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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed on 1/12/2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendments have fixed the deficiencies set forth in the previous Office Action hence the respective rejections/objections have been withdrawn, except for those rejections/objections if still maintained or newly added in this Office Action.
Independent claims 1, 8 and 16 have been amended to include new limitation which has not been sufficiently disclosed in the original disclosure. Amendments after filing can not add new matter, so the amended claims are rejected (see 112(a) rejections for details)
Response to Arguments
Regarding Applicant’s arguments about the rejections for claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C § 102/103, the arguments have been fully considered but are deemed moot, in view of new grounds of rejections necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(a)
The following is a quotation of the first 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 1-20 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.
Independent claims 1, 8 and 16 have been amended to include new limitation “negotiate … inter-DER energy transfers, which are energy transfers between the plurality of respective constituent DER systems within a second DER group different from the first DER group of the plurality of DER groups”. This directs to new matter which has not been sufficiently disclosed in the original filing. According to Applicant’s original disclosure in specification paragraph [0023]: “negotiate energy transfer amongst DER systems within DER groups (intra-DER transfers) or between DER groups (inter-DER transfers)”, the “inter-DER” energy transfers should happen between different DER groups, instead of within a same/second DER group. Therefore, the new limitation directs to new matter, and is rejected and should be deleted. Other dependent claims are also rejected for the same reason since they have inherited the same deficiency.
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 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 CHARLES CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7192. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8-5 EST.
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/CHARLES CAI/
Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2115