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 .
Status of the Claims
This action is in response to the applicant’s filing on September 10, 2024. Claims 1-22 are pending and are examined below.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority to Chinese Patent Application No. CN 202210240170.1, filed March 10, 2022.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “first power control device configured…for,” “control units being configurable to,” “second power control devices configured…to” in claims 1-4, 6-14, and 16-20.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
As to claim 1, the recitation “a first power control device configured with one or more power management components, each for generating a corresponding power signal” raises grounds of rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) because Applicant’s disclosure fails to provide sufficient detail regarding what a power management component is. Applicant’s disclosure describes the first power control device as an operator input that serves to generate a power control signal (See at least ¶78 and 84 of Applicant’s PGPUB). However, the claimed invention appears to rely on a power management component for its operation yet nowhere in Applicant’s disclosure is this component defined. Applicant’s Specification provides no mention of what a power management component is, nor is it a well-known term of art. For at least these reasons, claim 1 fails to comply with the written description requirement.
Claims 2-22 depend from claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-22 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.
As to claim 1, the recitation “a first power control device configured with one or more power management components, each for generating a corresponding power signal” is vague and indefinite. Applicant’s Specification fails to describe what a power management component is, and as it not a known term of art renders the claim indefinite. Therefore, it is unclear what is being claimed in light of Applicant’s original disclosure.
Claims 2-22 depend from claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 8-11, and 18-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by List et al., US 20070055419 A1, hereinafter referred to as List.
As to claim 1, List discloses a vehicle multi-power-source control system, comprising:
a first power control device configured with one or more power management components, each for generating a corresponding power control signal (Control lever – See at least Abstract);
a plurality of control units, one of the plurality of control units being connected to the first power control device, a connection among the plurality of control units being configurable to enable a plurality of power devices to work cooperatively or independently, and each of the plurality of control units being configured to analyze a corresponding power control signal (Plurality of ECUs 16a and 16b – See at least ¶29 and Fig. 1; Split range throttle and sync mode, i.e., “cooperative or independent” – See at least ¶60 and 64);
a plurality of power controllers correspondingly connected with the plurality of control units and configured to output drive signals to the corresponding power devices according to the power control signals analyzed by the corresponding control units (Throttle actuators 28, i.e., “power controllers” – See at least ¶31 and Fig. 1).
As to claims 8 and 18, List discloses the cooperative working mode comprises any one of the following: the master is controlled by a power management component, and all slaves are controlled by another power management component; the master is controlled by a power management component, and some of the slaves are controlled by another power management component; the plurality of control units are controlled by a same power management component; or the plurality of control units are divided into several groups, and each group is controlled by a power management component (Split range throttle and sync mode, i.e., “cooperative or independent” – See at least ¶60 and 64).
As to claim 9, List discloses the vehicle multi-power-source control system further comprises a display unit; and the control unit that switches to the master mode is configured to: send data information of the master and the slaves to the display unit for display in real time (Sync status indication – See at least ¶60).
As to claims 10, and 20, List discloses one of the plurality of control units is connected with the first power control device through a first communication bus, and the plurality of control units are connected with each other through a second communication bus (Bus – See at least ¶30).
As to claim 11, List discloses a vehicle multi-power-source control method, applied to a vehicle multi-power-source control system according to claim 1; the method comprises:
generating, by the first power control device, a corresponding power control signal (Control lever – See at least Abstract);
analyzing, by the control unit, the power control signal (Plurality of ECUs 16a and 16b – See at least ¶29 and Fig. 1; ECUs receive and convert signals from control head – See at least ¶43-44);
outputting, by the power controller, a drive signal to a corresponding power device according to the analyzed power control signal (Throttle actuators 28, i.e., “power controllers” – See at least ¶31 and Fig. 1).
As to claim 19, List discloses the control unit that switches itself to the master mode is also configured to: send the data information of the master and the slaves to the display unit for display in real time (Sync status indication – See at least ¶60)
As to claim 21, List discloses a vehicle, comprising a vehicle multi-power-source control system according to claim 1 (Marine vessel – See at least Abstract).
As to claim 22, List discloses a non-transitory computer storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program, when executed by a processor of a vehicle, implements a vehicle multi-power-source control method according to claim 11 (Software – See at least Abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, and 12-17 are 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, but for the above rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lail Kleinman whose telephone number is (571)272-6286. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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/LAIL A KLEINMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668