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 .
Claims 1-3, and 5-8 are pending.
Claim 4 is cancelled.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed November 16th, 2025 has been entered. Claims 1-3, and 5-8 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3, and 5-8 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1, 7, and 8 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claims 1, 7, and 8 recites the limitation "the unit-price set value”. It should read “the predetermined unit-price set value”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TOKUNAGA et al. USPGUB 2016/0189298 (hereinafter “TOKUNAGA”), in view of LI et al. CN 111563764 A (hereinafter “LI”).
Regarding claim 1, TOKUNAGA teaches a power control device that is able to transmit and receive electric power to and from a power market (Paragraph [0018] “As shown in FIG. 1, a power adjustment system 10 described below is configured to make a deal with a trading device 40 about supplying power to a power grid 30 from a power supply apparatus 20 of a customer facility 1 in accordance with a trade term. The trading device 40 is constituted by a web-server managed by an electric utility or a cloud computing system, for example”, and Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, Paragraph [0022], Paragraph [0039], Paragraph [0059] “When receiving an application to trading under a certain trading term from only one power storage apparatus 22, the trading device 40 determines to establish a contract with a customer facility 1 including this power storage apparatus 22. When receiving two or more applications to trading under a trading term, the trading device 40 negotiates a price with two or more trade attenders 17”, Paragraph [0060] “The trade attender 17 receives the determination result of whether or not a contract is established from the trading device 40, in a case where a contract is established, the trade attender 17 instructs the controller 15 to select the first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30. In this case, the person of the customer facility 1 can receive, from the electric utility, a reward for supplying the third energy from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30. In a case where no established contract is received, the trade attender 17 instructs the controller 15 to select the second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric loads 2”, wherein examiner interpreted power adjustment system including controller supplying power from storage apparatus to the power grid, and supplying power to electric load based on a trading contract as power control device able to transmit and receive electric power to and from a power market, wherein examiner interpreted trading between grid and customer facility as the power market) and controls operations of one or more power instruments (Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted controlling the supply of power from power storage apparatus to power grid and/or to electric loads as controlling operations of one or more power instruments, wherein examiner interpreted power storage apparatus as one or more power instruments), the power control device comprising:
a transmitted/received electric power determining unit configured to determine an amount of transmitted/received electric power which is an amount of electric power transmitted to and received from the power market based on a power-market unit price in the power market and information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments (Paragraph [0049] “In this regard, there are provided: the first estimator 11 for estimating energy (first energy) to he generated by the photovoltaic power generation apparatus 211 during an interested period; and the second estimator 12 for estimating energy (second energy) to be consumed by the electric loads 2 of the customer facility 1 during the interested period. The first estimator 11 and the second estimator 12 estimate the respective energy regarding a same interested period”, Paragraph [0052] “the power supply apparatus 20 provided in the customer facility 1 is allowed to cause power to flow back to the power grid 30, and the person of the customer facility 1 can receive from the electric utility a reward for the power flowed back. The price of money paid for the power flowed back may be set to a constant value in some cases, but in a following case, the price of money paid for the power flowed back is determined based on a relation between supply and demand of power”, and Paragraph [0053] “when there is a demand for power, information about a requested energy (hereinafter referred to as “exchanging energy”), a price of unit amount of power (hereinafter referred to as “unit price”), and a period during which power is requested to be supplied (hereinafter referred to as “interested period”) can be obtained from the trading device 4”, and Paragraph [0057] “The determiner 16 compares a possible income (amount of first money) to be obtained when the controller 15 selects the first state for supplying the third energy from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30, with a possible cost (amount of second money) to be paid by the person of the customer facility 1 for receiving the third energy from the power grid 30. When the determiner 16 determines that the amount of the first money is equal to or less than the amount of the second money, the controller 15 selects the second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric loads 2. In short, when the amount of first money expected to be received as a result of selecting the first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 is equal to or less than the amount of the second money needed to be paid as a result of selecting the second state