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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 09/04/2025 has been entered. New claim 10 was added. Claims 1-10 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of the paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 has been amended to recite "the information includes … weather forecast information inside of the management area and outside of the management area." Claim 1 hgas been further amended to recite "… conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area." The Examiner was unable to find support for the above feature. That is, Examiner was unable to find support in the specification for storing or having such information in two different locations i.e., inside and outside of the management area. Although it is unclear, it may be Applicant's intention to instead refer to information that relates to conditions inside and outside of a management area e.g., see [0012] of the specification.
Claims 8 and 9 correspond to claim 1 and are likewise rejected.
Claims 2-7 and 10 are rejected for failing to cure the deficiencies of their respective parent claims.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 has been amended to recite "the information includes … weather forecast information inside of the management area and outside of the management area." Claim 1 hgas been further amended to recite "… conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area." The above limitations appear to indicate that the claimed information is situated in two locations at once i.e., inside and outside of the management area. Alternatively, Applicant may be attempting to note that the information relates to conditions or situations in those two locations. The language of the claim is thus unclear. For the purpose of examination, Examiner has used the latter of the above two interpretations.
The following terms lack antecedent basis:
Claim 1, "the analyzed result" and "the evaluated result";
Claim 2, "the information including the at least one of …."
Claim 1 recites "the information includes … weather forecast information inside of the management area and the outside of the management area via a network." The phrase "via a network" is unclear i.e., it is unclear what it is modifying, and it does not appear to make sense in the context of the above sentence. For the purpose of examination, Examiner has ignored the phrase, "via a network."
Claim 1 recites the limitation, "the information includes … social environment situation patterns including at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area acquired." The meaning or intended use of the word "acquired" is unclear in the context of this sentence. For example, it is unclear what in the sentence has been acquired. For the purpose of examination, Examiner interprets the limitation as meaning that the social environment situation patterns are acquired.
Claim 10 recites the limitation, "predict that one or both of an amount of demand for the energy and an amount of power generation in the future inside of the management area when at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area is acquired is smaller than one or both of an amount of demand for the energy and an amount of power generation in the future inside of the management area when at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area is not acquired." The scope and meaning of the limitation is unclear, because the language is confusing. For example, the limitation contains the language, "is acquired is smaller," so it is unclear which verb phrase should be used in the sentence. Assuming that the latter very phrase is intended i.e., "is smaller," the limitation then appears to recite, "at least one of conflict information and epidemic information … is smaller than one or both of an amount of demand for the energy and an amount of power generation." However, such a phrase does not make sese, since it compares to entirely different elements. For the purpose of examination, Examiner interprets the above limitation as requiring predicting that one or both of an amount of demand for the energy and an amount of power generation in the future inside of the management area when at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area is acquired." The rest of the claim is unclear and thus has been ignored for the purpose of examination.
Claims 8 and 9 correspond to claim 1 and are rejected for the same reasons.
Claims 2-7 and 10 are rejected for failing to cure the deficiencies of their respective parent claims.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1, 2 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe (US 2019/0369572) in view of Brown (US 2015/0244591) and further in view of Ko (US 2017/0193144).
Watanabe was filed in an IDS dated 12/14/2022.
