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 Status
Claims 1, 5-8, 11-12, 17, and 20 have been amended. Claims 4, 9-10, 15, and 18-19 have been canceled.
Claims 1-3, 5-8, 11-14, 16-17, and 20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 8, filed 06/22/2026, with respect to claims 1-3 and 12-14 rejections under 35 USC 101 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Independent claims 1 and 12 have been amended to incorporate the limitations of claim 4 and 15, respectively, which were not rejected under 35 USC 101. Therefore the 35 USC 101 of claims 1-3 and 12-14 have been withdrawn.
In regards to Applicant’s amendments to claim 8, the 35 USC 112(f) interpretation of claim 8 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-4, 6-10, and 12-19 rejections under 35 USC 102(a)(1) and claims 5, 11 and 20 rejections under 35 USC 103, respectively, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments pertain to newly amended limitations not addressed in the prior Office Action of record. However, the amendments closely recite previously rejected claim 4, wherein Kimura (20200126322, already of record) recites:
“The information also includes information for requesting providing of a photo of the charger in the charging station or information concerning the characteristic of the charger (that is, additional information). The confirmation unit 702 may receive the photo of the charger from the communication apparatus 140” ¶ 99,
“The confirmation unit 702 may display the information for promoting confirmation when the vehicle is under charging” ¶100”,
“it may be estimated that charging is being performed considering that the lid of the charging port provided in the vehicle is open and that a cable is connected to the charging port” ¶ 91
“An information processing server 110 can receive information concerning a vehicle and provide the information of the estimated position of a charging station to the vehicle, as in the first embodiment. The information processing server 110 can also receive the information of the estimated position of a charging station from a certain vehicle and provide the information of the position of the charging station to another vehicle” ¶ 80
Wherein it can be seen that Kimura does disclose of capturing a photo of a charging station for identification purposes based on the charging port being opened. It can also be seen that the captured information (photo) is provided to another vehicle to verify the charging position. Therefore, Kimura does disclose of the claimed invention, and a detailed rejection follows below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-7, 12-14, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kimura (20200126322, already of record).
Regarding claim 1, Kimura teaches a driving information display apparatus comprising (Kimura: Abstract):
a processor configured to perform control to output a guidance screen corresponding to location information of an electric vehicle and driving guidance information (Kimura: “the vehicle 130 can measure the state in the vehicle by various sensors in the vehicle and transmit collected data to an information processing server 110 ... as examples of the information concerning the vehicle, the identification information of the vehicle, and information concerning the position of the vehicle” ¶ 28, “The information processing server 110 provides the estimated position of the charging station to the vehicle 130 or the communication apparatus 140 such that the estimated position of the charging station is reflected on map information” ¶ 29); and
a storage unit configured to store an algorithm run by the processor (Kimura: “The control unit 202 includes a CPU 210 that is a center processing unit, and a RAM 211. The control unit 202 loads a program stored in a storage unit 204 into the RAM 211 and executes it” ¶ 39);
wherein the processor is configured to perform control to, in response that a charging station is included in a destination or passage point of the electric vehicle (Kimura: “the information processing server 110 can also confirm the information of the estimated position of the charging station based on information concerning the charging station transmitted from the vehicle 130 or the communication apparatus 140” ¶ 30):
determine whether a charging station image output condition is satisfied (Kimura: “the communication apparatus 140, for example, answers whether the charging station actually exists at the estimated position of the charging station” ¶ 34), and
output a charging station image related to the arrived charging station in response that the charging station image output condition is satisfied, the charging station image including a charger image such that a location of a charger is shown in the charging station image (Kimura: “In addition, the communication apparatus 140 can transmit, to the information processing server 110, a photo of a charger in the charging station or information concerning the characteristic of the charger (these pieces of information will simply be referred to as additional information). Note that some pieces of additional information can also be transmitted by the vehicle 130” ¶ 34),
