DETAILED ACTION
This s in reference to communication received 14 October 2025. Cancellation of claims 2 – 4, 9 and 12 is acknowledged. Claims 1, 5 – 8, 10, 11 and 13 – 17 are pending for examination. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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, 5 – 8, 10, 11 and 13 – 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Independent claim 16, representative of claims 1 and 17, in part is directed toward a statutory category of invention, the claim appears to be directed toward a judicial exception namely an abstract idea. Claim 16 recites invention directed to providing free Electric Vehicle Charging for owners of electric vehicles by using sponsorship business model. Plurality of Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVCS) at public places like parking lots of shopping-centers and shopping-malls. Plurality of content providers (e.g. sponsors) provide their advertising content, when a driver arrives at one of the EVCS and data collected about the user is used as a targeting criteria for identify and advertising content of a sponsor and is presented to the user, which, pursuant to MPEP 2106.04, is aptly categorized as a method of organizing human activity (i.e. advertising).
Next, the aforementioned claims recite additional functional elements that are associated with the judicial exception, including: presenting advertising on a display device installed at the EVCS, or a display device encapsulating the EVCS as a single unit. Using sensors like a camera, a microphone, etc. installed on the EVCS, to collected data (e.g., targeting criteria) which will be provided to server, and the server determines state of the EVCS as conditions specified by plurality of content providers as one of their targeting criteria and identifies an advertising to be displayed to the user, and transmits the identified advertising-content to the EVCS for displaying to the user, which, pursuant to MPEP 2106.04, is aptly categorized as a method of organizing human activity (i.e. advertising).
In addition, the aforementioned claims recite additional functional element of identifying an advertising-content associated with a second-content-provider which can displayed to the user at the EVCS is deemed to be an insignificant extrasolution activity, because the content of the first-content-provider is always displayed to the user at the EVCS.
Represented claims 1 and 17, which do recite statutory categories (machine, product of manufacture, for example), the same analysis as above applies to these claims since the method steps are the same. However, the judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. These claims add the generic computer components (additional elements) of a system comprising one or more hardware processors and a memory, EVCS equipped with charging unit and plurality of sensors and display (claim 1), and a non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a system that includes one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform a set of operations addressed above (claim 17).
The processor, memory, and non-transitory machine-readable medium are recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims are directed to an abstract idea.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of the processor, memory, and non-transitory machine-readable medium amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claims are not patent eligible.
When taken as an ordered combination, nothing is added that is not already present when the elements are taken individually. When viewed as a whole, the marketing activities amount to instructions applied using generic computer components.
As for dependent claims 5 – 8, 10 – 11, and 13 –15, these claims recite these claims recite limitations that further define the same abstract idea with details regarding descriptions of (targeting) conditions specified by content providers, providing information to user on their mobile app, where the content will be displayed, defining eligibility criteria, defining that there are plurality of EVCS in the network, defining which party will be responsible for utility expenses, what type of sensors can be used to equip EVCS, implement weather-based advertising eligibility criteria, defining where the weather related data come from. Thus, the dependent claims merely provide additional non-structural (and predominantly non-functional) details that fail to meaningfully limit the claims or the abstract idea(s).
Therefore, claims 1, 5 – 8, 10, 11 and 13 – 17 are not drawn to eligible subject matter, as they are directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
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.
Claims 1, 6 – 8, 14, 16 – 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peerless AV published Case-Study “Volta Digital Hybrid Charging Stations” hereinafter referred to as Peerless-AV in view of Ma et al. US Publication 2008/0004953 and Menendez et al US Publication 2020/0175552.
Regarding claim 16 and represented claims 1 and 17, Peerless-AV teaches working with Volta Industries to create custom charging stations for retail centers in the Chicagoland area. Peerless-AV teaches that Volta’s desire to combine charging stations and digital advertising would prove to be very beneficial for the company, particularly because digital advertising is shown to be more effective than static advertising [Peerless-AV, page 1]. Peerless-AV teaches system and method comprising:
an electric vehicle charging station (EVCS) that includes a display (Peerless-AV, Vp;ta wanted to combine digital signage displays with its electric vehicle charging stations (aka EVCS) to create the ultimate revenue generating, advertising solution, and offering free electric car charging to customers with its ad-supported stations [Peerless-AV, page 1];
EVCS comprising one or more sensors (Peerless-AV, The optically bonded display is equipped with ambient light sensors to automatically and gradually adjust the screen’s brightness based on the surrounding conditions, providing a clear, crisp picture, even in direct sunlight.) [Peerless-AV, page 2];
providing for display via the display of the EVCS, media content
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Today, electric vehicle owners are able to charge their vehicles for free while shopping at Oakbrook Center and Northbrook Court, and the stores within the retail centers are able to continually promote their products and create new and lasting customer relationships
[Peerless-AV, page 5];
Peerless-AV does not explicitly teach a server comprising one or more processors and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors in communication with EVCS. However, Ma teaches a public advertising system uses sensors at each public display to gather characteristics of audiences at each of multiple locations to provide advertisers with a cost-effective business tool. The system can also match advertising to target features of an audience in real time [Ma, 0006].
