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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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, 2, 4, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. PG Pub. 2020/0317074 to Miller et al. in view of Applicant-admitted prior art, JP-2015163027.
Regarding claim 1, Miller discloses:
an information processing method by a computer (At least the system, 100; charge level monitor, 112; charge monitoring system, 114; communication system, 122; rendezvous selection system, 124; and route analyzer, 116), the information processing method comprising:
acquiring a current position of each of a plurality of battery transport mobile bodies transporting a first battery (At least the acquiring of the location of the mobile charging unit, 104 – disclosed as multiple MCUs associated with a rendezvous selection system);
acquiring a current position of each of a plurality of electric mobile bodies (At least the determining of the current location of an EV – disclosed as one or more EVs as recipients of electrical energy from the MCU(s));
acquiring a current position of each of a plurality of electric mobile bodies and a charge rate of a second battery included in each of the plurality of electric mobile bodies (At least where slower charge rates for batteries in EVs is associated with selection of rendezvous locations on the map);
determining an insufficient charge section (At least where a rendezvous is planned to dispatch an MCU to provide a charge to an EV so that the EV may continue/complete its trip);
a plurality of sections on a map (At least the areas divided into regions of a map);
determining an insufficient charge section having the current charge rate lower than a target charge rate among the plurality of sections (At least where thresholds are established to identify where current charge rates will not permit travel of the EVs); and
outputting control information for moving at least one battery transport mobile body among the plurality of battery transport mobile bodies to the determined insufficient charge section (At least where the MCU is dispatched to rendezvous with an electric vehicle).
However, Miller does not expressly discuss charge rates of sections on the map.
Nevertheless, JP-2015163027 teaches:
acquiring a current position of each of a plurality of electric mobile bodies and a charge rate of a second battery included in each of the plurality of electric mobile bodies (At least where power demand is calculated based on battery charge rates of vehicles in a given area); and
calculating a current charge rate for each of a plurality of sections on a map based on a charge rate of at least one second battery present in each of the plurality of sections (At least where average charge rates are computed for a given partition area).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA at the time of effective filing to have modified the system of Miller to have positionally associated charge rates for EV batteries and map-based sections having charge rates, as taught by JP-2015163027, in order to provide information for dispatch prioritization, especially where multiple EVs are being serviced in order to optimize MCU routing, MCU capability selection, and rendezvous selection and routing.
Regarding claim 2, the previous combination of Miller/JP-2015163027 discloses the claimed invention except for the average charge rate histories.
Nevertheless, JP-2015163027 further discloses that the current charge rate includes a current average charge rate indicating an average of current charge rates of the second batteries of the at least one electric mobile body present in each of the plurality of sections (At least where the average charge rate by area is calculated and probes of current SOC is calculated), the information processing method further comprising:
acquiring a history of the current average charge rates calculated in past in each of the plurality of sections (At least via the stored probe data related to the average charge rate by area); and
calculating, for each of the plurality of sections, a statistical average charge rate indicating an average of the charge rates per unit time in each of the plurality of sections based on the acquired history of the current average charge rates, wherein determining the insufficient charge includes using the calculated statistical average charge rate as the target charge rate in determination of the insufficient charge section (At least where the average charge rate by area is calculated and probes of current SOC is calculated to establish predictive power demand).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA at the time of effective filing to have modified the system of Miller/JP-2015163027 to have statistical average charge rates associated with sections of a map, as taught by JP-2015163027, in order to provide information for dispatch prioritization, especially where multiple EVs are being serviced in order to optimize MCU routing, MCU capability selection, and rendezvous selection and routing.
Regarding claim 4, the primary reference, Miller, discloses acquiring remaining capacity of the first battery of each of the plurality of battery transport mobile bodies; and extracting, from among the plurality of battery transport mobile bodies, a battery transport mobile body where a power amount necessary for the current charge rate to reach the target charge rate is equal to or less than the remaining capacity as the at least one battery transport mobile body heading to the insufficient charge section (At least via the disclosed rendezvous selection process where the charge monitoring system determines a target charge level for the battery assembly and a given MCU’s ability to rendezvous with the EV).
Claims 14 and 15 are rejected as reciting substantially the same limitations as those found in claim 1, which has been rejected as discussed supra. Claim 15 adds a non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing an information processing program which is disclosed by the primary reference, Miller.
Claims 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. PG Pub. 2020/0317074 to Miller et al. in view of Applicant-admitted prior art, JP-2015163027 and in further view of JP-2012220289.
Regarding claims 12 and 13, the primary reference, Miller, discloses outputting a presentation image including a map, a first icon indicating a current position on the map of the electric mobile body (At least EV current location, 204), and the insufficient charge section and a first icon indicating a position on the map (See at least Fig. 2/3).
However, Miller/JP-2015163027 does not explicitly disclose an icon for the mobile charging unit or base station icon.
Regarding claims 12 and 13, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA at the time of effective filing to have included an icon for the mobile charging unit in Miller since it has been held that mere duplication of parts, in this case a vehicle icon, has been held to be obvious as being within routine skill of an ordinary worker in the art, in this case the mapping arts since a vehicle icon for the EV is already disclosed by Miller.
Regarding claim 13, JP-2012220289 teaches a first icon indicating a position on the map of a charging base for charging a first battery (At least the charging station icon).
It would have been obvious to a PHOSITA at the time of effective filing to have modified Miller to have included an icon for the charging station mobile charging station, as taught by JP-2012220289, in order to provide a more comprehensive view of the lifecycle of the MCU for dispatch and recharge purposes for more efficient planning.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5-11 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.
The specifically recited values, cases, and charge rate details in combination with the base claims and intervening claims from which they depend are not clearly disclosed in the prior art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. PG Pub. 2020/0262305 to CHAKRABORTY et al. discloses a mobile recharging vehicle that has a base station and utilizes a mapping system to recharge multiple EVs.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brodie Follman whose telephone number is (571)270-1169. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-4:30pm EST M-F.
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, Erin Piateski can be reached at (571)270-7429. 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.
/BRODIE J FOLLMAN/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669
Prosecution Insights