wherein the output charging station image is received from a driving information management server and is an image selected from a plurality of images captured by a plurality of electric vehicles(Kimura: “the communication apparatus 140 acquires the information of the position of the charging station from the information processing server 110, and uses the information of the position of the charging station together with the map information used in the communication apparatus 140. The communication apparatus 140 can also display, for example, the display 150 and display information representing the existence of charging stations on the map” ¶ 35, “A communication unit 201 includes a communication circuit configured to communicate with a plurality of vehicles 130 or a plurality of communication apparatuses 140 via the network 111” ¶ 38),
wherein the processor is further configured to:
capture an image including a charger using at least one camera of the electric vehicle in response that a charging port of the electric vehicle is opened at the charging station (Kimura: “The information also includes information for requesting providing of a photo of the charger in the charging station or information concerning the characteristic of the charger (that is, additional information). The confirmation unit 702 may receive the photo of the charger from the communication apparatus 140” ¶ 99, “The confirmation unit 702 may display the information for promoting confirmation when the vehicle is under charging” ¶100”, “it may be estimated that charging is being performed considering that the lid of the charging port provided in the vehicle is open and that a cable is connected to the charging port” ¶ 91, see also ¶ 114), and
transmit the captured image, together with information for identifying the charging station, to the driving information management server so that the captured image is used for selecting a charging station image to be provided to another electric vehicle (Kimura: “information for inquiring whether a charging station exists at the estimated position. The information also includes information for requesting providing of a photo of the charger in the charging station or information concerning the characteristic of the charger (that is, additional information)” ¶ 74, “the information processing server 110 promotes the vehicle 130 or the communication apparatus 140 associated with the vehicle 130 to confirm the estimated position of a charging station, thereby increasing the reliability of the estimated position of the charging station” ¶ 79, “An information processing server 110 can receive information concerning a vehicle and provide the information of the estimated position of a charging station to the vehicle, as in the first embodiment. The information processing server 110 can also receive the information of the estimated position of a charging station from a certain vehicle and provide the information of the position of the charging station to another vehicle” ¶ 80).
Regarding claim 2, Kimura teaches the driving information display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the charging station image output condition is satisfied when a number of times a driver of the electric vehicle has visited the charging station in a past is less than a predetermined reference number (Kimura: “the confirmation unit 214 determines, based on the response to the information for promoting confirmation, whether the existence of a charging station can be confirmed” ¶ 77, “the position of the charging station is stored in a charging station database. At this time, the information of the position of the charging station may be registered only when the received information of the position of the charging station is not included in the charging station database” ¶ 82, Note: Image output condition is satisfied when the charging station has been visited less than a predetermined reference number (less than 1 in this case).).
Regarding claim 3, Kimura teaches the driving information display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the charging station image output condition is satisfied when a time spanning from a point in time that the electric vehicle arrives at the charging station to a point in time that a parking completion signal is received exceeds a predetermined reference time (Kimura: “the estimation unit 213 of the control unit 202 estimates the position of a charging station based on information concerning vehicles received from a plurality of vehicles in accordance with the reception of the information associated with the vehicle or at a predetermined interval ... the estimation unit uses the position information of a vehicle, information concerning the stop time of the vehicle ... if the vehicle is stopping at a certain position for a predetermined time or more, and it is determined that the charging state of the vehicle is “charging in progress”, it is estimated that the vehicle is stopping in a certain place and being charged” ¶ 66).
Regarding claim 6, Kimura teaches the driving information display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to perform control to transmit charging station information including at least one of success or failure of charging, charging speed, and charging time, together with the captured image, to the driving information management server (Kimura: “the confirmation unit 214 transmits information for promoting confirmation to the vehicle 130 or the communication apparatus 140 associated with the vehicle 130 to confirm the existence or position of an estimated charging station ... The information concerning the characteristic of the charger includes information representing a charging method (for example, CHAdemo) supported by the charger, whether quick charging is possible, how many vehicles can be charged simultaneously, and what kind of paying method the charger supports” ¶ 74).
