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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant has submitted amendments to the claims on 09/11/2025. Amendments to the claims overcome the objections.
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.
Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gigante et al (WIPO 2019/207611, herein Gigante) in view of Colello et al (US PUB. 20110282807, herein Colello) in further view of Dennis et al (US PUB. 20110273022, herein Dennis).
Regarding claim 1, Gigante teaches An industrial steel plant for treating materials comprising: at least one of either a melting line for melting metal material provided with at least one furnace, or a rolling line provided with one or more user devices and at least one power supply system for supplying electrical energy and comprising a power supply circuit disposed in a site of the plant and configured to feed electrical energy to said user devices, wherein said power supply system (page 5 “refining the molten material to regulate the temperature of the bath and the carbon content of the steel and/or defining a desired composition of the steel by adding chemical components”, page 2 “The melting cycle of an arc furnace normally provides the following operating steps”, page 3 “According to one aspect of the invention, during each step of a melting cycle of said electric furnace, the control and command unit is provided with regulation devices that regulate an electric power frequency of said power voltage and current of the electrodes, independently of said mains frequency, obtaining a regulation, possibly also instantaneous, of the reactance of the electric power apparatus of the electric furnace”) comprises:
Gigante does not teach one or more stations for producing electrical energy from renewable sources which are disposed in different production areas disposed distanced from said site and provided with generating apparatuses configured to receive and transform renewable energy supplied by the renewable sources into electrical energy, a plurality of mobile storage devices , configured to store electrical energy and suitable to be transported, and a plurality of transport means configured to transport said storage devices from said production areas to said site and vice versa, and a central management unit configured to manage and regulate the movement of said plurality of transport means and of the storage devices associated with them as a function of one or more of either the energy demands of the plant , the availability of electrical energy in the production stations , the distance between said production stations and said plant , the recharging speed and the storage capacity of said storage devices, and to regulate the delivery of the energy received from said storage devices along said power supply circuit as a function of the different treatment process steps in said at least one line and wherein said power supply circuit comprises at least one common bus for direct current connection and at least one connection unit arranged to connect the common bus to one or more of said electrical energy storage devices in order to receive the electrical energy necessary to power at least one or more of the melting line, the rolling line and/or the one or more user devices.
Colello teaches one or more stations for producing electrical energy from renewable sources which are disposed in different production areas disposed distanced from said site and provided with generating apparatuses configured to receive and transform the energy supplied by the renewable sources into electrical energy (0083 “FIG. 1 shows one exemplary system 100 for transporting energy from a first location 101 to a second location 103. Energy from a first source 102(1), 102(2) is stored within an energy store 104 at first location 101. For example, first energy source 102 may be any of: a coal/gas/nuclear power station, a wind farm, a solar array, an underwater turbine, a geothermal power generator, and so on. That is, any convenient energy source may be used to supply energy for storage into energy store 104. Energy store 104 includes, for example, a battery, a capacitor, a mechanical energy storage device (e.g., a flywheel or a compressed air storage tank), and/or a thermal energy storage device”, 0084 “Energy store 104 is then transported 108 (shown as energy store 104') to second location 103, where the energy from energy store 104 (shown as energy store 104'') is provided to consumers 106(1) and 106(2)”);
a plurality of mobile storage devices , configured to store electrical energy and suitable to be transported (0018 “mobile energy storage system includes either a truck or trailer chassis and an AC/DC subsystem disposed on the chassis, where the AC/DC subsystem is for interfacing the mobile energy storage system with an external AC system”);
and a plurality of transport means configured to transport said storage devices from said production areas to said site and vice versa (0018 “mobile energy storage system includes either a truck or trailer chassis and an AC/DC subsystem disposed on the chassis, where the AC/DC subsystem is for interfacing the mobile energy storage system with an external AC system”),
and a central management unit configured to manage and regulate the movement of said plurality of transport means and of the storage devices associated with them as a function of one or more of either the energy demands of the plant , the availability of electrical energy in the production stations , the distance between said production stations and said plant , the recharging speed and the storage capacity of said storage devices , and to regulate the delivery of the energy received from said storage devices along said power supply circuit as a function of the different treatment process steps in said at least one line (0091 “An energy movement controller (EMC) 302 implements method 200 to control movement of energy stores 104 to maintain energy supply to customer 106 from energy source 102”, 0191 “FIG. 61 schematically illustrates one energy movement controller (EMC) 6100, which is one embodiment of EMC 302, FIG. 3”, 0095 “energy store 104(3) is then ready for transport (step 210) to consumer 106 at second location 103. EMC 302 determines optimal grouping of energy stores 104 for transport to second location 103 based upon the required time for transporting energy stores 104 to second location 103, and the number of energy stores 104 that are transported together, and the energy requirements and usage of consumer 106. In particular, EMC 302 starts the transport of energy store 104(3) to second location 103 such that delivery of energy to consumer 106 is maintained”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to have modified the steel plant electrical energy usage teachings of Gigante with the teachings of Colello since Colello teaches a means for accounting of efficiency of energy stores to ensure the consumer is never without power (0091).
