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
Claims 1-7, 11-13, and 15 are amended. Claim 14 is canceled. Claims 1-13 and 15 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/25/2025 was filed before the mailing of this action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e. an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Claims 1-7 recite an apparatus (i.e. machine), claims 8-13 recite a method (i.e. process). Therefore claims 1-13 fall within one of the four statutory categories of invention.
Claim 15 recites a computer readable medium. Regarding claim 15, the specification does not exclude transitory signals. A transitory signal, while physical and real, does not possess concrete structure that would qualify as a device or part under the definition of a machine, is not a tangible article or commodity under the definition of a manufacture, and is not composed of matter such that it would qualify as a composition of matter. As such, a transitory, propagating signal does not fall within any statutory category. Thus, claim 15 is rejected since it is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claims 1 and 8 recites the limitations of: storing a plurality of commissioning groups, each commissioning group comprising information on different settings for configuring at least one of a [charging station], a [charging station management system] or [one or more third party systems] associated with the charging station and a unique list of identifiers; receiving an authorization request from a [charging station], the authorization request comprising a unique identifier of the [charging station] and a unique identifier associated to a user; determining if the identifier of the [charging station] belongs to the unique list of identifiers of any of the plurality of commissioning groups; determining if the identifier associated to the user belongs to the unique list of identifiers of any of the plurality of commissioning groups; determining, based on at least one commissioning group comprising the identifier of the [charging station] or the identifier associated to the user, which settings are to be performed and where for automatic commissioning; and performing commissioning of the [charging station] which sent the authorization request by configuring at least one of the [charging station] which sent the authorization request, the [charging station management system] or the [one or more third party systems] according to the determined settings. The invention and claims are drawn towards commissioning electric vehicle charging stations, and the claims recite limitations that correspond to certain methods of organizing human activity (managing personal interactions, behavior, relationships; commercial interactions; business relations; following rules or instructions) as evidenced by the invention and its objectives being to enable the performance of commissioning charging stations, and the limitations disclosing receiving a request comprising a unique identifier of the [charging station] and a unique identifier associated to a user; determining if the identifier of the [charging station] belongs to the unique list of identifiers of any of the plurality of commissioning groups; determining if the identifier associated to the user belongs to the unique list of identifiers of any of the plurality of commissioning groups; determining, based on at least one commissioning group comprising the identifier of the [charging station] or the identifier associated to the user, which settings are to be performed and where for automatic commissioning; performing commissioning of the [charging station] which sent the authorization request by configuring at least one of the [charging station] which sent the authorization request, the [charging station management system] or the [one or more third party systems] according to the determined settings. Additionally, the claim limitations directly correspond to mental processes (observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion) since the claim limitations describe the observation and evaluation of data, and making a judgement or opinion based on the observed and evaluated data. The claims recite an abstract idea.
Note: the features or elements in brackets in the above section are inserted for reading clarity, but are analyzed as “additional elements” under Step 2A Prong Two and Step 2B below.
The judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application simply because the claims recite the additional elements of: a processor, memory, charging station, charging station management system or third parry systems. The additional elements of the processor, memory, and charging station management system or third parry system are computer components recited at a high-level of generality performing the above-mentioned limitations. The combination of the additional elements are no more than mere instructions to apply the judicial exception using a generic computer. The additional element of the charging station amounts to generally linking the judicial exception to a particular field of use (electric vehicle charging). Accordingly, in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claims are directed to an abstract idea.
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional elements amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer, and generally linking the judicial exception to a particular field of use. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer cannot provide an inventive concept. Thus, when viewed as an ordered combination, nothing in the claims add significantly more (i.e. an inventive concept) to the abstract idea. The claims are not patent eligible.
Dependent claim 4 recites the limitation that the one or more third party systems comprise at least one of a management system of a leasing company or an internet connectivity solution management system. The limitation is further directed to the abstract idea analyzed above. The claim also recites the additional element of the third part system comprising a management system of a leasing company or an internet connectivity solution management system. The additional element(s) amount to “apply it” or merely using a computer as tool to implement the abstract idea. Accordingly, in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Further, when viewed as an ordered combination, nothing in the claim adds significantly more (i.e. an inventive concept) to the abstract idea. The claim is not patent eligible.
