel and so on information.”)
Referring to claim 8, Liu further teaches the charging station management system of claim 6, wherein the remote server uses a subscription function in GraphQL language to push a latest updated status of the charging station from the remote server to the web application (Pg. 7 lines 49-53, “in order to accurately notify the maintenance personnel to perform more efficient maintenance, information publishing module is further used for according to the fault reporting record generating maintenance notification information”. Examiner notes, Liu does not explicitly disclose that GraphQL language is used; however, there is a finite number of language that can be used to create the needed function, thus it is the choice of the interface designer to select the best language that best suits the needs including GraphQL.)
Referring to claim 11, Liu teaches a charging station management method, comprising:
showing a status of a charging station through a web application that is connected to an open charge point protocol service application through a network interface to support an open charge point protocol service (Pg. 6 lines 54-60, “the maintenance notification information can be issued in the preset web page, website or APP, the embodiment is not limited. maintenance notification information is used for notifying maintenance personnel to maintain the information, can include the failure mode to be maintained, fault occurrence time, specified target maintenance personnel and so on information.”);
when the status of the charging station changes, the charging station transmits the status of the charging station to the open charge point protocol service application (Pg. 6, lines 27-31, “fault self-checking information is according to the working state information extracting the information related to the fault checking as fault self-checking information. then sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server”), and the open charge point protocol service application notifies an event stream processing platform to process a message that the status of the charging station changes (Pg. 6 lines 40-42, “the failure analysis module 20,obtaining the failure information management table from the preset server”. Examiner recognizes the interface for the analysis module 20 to obtain the failure information management table as the event stream processing platform.), and transmits the message to a charging station service application (Pg. 6 lines 40-46, “the failure analysis module 20,obtaining the failure information management table from the preset server refers to: fault analysis module 20 downloads the fault information management table of the latest version maintained by the preset server from the preset server, then according to the fault information management table to obtain the updated state information”); and
updating the status of the charging station in a status database by the charging station service application (Pg. 6 lines 30-38, “sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server, the preset server refers to the preset database server, for storing and maintaining fault self-checking information of charging station…sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server, so that the preset server can store the fault self-checking information to the fault information management table”).
Referring to claim 12, Liu further teaches the charging station management method of claim 11, wherein when a fault event occurs at the charging station, the charging station sends a fault information to the open charge point protocol service application (Pg. 6, lines 27-31, “fault self-checking information is according to the working state information extracting the information related to the fault checking as fault self-checking information. then sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server”), and the open charge point protocol service application notifies the event stream processing platform to process a message that the status of the charging station is updated to “fault” (Pg. 6 lines 40-42, “the failure analysis module 20,obtaining the failure information management table from the preset server”. Examiner recognizes the interface for the analysis module 20 to obtain the failure information management table as the event stream processing platform.), and transmits the fault message to the charging station service application (Pg. 6 lines 40-46, “the failure analysis module 20,obtaining the failure information management table from the preset server refers to: fault analysis module 20 downloads the fault information management table of the latest version maintained by the preset server from the preset server, then according to the fault information management table to obtain the updated state information”); and
updating the status of the charging station to “fault” in the status database by the charging station service application (Pg. 6 lines 30-38, “sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server, the preset server refers to the preset database server, for storing and maintaining fault self-checking information of charging station…sending the fault self-checking information to the preset server, so that the preset server can store the fault self-checking information to the fault information management table”).
Referring to claim 13, Liu further teaches the charging station management method of claim 12, wherein the charging station service application retrieves a troubleshooting guidance information based on the fault information to support a charging station troubleshooting service (Pg. 6 lines 55-59, “maintenance notification information is used for notifying maintenance personnel to maintain the information, can include the failure mode to be maintained”).
Referring to claim 14, Liu further teaches the charging station management method of claim 13, wherein the web application displays the status of the charging station, the fault information and the troubleshooting guidance information on a web page (Pg. 6 lines 54-60, “the maintenance notification information can be issued in the preset web page, website or APP, the embodiment is not limited. maintenance notification information is used for notifying maintenance personnel to maintain the information, can include the failure mode to be maintained, fault occurrence time, specified target maintenance personnel and so on information.”)
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 of this title, 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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu as applied to claim 3 above, and in view of Lowenthal et al., (US 2010/0207588 A1) (hereinafter Lowenthal).