Therefore, at the time of filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Peerless-AV by adopting teachings of Ma To enable ad service providers to effectively deliver ads to different displays and select suitable ads to match the audience or adjust the content of ads according to audience.
Peerless-AV in view of Ma teaches system and method further comprising:
a server that is in communication with an electric vehicle charging station (EVCS) that includes a display, the server comprising one or more processors and memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors [Ma, 0019, Fig. 2 and associated disclosure] for:
receiving, from a plurality of content providers, including a first content provider and a second content provider, a set of values, each value in the set of values corresponding to satisfaction of one or more conditions that apply to a state of an electric vehicle charging station (EVCS) (Ma, A key feature of the advertisement distributor 628 is that with the compiled data and perhaps in collaboration with the sales engine 612, it allows advertisers to select the best time slot and location according to their budgets or job bids. This means the exemplary public display network 300 provides an efficient, cost-effective business tool-i.e., less cost and greater income because ads are delivered to precisely targeted audiences with accuracy.) [Ma, 0052];
receiving, from the EVCS, data collected by one or more sensors of the EVCS, wherein the one or more sensors selected from the group consisting of: a camera, a microphone, a weather sensor, a cable sensor, and an infrared sensor (Ma, a camera on the display may detect that the viewer is a teenager and tailor the content or vocabulary of advertisements to suit the age group.) [Ma, 0018, 0024];
Peerless-AV in view of Ma does not teach determining states of the EVCS. However, Manendez teaches system and method for providing targeted advertisements to charging stations for electric vehicles.) [Menendez, 0003]. Menendez teaches to determining whether an electric vehicle is plugged into the charging station at decision block 304. Depending on whether an electric vehicle is plugged into the charging station 108, the server 104 may select to operate in one of two modes. If a vehicle is plugged in, the server 104 may select to operate in a first mode at 306, which provides targeted advertisements to a user associated with the vehicle, such as the driver or a passenger (e.g., a first state in a time frame) [Menendez, 0061]. Menendez further teaches if there is no vehicle plugged into the charging station 108, the server 104 may select to operate in a second mode at 310, which provides targeted advertisements to individuals who pass by the charging station 108 (e.g., a second state in a time frame) [Menendez, 0062].
Therefore, at the time of filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Peerless-AV in view of Ma by adopting teachings of Menendez to implement context based conditional advertising.
Peerless-AV in view Ma and Menendez teaches system and method further comprising:
determining, using the data collected by the one or more sensors of the EVCS, a first state of the EVCS during a first time frame, the first state satisfying a first condition for the first content provider [Menendez, 0061] and a second condition for the second content provider, of the one or more conditions [Menendez, 0062];
identifying the first content provider and the second content provider as having values that correspond to satisfaction of respective conditions (Menendez, At step 606, the server 104 identifies a set of candidate advertisements that may be stored on the candidate advertisement database 107) [Menendez, 0081] that are met by the first state of the EVCS (Menendez, Alternatively, if there is no vehicle plugged into the charging station 108, the server 104 may select to operate in a second mode at 310, which provides targeted advertisements to individuals who pass by the charging station 108) [Manendez, 0062; also see 0066];
selecting, based on values received for the respective conditions that are met by the first state of the EVCS, the first content provider (Menendez, the server 104 determines that the driver is interacting with the display (decision block 408), retrieves driver features (step 410), selects an advertisement for the driver based on the vehicle information in driver features (step 412), and displays the selected advertisement (step 414).) [Menendez, 0063]; and
providing for display via the display of the EVCS, media content associated with the first content provider (Menendez, if there is a small remaining amount of time, the server 104 may predict that the driver will remain at the charging station 108 until charging is complete. In this case, the targeted advertisements shown on the display 120 may be selected specifically for the driver.) [Menendez, 0066]; and
wherein the first condition for the first content provider is distinct from the second condition for the second content provider (Menendez,
promotional offers associated with nearby businesses (e.g., first content provider) may be displayed if the meter data indicates that there is little time remaining until the charging is complete. Promotional offers with businesses in locations further from the charging station 108 (e.g., second content provider) may be displayed if the meter data indicates that there is substantial time remaining until charging is complete.) [Menendez, 0099],
wherein the first condition is satisfied concurrently with the second condition (Menendez, a plurality of businesses that are near the selected charging station is identified, and one or more promotional offers associated with each of the plurality of businesses are identified. At least one promotional offer is selected from the plurality of promotional offers based at least in part on the estimated length of time remaining until the charging process is complete, and the selected at least one promotional offer is transmitted to the mobile device. (e.g., targeting criteria specified by first content provider and second provider is to present their content when the charging is still in progress) [Menendez, 0063],