of receiving power from the power grid 30, the controller 15 selects the second state. When the second state is selected, power supplied from the power storage apparatus 22 compensates for at least part of power consumed by the electric loads 2”, wherein examiner interpreted controller selecting first or second state of supplying power from power storage apparatus to the power grid or to electric loads based on the unit price or money to be paid for money for supplying power and cost for receiving power as a transmitted/received electric power determining unit configured to determine an amount of transmitted/received electric power which is an amount of electric power transmitted to and received from the power market based on a power-market unit price in the power market and information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments, and wherein examiner interpreted determiner as transmitted/received electric power determining unit, and wherein examiner interpreted estimating energy to be generated, and estimating energy to be consumed as information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments, both the first and second energies are used to determine the third energy to be supplied to grid or to electric loads); and
an operation instruction determining unit configured to determine an operation instruction for the one or more power instruments based on the determined amount of transmitted/received electric power (Paragraph [0057] “the determiner 16 controls the controller 15 to compensate for the shortfall in power by using the power stored in the power storage apparatus 22 namely, selects the second state”, Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted controller controlling the power supply to power grid or to electric load as an operation instruction determining unit configured to determine an operation instruction for the one or more power instruments based on the determined amount of transmitted/received electric power, wherein examiner interpreted controller as an operation instruction determining unit),
wherein the transmitted/received electric power determining unit compares the power-market unit price with a predetermined unit-price set value related to the power-market unit price and determines the amount of transmitted/received electric power based on the result of comparison (Paragraph [0057], and Paragraph [0080] “With regard to the buyer of power, a value of exchanging energy set in a field of the information storage indicates an amount of energy to be purchased when a determined price is equal to or less than the unit price paired with this exchanging energy. With regard to the seller of power, a value of an exchanging energy set in a field of the information storage indicates an amount of energy to be sold when a determined price is equal to or more than the unit price paired with this exchanging energy”, wherein examiner interpreted purchasing or selling exchanging energy based on price being equal to or less than or equal to or more than unit price as comparing unit price with a predetermined unit-price set value related to the power-market unit price and determines the amount of transmitted/received electric power based on the result of comparison).
TOKUNAGA does not explicitly teach the unit-price set value is set for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period.
However, TOKUNAGA teaches the unit-price set value is set for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period ([Abstract] “obtaining historical real time electric price corresponding to electric time period in set days in the area where the user terminal is located; calculating average price of historical real-time price of each time in the electric time period; predicting the user to pay the price according to the average price, sending the user to pay the price to the user terminal”, wherein examiner interpreted calculating average price of historical real-time price of each time in electric time period as setting unit-price set value for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period).
TOKUNAGA, and LI are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor and contain overlapping structural and functional similarities. They relate to power systems.
Therefore, at the time of effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above control device, as taught by TOKUNAGA, and incorporating average of power prices, as taught by LI.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve [Contents of the Invention] “realizing the user to know the electric price needed to be paid by the shared electric system in the selected time period, so as to guide the user to reasonably adjust the power consumption time, reducing the power grid pressure”, as suggested by LI.
Regarding claim 2, TOKUNAGA, and LI teaches all of the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above.
TOKUNAGA further teaches wherein the information related to the operating situation of the one or more power instruments is a predicted demand value obtained by predicting demand for electric power in the one or more power instruments (Paragraph [0049] “In this regard, there are provided: the first estimator 11 for estimating energy (first energy) to he generated by the photovoltaic power generation apparatus 211 during an interested period; and the second estimator 12 for estimating energy (second energy) to be consumed by the electric loads 2 of the customer facility 1 during the interested period. The first estimator 11 and the second estimator 12 estimate the respective energy regarding a same interested period”, wherein examiner interpreted estimating energy to be consumed as a predicted demand value obtained by predicting demand for electric power in the one or more power instruments).