Referring to claim 9, Liu teaches the charging station management system of claim 3. However, Liu does not explicitly teach a graphical user interface for displaying a charging information and the fault information of the charging station.
Lowenthal teaches a graphical user interface for displaying a charging information and the fault information of the charging station (¶ [0042], fig. 3, “The display unit 340 is used to display messages to the operator 145 (e.g., charging status, confirmation messages, error messages, notification messages, etc.).”)
Liu and Lowenthal are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are concerning with interface for charging station (i.e., same field of endeavor).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention having Liu and Lowenthal before them to modify the system of automatic fault reporting of charging station of Liu to incorporate the function of displaying status and error messages by Lowenthal. One of ordinary skill in the art would have combined the elements as claimed by known methods as disclosed by Lowenthal (¶ [0035]-[0044]), because the function of displaying status and error messages does not depend on the system of automatic fault reporting of charging station. That is the function of displaying status and error messages performs the same function independent on which interface it is incorporated onto, and therefore, the result of the combination would have been predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art. The motivation to combine would have been to provide necessary information to operator as suggested by Lowenthal (¶ [0042]).
Claims 10 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu as applied to claims 1 and 13 above, and in view of Daniel et al., (US 2002/0022984 A1) (hereinafter Daniel).
Referring to claim 10, Liu teaches the charging station management system of claim 1. However, Liu does not explicitly teach a hyperlink URL for a maintenance personnel to obtain a troubleshooting manual.
Daniel teaches a hyperlink URL for a maintenance personnel to obtain a troubleshooting manual (¶ [0032], fig. 4B, “Respective troubleshooting instructions may be provided to the user by selecting through a computer interface device, such as a mouse, a respective hyperlink, e.g., hyperlinks 56, 58 and 60, coupled to database 30 to download the appropriate troubleshooting instructions for the selected equipment.”)
Liu and Daniel are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are concerning with interface for addressing fault condition in equipment (i.e., same field of endeavor).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention having Liu and Daniel before them to modify the system of automatic fault reporting of charging station of Liu to incorporate the function of obtaining troubleshooting manual through hyperlink by Daniel. One of ordinary skill in the art would have combined the elements as claimed by known methods as disclosed by Daniel (¶ [0032]-[0034]), because the function of obtaining troubleshooting manual through hyperlink does not depend on the system of automatic fault reporting of charging station. That is the function of obtaining troubleshooting manual through hyperlink performs the same function independent on which interface it is incorporated onto, and therefore, the result of the combination would have been predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art. The motivation to combine would have been to provide effective and efficient method of managing diagnostic and repair data for a plurality of assets as suggested by Daneil (¶ [0006]-[0009]).
Referring to claim 15, Liu teaches the charging station management method of claim 13. However, Liu does not explicitly teach a hyperlink URL for a maintenance personnel to obtain a troubleshooting manual.
Daneil teaches a hyperlink URL for a maintenance personnel to obtain a troubleshooting manual (¶ [0032], fig. 4B, “Respective troubleshooting instructions may be provided to the user by selecting through a computer interface device, such as a mouse, a respective hyperlink, e.g., hyperlinks 56, 58 and 60, coupled to database 30 to download the appropriate troubleshooting instructions for the selected equipment.”)
Liu and Daniel are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are concerning with interface for addressing fault condition in equipment (i.e., same field of endeavor).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention having Liu and Daniel before them to modify the system of automatic fault reporting of charging station of Liu to incorporate the function of obtaining troubleshooting manual through hyperlink by Daniel. One of ordinary skill in the art would have combined the elements as claimed by known methods as disclosed by Daniel (¶ [0032]-[0034]), because the function of obtaining troubleshooting manual through hyperlink does not depend on the system of automatic fault reporting of charging station. That is the function of obtaining troubleshooting manual through hyperlink performs the same function independent on which interface it is incorporated onto, and therefore, the result of the combination would have been predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art. The motivation to combine would have been to provide effective and efficient method of managing diagnostic and repair data for a plurality of assets as suggested by Daneil (¶ [0006]-[0009]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
US 11,385,631 (Rodemann) – discloses method and system for detecting faults in a charging infrastructure.
US 2023/0382257 (Hou) – discloses method and system for monitoring and managing charging stations.
US 2023/0147695 (Earl) – discloses electric vehicle charging system that present current state.
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/MONG-SHUNE CHUNG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2118
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