Dependent claim 15 recites the limitation of a computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method. The limitation is further directed to the abstract idea analyzed above. The claim also recites the additional element of the computer readable medium and a computer. The additional element(s) amount to “apply it” or merely using a computer as tool to implement the abstract idea. Accordingly, in combination, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. Further, when viewed as an ordered combination, nothing in the claim adds significantly more (i.e. an inventive concept) to the abstract idea. The claim is not patent eligible.
Dependent claims 2, 3, 5-7, and 9-13 recite additional limitations that are further directed to the abstract idea analyzed in the rejected claims above and/or recite additional elements that have been analyzed in the rejected claims above. Thus, claims 2, 3, 5-7, and 9-13 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 5, 8, 11, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Solomon (2012/0173292).
Claim 1: An apparatus for commissioning of charging stations, the apparatus
at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: (Solomon ‘292 ¶0090 software instructions stored in memory embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium; one or more processors coupled to one or more other components, such as one or more storage devices (non-transitory machine-readable storage media))
store a plurality of commissioning groups, each commissioning group comprising information on different settings for configuring at least one of a charging station, a charging station management system or one or more third party systems associated with the charging station and a unique list of identifiers; (Solomon ‘292 ¶0031 reservation data store stores information that defines the charging group reservations; the reservation information stored in the reservation data store includes, for each charging group reservation, one or more of the date and time of the reservation, an identifier of the charging reservation group, an identifier associated with the electric vehicle operator belonging to the reservation, the pricing to apply to the reservation, and whether the reservation includes come-and-go privileges)
receive an authorization request from a charging station, the authorization request comprising a unique identifier of the charging station and a unique identifier associated to a user; determine if the identifier of the charging station belongs to the unique list of identifiers of any of the plurality of commissioning groups; determine if the identifier associated to the user belongs to the unique list of identifiers of any of the plurality of commissioning groups; (Solomon ‘292 ¶0052 receives a request from one of the electric vehicle operators for a charging session to be established to allow that electric vehicle operator to use an available charging port of that charging station, then ¶0056 the server determines whether the electric vehicle operator is currently associated with a valid charging group reservation; the charging session request is transmitted to the server (e.g., by the charging station) and the reservation module determines whether the electric vehicle operator is currently associated with a valid charging group reservation based on an electric vehicle operator identifier included or derived from the charging session request, an identification of the charging station and/or charging port, and the reservation information stored in the reservation data store; based on the charging station identification and/or charging port identification, the reservation module determines the charging reservation group of which the charging port is a member; the reservation module then determines, based on the electric vehicle operator identifier included or derived from the charging session request, whether that electric vehicle operator is currently (e.g., substantially at the time of the request) associated with an outstanding charging group reservation for that charging group)
determine, based on at least one commissioning group comprising the identifier of the charging station or the identifier associated to the user, which settings are to be performed and where for automatic commissioning; and (Solomon ‘292 ¶0031 reservation data store stores information that defines the charging group reservations; the reservation information stored in the reservation data store includes, for each charging group reservation, one or more of the date and time of the reservation, an identifier of the charging reservation group, an identifier associated with the electric vehicle operator belonging to the reservation, the pricing to apply to the reservation, and whether the reservation includes come-and-go privileges; the server transmits reservation information to the appropriate charging stations; reservation information allows the charging stations in the reservation group to, among other things, determine whether to grant a charging session request received from an electric vehicle operator; see also ¶0056)
perform commissioning of the charging station which sent the authorization request by configuring at least one of the charging station which sent the authorization request, the charging station management system or the one or more third party systems according to the determined settings. (Solomon ‘292 ¶0057 the charging station determines whether the electric vehicle operator is currently associated with a valid charging group reservation; ¶0058 if the electric vehicle operator is currently associated with a valid charging group reservation, then flow moves to operation and a charging session is established)
Claim 8: Claim 8 is directed to a method. Claim 8 recite limitations that are parallel in nature as those addressed above for claim 1, which are directed towards an apparatus. Claim 8 is therefore rejected for the same reasons as set forth above for claim 1.
