DETAILED ACTION
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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
In view of the petition, the prior restriction for requirement have been withdrawn.
In response to the replacement drawings in view the Remarks filed 04/09/2026, the drawing objections have been withdrawn.
In view the Remarks, claims objection have been withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Restriction to one of the following inventions is required under 35 U.S.C. 121:
I. Identification of Inventions
Upon examination of the claims, the following independent and distinct inventions are identified:
Group I – Subcombination A (Power Conversion/Hardware Architecture)
Claims 1 – 7
Directed to:
A power electronic architecture including:
Plurality of arms with submodules
Photovoltaic submodule, energy storage submodule and additional submodule
Modular converters (half-bridge topology)
Generation of grid utility voltage
Additional converter configurations (non-isolated converter, resonant circuit, H-bridge, transformer, etc.,)
Local control via DSPs determining power levels
Group II – Combination (System-Level Integration Control and Power System)
Claims 8 – 15
Directed to:
The same underlying power system, combined with:
Central processor controller
FPGA controller
Distributed DSP control architecture
Modulation indices, command distribution
Includes cybersecurity detection via neural networks (claims 14 – 15)
Group III – Subcombination B (Machine Leraning/Cyber Intrusion Detection)
Claims 16 – 20
Directed to:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium
Training and evaluating models (e.g., NARX neural networks)
Detecting cyber intrusion
Use of datasets, fitness values, training loops
II. Basis for Restriction (Distinctness and Independent)
Group I vs. Group III
These inventions are independent because:
Group I is directed to physical electrical hardware and power conversion topology
Group III is directed to abstracted machine learning model training and cyber intrusion detection
No structural or operational dependency exists between:
Converter topology/inductors/submodules
Model training, fitness evaluation, or dataset processing
One can practice:
Group I without any machine learning
Group III without any specific power system
Group II vs. Group I and III
Group II constitutes a combination invention, but is distinct from each subcombination:
Group II vs. Group I
Group II adds centralized control architecture and FPGA orchestration
Includes system-level coordination nor required in Group I
Further includes cybersecurity neural network detection (claims 14 – 15)
Group II is broader in scope than Group I and not limited to the specific converter implementation of Group I
Group II vs. Group III
Group III is directed to generic ML training framework
Group II applies ML withing a specific power system control environment
Group III can be practiced:
Without any power system
Without FPGA/DSP hierarchy
Serious Search and Examination Burden
Restriction is required because examining all groups together would impose a serious search burden, as the fail into distinct classification areas:
Group I – Power Electronics/Converters (e.g., HO2M, H02J)
Group II – Power system, control systems, cybersecurity (mixed art)
Group III – Machine learning/cybersecurity (e.g., G06N, H04L63)
These require:
Different search strategies
Different prior art databases
Different technical expertise
III. Conclusion
The claims are drawn to three distinct inventions:
Group I (claims 1 – 7); Power conversion hardware (Subcombination A)
Group II (claims 8 – 15); Integrated system with control, cybersecurity (Combination)
Group III (claims 16 – 20); Machine learning cyber intrusion detection (Subcombination B).
IV. Requirement for Election
Applicant is required to elect a single invention for examination:
Election must be made without traverse or with traverse
Applicant must identify the elected group by claim number
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 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattacharya et al., (US 2021/0408937 A1) (hereinafter “Bhattacharya”) in view of Erokhovets (US 11,031,785 B1) (hereinafter “Erokhovets”).
Regarding claim 1, Bhattacharya discloses; an autonomous reconfigurable system, comprising:
a plurality of arms comprising a plurality of submodules connected in series [i.e., each MMC phase comprises upper and lower arms (para 0043) i.e., arm contains…N half-bridge SMs cascaded in series (para 0043) i.e., series connected SMs (see figure 1 and 16)] terminating at a plurality of inductors that form a three-port circuit at a common node [i.e., each arm contains…a series-connected inductor L (para 0043) i.e., arms connect at a common AC node (phase output) (see figures 1 and 16) i.e., interaction of DC, AC, and circulating current paths (para 0044 – 0047)] and that sources a direct current voltage output and an alternating current voltage output [i.e., DC bus voltage Vdc discloses (para 0043) i.e., MMC arms generate an ac output voltage (para 0044)];
a submodule connected in series to the energy storage system submodule and sourcing a third portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output [i.e., modular submodules (SMs) connected in series in each arm (para 0043)];
a plurality of modular converters configured in a half-bridge topology [i.e., each SM includes two switches and capacitor and half-bridge converter (para 0043)]; where a first modular converter directly couples an output of the submodule [i.e., SMs are converter units directly connected in series within arms (see figure 1 and 16), (para 0043)], a second modular converter directly couples an output of the submodule [i.e., SMs are converter units directly connected in series within arms (see figure 1 and 16), (para 0043)]; and where a plurality of first modular converters, a plurality of second modular converters, and a plurality of third modular converters generate a medium grid utility voltage or a high grid utility voltage [i.e., MMC used for MV and HV applications (see abstract, para 0002) i.e., high voltage achieved via large numbers of SMs (pare 0032) i.e., grid-level volage (see figure 21A)].
