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 .
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) 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnson, Jr (2011/0278931) and Beez et al. (2019/0359077).
Regarding independent claims 1 and 4, Johnson teaches (Fig. 4) a controller (460) and method for providing phase balancing for a three phase power supply, wherein a first phase (435a) of the three phase power supply is coupled to a first electrical bus, a second phase (435b) of the three phase power supply is coupled to a second electrical bus, and a third phase (435c) of the three phase power supply is coupled to a third electrical bus, wherein the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus are coupled via an inverter (420) to a direct current, DC, bus (415) to which is coupled at least one photovoltaic, PV, panel (50), wherein the controller comprises a device for monitoring current in the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus, wherein the device is arranged to control the inverter to provide current generated by the at least one PV panel to at least one of the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus and to control current (via the inverter) to a load (20) if the current difference between the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and/or the third electrical bus exceeds a predetermined threshold value to substantially balance the current load on the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus, wherein the load is coupled to the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and/or the third electrical bus ([0026]-[0029]).
Johnson fails to explicitly teach the load being an electric vehicle (EV) charge port connected to an EV to charge the EV battery. Beez teaches a similar three phase power supply (FIGURE) to that of Johnson. Beez teaches the three phase power supply (11, 12, 13) coupled to an EV charging port (19) to an EV (16). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute Beez’s EV charging port for charging an EV into Johnson’s invention as their load (20), since it involves a mere simple substitution of one generic load for a specific load known in the art.
Regarding claims 2 and 5, Johnson teaches the device is arranged to control the inverter to provide current from a battery (40) coupled to the DC bus to at least one of the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus if the current difference between the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and/or the third electrical bus exceeds a predetermined threshold value to substantially balance the current load on the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus ([0027]).
Regarding claims 3 and 6, Johnson teaches the device is arranged to control a rectifier (410) coupled to the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus and the inverter for providing current from one of the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus to another one of the electrical buses if the current difference between the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and/or the third electrical bus exceeds a predetermined threshold value to substantially balance the current load on the first electrical bus, the second electrical bus and the third electrical bus ([0024]).
Conclusion
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DMP
7/13/2026
/DANIEL KESSIE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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