Regarding claim 3, TOKUNAGA, and LI teaches all of the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above.
TOKUNAGA further teaches wherein the information related to the operating situation of the one or more power instruments is a planned demand value related to an electric power demand plan in the one or more power instruments (Paragraph [0049] “In this regard, there are provided: the first estimator 11 for estimating energy (first energy) to he generated by the photovoltaic power generation apparatus 211 during an interested period; and the second estimator 12 for estimating energy (second energy) to be consumed by the electric loads 2 of the customer facility 1 during the interested period. The first estimator 11 and the second estimator 12 estimate the respective energy regarding a same interested period”, wherein examiner interpreted estimating energy to be consumed during an interested period as planned demand value related to an electric power demand plan in the one or more power instruments).
Regarding claim 5, TOKUNAGA, and LI teaches all of the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above.
TOKUNAGA further teaches wherein the one or more power instruments include a power storage device (Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted power storage apparatus as a power storage device), and
wherein the transmitted/received electric power determining unit determines the amount of transmitted/received electric power additionally based on information related to an amount of electric power charged in the power storage device (Paragraph [0057] “the determiner 16 controls the controller 15 to compensate for the shortfall in power by using the power stored in the power storage apparatus 22 namely, selects the second state”, Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted controller supplying power from power storage device to power grid as transmitted/received electric power determining unit determines the amount of transmitted/received electric power additionally based on information related to an amount of electric power charged in the power storage device, wherein examiner interpreted controller as the transmitted/received electric power determining unit).
Regarding claim 6, TOKUNAGA, and LI teaches all of the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above.
TOKUNAGA teaches further comprising an output unit configured to output the operation instruction determined by the operation instruction determining unit to the one or more power instruments device (Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted controller supplying power from power storage apparatus to power grid as including an output unit configured to output the operation instruction determined by the operation instruction determining unit to the one or more power instruments device).
Regarding claim 7, TOKUNAGA teaches a power control method of enabling transmission and reception of electric power to and from a power market (Paragraph [0018] “As shown in FIG. 1, a power adjustment system 10 described below is configured to make a deal with a trading device 40 about supplying power to a power grid 30 from a power supply apparatus 20 of a customer facility 1 in accordance with a trade term. The trading device 40 is constituted by a web-server managed by an electric utility or a cloud computing system, for example”, and Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, Paragraph [0022], Paragraph [0039], Paragraph [0059] “When receiving an application to trading under a certain trading term from only one power storage apparatus 22, the trading device 40 determines to establish a contract with a customer facility 1 including this power storage apparatus 22. When receiving two or more applications to trading under a trading term, the trading device 40 negotiates a price with two or more trade attenders 17”, Paragraph [0060] “The trade attender 17 receives the determination result of whether or not a contract is established from the trading device 40, in a case where a contract is established, the trade attender 17 instructs the controller 15 to select the first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30. In this case, the person of the customer facility 1 can receive, from the electric utility, a reward for supplying the third energy from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30. In a case where no established contract is received, the trade attender 17 instructs the controller 15 to select the second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric loads 2”, wherein examiner interpreted power adjustment system including controller supplying power from storage apparatus to the power grid, and supplying power to electric load based on a trading contract as power control method of enabling transmission and reception of electric power to and from a power market, wherein examiner interpreted trading between grid and customer facility as the power market) and controlling operations of one or more power instruments (Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted controlling the supply of power from power storage apparatus to power grid and/or to electric loads as controlling operations of one or more power instruments, wherein examiner interpreted power storage apparatus as one or more power instruments), the power control method comprising:
