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 .
Election/Restrictions
During a telephone conversation with Margaret Welsh on April 16, 2026 a provisional election was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of claims 1-10. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 11-14 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tanaka et al. (JP 2018186607 A).
Regarding independent claims 1, 9, and 10, Tanaka teaches (Fig. 1) an electric-power management administration system and method comprising an electric- power management administration device (AG) adapted to administer charging/discharging of a plurality of charging/discharging systems,
wherein the plurality of charging/discharging systems (customers with batteries; ESS) is each connected to a plurality of electric-power supply systems (Grid (SS) and customers with a generator (PG)) through an electric-power network and is each connected to at least one electric-power demand system (customers, i.e. hotels, universities, etc.), ([0013])
the plurality of charging/discharging systems includes charging/discharging systems having different charging/discharging efficiencies, ([0025]-[0027])
the plurality of electric-power supply systems includes electric-power supply systems having different electric-power generation schemes ([0013]; solar, thermal, hydraulic, etc.), and
the electric-power management administration device sets a charging/discharging plan (generating instruction information DR) for the plurality of charging/discharging systems, based on the charging/discharging efficiencies, and based on priorities for improving electric- power efficiency, which are associated with the electric-power generation schemes ([0017], [0021], [0027]).
Regarding claim 2, Tanaka teaches the electric-power management administration device preferentially charges or discharges electricity into or from a charging/discharging system having a higher charging/discharging efficiency, out of the plurality of charging/discharging systems ([0027], [0035]).
Regarding claim 3, Tanaka teaches the plurality of charging/discharging systems includes a first charging/discharging system, and a second charging/discharging system having a lower charging/discharging efficiency than that of the first charging/discharging system ([0025]-[0027]),
the plurality of electric-power supply systems includes a first electric-power supply system, and a second electric-power supply system having a different electric- power generation scheme from that of the first electric-power supply system ([0013]; solar thermal, hydraulic, etc.),
the electric-power generation scheme of the first electric-power supply system has a higher priority than that of the electric-power generation scheme of the second electric-power supply system (based on EI information; [0017], [0021]), and
when a predetermined electric energy from the first electric-power supply system is charged, the electric-power management administration device charges an electric energy into an empty region of the first charging/discharging system, and charges a surplus electric energy which cannot be charged into the empty region, into the second charging/discharging system (similar to [0029] described for discharging; [0037]).
Regarding claim 5, Tanaka teaches the electric-power management administration device charges electric power with a higher priority, out of electric power supplied from the plurality of electric-power supply systems, into a charging/discharging system with a higher charging/discharging efficiency, out of the plurality of charging/discharging systems ([0021], [0035]).
Regarding claim 7, Tanaka teaches the electric-power management administration device calculates respective amounts of accumulated electricity corresponding to the electric-power generation schemes, out of first amounts of accumulated electricity remaining in the respective charging/discharging systems in a case of performing an electric-power loss reduction prioritizing scheme (Tanaka always performs this scheme) for preferentially charging or discharging electricity into or from a charging/discharging system with a higher charging/discharging efficiency ([0017], [0021]; the AG gathers and aggregates information such as accumulated electricity in charging/discharging systems and from which electric-power supply systems power is supplied),
the electric-power management administration device calculates respective amounts of accumulated electricity corresponding to the electric-power generation schemes, out of second amounts of accumulated electricity remaining in the respective charging/discharging systems in a case of performing an electric-power type prioritizing scheme (Tanaka always performs this scheme) for charging electric power with a higher priority, out of electric power supplied from the plurality of electric-power supply systems, into a charging/discharging system with a higher charging/discharging efficiency, out of the plurality of charging/discharging systems ([0017], [0021]), and
the electric-power management administration device allocates the second amount of accumulated electricity as an amount of accumulated electricity corresponding to the electric-power generation scheme with a higher priority, and allocates a value obtained by subtracting a sum of the allocated second amounts of accumulated electricity from a total sum of the first amounts of accumulated electricity, as an amount of accumulated electricity corresponding to the electric-power generation scheme with a lower priority, as a breakdown of the amounts of accumulated electricity in the plurality of charging/discharging systems ([0017], [0021]).
The Examiner would like to point out this entire claim 7 is merely thinking and making calculations. There are no functions being performed just an analysis of data and breaking down the amounts of energy to/from which element. Tanaka teaches sensors which sense all of this data and determine how much and where the power is being transmitted to and from.
Regarding claim 8, Tanaka teaches the electric-power management administration device calculates respective charging/discharging efficiencies of the plurality of charging/discharging systems in a first predetermined time period ([0017], receives the information regarding efficiencies), and the electric-power management administration device performs electric-power management administration, based on the charging/discharging efficiencies, in a second predetermined time period after the first predetermined time period ([0021], performs management administration based on the received efficiencies).
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) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka et al. (JP 2018186607 A). Tanaka teaches the electric-power management administration system as described above and particularly claim 3.
Tanaka also teaches the idea using the highest priority (i.e. most efficient, less power losses, lowest cost) power supply system and charging/discharging system first at all times before using a lower priority (i.e. less efficient, more power losses, higher cost) power supply system and charging/discharging system ([0027], [0035], [0037]). Tanaka fails to explicitly teach the last indent of claim 4, but based on the general teachings in Tanaka as described above with regards to minimizing power losses, costs and making the operation more efficient, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to operate Tanaka’s invention in the claimed manner since doing so would allow the system to operate to minimize power losses, costs, and increase efficiency, as generally described and desired to operate in Tanaka.
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka et al. (JP 2018186607 A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sisk (2014/0200756). Tanaka teaches the electric-power management administration system as described above and particularly claim 3. Tanaka fails to explicitly teach the last indent of claim 6.
Sisk teaches a similar electric-power management administration system (Fig. 6) to that of Tanaka, including an electric-power supply system (314), plural charging/discharging systems (302, 304), and an electric-power demand system (310, 314). Sisk teaches when a predetermined electric energy from an electric-power supply system is charged into the first charging/discharging system (via regenerative power event), the electric-power management administration device causes the first charging/discharging system (304) to discharge electricity to the second charging/discharging system (302), so as to provide an empty region corresponding to the predetermined electric energy (amount of regenerative energy) in the first charging/discharging system ([0016], [0017], [0068]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement Sisk’s method of operation, as described above, into Tanaka’s invention to optimize the energy stored in the charging/discharging systems and to help the system operate as efficiently and beneficially as possible without losing generated energy due to the charging/discharging systems not having a large enough empty region to receive the generated energy.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DRU M PARRIES whose telephone number is (571)272-8542. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday -Thursday from 9:00am to 6:00pm. The examiner can also be reached on alternate Fridays.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Rexford Barnie, can be reached on 571-272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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DMP
5/27/2026
/DANIEL KESSIE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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