Claim 4: The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more third party systems comprise at least one of a management system of a leasing company or an internet connectivity solution management system. (Solomon ‘292 ¶0020 disclosing the hosts may be an apartment/condo owner (leasing company))
Claim 5: The apparatus of claim 1,
wherein the unique list of identifiers comprises at least one identifier associated with a user and the settings of the respective commissioning group or sub-commissioning group comprise parameters to set at least one user-specific setting at least one of at the charging station, the charging station management system or the one or more third party systems. (Solomon ‘292 ¶0044 the reservation module determines whether the reservation can be fulfilled based on the input received from the electric vehicle operator, the parameters of any charging reservation groups that have been configured that include charging station(s) near the provided location, and the availability of those charging reservation groups for the requested time/date; ¶0041 charging reservation group configuration information may include one or more of the following: the pricing for the charging reservation group, a list of identifiers (e.g., charging station serial numbers) for those charging stations that are part of the charging reservation group, information that indicates how to communicate with the charging stations that are part of the charging reservation group (e.g., the IP addresses of the charging stations), and a list of identifiers that indicate which electric vehicle operators are allowed to use the charging station(s) of the charging reservation group)
Claim 11: Claim 11 is directed to a method. Claim 11 recite limitations that are parallel in nature as those addressed above for claim 5, which are directed towards an apparatus. Claim 11 is therefore rejected for the same reasons as set forth above for claim 5.
Claim 15: A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method of claim 8. (Solomon ‘292 ¶0090 software instructions stored in memory embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium; one or more processors coupled to one or more other components, such as one or more storage devices (non-transitory machine-readable storage media)); implemented using code and data stored and executed on one or more electronic devices (e.g., a charging station, a charging station network server, etc.); electronic devices typically include a set of one or more processors coupled to one or more other components, such as one or more storage devices (non-transitory machine-readable storage media))
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2, 6, 9, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Solomon (2012/0173292) in view of Solomon (2010/0315197).
Claim 2: The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory further comprises instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
store at least one sub-commissioning group, wherein each sub-commissioning group is associated to one commissioning group and comprises further settings for configuring at least one of the charging station, the charging station management system or the one or more third party systems and at least one identifier from the unique list of identifiers of the commissioning group; (Solomon’292 ¶0031 reservation data store stores information that defines the charging group reservations; the reservation information stored in the reservation data store includes, for each charging group reservation, one or more of the date and time of the reservation, an identifier of the charging reservation group, an identifier associated with the electric vehicle operator belonging to the reservation, the pricing to apply to the reservation, and whether the reservation includes come-and-go privileges (sub-group; see also ¶0019); other sub-groups aside from those with come-and-go-privileges include ¶0018 charging reservation group to include one or more electric vehicle charging stations, which typically belong to that host, and their respective charging ports; the charging station host specifies the electric vehicle charging station(s) that are to be part of the charging reservation group and the charging port(s) of those charging station(s) are automatically part of the charging reservation group; another subgroup being the group that has an active reservation (¶0055))
Solomon ‘292 in view of Solomon ‘197 discloses the following limitations:
activate the at least one sub-commissioning group for a predetermined time period after the configuration according to the associated commissioning group has been performed by setting an authorization mode of the charging station which sent the authorization request to public for the predetermined time period;
Solomon ‘292 discloses activating a sub-commission group, but does not explicitly disclose activating the at least one sub-commissioning group for a predetermined time period after the configuration according to the associated commissioning group has been performed by setting an authorization mode of the charging station which sent the authorization request to public for the predetermined time period. Solomon ‘197 suggests or discloses this limitation/concept: (Solomon ‘197 ¶0091 disclosing the charging stations can be configured to operate as a public charging station (available to any subscriber) during certain time periods of the day and operate as a private charging station (available only to certain subscribers) during other time periods of the day; charging stations may be configured as operating in private mode during the day (e.g., during the workday) and public mode during evening and overnight hours, or vice versa; set of restricted lists can identify whether a requesting vehicle operator is authorized to use the charging station during those times). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Solomon ‘197 to include activating the at least one sub-commissioning group for a predetermined time period after the configuration according to the associated commissioning group has been performed by setting an authorization mode of the charging station which sent the authorization request to public for the predetermined time period as taught by Solomon ‘197. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Solomon ‘292 in order to identify whether a vehicle operator is authorized to use the charging station during those times (see ¶0091 of Solomon ‘197).