determining an amount of transmitted/received electric power which is an amount of electric power transmitted to and received from the power market based on a power-market unit price in the power market and information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments (Paragraph [0049] “In this regard, there are provided: the first estimator 11 for estimating energy (first energy) to he generated by the photovoltaic power generation apparatus 211 during an interested period; and the second estimator 12 for estimating energy (second energy) to be consumed by the electric loads 2 of the customer facility 1 during the interested period. The first estimator 11 and the second estimator 12 estimate the respective energy regarding a same interested period”, Paragraph [0052] “the power supply apparatus 20 provided in the customer facility 1 is allowed to cause power to flow back to the power grid 30, and the person of the customer facility 1 can receive from the electric utility a reward for the power flowed back. The price of money paid for the power flowed back may be set to a constant value in some cases, but in a following case, the price of money paid for the power flowed back is determined based on a relation between supply and demand of power”, and Paragraph [0053] “when there is a demand for power, information about a requested energy (hereinafter referred to as “exchanging energy”), a price of unit amount of power (hereinafter referred to as “unit price”), and a period during which power is requested to be supplied (hereinafter referred to as “interested period”) can be obtained from the trading device 4”, and Paragraph [0057] “The determiner 16 compares a possible income (amount of first money) to be obtained when the controller 15 selects the first state for supplying the third energy from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30, with a possible cost (amount of second money) to be paid by the person of the customer facility 1 for receiving the third energy from the power grid 30. When the determiner 16 determines that the amount of the first money is equal to or less than the amount of the second money, the controller 15 selects the second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric loads 2. In short, when the amount of first money expected to be received as a result of selecting the first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 is equal to or less than the amount of the second money needed to be paid as a result of selecting the second state of receiving power from the power grid 30, the controller 15 selects the second state. When the second state is selected, power supplied from the power storage apparatus 22 compensates for at least part of power consumed by the electric loads 2”, wherein examiner interpreted controller selecting first or second state of supplying power from power storage apparatus to the power grid or to electric loads based on the unit price or money to be paid for money for supplying power and cost for receiving power as determining an amount of transmitted/received electric power which is an amount of electric power transmitted to and received from the power market based on a power-market unit price in the power market and information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments, and wherein examiner interpreted estimating energy to be generated, and estimating energy to be consumed as information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments, both the first and second energies are used to determine the third energy to be supplied to grid or to electric loads); and
determining an operation instruction for the one or more power instruments based on the determined amount of transmitted/received electric power (Paragraph [0057] “the determiner 16 controls the controller 15 to compensate for the shortfall in power by using the power stored in the power storage apparatus 22 namely, selects the second state”, Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted controller controlling the power supply to power grid or to electric load as determining an operation instruction for the one or more power instruments based on the determined amount of transmitted/received electric power),
wherein in determining the amount of transmitted/received electric power, the power-market unit price is compared with a predetermined unit-price set value related to the power-market unit price and the amount of transmitted/received electric power is determined based on the result of comparison (Paragraph [0057], and Paragraph [0080] “With regard to the buyer of power, a value of exchanging energy set in a field of the information storage indicates an amount of energy to be purchased when a determined price is equal to or less than the unit price paired with this exchanging energy. With regard to the seller of power, a value of an exchanging energy set in a field of the information storage indicates an amount of energy to be sold when a determined price is equal to or more than the unit price paired with this exchanging energy”, wherein examiner interpreted purchasing or selling exchanging energy based on price being equal to or less than or equal to or more than unit price as comparing unit price with a predetermined unit-price set value related to the power-market unit price and determines the amount of transmitted/received electric power based on the result of comparison).
TOKUNAGA does not explicitly teach the unit-price set value is set for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period.
However, TOKUNAGA teaches the unit-price set value is set for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period ([Abstract] “obtaining historical real time electric price corresponding to electric time period in set days in the area where the user terminal is located; calculating average price of historical real-time price of each time in the electric time period; predicting the user to pay the price according to the average price, sending the user to pay the price to the user terminal”, wherein examiner interpreted calculating average price of historical real-time price of each time in electric time period as setting unit-price set value for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period).
TOKUNAGA, and LI are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor and contain overlapping structural and functional similarities. They relate to power systems.