Bhattacharya does not disclose;
a photovoltaic submodule sourcing a portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output; and an energy storage system submodule connected in series to the photovoltaic submodule and sourcing a second portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output.
However, Erokhovets discloses;
a photovoltaic submodule sourcing a portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output [i.e., photovoltaic energy source integrated into system (col. 3, lines 45 – 60) i.e., PV contributes to system power delivered to grid (col. 5, lines 5 – 20)];
an energy storage system submodule connected in series to the photovoltaic submodule and sourcing a second portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output [i.e., battery/energy storage system connected to power system (col. 4, lines 10 – 25) i.e., storage contributes to output power (col. 5, lines 5 – 20)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya by adapting the teachings of Erokhovets to integration of renewable energy source (PV) and storage into converter-based system.
Regarding claim 8, Bhattacharya discloses; an autonomous reconfigurable system, comprising:
a plurality of arms terminating at a plurality of inductors that form a plurality of three-port circuits that source a direct current voltage output and an alternating current voltage output [i.e., each MMC phase comprises upper and lower arms (para 0043), i.e., each arm contains a series-connected inductor L (para 0043) i.e., arms connect to common AC node (see figure 1 and 16), i.e., AC/DC interaction described (para 0044 – 0047)];
a submodule connected in series to the storage system submodule and sourcing a third portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output [i.e., SMs are modular units connected in series in arms (para 0043)];
a central processor controller that determines a plurality of arm modulation indices and issues a plurality of reference power commands [i.e., MMC control design comprises a central controller (para 0051) i.e., central controller performs main control and modulation functions (para 0051) i.e., provides reference voltage/control signals to arms (para 0049 – 0051)] transmitted to a field programmable gate array controller [i.e., FPGA based implementation (see figure 10) i.e., control executed using FPGA and DSP-based system (para 0033)]; the field programmable gate array controller in direct communication with the central processor disaggregates a plurality of variables monitored from each arm that form the plurality of circuits and issues commands to the submodule [i.e., central controller sends signals to local controllers per arm/set (para 0051) i.e., local controllers monitor SM voltages, perform balancing, and generate switching signals (para 0051)], the storage system, and the submodule through a plurality of digital signal processor controllers in continuity with the plurality of arms [i.e., distributed control architecture independent local controllers for each set/submodule group (para 0051)]; and where each of the submodule and each of the storage system are separately controlled by a dedicated digital signal processor, respectively [i.e., distributed control architecture independent local controllers for each set/submodule group (para 0051)].
Bhattacharya does not disclose;
a photovoltaic submodule sourcing a portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output; and an energy storage system submodule connected in series to the photovoltaic submodule and sourcing a second portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output.
However, Erokhovets discloses;
a photovoltaic submodule sourcing a portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output [i.e., photovoltaic energy source integrated into system (col. 3, lines 45 – 60) i.e., PV contributes to system power delivered to grid (col. 5, lines 5 – 20)];
an energy storage system submodule connected in series to the photovoltaic submodule and sourcing a second portion of the direct current voltage output and the alternating current voltage output [i.e., battery/energy storage system connected to power system (col. 4, lines 10 – 25) i.e., storage contributes to output power (col. 5, lines 5 – 20)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya by adapting the teachings of Erokhovets to integration of renewable energy source (PV) and storage into converter-based system.
Claim(s) 2 – 7, 9 – 11 and 13 - 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bhattacharya in view of Erokhovets as applied to claims 1 and 8 above, and further in view of the prior art of record, Guo et al., (US 2016/0105020 A1) (hereinafter “Guo”).
Regarding claim 2, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 1 [(i.e., see claim 1 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
further comprising a non-isolated converter directly connected to the second modular converter in series.
However, Guo discloses;
a non-isolated converter directly connected to the second modular converter in series [i.e., three-phase MMC topology in which each phase includes two arms, each arm comprising serially connected submodules (para 0008), (para 0010) and (para 0028 – 0033)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 3, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 2 [i.e., (see claim 2 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
However, Guo discloses;
where the non- isolated converter is transformerless and comprises a plurality of silicon carbide metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors connected in series connected in parallel to a capacitor [i.e., an energy storage system including a battery and ultracapacitor-based submodule, both of which contribute to DC/AC converter output (para 0008 – 0010)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 4, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 3 [i.e., (see claim 3 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
where the non- isolated converter is directly connected to a resonant circuit that generates a voltage magnification.
However Guo discloses;
where the non- isolated converter is directly connected to a resonant circuit that generates a voltage magnification [i.e., arms that terminates at buffer inductors interfacing a DC source (battery bus) with an AC utility output (para 0031), (para 0041)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 5, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 1 [i.e., (see claim 1 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
further comprising a multi-state converter comprising a first H-bridge sourcing an isolation transformer, the multi-state converter cascades the first modular converter.
