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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Kejha (US 20050211480)
Kejha discloses
25. An energy supply station for supplying consumers with electrical energy comprising:
storage means for storing electrical energy comprising two or more storage units, wherein at least two of the storage units (i.e. batteries 96, 97, ultra-capacitors 93; Fig. 12) are differently configured storage units having different storage technologies one from another (par. 31, 135);
at least one consumer connection, each consumer connection for charging and/or supplying a corresponding connected consumer with power (see motors 83, 84, controller 144; Fig. 12, 25, par. 142);
at least one supply connection, each supply connection for connecting to a corresponding connected energy supply source and for feeding electrical energy (Figs. 15, 25, 27); and
a power and/or energy control device (electronic controller; par. 120) for controlling one or more of the storing, charging, discharging, supplying, and feeding of the electrical energy;
wherein: the power and/or energy control device is configured to control the differently configured storage units individually, in dependence on one or more of the connected consumers and/or on one or more of the connected energy supply sources (control in Kejha is considered in dependence of loads as motors in Kejha, which are locally connected to the energy sources for energy consumption);
two of the differently configured storage units comprise a closed power storage unit with a first level of power density and a closed energy storage unit with a first level of energy density (the batteries and ultracapacitors are considered closed units each having a respective energy density); and the closed storage units operate as closed systems; par. 150).
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-15, 18-20, 22-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ilinca (US 20150318706) in view of Kejha (US 20050211480)
Ilinca discloses
1. An energy supply station (Figs. 1, par. 23) for supplying consumers with electrical energy comprising:
storage means for storing electrical energy comprising two or more storage units (batteries 26),
wherein at least a first of the two or more storage units comprises a capacitor for covering power-peaks
(Ilinca discloses that “any other turbine or non-solar electrical source which could be linked to the main central controller”; Ilinca, par. 3;
Ilinca is silent to a capacitor for covering power-peaks;
Kejha discloses an energy supply station in the form of a vehicle and “at least one battery may be replaced or supplemented by an ultracapacitor … The hybrid should be also more electric motor than IC engine powered, and it should employ lightweight lithium-ion-polymer batteries with ultra-capacitors in parallel, to protect the batteries from high surge loads … at least one battery or all batteries can be also replaced by a capacitor(s) or ultracapacitor(s) 93A and 93B, either in the fuel cell vehicles or in the IC hydrogen electric hybrid vehicles. This substantially extends the cycle life of the batteries”; par. 135, 157; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Kejha to utilize ultracapacitors as additional electrical energy supply and also to protect batteries from high surge loads), and
at least a second of the two or more storage units comprises a battery (26) for a first-term storage of a first amount of energy, at least the first and second storage units (ultra-capacitor & battery) being differently configured storage units having different storage technologies one from another;
at least one consumer connection, each consumer connection for charging and/or supplying a corresponding connected consumer with power;
at least one supply connection, each supply connection for connecting to a corresponding connected energy supply source and for feeding electrical energy (Ilinca, par. 34-35: generators and solar panels to charge batteries 26; Kejha, claim 7-8: “at least one electricity generating fuel cell for charging said ultracapacitor”);
and a power and/or energy control device (40) for controlling one or more of the storing, charging, discharging, supplying, and feeding of the electrical energy; wherein the power and/or energy control device (40) is configured to control the differently configured storage units individually, in dependence on one or more of the connected consumers and/or on one or more of the connected energy supply sources (Fig. 1, par. 36-37, 48-49: variable power from sources are controlled to meet variable demand of the load).
2.1, wherein: two of the differently configured storage units comprise a closed power storage unit with a first level of power density and a closed energy storage unit with a first level of energy density; and the closed storage units operate as closed systems (the batteries and ultracapacitors are considered as closed units/systems each having a respective energy density).
3.1, wherein two of the differently configured storage units comprise a first level-charge and/or first level-discharge storage unit for a first level of storage and/or discharge of current and a first-term storage unit for a first-term storage of a first amount of energy (Kejha, par. 31: ultracapacitors can replace or supplement batteries, thus, they inherently have terms, charge levels, discharge levels).
5.1 further comprising power electronics comprising current controllers in the form of DC/DC and DC/AC controllers provided between two of the storage units and one or more of the connected consumers and/or one or more of the supply connections (Ilinca, Fig. 1, par. 36)
6.1, wherein two of the differently configured storage units are each associated with a bidirectionally configured DC/DC controller for controlling the feeding and discharging current (Ilinca, par. 35-36).
7.1, wherein at least one of the supply connections is associated with a DC/DC controller for controlling current flow at the supply connection to which an energy supply source comprising a hydrogen/fuel cell is connected (Ilinca, par. 37; Kejha, claims 7-8).
8.1, wherein a plurality of supply connections are provided to which differently configured connected energy supply sources are connected (Ilinca, Fig. 1).
9.1 further comprising at least one energy supply source comprising a hydrogen/fuel cell 46 connected to at least one of the supply connections (Ilinca, Fig. 1).