Therefore, at the time of effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above control device, as taught by TOKUNAGA, and incorporating average of power prices, as taught by LI.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve [Contents of the Invention] “realizing the user to know the electric price needed to be paid by the shared electric system in the selected time period, so as to guide the user to reasonably adjust the power consumption time, reducing the power grid pressure”, as suggested by LI.
Regarding claim 8, TOKUNAGA teaches a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a power control program causing a computer (Paragraph [0011] “A computer program according to an aspect o the present invention is, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to function as any of the power adjustment systems. An aspect of the present invention is not limited to the computer program, but may be a computer readable recording medium”) to perform enabling transmission and reception of electric power to and from a power market (Paragraph [0018] “As shown in FIG. 1, a power adjustment system 10 described below is configured to make a deal with a trading device 40 about supplying power to a power grid 30 from a power supply apparatus 20 of a customer facility 1 in accordance with a trade term. The trading device 40 is constituted by a web-server managed by an electric utility or a cloud computing system, for example”, and Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, Paragraph [0022], Paragraph [0039], Paragraph [0059] “When receiving an application to trading under a certain trading term from only one power storage apparatus 22, the trading device 40 determines to establish a contract with a customer facility 1 including this power storage apparatus 22. When receiving two or more applications to trading under a trading term, the trading device 40 negotiates a price with two or more trade attenders 17”, Paragraph [0060] “The trade attender 17 receives the determination result of whether or not a contract is established from the trading device 40, in a case where a contract is established, the trade attender 17 instructs the controller 15 to select the first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30. In this case, the person of the customer facility 1 can receive, from the electric utility, a reward for supplying the third energy from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30. In a case where no established contract is received, the trade attender 17 instructs the controller 15 to select the second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric loads 2”, wherein examiner interpreted power adjustment system including controller supplying power from storage apparatus to the power grid, and supplying power to electric load based on a trading contract as perform enabling transmission and reception of electric power to and from a power market and controlling operations of one or more power instruments, wherein examiner interpreted trading between grid and customer facility as the power market) and controlling operations of one or more power instruments (Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted controlling the supply of power from power storage apparatus to power grid and/or to electric loads as controlling operations of one or more power instruments, wherein examiner interpreted power storage apparatus as one or more power instruments), the power control program causing the computer to perform:
determining an amount of transmitted/received electric power which is an amount of electric power transmitted to and received from the power market based on a power-market unit price in the power market and information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments (Paragraph [0049] “In this regard, there are provided: the first estimator 11 for estimating energy (first energy) to he generated by the photovoltaic power generation apparatus 211 during an interested period; and the second estimator 12 for estimating energy (second energy) to be consumed by the electric loads 2 of the customer facility 1 during the interested period. The first estimator 11 and the second estimator 12 estimate the respective energy regarding a same interested period”, Paragraph [0052] “the power supply apparatus 20 provided in the customer facility 1 is allowed to cause power to flow back to the power grid 30, and the person of the customer facility 1 can receive from the electric utility a reward for the power flowed back. The price of money paid for the power flowed back may be set to a constant value in some cases, but in a following case, the price of money paid for the power flowed back is determined based on a relation between supply and demand of power”, and Paragraph [0053] “when there is a demand for power, information about a requested energy (hereinafter referred to as “exchanging energy”), a price of unit amount of power (hereinafter referred to as “unit price”), and a period during which power is requested to be supplied (hereinafter referred to as “interested period”) can be obtained from the trading device 4”, and Paragraph [0057] “The determiner 16 compares a possible income (amount of first money) to be obtained when the controller 15 selects the first state for supplying the third energy from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30, with a possible cost (amount of second money) to be paid by the person of the customer facility 1 for receiving the third energy from the power grid 30. When the determiner 16 determines that the amount of the first money is equal to or less than the amount of the second money, the controller 15 selects the second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric loads 2. In short, when the amount of first money expected to be received as a result of selecting the