However, Guo discloses;
further comprising a multi-state converter comprising a first H-bridge [i.e., each module comprises a half-bridge with an energy storage capacitor (para 0028 – para 0029)] sourcing an isolation transformer, the multi-state converter cascades the first modular converter [i.e., an autonomous modular multilevel converter (MMC) system capable of reconfiguring submodule operation as conditions change (para 0008 – 0010) and including a two-layer control architecture that independently regulates energy storage and submodule behavior (para 0035 – 0044)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 6, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 5 [i.e., (see claim 5 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
where the isolation transformer includes a secondary that cascades a second H-bridge in a dual active bridge that sources photovoltaic power.
However, Guo discloses;
where the isolation transformer includes a secondary that cascades a second H-bridge [i.e., each module comprises a half-bridge with an energy storage capacitor (para 0028 – para 0029)] in a dual active bridge that sources photovoltaic power [i.e., an autonomous modular multilevel converter (MMC) system capable of reconfiguring submodule operation as conditions change (para 0008 – 0010)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 7, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 1 [i.e., (see claim 1 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
further comprising a plurality of digital signal processors, where each digital signal processor determines a power level generated from the photovoltaic submodule and the energy storage system submodule.
However, Guo discloses;
a plurality of digital signal processors, where each digital signal processor determines a power level generated from the photovoltaic submodule and the energy storage system submodule [i.e., an autonomous modular multilevel converter (MMC) system capable of reconfiguring submodule operation as conditions change (para 0008 – 0010)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 9, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 8 [i.e., (see claim 8 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
where the central processor controller controls the arms output as an aggregate to maintain a grid-source stability without directly controlling or communicating with the photovoltaic submodule, the energy storage system submodule, and the submodule.
However, Guo discloses;
where the central processor controller controls the arms output as an aggregate to maintain a grid-source stability without directly controlling or communicating with the photovoltaic submodule, the energy storage system submodule, and the submodule [i.e., three-phase MMC topology in which each phase includes two arms, each arm comprising serially connected submodules (para 0008), (para 0010) and (para 0028 – 0033)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 10, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 9 [i.e., (see claim 9 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
where the field programmable gate array controller is programmed to balance a plurality of capacitor voltages sourced by each of the photovoltaic submodule, the energy storage system submodule, and the submodule.
However, Guo discloses;
where the field programmable gate array controller is programmed to balance a plurality of capacitor voltages sourced by each of the photovoltaic submodule, the energy storage system submodule, and the submodule [i.e., an energy storage system including a battery and ultracapacitor-based submodule, both of which contribute to DC/AC converter output (para 0008 – 0010)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 11, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 8 [i.e., (see claim 8 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
where the plurality of digital signal processors control a current flow through each inductor that comprise the plurality of inductors.
However, Guo discloses;
where the plurality of digital signal processors control a current flow through each inductor that comprise the plurality of inductors [i.e., an autonomous modular multilevel converter (MMC) system capable of reconfiguring submodule operation as conditions change (para 0008 – 0010) and including a two-layer control architecture that independently regulates energy storage and submodule behavior (para 0035 – 0044)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 13, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 11 [i.e., (see claim 11 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
where a plurality of photovoltaic submodules, a plurality of energy storage system submodules, and a plurality of submodules form the plurality of arms by a series connection of photovoltaic submodules, energy storage system submodules, and submodules.
However, Guo discloses;
where a plurality of photovoltaic submodules, a plurality of energy storage system submodules, and a plurality of submodules form the plurality of arms by a series connection of photovoltaic submodules, energy storage system submodules, and submodules [i.e., an energy storage system including a battery and ultracapacitor-based submodule, both of which contribute to DC/AC converter output (para 0008 – 0010)]
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 14, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 11 [i.e., (see claim 11 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
further comprising a neural network executed by the central processing unit controller that is trained to detect a cybersecurity command threat and a bad data.
However, Guo discloses;
further comprising a neural network executed by the central processing unit controller that is trained to detect a cybersecurity command threat and a bad data [i.e., each module comprises a half-bridge with an energy storage capacitor (para 0028 – para 0029)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Regarding claim 15, Bhattacharya discloses; the autonomous reconfigurable system of claim 14 [i.e., (see claim 14 above)].
Bhattacharya and Erokhovets do not disclose;
where the neural network comprises a plurality of neural networks executing nonlinear autoregressive networks with exogenous inputs models that correlate a plurality of inputs to the arms to a plurality of outputs from a plurality of submodules that predict a plurality of operating states of each of the photovoltaic submodule, the energy storage system submodule, and the submodule that is processed to detect the cybersecurity command threat and the bad data.
However, Guo discloses;
where the neural network comprises a plurality of neural networks executing nonlinear autoregressive networks with exogenous inputs models that correlate a plurality of inputs to the arms to a plurality of outputs from a plurality of submodules that predict a plurality of operating states of each of the photovoltaic submodule [i.e., each module comprises a half-bridge with an energy storage capacitor (para 0028 – para 0029)], the energy storage system submodule, and the submodule that is processed to detect the cybersecurity command threat and the bad data [i.e., an energy storage system including a battery and ultracapacitor-based submodule, both of which contribute to DC/AC converter output (para 0008 – 0010)].
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the teachings of Bhattacharya and Erokhovets by adapting the teachings of Guo to management of energy storage system (See Guo; page 1, para 0001).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to pending claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/SYED A RONI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2432
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