receive an authorization request within the predetermined time period comprising the identifier of the charging station and another identifier associated to a user; and
Solomon ‘292 discloses receiving an authorization request, but does not explicitly disclose receiving an authorization request within the predetermined time period comprising the identifier of the charging station and another identifier associated to a user. Solomon ‘197 discloses this limitation/concept: (Solomon ‘197 ¶0050 authorization module receives charging session authorization requests and determines whether to authorize the charging session based on the subscriber profiles, which include operator account information (e.g., operator identifiers, account standing, type of account (e.g., privilege of account including any time of day restrictions); ¶0067 the charging session authorization request can include the identifier that was included in the charging session request; charging session authorization request can also include additional information (e.g., date and time of the received charging session request, etc.); ¶0098 determine whether the operator can potentially use the charging station at the time of the request, e.g., assume that the charging station is currently operating in a private mode and only identifiers that belong to certain group(s) are allowed to use the charging station at this time (if otherwise authorized to use the charging station); if the identifier that is included in the charging session request does not belong to those certain group(s), then the request will be rejected). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Solomon ‘197 to include receive an authorization request within the predetermined time period comprising the identifier of the charging station and another identifier associated to a user as taught by Solomon ‘197. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Solomon ‘292 in order to identify whether a vehicle operator is authorized to use the charging station during those times (see ¶0091 of Solomon ‘197).
configure at least one of the charging station which sent the authorization message, the charging station management system or the one or more third party systems according to the settings of the at least one sub-commissioning group.
Solomon ‘292 discloses configuring a charging station, but does not explicitly disclose configuring at least one of the charging station which sent the authorization message, the charging station management system or the one or more third party systems according to the settings of the at least one sub-commissioning group. Solomon ‘197 suggests or discloses this limitation/concept: (Solomon ‘197 if the identifier included in the charging session request belongs to those certain group(s) (i.e., the identifier passes the restricted list authorization procedure), then the authorization procedure continues at operation 11.3 where the charging station generates and transmits a charging session authorization request to the DCU to begin the profile based authorization procedure). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Solomon ‘197 to include configuring at least one of the charging station which sent the authorization message, the charging station management system or the one or more third party systems according to the settings of the at least one sub-commissioning group as taught by Solomon ‘197. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Solomon ‘292 in order to identify whether a vehicle operator is authorized to use the charging station during those times (see ¶0091 of Solomon ‘197).
Claim 9: Claim 9 is directed to a method. Claim 9 recite limitations that are parallel in nature as those addressed above for claim 2, which are directed towards an apparatus. Claim 9 is therefore rejected for the same reasons as set forth above for claim 2.
Claim 6: The apparatus of claim 1,
wherein the unique list of identifiers comprises an identifier of at least one charging station and the settings of the respective commissioning group or sub-commissioning group comprise parameters to at least one of set a maximum current of the charging station, set a heartbeat interval of the charging station, update a data communication plan of an internet connectivity solution at the charging station, set the authorization mode at the charging station to public or set the authorization mode at the charging station to private.