The cited prior art do not teach and wherein said power supply circuit comprises at least one common bus for direct current connection and at least one connection unit arranged to connect the common bus to one or more of said electrical energy storage devices in order to receive the electrical energy necessary to power at least one or more of the melting line, the rolling line and/or the one or more user devices.
Dennis teaches and wherein said power supply circuit comprises at least one common bus for direct current connection and at least one connection unit arranged to connect the common bus to one or more of said electrical energy storage devices in order to receive the electrical energy necessary to power at least one or more of the melting line, the rolling line and/or the one or more user devices (0020 “a plurality of energy storage devices connected by a common DC bus includes connecting a plurality of energy regulators to the common DC bus. Each energy regulator has a first connection electrically coupled to at least one of the energy storage devices and a second connection electrically coupled to the common DC bus. A signal corresponding to an amplitude of a DC voltage present on the common DC bus”, 0003 “this invention manages energy transfer and power flow among one or more power generating sources, storage devices, loads”, 0056, 0044).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to have modified the steel plant electrical energy usage teachings of Gigante and the teachings of Colello with the teachings of Dennis since Dennis teaches a means for “simplified method of controlling power and energy among the various sources and loads in a power system” (0011).
Claim 9 is rejected using similar reasoning as the rejection of claim 1 due to reciting similar limitations but directed towards a method.
Regarding claim 2, the cited prior art teach The industrial steel plant as in claim 1.
Colello teaches wherein said transport means are transport means on wheels and said storage devices are integrated in the transport means (0085 “Energy store 104 may be transported by any convenient means, such as one or more of road 110(1) (trucks)”).
Regarding claim 4, the cited prior art teach The industrial steel plant as in claim 1.
The cited prior art teach wherein said connection unit is provided with two or more connection devices (Coletto 0166 0167), each suitable to connect with a respective storage device, or with a transport mean associated with a respective storage device, wherein said connection devices are configured to connect said storage devices in parallel to one another (Gigante page 11 “According to a possible embodiment of the invention, the apparatus 10 can be provided with a plurality of power modules 24, connected in parallel to each other, and to the electric network 16 and to the electric furnace 11.”)
Regarding claim 5, the cited prior art teach The industrial steel plant as in claim 1.
The cited prior art teach wherein said common bus is connected to said user devices by means of direct current connection circuits and said power supply system comprises one or more high frequency converters (Gigante page 12 “during the perforation step the power frequency can assume, over time, a plurality of the first values fl which are always higher than the mains frequency “fr”. According to a possible solution, the melting step can provide that the power frequency “fa” can assume a plurality of said second values £2 which are lower than said first values fl. According to possible solutions, the refining step can provide that the power frequency “fa” assumes a plurality of said third values f3 which are lower than said second values £2. In particular it can be provided that, due to the control applied, said first values fl, second values f2 and third values f3 are continuously variable over time, for example by means of feedback controls”), suitable to supply galvanic isolation, positioned between said common bus and said connection circuits (Coletto 0112).
Regarding claim 6, the cited prior art teach The industrial plant as in claim 1.
