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 Office Action is in response to the Applicants’ filing on 05/08/02026. Claims 1-6 were previously pending, of which claims 1-6 have been amended, no claims have been cancelled, and claim 7 has been newly added. Accordingly, claims 1-7 are currently pending and are being examined below.
Response to Arguments
With respect to Applicant's remarks, see pages 6-14, filed 05/08/2026; Applicant’s “Amendment and Remarks” have been fully considered. Applicant’s remarks will be addressed in sequential order as they were presented.
With respect to the claim interpretation under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f), the amendment renders this interpretation moot, the amended claims are no longer interpreted under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f).
With respect to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102, the argument has been fully considered and is persuasive. The argument against Tauchi disclosing the storage of the efficiency information each time non-contact power transmission is executed appears to be accurate. Therefore, the previous rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 102/103 are withdrawn. However, further search and consideration found Alves et al. taught the missing limitations and the limitations of new claim 7. Therefore, the claims are newly rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102/103, as presented below.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Alves et al. (US 20190210480 A1), hereinafter Alves.
With respect to claims 1 and 6, Alves discloses a parking control device for a vehicle capable of non-contact power transmission in which power is transmitted in a non-contact manner between a first coil disposed in a parking space and a second coil provided in the vehicle, (see at least [0021] “vehicle charging… system 10 may include wireless charging equipment such as wireless power transmitter 32 at parking space 14… Sensors and alignment aids 30 may be used… helps vehicle 12 park in parking space 14 so that wireless power receiver 24 (e.g., coil(s) 26) is well aligned with wireless power transmitter 32 (e.g., coil(s) 34).”)
the parking control device comprising: a parking control unit configured to execute parking control for automatically parking the vehicle in a target parking position where the first coil and the second coil face each other in the parking space; (see at least [0025] “vehicle 12 uses control and communications circuitry 18 to control the operation of vehicle steering and propulsion system 22 so that vehicle 12 can be parked in various locations within parking space 14… may be autonomously maneuvered”)
and a result detection unit configured to detect transmission result information of the non-contact power transmission executed at the target parking position, (see at least [0031] “The information that is gathered may… information on wireless power transfer efficiency. Using this information, which may sometimes be referred to as vehicle-to-wireless-power-transmitter alignment information, vehicle 12 can correlate measured variations in wireless power transfer efficiency with sensor measurements indicative of the relative position between receiver 24 and transmitter 32.”)
wherein the parking control unit is configured to store, in a storage unit, parking position information of the vehicle during execution of the non-contact power transmission in association with the transmission result information each time the non-contact power transmission is executed in the parking space, (see at least [0035] “circuitry 18 in vehicle 12 is used in processing sensor information and wireless power transfer efficiency information to update historical information related to vehicle alignment and wireless power transfer efficiency measurements” [0048] “This history (sometimes referred to as historical vehicle-to-wireless-power-transmitter alignment information) may include, for each parking event, a record of wireless power transfer efficiency data and corresponding sensor data.”)
and offset the target parking position of the parking control executed in the parking space based on past parking position information and the transmission result information stored in the storage unit. (see at least [0031] “vehicle 12 can gather wireless power transfer performance information from system 10 over a period of time using vehicle parking positions that are intentionally each offset with respect to a nominally optimal parking position.” [0061] “historical information can be used by vehicle 12 in determining an optimum position for vehicle 12 relative to transmitter 32 in a subsequent parking event for parking space 14.” )
With respect to claim 2, Alves discloses the transmission result information includes at least one of a charging output and a charging efficiency, or at least one of a power feeding output and a power feeding efficiency, (see at least [0005] “The control circuitry may also gather information on wireless power transfer efficiency. Historical… information may be updated based on the sensor measurements and corresponding wireless power transfer efficiency measurements.” [0021] “wireless power transfer efficiency (the efficiency with which wireless power is transmitted to vehicle 12 and received by vehicle 12)”)
and the parking control unit is configured to offset the target parking position of the parking control executed in the parking space to a position where at least one of the charging output and the charging efficiency, or at least one of the power feeding output and the power feeding efficiency is optimal. (see at least [0031] “vehicle 12 can gather wireless power transfer performance information from system 10 over a period of time using vehicle parking positions that are intentionally each offset with respect to a nominally optimal parking position.” [0061] “historical information can be used by vehicle 12 in determining an optimum position for vehicle 12 relative to transmitter 32 in a subsequent parking event for parking space 14.”)