Solomon ‘292 discloses a unique list of identifiers comprises an identifier of at least one charging station and the settings of the respective commissioning group or sub-commissioning group, but does not explicitly disclose that the unique list of identifiers comprises an identifier of at least one charging station and the settings of the respective commissioning group or sub-commissioning group comprise parameters to at least one of set a maximum current of the charging station, set a heartbeat interval of the charging station, update a data communication plan of an internet connectivity solution at the charging station, set the authorization mode at the charging station to public or set the authorization mode at the charging station to private. Solomon ‘197 suggests or discloses this limitation/concept: (Solomon ‘197 ¶0050 authorization module receives charging session authorization requests and determines whether to authorize the charging session based on the subscriber profiles, which include operator account information (e.g., operator identifiers, account standing, type of account (e.g., privilege of account including any time of day restrictions); ¶0067 the charging session authorization request can include the identifier that was included in the charging session request; charging session authorization request can also include additional information (e.g., date and time of the received charging session request, etc.); ¶0095 if the identifier belongs to a group that currently can use the charging station, the charging station 120 grants the request and allows a charging session to be established without requiring additional authorization of the block 1060). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Solomon ‘197 to include that the unique list of identifiers comprises an identifier of at least one charging station and the settings of the respective commissioning group or sub-commissioning group comprise parameters to at least one of set a maximum current of the charging station, set a heartbeat interval of the charging station, update a data communication plan of an internet connectivity solution at the charging station, set the authorization mode at the charging station to public or set the authorization mode at the charging station to private as taught by Solomon ‘197. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to modify Solomon ‘292 in order to identify whether a vehicle operator is authorized to use the charging station during those times (see ¶0091 of Solomon ‘197).
Claim 12: Claim 12 is directed to a method. Claim 12 recite limitations that are parallel in nature as those addressed above for claim 6, which are directed towards an apparatus. Claim 12 is therefore rejected for the same reasons as set forth above for claim 6.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 7, 10, and 13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
No prior art is applied to the following claims:
Claim 3: The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one memory further comprises instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: determine if the charging station which sent the authorization request has been previously configured according to the settings of at least one associated commissioning group; determine if the at least one commissioning group is associated to at least one sub- commissioning group; determine if the at least one sub-commissioning group has been previously activated and that the predetermined time period has elapsed; and cause an authorization process to continue based on the authorization request if the configurations based on at least one of the commissioning group or the sub-commissioning group have been already done.
Claim 7: The apparatus of claims 2, wherein the at least one identifier associated to a user of at least one sub-commissioning group is associated with maintenance personnel and the settings comprise parameters to at least one of set an authorization mode at a charging station to public, set the authorization mode at a charging station to private, set a logging level of a charging station to a debug level for maintenance or set the logging level of a charging station to a normal level; and wherein the at least one memory further comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: receive an authorization request from the charging station after the predetermined time period has elapsed, the authorization request comprising the identifier of the charging station and an identifier associated to a user; determine if the identifier associated with the user is comprised in the sub- commissioning group associated with the maintenance personnel; and configure the charging station which sent the authorization request and the charging station management system according to the settings of the sub-commissioning group.
Claim 10: The method of claim 9, comprising: determining if the charging station which sent the authorization request has been previously configured according to the settings of at least one associated commissioning group; determining if the at least one commissioning group is associated to at least one sub- commissioning group; determining if the at least one sub-commissioning group has been previously activated and that the predetermined time period has elapsed; and causing an authorization process to continue based on the authorization request if the configurations based on at least one of the commissioning group or the sub-commissioning group have been already done.
Claim 13: The method of claims 8, wherein the at least one identifier associated with a user of at least one sub-commissioning group is associated with maintenance personnel and the settings comprise parameters to at least one of set the authorization mode at a charging station to public, to set the authorization mode at a charging station to private, set a logging level of a charging station to a debug level for maintenance or set a logging level of a charging station to a normal level; and the method further comprises receiving an authorization request from the charging station after the predetermined time period has elapsed, the authorization request comprising the identifier of the charging station and an identifier associated to a user; determining if the identifier associated with the user is comprised in the sub- commissioning group associated with the maintenance personnel; and configuring the charging station which sent the authorization request and the charging station management system according to the settings of the sub-commissioning group.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DIONE N SIMPSON whose telephone number is (571)272-5513. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m..
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DIONE N. SIMPSON
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3628
/DIONE N. SIMPSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3628