wherein:
the EVCS is a first EVCS in a network of a plurality of EVCSs (Peerless-AV, plurality of EVCS) (Peerless-AV, see at least image on page 1);
the data collected by one or more sensors of the plurality of EVCSs are shared with the other EVCSs in the network (Menendez, the group of charging stations 108 may be configured to send communications to one another via the network 102. In an example, each charging station 108 may include a memory for storing a map of its neighboring charging stations. As the data collector 110 on a first charging station detects one or more users that are interacting with the display 120 on the first charging station, the data collector 110 may detect that the one or more users are leaving the vicinity of the first charging station, and moving in a direction toward a neighboring charging station. In this case, the first charging station may transmit a signal to the neighboring charging station, where the signal may include information indicative of the one or more users, an advertisement history associated with any of the one or more users, or both.) [Menendez, 0085]; and
the first content provider is selected based at least in part on the data collected by the one or more sensors of the plurality of EVCSs (Menendez, the server 104 determines that the driver is interacting with the display (decision block 408), retrieves driver features (step 410), selects an advertisement for the driver based on the vehicle information in driver features (step 412), and displays the selected advertisement (step 414).) [Menendez, 0063].
Regarding claim 5, as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV in view Ma and Menendez teaches system and method, wherein the instructions further include instructions for:
at the EVCS, detecting a user device that is executing an application associated with the EVCS (Menendez, determining when the user initiates a charging process between the user's electric vehicle and a selected charging station selected from the available charging stations.) [Menendez, 0013]; and
providing the media content associated with the first content provider for display at the user device (Menendez, a plurality of businesses that are near the selected charging station is identified, and one or more promotional offers associated with each of the plurality of businesses are identified. At least one promotional offer is selected from the plurality of promotional offers based at least in part on the estimated length of time remaining until the charging process is complete, and the selected at least one promotional offer is transmitted to the mobile device.) [Menendez, 0063, 0014].
Regarding claim 6, as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV in view of Ma and Menendez teaches system and method, wherein the media content associated with the first content provider for display is provided to a display of the EVCS (Menendez, the server 104 determines that the driver is interacting with the display (decision block 408), retrieves driver features (step 410), selects an advertisement for the driver based on the vehicle information in driver features (step 412), and displays the selected advertisement (step 414)) [Menendez, 0063].
Regarding claim 7, as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV Peerless-AV in view of Ma and Menendez teaches system and method, wherein the set of values received from the plurality of content providers include monetary values that correspond to satisfaction of respective conditions that are met by a state of the EVCS (Menendez, some advertisers may pay a premium to have their advertisements provided as the generic advertisement. In some embodiments, the generic advertisement may be selected based on an optimization process performed for a hypothetical individual with certain user features) [Menendez, 0074].
Regarding claim 8, as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV in view of Ma and Menendez teaches system and method, wherein the set of values received from the plurality of content providers includes viewer percentage values representing a percentage of all of the media content displayed, within a first time period, that is provided for display (Menendez, the audience categorizer 452 makes an initial assessment of the audience versus the time of day and amount of time spent at the display. In other words, the components are simply sensing and measuring the presence of an audience and how long they interact with the display. Conversely, in another mode, the interval selector 450 chooses a time interval, for example, "lunch hour" and the audience categorizer 452 gauges the audiences that interact during this time period. Each location is branded with a location ID 454 so that the central, server-side engine 212 can compile results across numerous locations [Menendez, 0038; also see Ma 0052].
Regarding claim 14, as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV in view of Ma and Menendez teaches system and method, wherein satisfaction of the first condition includes satisfaction of a user demographic detected within a predefined proximity of the EVCS (Menendez, Examples of user features include but are not limited to age, gender, race, demographic, height, or any other suitable user feature that may be determined from data recorded by the data collector 110. Moreover, user features may include information such as what clothing or accessories the individual is wearing, or objects that the individual is carrying, such as shopping bags or foods and beverages. In this case, one or more logos may be detected from the data recorded by the data collector 110, and the logo information may be included as one or more of the user features) [Menendes, 0040].