With respect to claim 3, Alves discloses the parking control unit is configured to offset the target parking position of the parking control executed in the parking space by a predetermined distance each time the non-contact power transmission is executed in the parking space, and store, in the storage unit, the parking position information in association with the transmission result information during execution of the non-contact power transmission, (see at least [0047] “Each trial location may be intentionally misaligned (intentionally offset) with respect to the nominal optimal location… may involve numerous individual parking events.” [0056] “vehicle 12 can park in positions where receiver 24 is intentionally misaligned… relative to nominal optimal position NP (e.g., by distances −D, +D, −2D, +2D, etc.). The value of intentional misalignment step size D may be 1-5 cm, 1-50 cm, 0.5-10 cm, more than 0.4 cm, more than 2 cm, more than 5 cm, less than 100 cm, less than 10 cm, or other suitable size”)
and search for an optimal position for the non-contact power transmission in the parking space based on the parking position information and the transmission result information stored in the storage unit. (see at least [0048] “These measurements of relative position between vehicle 12 and transmitter 32 may be correlated with contemporaneous wireless power transfer efficiency measurements and used in maintaining an accurate history… By processing this data, the optimum location (as determined by sensor measurements) for parking vehicle 12 in space 14 can be identified.”)
With respect to claim 5, Alves discloses the parking control unit is configured to simultaneously offset the target parking position in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and search for a position in the first direction and a position in the second direction of the optimal position. (see at least [0056] “vehicle 12 can park in positions where receiver 24 is intentionally misaligned… relative to nominal optimal position NP… Positions 24′ may be misaligned in the X dimension, Y dimension, and/or both the X and Y dimensions with respect to nominal location NP.”)
With respect to claim 7, Alves discloses each time the non-contact power transmission is executed in the parking space, the offset of the target parking position of the parking control is to be executed next time the parking control is initiated in the parking space based on the past parking position information and the transmission result information stored in the memory. (see at least [0047-0048] “Each trial location may be intentionally misaligned (intentionally offset) with respect to the nominal optimal location… and may involve numerous individual parking events… wireless power transfer efficiency measurements and used in maintaining an accurate history… may include, for each parking event, a record of wireless power transfer efficiency data and corresponding sensor data.” [0061] “historical information can be used by vehicle 12 in determining an optimum position for vehicle 12 relative to transmitter 32 in a subsequent parking event for parking space 14.”)
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Alves as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Saita (US 2018/0287416 A1), hereinafter Saita.
With respect to claim 4, Alves discloses the parking control unit is configured to offset the target parking position in a first direction and search for a position in the first direction of the optimal position, (see at least [0053] “During a given parking event, vehicle 12 may move only in the forward (+Y) direction until reaching a desired position within parking space 14 or may move forward (past the peak wireless power efficiency location) and then backward (e.g., to the peak wireless power efficiency location).”)
Alves discloses the use of an offset using a predetermined distance in subsequent parking, but does not explicitly disclose offsetting in a perpendicular direction following a first direction offset.
However, Saita teaches after the position in the first direction of the optimal position is searched and set, offset the target parking position in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and search for a position in the second direction of the optimal position. (see at least [0100] “positioning is completed when the vehicle 20 travels straight backward along the x-axis and the distance x becomes x=0.” Note: After adjusting the y-position to y=0, the vehicle moves until the x-position is also 0.)
As both are in the 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, to modify the intentional misalignment in each direction of Alves to include the directional adjustment order disclosed in Saita, with reasonable expectation of success. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure the deviation in the x-axis direction is minimal to start due to x-position deviation having a greater influence on voltage value, see Saita [0109-0110].
Conclusion
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/S.M.O./Examiner, Art Unit 3669
/Erin M Piateski/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3669
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