Regarding claim 1, Watanabe teaches
an energy management system for managing demand and supply of energy inside of a management area on the basis of results of predicting one or both of the demand and the supply of the energy inside of the management area (Fig. 1, [0035-0039], Abstract describes a system including an energy operation apparatus that predicts energy demand in a management area and determines an energy supply plan), the energy management system comprising:
a storage medium storing computer-readable instructions; and
at least one processor connected to the storage medium (Fig. 5, 0050-0053] describes a CPU, memory and program of an energy operation apparatus), wherein the processor executes the computer-readable instructions to:
acquire information, wherein the information includes:
current meteorological situations and predicted future weather conditions inside of the management area and outside of the management area (Fig. 6, [0057-0059, 0065-0066, 0069], a weather data storer obtains weather data; Fig. 1, [0062, 0005, 0035-0038], a first predictor also utilizes weather predictions for a management area, which can include a region with multiple power generators and energy operation apparatuses; see also claims 2 and 4, the system obtains data relating to predicted weather, past and present weather conditions in a management area; note that for an area, a portion of the area can be considered to be the "management area," and other portions are "outside of the management area"),
weather forecast information inside of the management area and outside of the management area via a network (Fig. 6, [0057-0059, 0065-0066, 0069], a weather data storer obtains weather data; Fig. 1, [0062, 0005, 0035-0038], a first predictor also utilizes weather predictions for a management area, which can include a region with multiple power generators and energy operation apparatuses; see also claims 2 and 4, the system obtains data relating to predicted weather, past and present weather conditions in a management area), and
analyze or evaluate demand and supply of energy based on the acquired information, and predict one or both of an amount of demand for the energy and an amount of power generation in the future inside of the management area based on the analyzed result or the evaluated result ([0082, 0133, 0058], the third predictor predicts energy demand in the management area based on weather data and demand data i.e., the amount of energy supplied to or consumed by consumers; [0134, 0122-0123], a planner generates a plan for future energy supply); and
control an energy demand and supply balance inside of the management area on the basis of prediction results ([0122-0125], based on the energy demand prediction, the energy operation apparatus or planner generates an energy supply plan; and controls accordingly power generators or loads in the management area).
However, Watanabe does not expressly disclose the information provided by users of a social networking service (SNS) via a network; the information further includes social environment situation patterns including at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area acquired.
In the same field of endeavor, Brown teaches the information provided by users of a social networking service (SNS) via a network ([0038-0040], a system may also collect social media comments relating to a variety of issues e.g., power and weather issues and other happenstance, from social networks; or example, a social media server may be queried via a network to obtain the user posts; these posts are used to help make predictions regarding future power conditions).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the information provided by users of a social networking service (SNS) via a network as suggested in Brown into Watanabe because Watanabe and Brown pertain to analogous fields of technology. Watanabe relates to a system that predicts future energy demand/supply based on collected data. Brown also pertains to a system that uses a prediction model to predict power issues based on collected data. In Brown, the data can include comments from social networks. It would be desirable to incorporate this feature into Watanabe to allow for a wider variety of data to be used in predictions e.g., see Brown [0038-0040].
However, the combination of Watanabe and Brown does not expressly disclose the information further includes social environment situation patterns including at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area acquired.
In the same field of endeavor, Ko teaches the information further includes social environment situation patterns including at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area acquired ([0004], according to Ko, it is known that man-made threats/conflicts, such as terrorism, riots or crime, can affect power grids/supply; Ko further suggests that systems can be created to analyze the impact of such a threat on power infrastructure; Ko further suggests that to do so, data can be gathered from social media and analyzed; given the above, it would be obvious to modify Watanabe/Brown to collect social media relating to conflicts, to improve predictions of impacts on power supply/demand).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the information further includes social environment situation patterns including at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area acquired as suggested in Ko, into Watanabe and Brown because Watanabe/Brown and Ko pertain to analogous fields of technology. Watanabe/Brown pertains to a system that analyzes relevant social media to make predictions regarding energy supply/demand. For example, Watanabe [0060] describes collecting any observation data that might influence power demand. Similarly, Brown [0039] suggests collecting and analyzing any social media comments related to power and weather-related issues, and other related happenstance. Ko also pertains to collecting social media, and further notes that human conflict e.g., riots, crime, terrorist attacks, also raises power issues i.e., they can affect critical infrastructure and power supply. It would thus be desirable to incorporate the tracking of social media related to human conflict, as taught in Ko, into Watanabe/Brown, to improve the predictions made by the Watanabe/Brown system.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Watanabe, Brown and Ko teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1. The combination of Watanabe, Brown and Ko also teaches
wherein the information including the at least one of the current meteorological situations and the predicted future meteorological situations inside of the management area and outside of the management area and the social environment situation patterns inside of the management area and outside of the management area is information of the social network service (SNS) on the Internet ([0038-0040], to collect weather information, a system may also collect comments made about power and weather issues from social networks).