Gigante teaches wherein said power supply circuit comprises a power supply apparatus for said furnace comprising a plurality of power supply modules each having at least a transformer , a rectifier and a converter (page 3 “the transformation of said mains voltage, current and frequency into alternating base voltage, current and frequency, and wherein said base voltage and current are selectively settable, and said base frequency is substantially equal to said mains frequency; - the rectifying of said base voltage and current by a plurality of rectifiers to obtain a direct voltage and current; - the conversion, by a plurality of convertors, of said direct voltage and current into a power alternating voltage and current selectively settable by means of a control and command unit connected to said convertors”), connected in parallel to each other to said common bus (page 11 “According to a possible embodiment of the invention, the apparatus 10 can be provided with a plurality of power modules 24, connected in parallel to each other, and to the electric network 16 and to the electric furnace 11.”).
Regarding claim 7, the cited prior art teach The industrial plant as in claim 1.
The cited prior art teach wherein said power supply system comprises at least one alternative energy source connected to said power supply circuit (Coletto 0083 “FIG. 1 shows one exemplary system 100 for transporting energy from a first location 101 to a second location 103. Energy from a first source 102(1), 102(2) is stored within an energy store 104 at first location 101. For example, first energy source 102 may be any of: a coal/gas/nuclear power station, a wind farm, a solar array, an underwater turbine, a geothermal power generator, and so on. That is, any convenient energy source may be used to supply energy for storage into energy store 104. Energy store 104 includes, for example, a battery, a capacitor, a mechanical energy storage device (e.g., a flywheel or a compressed air storage tank), and/or a thermal energy storage device”, 0084 “Energy store 104 is then transported 108 (shown as energy store 104') to second location 103, where the energy from energy store 104 (shown as energy store 104'') is provided to consumers 106(1) and 106(2)”) and able to supply power supply energy to the one or more lines for treating materials and/or to the one or more user devices in addition, or as an alternative, to the electrical energy supplied by said storage devices (Gigante page 5 “refining the molten material to regulate the temperature of the bath and the carbon content of the steel and/or defining a desired composition of the steel by adding chemical components”, page 2 “The melting cycle of an arc furnace normally provides the following operating steps”).
Regarding claim 8, the cited prior art teach The industrial plant as in claim 7.
Coletto teaches wherein the plant is a hybrid and comprises a connection to an electricity network and said management unit is configured to manage the supply of electrical energy in said power supply circuit also as a function of the electrical energy supplied by said alternative energy source and said electricity network (0083 “FIG. 1 shows one exemplary system 100 for transporting energy from a first location 101 to a second location 103. Energy from a first source 102(1), 102(2) is stored within an energy store 104 at first location 101. For example, first energy source 102 may be any of: a coal/gas/nuclear power station, a wind farm, a solar array, an underwater turbine, a geothermal power generator, and so on”, 0166 “The external system, for example, is an AC electric power source (e.g., an electric power grid), which provides energy in the form of electric power for storage by system 2700 and/or an AC load powered by energy stored in system 2700. AC/DC subsystem 2704 is operable to convert AC electric power from the external system into direct current ("DC") electric power and provide the DC electric power to a DC bus 2802 for storage in battery subsystem 2708 via DC/DC subsystem 2706.”)
Regarding claim 10, the cited prior art teach The method as in claim 9.
Coletto teaches further providing power to said power supply circuit with the energy supplied by at least one storage device until the amount of charge present therein drops below a determinate threshold level (0097 “sub-controller 304 at second location 103 communicates 312 with energy stores 104(5) and 104(6) to monitor discharge states of energy stores 104(5) and 104(6). Sub-controller 304 may communicate 314 with EMC 302 such that EMC 302 may monitor and predict energy usage by consumer 106 and thus adjust supply rate of energy stores 104 to second location 103”, 0098 “sub-controller 304 determines that energy store 104(6) is empty, sub-controller 304 disconnects (step 218) energy store 104(6), optionally deactivates energy store 104(6), and transports energy store 104(6) back to first location 101”).
Regarding claim 11, the cited prior art teach The method as in claim 9.