Claims 15 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peerless AV published Case-Study “Volta Digital Hybrid Charging Stations” hereinafter referred to as Peerless-AV in view of Ma et al. US Publication 2008/0004953, Menendez et al US Publication 2020/0175552 and WeatherAds published article “Weather Marketing – Turn Weather Into Sales With Real-Time Weather Triggers”.
Regarding claim 15, Peerless-AV in view of Ma and Menendez does not teach ambient temperature threshold (e.g., weather condition) for advertising. However, WeatherAds teaches that ‘weather based marketing’ or ‘weather triggered marketing’, is a powerful form of marketing automation which utilizes real-time weather data to trigger and personalize marketing messages based on audience’s local weather.
Therefore, at the time of filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Peerless-AV in view of Ma and Menendez by adopting teachings of WeatherAds to improve ROI for advertisers from weather sensitive industries.
as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV in view of Ma, Menendez and WeatherAds teaches system and method, wherein the instructions further include instructions for receiving data from a third-party server system, and the first state of the EVCS is determined based at least in part on the data from the third-party server system (WeatheAds, Weather marketing platforms such as WeatherAds (third-party server system) enable advertisers to easily apply weather based automation to their search, display, social and shopping campaigns. In less than 5 minutes you can turn an ordinary AdWords, Facebook or Instagram campaign into a weather responsive one – triggering your ads or social media posts to activate before, during or after localized weather events) [WeatherAds, page 5].
Regarding claim 13, as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV in view of Ma, Menendez and WeatherAds teaches system and method, wherein satisfaction of the first condition includes satisfaction of an ambient temperature threshold at the EVCS (WeatherAds, A clothing brand that sells outdoor clothing can display ads for waterproof jackets when it’s forecast to rain, and ads for hiking gear when the forecast looks good for the coming weekend. Timberland achieved excellent results from running personalized weather triggered emails) [WeatherAds, page 8].
Claims 10 – 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peerless AV published Case-Study “Volta Digital Hybrid Charging Stations” hereinafter referred to as Peerless-AV in view of Ma et al. US Publication 2008/0004953, Menendez et al US Publication 2020/0175552 and GreenSportsBlog published article “Volta Charging Brings Free EV Charging to Sports Venues”.
Regarding claim 10, Peerless-AV in view of Ma and Menendez does not teach assigning of charging cost to the content provider. However, GreenSportsBlogs teaches Volta Charging is pioneering free electric vehicle (EV) charging in the U.S. Their business model is to sell video advertising atop charging stations to brands that want to reach high value audiences in high foot-traffic locations [GreesSportsBlog, page 1].
Therefore, at the time of filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Peerless-AV in view of Ma and Menendez by adopting teachings of GreenSportsBlog to improve Sponsor advertising reach by implementing Free, Media-Supported public EV Charging to make it attractive to EV drivers who avoid using public charging stations.
as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV in view of Ma, Menendez and GreenSportsBlogs teaches system and method, wherein the instructions further include instructions for, in accordance with a determination that an electric vehicle is charging at the EVCS, instructing the EVCS to assign an EV charging cost for the electric vehicle to the first content provider (GreenSportBlog, a public EV charging model that makes financial sense for drivers and venues. His idea was to make public EV charging free to drivers by selling video ad units that would run atop the chargers. Host venues get free installation, free chargers, free maintenance, free customer support. Increased dwell time — shoppers staying longer to get a better charge — also benefits malls and other retailers) [GreenSportsBlog, page 3].
Regarding claim 11, as combined and under the same rationale as above, Peerless-AV in view of Ma, Menendez and GreenSportsBlogs teaches system and method, wherein providing media content associated with the first content provider for display includes displaying an indication of the first content provider that is paying for the EV charging cost for the electric vehicle (GreebSportBlog, a public EV charging model that makes financial sense for drivers and venues. His idea was to make public EV charging free to drivers by selling video ad units that would run atop the chargers. Host venues get free installation, free chargers, free maintenance, free customer support. Increased dwell time — shoppers staying longer to get a better charge — also benefits malls and other retailers.) [GreenSportBlog, page 3, also see at least EVCS displaying a sponsored message defined for the advertising content, page 1].
Response to Arguments
Applicant's argument that pending claimed amended invention is eligible for patent because cited prior art does not teach amended invention as currently claimed is acknowledged.
However, while performing an updated search, new prior arts were found, combination of which teach the amended claimed invention. Therefore applicant’s arguments are moot under new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Naresh Vig whose telephone number is (571)272-6810. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 06:30a - 04:00p.
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/NARESH VIG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3622
December 4, 2025