Regarding claim 7, Kimura teaches the driving information display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit information for identifying the charging station to the driving information management server (Kimura: “An information processing server 110 can receive information concerning a vehicle and provide the information of the estimated position of a charging station to the vehicle” ¶ 80); and
receive a charging station image of the charging station from the driving information management server, and output the charging station image (Kimura: “the vehicle information providing unit 312 of the control unit 304 provides the information of the position of the charging station to the information processing server 110 such that the information of the position of the charging station is reflected on the map information. Additionally, in step S806, the control unit 304 displays the information of the position of the charging station on the display unit 308 in accordance with the current position” ¶ 95);
wherein the charging station image is an image which is selected from images, captured and transmitted by the plurality of electric vehicles, by the driving information management server (Kimura: “The information processing server 110 can also receive the information of the estimated position of a charging station from a certain vehicle and provide the information of the position of the charging station to another vehicle” ¶ 80, see also ¶ 99).
Regarding claim 16, Kimura teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium ... (Kimura: “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to the above embodiment” ¶ 169).
In regards to the remainder of claim 16, the claimed limitations are analogous to previously rejected claim 1, and is therefore rejected under the same premise.
In regards to claim(s) 12-14, the claim(s) recite analogous limitations to claim(s) 1-3, and are therefore rejected under the same premise.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kimura in view of Kikuchi et al. (20180248394; hereinafter Kikuchi, already of record).
Regarding claim 5, Kimura fails to teach the driving information display apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to perform control to:
select one camera from a plurality of cameras attached to the electric vehicle based on information related to a direction in which the charging port of the electric vehicle is placed; and
capture the image.
However, in a similar field of endeavor, Kikuchi teaches the driving information display apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to perform control to:
select one camera from a plurality of cameras attached to the electric vehicle based on information related to a direction in which the charging port of the electric vehicle is placed (Kikuchi: “the imaging unit 40 is a camera including a fisheye lens and a wide-angle lens. The imaging unit 40 is provided toward the outside of the vehicle 100. The imaging unit 40 may include a plurality of cameras. In the present embodiment, four cameras are provided in total at the vehicle 100 on front, rear, left, and right sides of the vehicle 100” ¶ 34, “the image recognizer 13 of the charging support device 10 acquires the image captured by the imaging unit 40. Since the imaging unit 40 is provided toward the outside of the vehicle 100, the imaging unit 40 captures a surrounding image of the vehicle 100 ... The overhead view image is an image acquired by viewing the vehicle and the surrounding area of the vehicle from above the vehicle 100 in the direction of the vehicle 100 ... The overhead view image may use the images captured by the imaging units 40 attached to the front and rear sides of the vehicle 100. The reason is that the vehicle 100 is not able to move upwards even though the power transmission device 200 is present in a horizontal direction since the vehicle 100 moves forward or rearwards but does not move in the horizontal direction” ¶ 50); and
capture the image (Kikuchi: “The overhead view image may use the images captured by the imaging units 40 attached to the front and rear sides of the vehicle 100” ¶ 50).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of effective filing and with a reasonable expectation for success, to have modified the imaging system of Kimura so that it also includes the element of selecting a camera, as taught by Kikuchi, in order to improve image selection (Kikuchi: ¶ 31).
Claim(s) 8 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kimura in view of Horvath et al. (20230137676; hereinafter Horvath).
