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 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) 1-3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ozawa et al. (2022/0396170) and Johnson et al. (2013/0147272).
Regarding independent claim 1, Ozawa teaches (Fig. 1) a power supply system that supplies AC power from a system power supply (4) to an electrical load of a house (13), the power supply system comprising ([0037], which only has reference numbers 4, 13, 15, 17, and 18):
a vehicle (18) in which a power storage device is mounted ([0036]);
a current circuit breaker (inside 3) that receives AC power to be supplied to the house from the system power supply (4), and interrupts the AC power at least when overcurrent occurs ([0040]; an opening and closing device and a protection relay); and
a control device (2 and 5; [0042]-[0044]) that controls operation of the system, wherein
in response to a request to feed electric power from the vehicle, during power feeding from the system power supply, the control device switches a source of electric power to be supplied to the electrical load, from the system power supply to the vehicle when a power feeding voltage from the vehicle becomes larger than a threshold value ([0042]-[0044]; when the request is made and the vehicle battery is charged enough to fulfill the request).
Ozawa fails to explicitly teach a current circuit breaker inside (3) and a load circuit breaker between a current circuit breaker and the electrical load. However, Ozawa teaches inside 3 there is a “protection relay” and the Examiner takes Official Notice that it is known that inside homes (like 13 in Ozawa) to have load circuit breakers between the AC input and the loads inside the home. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the protection relay inside 3 of Ozawa to be a current circuit breaker and to have a load circuit breaker in the home between the AC input to the home from the microgrid (MG) and the home loads, since they are known in the art and would add another layer of protection for each of the devices to prevent them from malfunctioning due to overcurrent/voltage, etc.
Ozawa also fails to explicitly teach having (first and second) switches at the input and output of each element in the system. Johnson teaches a similar power distribution system (Fig. 1) to that of Ozawa. Johnson teaches having switches (114) between each of the sources and loads and the main distribution bus in the power distribution system ([0028], [0029]) and a control device (108, [0061]) that controls operation of each of the switches. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement a first switch at the output of 3 in Ozawa and a second switch at the output of the charging station 17 in Ozawa (along with switches between other elements in the system and the main distribution bus), and a control device to control them, so that the flow of power in the distribution system can be more easily controlled.
Regarding claim 2, Ozawa teaches in at least one of: a case in which a request to feed electric power from the vehicle is made in accordance with energy management of the house; and a case in which a request to feed electric power from the vehicle is made by a terminal, the control device causes the vehicle to start a power feeding operation. ([0044])
Regarding claim 3, Ozawa and Johnson teach in a case of supplying electric power from the system power supply (4 of Ozawa) to the electrical load, the control device closes the first switch and opens the second switch, and
in a case of feeding electric power from the vehicle (18 of Ozawa) to the electrical load, the control device opens the first switch and closes the second switch. (Based on requests and control of the system as determined in Ozawa; [0044])
Regarding claim 6, Ozawa teaches in a case in which the vehicle and the second switch are connected to each other and a current electricity fee is higher than an electricity fee at a time of power feeding by electric power with which the vehicle is currently charged, the control device opens the first switch and closes the second switch ([0052] discusses making/saving the most money for a user and performing the above function accomplishes that).
Claim(s) 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ozawa et al. (2022/0396170) and Johnson et al. (2013/0147272) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ginsberg-Klemmt et al. (2024/0343145). Ozawa and Johnson teaches the power supply system as described above.
Regarding claim 4, Ozawa also teaches the idea of a solar power generation device (15; even included in the HEMS, 13 [0031]) included in the power supply system. Ozawa and Johnson fail to explicitly teach the use of a power conditioner and feeding the solar power directly to the vehicle. Ginsberg-Klemmt teaches a similar solar power generation device (201; Fig. 6) in a house that includes a power conditioner (“Solar EdgeTM HD Wave Inverter”; [0052]) that receives electric power generated by the solar power generation device, and
the power conditioner supplies AC power to the vehicle when being connected with the vehicle (via EV charger 17 in Ozawa; see claim 1 of Ginsberg, indent starting with “circuitry and wiring…”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement a power conditioner between the solar power generation device and the EV charger in Ozawa to directly provide power to the EV charger from the solar power generation device, since it is known in the art and taught by Ginsberg-Klemmt and it would add a redundant power source to provide power to charge the vehicle in Ozawa’s invention. Also, based on the teachings in Johnson, it would be obvious to have a third switch between the power conditioner and the vehicle to control power flow between the two elements.
Regarding claim 5, the Ozawa/Johnson/Ginsberg-Klemmt combination would teach in a case of feeding electric power (only) from the vehicle, the control device opens the first switch, closes the second switch, and opens the third switch,
in a case of charging the vehicle (via the solar panels and powering the home load via the system power supply), the control device closes the first switch, opens the second switch, and closes the third switch, and
in a case of not feeding electric power from the vehicle and not charging the vehicle (i.e. simply power the home load via the system power supply), the control device closes the first switch, opens the second switch, and opens the third switch.
The above functions would be obvious based on the desired controls of Ozawa (as taught in [0044]) and the switching controls of Johnson ([0061]).
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
7/30/2026
/DANIEL KESSIE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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