10.1 further comprising at least one supply network connected to at least one of the supply connections (Ilinca, Fig. 1: supply sources are connected together forming a network).
11.10, wherein each connected supply connection is further connectable to at least one of the connected consumers past the storage means (Ilinca, Fig. 1).
12.1, wherein the power and/or energy control device comprises energy demand determining means for determining the energy demand of the connected consumers (Ilinca, par. 32, 48-51: power supplies are managed according to the load demand and their respective importance values; consumers are considered as different loads).
13.12, wherein the energy demand determining means is configured; to individually determine the energy demand of a plurality of connected consumers; and to control the application of electrical power and/or electrical energy to the plurality of connected consumers in dependence on the individually determined energy demand (Ilinca, par. 32, 48-51).
14.1 further comprising a communication device for communicating with the connected consumers; wherein the energy demand determining means is connected to the communication device and is further configured to determine the energy demand of the connected consumers based on data received from the connected consumers via the communication device (Ilinca, Fig. 1, par. 20, 48-51: demand/consumer load values are communicated and stored in memory).
15.14, wherein the communication device is further configured to query operating data of the connected consumers and to provide the data to the energy demand determination means, which determine the energy demand of the connected consumers, at least in part, on the basis of the received operating data (Ilinca, Fig. 1, par. 20, 48-51: demand/consumer load values are communicated and stored in memory to be queried).
18.1, wherein the power and/or energy control device comprises energy supply source identification means for identifying the corresponding energy supply source connected to at least one of the supply connections (Ilinca, par. 37, 47-48: controller 40 can modulate, stop or reduce power from an identified source).
19.1, wherein the power and/or energy control device is configured to control the application of power from the storage means to at least one of the consumer connections and from at least one of the supply connections in dependence on the connected consumer and the connected energy supply sources (Ilinca, par. 37, 47-50: controller 40 can modulate, stop or reduce power from an identified source to the anticipated load requirement).
20.1, wherein the power and/or energy control device comprises a scheduling module for predictively scheduling energy demand and/or energy provision at at least one of the consumer connections, the scheduling module being configured to adapt energy demand and/or energy supply in dependence on a deployment schedule for different connected consumers and/or a task schedule for one or more connected consumers (Ilinca, par. 69: energy provision can be predictively scheduled based on detected low performance of solar panel to remove ice formation).
22.1, wherein the energy supply station is configured as a mobile unit (Ilinca, par. 42-43).
23.1, wherein each of the storage units are closed storage units operating as closed systems such that the energy supply station operates emission-free and independently (the batteries and ultracapacitors are considered closed units each having a respective energy density.
24. A method for supplying a construction site with electrical energy using the energy supply station according to claim 1, wherein various consumers are successively and/or simultaneously connected to the consumer connections of the energy supply station and are charged with electrical energy for operation and/or supplied with electrical energy during operation by the energy supply station (Ilinca, Fig. 1, par. 49: consuming loads 72 as consumers are supplied via connections with electrical energy by supply station 20, 20’).
Claim(s) 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ilinca (US 20150318706)/ Kejha (US 20050211480) further in view of Chang (US 20200023743)
Re claim 16.1, Ilinca is silent to wherein the power and/or energy control device comprises consumer identification means for identifying a corresponding consumer connected to the at least one consumer connection and is configured to variably control at least one of the power electronics, the supply connection, the storage means or the consumer connection in dependence on the identified consumers.
Chang discloses [0032] In still another embodiment, referring to FIGS. 5 to 8, the processor (15) is connected to a first communicator (16), and the controller (25) is connected to a second communicator (26). The first communicator (16) and the second communicator (26) are configured to communicate with each other so as to determine whether to start charging. The first determination method is that the second communicator (26) send the information of the electric vehicle (20) including identity, battery specification, total electric capacity and residual electric capacity to the first communicator (16), and the first communicator (16) is adapted to upload the information to the cloud so as to process the identification and the calculation of charging efficiency. When the electric vehicle (20) is qualified to charge, the charging apparatus (10) is configured to prepare and start charging process according to the information of the electric vehicle (20) so as to enable the electric vehicle to be charged in different charging stations. The second determination method is that the charging apparatus (10) is electrically connected to a sensor (17) which is adapted to start the charging apparatus (10) and connect to the first communicator (16) and the second communicator (26), thereby reducing the power consumption of the charging apparatus (10). Moreover, the electric vehicle (20) has an electronic tag (27), and the sensor (17) is configured to identify the electronic tag (27) through RFID technology. The electronic tag (27) has a specified radio frequency, and when the electronic tag (27) is in the field detectable by the sensor (17), the electronic tag (27) is adapted to receive energy from the electromagnetic field generated by the sensor (17) and send out a radio signal. The sensor (17) is configured to identify the radio signal so as to receive the information of the electric vehicle (20). The third determination method is that the sensor (17) of the charging apparatus (10) is adapted to identify a plate number of the electric vehicle (20). The sensor (17) is configured to capture the image of the electric vehicle (20), detect the location of the plate of the electric vehicle (20) and recognize the plate number thereon. Since the location of the charging apparatus (10) is configured to provide sufficient light and the electric vehicle (20) is stationary, the sensor (17) is adapted to accurately identify the plate number of the electric vehicle (20). More specifically, a user can input the charging conditions of the electric vehicle (20) through the controller (25), so that the second communicator (26) is configured to send the setting values of the designated charging mode to the first communicator (16), and the processor (15) of the charging apparatus (10) is adapted to perform immediate quick charging, normal charging, or to schedule a start charging time such as starting charging at off-peak power time like 11 p.m. when the electric vehicle (20) staying with the charging apparatus (10) more than one day, thereby efficiently reducing the charging costs (par. 32).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Chang to determine at least charging qualification and efficiency based on the identified vehicle.