Regarding claim 8, Kimura teaches a driving information management server comprising (Kimura: “The information processing server 110 is formed by one or more server apparatuses” ¶ 30):
a central processing unit (Kimura: “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to the above embodiment stores a program for causing a computer to function as each unit of an information processing server” ¶ 169); and
a memory (Kimura: “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to the above embodiment stores a program for causing a computer to function as each unit of an information processing server” ¶ 169),
wherein the central processing unit is configured to:
set up connections to exchange information with driving information display apparatuses of a plurality of electric vehicles (Kimura: “The information processing server 110 is formed by one or more server apparatuses, acquires information concerning the vehicle transmitted from the vehicle 130 or the communication apparatus 140 via a network 111” ¶ 30);
store information for identifying charging stations, ... and charging station images received from the driving information display apparatuses of the plurality of electric vehicles over the set-up connections, the charging station image including a charger image such that a location of a charger is shown in the charging station image (Kimura: “The communication apparatus 140 provides information to the information processing server 110 to confirm the existence or position of a charging station ... the communication apparatus 140 can transmit, to the information processing server 110, a photo of a charger in the charging station or information concerning the characteristic of the charger” ¶ 34); and
select an image most recently captured in response that charging was successful, based on the stored charging station information from the stored charging station images based on information for identification of a charging station received from the driving information display apparatus of any one of the plurality of electric vehicles, and transmit the selected charging station image to the driving information display apparatus which transmitted the information for identification of the charging station (Kimura: “the communication apparatus 140 acquires the information of the position of the charging station from the information processing server 110, and uses the information of the position of the charging station together with the map information used in the communication apparatus 140. The communication apparatus 140 can also display, for example, the display 150 and display information representing the existence of charging stations on the map” ¶ 35, “includes information for requesting providing of a photo of the charger in the charging station or information concerning the characteristic of the charger (that is, additional information). If a photo of the charger can be obtained, the existence of the charging station can be confirmed” ¶ 74, “The confirmation unit 214 may inquire of the vehicle about whether the vehicle that could estimate the position of the charging station is still under charging or stopping at the same position, and if the vehicle is under charging or stopping at the same position, transmit the information for promoting confirmation” ¶ 75, Note: Wherein the image capture, transmission, and selection occur when the vehicle successfully confirms a charging process).
Although Kimura discloses of identifying and selecting images related to charging stations in use, Kimura fails to explicitly teach charging station information including at least one of success or failure of charging.
In a similar field of endeavor, Horvath teaches charging station information including at least one of success or failure of charging (Horvath: “When the error condition is fulfilled, it is possible that the image data or the processing data determined from the image data, in particular the registration designation, can be transmitted to the device that is external to the charging station and/or be stored in the charging station” ¶ 22).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of effective filing and with a reasonable expectation for success, to have modified the identification system of Kimura so that it also includes the element of success and failure classification, as taught by Horvath, in order to improve information reliability (Horvath: ¶ 7, 22).
In regards to claim(s) 17, the claim(s) recite analogous limitations to claim(s) 8, and are therefore rejected under the same premise.
Claim(s) 11 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kimura in view of Horvath, as applied to claims 8 and 17 above, in further view of Goto (20200267266, already of record).
Regarding claim 11, Kimura in view of Horvath teaches the driving information management server of claim 8, wherein the central processing unit is further configured to analyze the received charging station image and store the charging station image only when the image includes the charging station (Kimura: “the communication apparatus 140 can transmit, to the information processing server 110, a photo of a charger in the charging station or information concerning the characteristic of the charger (these pieces of information will simply be referred to as additional information)” ¶ 34 “the storage unit 204 stores, in a charging station database, additional information and the like concerning a charging station transmitted from the vehicle 130 or the communication apparatus 140” ¶ 41, “the position of the charging station is stored in a charging station database. At this time, the information of the position of the charging station may be registered only when the received information of the position of the charging station is not included in the charging station database” ¶ 82) ...
However, Kimura in view of Horvathfails to teach an image quality of the image is equal to or greater than a reference value.
In a similar field of endeavor, Goto teaches [storing an image] when an image quality of the image is equal to or greater than a reference value (Goto: “The communication parameter correction necessity determination unit 47 sets a reference value to determine whether communication quality is deteriorated 83 for the selected communication quality information” ¶ 152, “after the transmission and reception of the image data through the communication line is completed and the communication parameter storage unit 45 (an example of the second memory) for storing the communication parameter 71” ¶ 161).
As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of effective filing and with a reasonable expectation for success, to have modified the imaging system of Kimura so that it also includes the element of image quality, as taught by Goto, in order to improve image storage (Goto: ¶ 163).
In regards to claim(s) 20, the claim(s) recite analogous limitations to claim(s) 11, and is therefore rejected under the same premise.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Herrero et al. (20240351467) is in the similar field of endeavor as the claimed invention of charging station identification.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/C.P./ Examiner, Art Unit 3663
/ABBY J FLYNN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3663
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