Regarding claim 8, the claim corresponds to claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 9, the claim corresponds to claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons. The combination of Watanabe, Brown and Ko also teaches a non-transitory computer storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to manage demand and supply of energy inside of a management area on the basis of results of predicting one or both of the demand and the supply of the energy inside of the management area (Watanabe Fig. 5, 0050-0053] describes a CPU, memory and program of an energy operation apparatus).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Watanabe, Brown and Ko teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1. The combination of Watanabe, Brown and Ko also teaches
predict that one or both of an amount of demand for the energy and an amount of power generation in the future inside of the management area when at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area is acquired is smaller than one or both of an amount of demand for the energy and an amount of power generation in the future inside of the management area when at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area is not acquired ([0004], according to Ko, it is known that man-made threats/conflicts, such as terrorism, riots or crime, can affect power grids/supply; Ko further suggests that systems can be created to analyze the impact of such a threat on power infrastructure; Ko further suggests that to do so, data can be gathered from social media and analyzed; given the above, it would be obvious to modify Watanabe/Brown to collect social media relating to conflicts, to improve predictions of impacts on power supply/demand; see also remarks in connection with claim 1, indicating that Watanabe teaches a system for predicting energy demand and supply based on collected data; see also rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), which indicates that various limitations in the claim were unclear and thus ignored for the purpose of examination).
Claims 3, 4, 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe, Brown and Ko, as applied in claim 2, and further in view of Hill (US 5,406,495).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Watanabe, Brown and Ko teaches the invention as claimed in claim 2. The combination of Watanabe, Brown and Ko also teaches apply the information of the SNS to parameters of a system model with respect to simulations of various electrical phenomena of a system using the parameters of the system model of system equipment (as noted above with respect to claim 2, Brown teaches collecting weather data, including social network comments; Watanabe [0082, 0133, 0057-0059], the third predictor predicts or simulates future energy demand based on various parameters e.g., observation data, weather data, demand data etc.).
However, the combination of Watanabe, Brown and Ko does not expressly disclose the system model further using a preset voltage and a preset current of a power system.
In the same field of endeavor, Hill teaches the system model further using a preset voltage and a 5 preset current of a power system (Hill Abstract, col. 1, lines 5-15, it is known to monitor voltage and current substation to more accurately collect power usage data from a power distribution substation).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the system model further using a preset voltage and a 5 preset current of a power system as suggested in Hill into Watanabe, Brown and Ko because Watanabe and Hill pertain to analogous fields of technology. Watanabe pertains to a model/predictor that receives demand data as a parameter to help predict energy demand in the future. As noted in Watanabe [0057-0059], Watanabe contemplates collecting any data relating to power demand and consumption. Hill also pertains to collecting power demand data. In Hill, current and voltage values are obtained at substations. It would be desirable to incorporate this feature into Watanabe to facilitate more accurate data relating to power usage e.g., see Hill Abstract, col. 1, lines 5-15.
Regarding claim 4, the combination of combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill teaches the invention as claimed in claim 3. The combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill also teaches wherein the information of the SNS is acquired and an information sharing and interlinkage process is performed for the system model and a simulation result based on the system model with a system stabilization system (as noted above with respect to claim 2, the system obtains social networking information; Watanabe [0082, 0133, 0057-0059], the third predictor predicts or simulates future energy demand based on various parameters e.g., observation data, weather data, demand data etc.; Fig. 1, [0035-0036, 0057-0059], the system engages in information sharing and interlinkage i.e., it draws data from various sources and involves sending control signals to power generators and loads; Watanabe [0121-0125, 0008], the predictor model is also used with a planner, which which generates and executes a plan for energy supply based on predicted energy demand i.e., it is attempting to improve stability and balance energy supply and demand, by controlling load and power generators.)