17.16, wherein the consumer identification means comprise a sensor system at the at least one consumer connection (Chang, par. 32).
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ilinca (US 20150318706)/ Kejha (US 20050211480) further in view of Khoo (US 20130110296 )
Re claim 21.20, Ilinca is silent to wherein the scheduling module is connected via a communication device to a construction site master computer and/or to the consumers to be supplied and is configured to query the deployment schedule and/or task schedule from the construction site master computer and/or the consumers to be supplied.
Khoo discloses a user can use the mobile to query and receive a message from the charging station schedule information and time length for charging (Khoo, par. 11, 17-19, 67, 79, 88, 102-103).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Khoo so that multiple user customers can allocate or schedule the time for charging in orderly fashion.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that “The batteries are considered only thereafter and preferably used when no power is available from the renewable generation sources. A gas/diesel engine-generator 30 constitutes a last-resort source and is operated either to provide electrical power during a power shortfall or to charge the batteries 26.”
It is respectfully submitted that the current claim recites battery and capacitor as different electrical storage units of different technologies. Ilinca discloses that “any other turbine or non-solar electrical source which could be linked to the main central controller” (Ilinca, par. 37) and Kejha teaches that ultra-capacitors are known to replace or supplement batteries (Kejha, par. 31). Thus, the combination of references meet the current claim.
Applicant further argues that Ilinca’s “controller modulates the production of the wind/solar generation cells 48 and the gas/diesel engine-generator 30 according to the battery charge state and the power required by the loads. [0049] discloses balancing between available power generation capacity and electrical demand. In particular, the main central controller 40 merely connects or disconnects load 72 according to load priority and available energy production in order to balance consumption against generated power … the battery bank 26 merely stores electrical energy previously generated by other units and selectively releases stored energy when required”
The Examiner respectfully disagrees and contends that the controller 40 in Ilinca has a first memory for storing an importance value for each of the wind turbines 22, each of the solar panels 24; each of the generation cells 48; the batteries 26 and for the gas/diesel engine-generator 30. The aforesaid switching and control equipment has allocation equipment therein for sequentially operating the Solar panels 24; the wind turbines 22; the distribution cells 48; to draw power from the batteries 26 ... The main central controller also has a second memory for storing a priority value for each of the loads. The aforesaid Switching and control equipment also has selection equipment therein for Supplying electrical power to the appropriate loads according to their priority values. (par. 50-51). Since turbines 22, solar 24, cells 48, generator 30, batteries 26 as energy sources can be associated with importance values that can be supplied as power units to the loads’ priority values, it would have also been obvious to extend Ilinca’s teachings to ultra-capacitors for the same reason as providing power and also to protect batteries.
Applicant further argues that Kejha discloses a passive, parallel configuration of batteries and capacitors designed for automotive surge protection. In Kejha's parallel arrangement, the battery and the capacitor are hardwired together. There is no switch, no isolating power electronics, and no control device that can control them individually.
It is respectfully submitted that Neither Ilinca et al. nor Kejha teaches or suggests this localized, consumer-dependent control:
• Ilinca et al. merely sheds or connects entire load segments 72 based on a static priority hierarchy (Ilinca et al., iJiJ[0039]-[0040]).
• Kejha passively absorbs motor surges in a closed, single-consumer vehicular propulsion loop.
It is respectfully submitted that the current claim does not distinguish from the prior art in terms of structures. The control in Ilinca and Kejha are considered in dependence of loads in Ilinca and the motors in Kejha, which are locally connected to each other and reading data from the loads as well as the sources are provided to the controller for management. Applicant is reminded that although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Applicant further argues that the combination lacks motivation, in incompatible field of endeavor, and destroys Ilinca’s purpose.
It is respectfully submitted that the Supreme Court in KSR has held that
Variations of particular work available in one field of endeavor may be prompted by design incentives and other market forces, either in same field or different one, and if person of ordinary skill in art can implement predictable variation, 35 U.S.C. §103 likely bars its patentability. In this case, the setup in Ilinca only lacks a capacitor for covering power-peaks and Kejha cures this deficiency by teaching that the feature is well known.
For these reasons, the previous rejection(s) is/are respectfully maintained.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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