Coletto teaches further including simultaneously connecting at least two of said storage devices to the common bus for direct current connection of said power supply circuit and to replace on each occasion one of said storage devices , keeping the other connected, so as to guarantee a continuous power supply of said plant (Coletto 0098 “sub-controller 304 determines that energy store 104(6) is empty, sub-controller 304 disconnects (step 218) energy store 104(6), optionally deactivates energy store 104(6), and transports energy store 104(6) back to first location 101…empty energy stores 104(7) and 104(8) are shown in transit back to first location 101 from second location 103”, 0079 “Specific instances of an item may be referred to by use of a numeral in parentheses (e.g., energy store 104(1)) while numerals without parentheses refer to any such item (e.g., energy stores 104)”, 0084 “Energy store 104 is then transported 108 (shown as energy store 104') to second location 103, where the energy from energy store 104 (shown as energy store 104'') is provided to consumers 106(1) and 106(2). As known in the art, energy may be converted from one form to another. For example, electrical energy may be converted into kinetic energy (e.g., using an electric motor) to pump water, electrical energy may be used to power a compressor to pressurize a gas, electrical energy may be converted into heat, electrical energy may be converted into light, and so on. Thus, energy of energy store 104 may be converted into a form desired by consumer 106”, 0096 “EMC 302 ensures that at least one full energy store 104(5) is connected and activated at second location 103 such that no break in power results from the exhaustion of discharging energy store”) .
Regarding claim 12, the cited prior art teach the method as in claim 9.
Coletto teaches further including monitoring the state of charge of each storage device associated with a corresponding transport mean using a control unit provided on said corresponding transport mean and communicate the data detected to said central management unit ((0097 “sub-controller 304 at second location 103 communicates 312 with energy stores 104(5) and 104(6) to monitor discharge states of energy stores 104(5) and 104(6). Sub-controller 304 may communicate 314 with EMC 302 such that EMC 302 may monitor and predict energy usage by consumer 106 and thus adjust supply rate of energy stores 104 to second location 103”, 0098 “sub-controller 304 determines that energy store 104(6) is empty, sub-controller 304 disconnects (step 218) energy store 104(6), optionally deactivates energy store 104(6), and transports energy store 104(6) back to first location 101”, 0104).
Regarding claim 13, the cited prior art teach The method as in claim 9.
Coletto teaches further including powering said plant partly by means of the electrical energy supplied by said storage devices and partly by means of the electrical energy supplied by an alternative energy source connected to said power supply circuit (0096 “EMC 302 ensures that at least one full energy store 104(5) is connected and activated at second location 103 such that no break in power results from the exhaustion of discharging energy store”, 0132 “both wind energy source 102(1) and photovoltaic energy source 102(2) may be available. Method 1300 of FIG. 13 may be executed to determine an optimum energy source 102 for use in certain embodiments of system 100. Method 1300 is executed, for example, by EMC 302”, 0135).
Regarding claim 14, the cited prior art teach The method as in claim 9.
Coletto teaches further including powering said plant partly by the electrical energy supplied by said storage devices and partly by the electrical energy supplied by an electricity network ' connected to said power supply circuit ((0096 “EMC 302 ensures that at least one full energy store 104(5) is connected and activated at second location 103 such that no break in power results from the exhaustion of discharging energy store”, 0132 “both wind energy source 102(1) and photovoltaic energy source 102(2) may be available. Method 1300 of FIG. 13 may be executed to determine an optimum energy source 102 for use in certain embodiments of system 100. Method 1300 is executed, for example, by EMC 302”, 0135).
Regarding claim 15, the cited prior art teach The method as in claim 14.
Gigante teaches further including introducing into said electricity network the possible residual energy of said storage devices when a scheduled or sudden stoppage of said plant occurs (0166).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 09/11/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Gigante et al (WIPO 2019/207611, herein Gigante) in view of Colello et al (US PUB. 20110282807, herein Colello) in further view of Dennis et al (US PUB. 20110273022, herein Dennis).
Applicant argues on page 7 and 8 that Colello does not regulate the delivery of energy as a function of different treatment process steps in the process line.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Gigante teaches the process line (page 2, 3 and 5). Colello teaches maintaining energy supply to customer from the energy source (0091). The combination of Gigante and Colello teaches a process line in which energy is supplied to customer in accordance to the demands of their process line. In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Applicant then argues that the cited prior art do not teach the amendments to the claims. As a result of further search and consideration, Dennis has been introduced. Dennis teaches energy storage devices connected by a common DC bus which is used to provide power to loads (0020, 0003, 0044).
Therefore, claim 1 and its dependent claims are rejected. Claim 9 is similar to claim 1 and is similarly rejected along with its dependent claims.
Conclusion
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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/TAMEEM D SIDDIQUEE/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2116