first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 is equal to or less than the amount of the second money needed to be paid as a result of selecting the second state of receiving power from the power grid 30, the controller 15 selects the second state. When the second state is selected, power supplied from the power storage apparatus 22 compensates for at least part of power consumed by the electric loads 2”, wherein examiner interpreted controller selecting first or second state of supplying power from power storage apparatus to the power grid or to electric loads based on the unit price or money to be paid for money for supplying power and cost for receiving power as determining an amount of transmitted/received electric power which is an amount of electric power transmitted to and received from the power market based on a power-market unit price in the power market and information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments, and wherein examiner interpreted estimating energy to be generated, and estimating energy to be consumed as information related to an operating situation of the one or more power instruments, both the first and second energies are used to determine the third energy to be supplied to grid or to electric loads); and
determining an operation instruction for the one or more power instruments based on the determined amount of transmitted/received electric power (Paragraph [0057] “the determiner 16 controls the controller 15 to compensate for the shortfall in power by using the power stored in the power storage apparatus 22 namely, selects the second state”, Paragraph [0020] “The controller 15 is configured to select one of a first state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the power grid 30 and a second state of supplying power from the power storage apparatus 22 to the electric load 30”, wherein examiner interpreted controller controlling the power supply to power grid or to electric load as determining an operation instruction for the one or more power instruments based on the determined amount of transmitted/received electric power),
wherein in determining the amount of transmitted/received electric power, the power-market unit price is compared with a predetermined unit-price set value related to the power-market unit price and the amount of transmitted/received electric power is determined based on the result of comparison (Paragraph [0057], and Paragraph [0080] “With regard to the buyer of power, a value of exchanging energy set in a field of the information storage indicates an amount of energy to be purchased when a determined price is equal to or less than the unit price paired with this exchanging energy. With regard to the seller of power, a value of an exchanging energy set in a field of the information storage indicates an amount of energy to be sold when a determined price is equal to or more than the unit price paired with this exchanging energy”, wherein examiner interpreted purchasing or selling exchanging energy based on price being equal to or less than or equal to or more than unit price as comparing unit price with a predetermined unit-price set value related to the power-market unit price and determines the amount of transmitted/received electric power based on the result of comparison).
TOKUNAGA does not explicitly teach the unit-price set value is set for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period.
However, TOKUNAGA teaches the unit-price set value is set for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period ([Abstract] “obtaining historical real time electric price corresponding to electric time period in set days in the area where the user terminal is located; calculating average price of historical real-time price of each time in the electric time period; predicting the user to pay the price according to the average price, sending the user to pay the price to the user terminal”, wherein examiner interpreted calculating average price of historical real-time price of each time in electric time period as setting unit-price set value for each time period based on an average value of the past power-market unit prices for each time period).
TOKUNAGA, and LI are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor and contain overlapping structural and functional similarities. They relate to power systems.
Therefore, at the time of effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above control device, as taught by TOKUNAGA, and incorporating average of power prices, as taught by LI.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve [Contents of the Invention] “realizing the user to know the electric price needed to be paid by the shared electric system in the selected time period, so as to guide the user to reasonably adjust the power consumption time, reducing the power grid pressure”, as suggested by LI.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and on the attached PTO Form 892 but not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
NAKAGAWA et al. [USPGPUB 2023/0273581] teaches a system for performing power control such that a target power set for a group including a plurality of consumers is not exceeded.
TOKUNAGA et al. [USPGPUB 2016/0216722] teaches a power management system including a receiver, an estimator, an administrator and a determiner.
KOUNO et al. [USPGPUB 2023/0369856] teaches a power control system includes an acquisition unit that acquires capacity information on capacity of power in an electric path.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DHRUVKUMAR PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-5814. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 AM to 5:30 AM.
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/D.P./Examiner, Art Unit 2119
/MOHAMMAD ALI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2119