DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 1, 9 and 15 is/are independent.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) is acknowledged. The prior-filed application is U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/411,661 (filed on 9/30/2022).
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited in the information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 4/25/2023 have been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The use of the terms “Bluetooth”, “Intel Ethernet PRO”, etc., which are trade names or marks used in commerce, have been noted in this application. The terms should be accompanied by the generic terminology; furthermore the terms should be capitalized wherever it appears or, where appropriate, include a proper symbol indicating use in commerce such as ™, SM , or ® following the term.
Although the use of trade names and marks used in commerce (i.e., trademarks, service marks, certification marks, and collective marks) are permissible in patent applications, the proprietary nature of the marks should be respected and every effort made to prevent their use in any manner which might adversely affect their validity as commercial marks.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION. — The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 6, 14 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
More specifically,
Claim(s) 6, 14 and 20 recite(s) the term “hours of a sensor box”. This term seems to be vague or unclear or incomplete and its meaning or metes and bounds is not understandable. This is because it is unclear what is meant by hours of a sensor box. For examining purposes, the term is being interpreted to mean anything related to time and sensor readings. Applicant may amend the claim by clarifying the term with support from Applicant’s disclosure; removing the term “hours of a sensor box”;; or by any other appropriate correction.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gonatas (U.S. Pub. No. 2018/0097126) (hereinafter “Gonatas”) in view of John (U.S. Pub. No. 2009/0058361) (hereinafter “John”).
Regarding claim 1 and corresponding claims 9 and 15, Gonatas teaches an intermittent power system to provide smoothed electric power into a power grid, (Para. 46 - - intermittent power generator is used; Para. 74 - - fluctuations are smoothed)
comprising: an intermittent power source; (Para. 46 - - intermittent power generator is used)
a neural network-based predictive controller (NNPC) (Para. 31 - - neural network is used to predict)
and…connected to the power grid to provide the smoothed electric power; (Para. 74 - - control function states result in smoothing fluctuations, along with connection to grid)
a neural network predictor connected between the intermittent power source and the NNPC, (Fig. 1 - - predictor, i.e. forecast computer, is between intermittent power source, i.e. PV array, and nnpc, i.e. compute cost optimizing control function)
the neural network predictor configured to take electric power from the intermittent power source as an input and provide a predicted unsmoothed electric power, (Fig. 1 - - predictor takes power from PV inverter and provides predicted electric power)
wherein the…provides a smoothed PV power reference for the NNPC; (Fig. 1, Para. 20, 74 - - signal from PV inverter is analyzed to provide forecast for NNPC, where smoothing is provided)
and a power grid connection to provide the smoothed electric power of the NNPC into the power grid. (Fig. 1 - - power grid connection is used)
But Gonatas does not explicitly teach a low pass filter (LPF)
However, John teaches a low pass filter (LPF) (Para. 67 - - low pass filtering is performed)
Gonatas and John are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor and contain overlapping structural and/or functional similarities. They both contain regulating power as well as providing intermittent power.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above limitation(s) as taught by Gonatas, by incorporating the above limitation(s) as taught by John.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this modification in order to provide power without requiring modification of devices within which power is used, as suggested by John (Para. 9).
Regarding claim 2 and corresponding claims 10 and 16, the combination of Gonatas and John teaches all the limitations of the base claim(s).
Gonatas further teaches a battery energy storage system (BESS) connected to the NNPC, wherein the electric power to the power grid is a combination of battery power and the smoothed electric power. (Fig. 1 - - energy storage, i.e. BESS, is connected to controller, i.e. NNPC, where grid is provided with stored and smoothed power)
Regarding claim 3 and corresponding claims 11 and 17, the combination of Gonatas and John teaches all the limitations of the base claim(s).
Gonatas further teaches wherein the NNPC maintains a storage capacity of the battery energy storage system while smoothing the electric power subject to power fluctuations. (Fig. 1, Para. 79 - - energy storage is optimized, i.e. NNPC maintains storage capacity of battery energy storage system)
Regarding claim 4 and corresponding claims 12 and 18, the combination of Gonatas and John teaches all the limitations of the base claim(s).
Gonatas further teaches wherein the NNPC includes an optimization algorithm and a neural network model; the optimization algorithm determines a control signal that minimizes a time constant of the LPF based on an output from the neural network model while keeping battery State of Charge (SoC) within predetermined limits; and the neural network model is trained on a model of an intermittent power plant to predict future smoothing performance. (Para. 31 - - neural network analysis, i.e. model, is used to predict; Para. 32 - - network is trained to predict future performance; Fig. 1, Para. 79 - - energy storage is optimized, i.e. NNPC maintains storage capacity of battery energy storage system; Para. 46, 61 - - prediction is performed on an intermittent power source to predict performance; Para. 74 - - forecasting includes that of smoothing fluctuations)
Regarding claim 5 and corresponding claims 13 and 19, the combination of Gonatas and John teaches all the limitations of the base claim(s).
Gonatas further teaches a moving average filter to generate a reference smoothed power signal to the optimization algorithm. (Para. 36-37 - - averaging is performed over time for various regions, i.e. moving average filtering is performed)
Regarding claim 6 and corresponding claims 14 and 20, the combination of Gonatas and John teaches all the limitations of the base claim(s).
Gonatas further teaches wherein the neural network predictor is a feed forward network having a hidden layer and an input that includes solar irradiance from integrated radiation sensor, hours of a sensor box, ambient temperature, and module temperature, and wherein the feed forward network predicts future unsmoothed power. (Para. 31 - - neural network is used to predict; Para. 19, 39 - - solar irradiance data from irradiation sensor is used, ambient temperature data are used to predict power; Para. 70 - - device, i.e. module, temperature is used; Para. 32 - - data from sensor is evaluated over time; also see related 112 rejection for the term “hours of a sensor box”)
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Gonatas and John teaches all the limitations of the base claim(s).
Gonatas further teaches wherein the intermittent power system is a solar photovoltaic (PV) system, and the intermittent power source is a photovoltaic (PV) power source. (Fig. 1 - - PV system is used with a PV array, i.e. source)
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Gonatas and John teaches all the limitations of the base claim(s).
Gonatas further teaches wherein the intermittent power system is a wind power system, and the intermittent power source is a wind turbine. (Para. 46, 49 - - wind system is used with a wind generator, i.e. turbine)
It is noted that any citations to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Pub. No. 2017/0085091 by Kamalasadan et al., which discloses battery energy storage system control (Title/Abstract).
U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0007441 by John, which discloses wireless power harvesting and transmission with heterogeneous signals (Title/Abstract).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Saad M. Kabir whose telephone number is 571-270-0608 (direct fax number is 571-270-9933). The examiner can normally be reached on Mondays to Fridays 9am to 5pm EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mohammad Ali can be reached on 571-272-4105. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAAD M KABIR/
Examiner, Art Unit 2119
/ZIAUL KARIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119