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill teaches the invention as claimed in claim 3. The combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill also teaches wherein the information of the SNS is acquired and an information sharing and interlinkage process is performed for the system model and a simulation result based on the system model with a substation control device or a substation automation system linked to the substation control device (as noted above with respect to claim 2, the system obtains social networking information; Watanabe [0082, 0133, 0057-0059], the third predictor predicts or simulates future energy demand based on various parameters e.g., observation data, weather data, demand data etc.; Fig. 1, [0035-0036, 0057-0059], the system engages in information sharing and interlinkage i.e., it draws data from various sources and involves sending control signals to power generators and loads; Watanabe [0173-0174], the system may obtain data measured/monitored at a substation, and use that data for its prediction of energy demand).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill teaches the invention as claimed in claim 3. The combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill also teaches
wherein the information of the SNS is acquired and an information sharing and interlinkage process is performed for the system model and a simulation result based on the system model with a substation equipment monitoring device or a substation equipment monitoring system linked to the substation equipment monitoring device (as noted above with respect to claim 2, the system obtains social networking information; Watanabe [0082, 0133, 0057-0059], the third predictor predicts or simulates future energy demand based on various parameters e.g., observation data, weather data, demand data etc.; Fig. 1, [0035-0036, 0057-0059], the system engages in information sharing and interlinkage i.e., it draws data from various sources and involves sending control signals to power generators and loads; Watanabe [0173-0174], the system may obtain data measured/monitored at a substation, and use that data for its prediction of energy demand).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill, as applied in claim 3, and further in view of Cox (US 2013/0268136).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill teaches the invention as claimed in claim 3. The combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill also teaches wherein the information of the SNS is acquired and an information sharing and interlinkage process is performed for the system model and a simulation result based on the system model (as noted above with respect to claim 2, the system obtains social networking information; Watanabe [0082, 0133, 0057-0059], the third predictor predicts or simulates future energy demand based on various parameters e.g., observation data, weather data, demand data etc.; Fig. 1, [0035-0036, 0057-0059], the system engages in information sharing and interlinkage i.e., it draws data from various sources and involves sending control signals to power generators and loads).
However, the combination of Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill does not expressly disclose the system model with a protective relay device or a system linked to the protective relay device.
In the same field of endeavor, Cox teaches the system model with a protective relay device or a system linked to the protective relay device ([0003-0006], in connection with a prediction of future power demand, it known for a system to control load or shed load by utilizing a relay connected to a device).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have incorporated the system model with a protective relay device or a system linked to the protective relay device as suggested in Cox into Watanabe, Brown, Ko and Hill because Watanabe and Cox pertain to analogous fields of technology. Watanabe teaches predicting power demand and then issuing a plan/instructions to control load based on the prediction e.g., see Watanabe [0123-0124]. Cox also pertains to controlling load based on a demand estimation. In Cox, load may be controlled using relays. It would be desirable to incorporate this feature into Watanabe to help control loads e.g., see Cox [0003-0006].
Response to Arguments
The Examiner acknowledges the Applicant's amendments to claims 1, 9 and 17.
Regarding independent claims 1, 8 and 9, the Applicant alleges that the combination of references does not teach the amended limitation of "acquire information provided by users of a social networking service (SNS) via a network, wherein the information includes: current meteorological situations and predicted future weather conditions inside of the management area and outside of the management area, weather forecast information inside of the management area and outside of the management area via a network, and social environment situation patterns including at least one of conflict information and epidemic information inside of the management area and outside of the management area acquired; analyze or evaluate demand and supply of energy based on the acquired information …" Examiner has therefore rejected claims 1, 8 and 9 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe, Brown and Ko. Applicant's arguments are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection. Applicant further alleges that claims 2-7 and 10 are allowable in view of their dependency on claim 1. Claims 2-7 and 10 remain rejected as being unpatentable over Watanabe, Brown, Ko, Hill and/or Cox.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cao (US 2015/0106360) teaches a system for analyzing social media to identify patterns; it is noted that social media often includes public conflicts e.g., see Cao Abstract, [0051-0052, 0054-0055].
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC YOON whose telephone number is (408)918-7581. The examiner can normally be reached on 9 am to 5 pm ET Monday through Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Scott Baderman, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-3644. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center for authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/ERIC J YOON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2118
Prosecution Insights