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 .
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, 8-12 and 14-17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Choueiter et al. (U. S. Pub. 2020/0107085).
As for claims 1, 2 and 9, choueiter et al. discloses an electrical meter or system (100 in Fig. 1; or 200 in Fig. 2), comprising:
an electrical sensor (130; or 231) for measuring an electrical property (voltage/current) of a power line to a building (110);
a metrology component (i.e., the measurement component of the power monitor 150);
a first analog-to-digital converter that processes an analog output of the electrical sensor (130; 231) to generate a first digital signal, wherein the first digital signal has a first sampling rate (i.e., the analog-to-digital converter is the means in the power monitor for digitally sampling the power events of a device/toaster oven at different sampling rate as compared with that of a smart plug, see [0046], [0040] in Choueiter; also Choueiter et al. discloses that the power monitor 150 can be the one described in Micali US 9443195, in which the analog signal processing 210 and digital signal processing 220 in Fig. 2 of Micali US 9443195 is the A/D converter) and the first digital signal is used by the metrology component (power monitor 150) of the electrical meter;
a first signal processing component of the metrology component that processes the first digital signal to determine an energy consumption value for devices of the building (i.e., the processing means in the power monitor 150 for determining energy consumption value for devices of the house; e.g., the processor 1311 in Fig. 13 of Choueiter et al. reference; or processor 280 of the power monitor 120 in Fig. 2 of Micali US 9443195);
a second analog-to-digital converter (the means in the smart plug 145 for receiving the analog signal from the electric sensor and digitally sampling, at a lower sampling rate, and to obtain the digital power monitoring signals and information about power consumption of devices connected to the smart plug, see [0046], [0040], [00129], [0130]) that processes the analog output of the electrical sensor (130; 231) to generate a second digital signal, wherein the second digital signal has a second sampling rate that is different from the first sampling rate (i.e., the smart plugs uses a lower sampling rate to provide additional power consumption information, see [0130]) and the second digital signal is not used by the metrology component of the electrical meter (i.e., the second digital signal is used in the smart plug 145 , not the power monitor 150, to determine the power consumption information); and
a second processing component (i.e., the processing means in the smart plug 145 for determining the information corresponding to the power consumption) that processes the second digital signal to determine first information corresponding to power consumption.
As for claim 3, choueiter et al. discloses the electrical meter of claim 1, wherein the electrical sensor is a current sensor (i.e., electrical sensor 130 or 231 can measure the current and/or voltage1, see [0031] and [0032]).
As for claim 8, choueiter et al. discloses the electrical meter of claim 1, wherein the first information corresponding to power consumption comprises identifying information about a first device (device 155 connected to the smart plug 145) in the building (110).
As for claim 10, choueiter et al. discloses the system of claim 9, wherein the first information corresponding to power consumption comprises information about a state change of a first device in the building (e.g., state changes of device 155 when turn on/off a relay in the smart plug, see [0129]; and abstract and [0115]).
As for claim 11, choueiter et al. discloses the system of claim 9, wherein the first information corresponding to power consumption comprises (i) energy consumption of a first device (155) in the building (110) and (ii) energy consumption of a second device (any other device connected to the smart plug 145) in the building.
As for claim 12, choueiter et al. discloses the system of claim 9, comprising a communications component (network device 115 in Fig. 1) that transmits the first information to at least one of an electric company (120) or a customer of the electric company (120).
As for claim 14, choueiter et al. discloses a method, comprising:
receiving an analog sensor signal from an electrical sensor (130; or 231);
receiving power consumption data (receiving power consumption of device 155) from a metrology component (i.e., the measurement component of the power monitor 150) of an electrical meter connected to a building (110), wherein the power consumption data was computed using a first analog- to-digital converter(i.e., the analog-to-digital converter is the means in the power monitor for digitally sampling the power events of a device 155/toaster oven, see [0046], [0040] in Choueiter; also Choueiter et al. discloses that the power monitor 150 can be the one described in Micali US 9443195, in which the analog signal processing 210 and digital signal processing 220 in Fig. 2 of Micali US 9443195 is the A/D converter);
obtaining a digital sensor signal by processing the analog sensor signal with a second analog-to-digital converter (the means in the smart plug 145 for receiving the analog signal from the electric sensor and digitally sampling, at a lower sampling rate, and to obtain the digital power monitoring signals and information about power consumption of devices of the building, see [0046], [0040]);
processing the digital sensor signal to determine first information corresponding to power consumption (i.e., using the smart plug 145 for processing the digitally sampled signal for determining the information corresponding to the power consumption of device 155 connected to the smart plug);
determining an output using the first information and the power consumption data; and providing the output to a user (i.e., determining and outputting to the user information about what devices are present in the building and/or the on/off states of the devices, see [0023] and [0024])
As for claim 15, choueiter et al. discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the method is implemented by application processing component of an electrical meter (100, 200 in Figs. 1 and 2).
As for claims 5 and 16, choueiter et al. discloses the electrical meter/method of claims 1 and 14, wherein the first analog-to-digital converter is part of the metrology component (150) and the second analog-to-digital converter (i.e., means in smart plug 145) is external to the metrology component (smart plug 145 is external of the power monitor 150; see Figs. 1 and 2).
As for claim 17, choueiter et al. discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the power consumption data is computed using a first signal processing component (i.e., the processing means in the power monitor 150 for determining energy consumption value for devices of the house; e.g., the processor 1311 in Fig. 13 of Choueiter et al. reference; or processor 280 of the power monitor 120 in Fig. 2 of Micali US 9443195)of the metrology component (150) and the first information is determined using a second signal processing component (i.e., the processing means in the smart plug 145 for determining the information corresponding to the power consumption)that is external to the metrology component (150).
As for claim 19, choueiter et al. discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the power consumption data is computed by processing a second analog sensor signal, from a second electrical sensor (second sensor 232 in Fig. 2), with the first analog-to-digital converter (A/D means in power monitor 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.
Claims 4, 6, 7, 13 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choueiter et al. (U. S. Pub. 2020/0107085).
As for claim 4, choueiter et al. discloses the electrical meter of claim 1, wherein the first and second analog-to-digital converters have a different sampling rate.
Choueiter et al. does not specifically disclose wherein the first and second analog-to-digital converters have a first bit depth and a second bit depth that is different from the first bit depth.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Choueiter et al. to disclose wherein the first and second analog-to-digital converters have different first and second bit depth, so as to easily vary the configuration of the analog-to-digital converters used.
As for claim 13, choueiter et al. discloses the system of claim 9, comprising: a second electrical sensor (232) for measuring an electrical property (voltage/current) of a second power line to the building.
Choueiter et al. does not specifically disclose: a third analog-to-digital converter that processes an analog output of the second electrical sensor to generate a third digital signal, wherein the third digital signal is used by the metrology component of the electrical meter; and a fourth analog-to-digital converter that processes the analog output of the second electrical sensor to generate a fourth digital signal, wherein the fourth digital signal is not used by the metrology component of the electrical meter;
wherein the first processing component processes the third digital signal and the second processing component processes the fourth digital signal.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Choueiter et al. to disclose using a third analog-to-digital converter in the same or an additional power monitor 150 to generate a third digital signal that can be used by the same or additional power monitor 150; and a further analog-to-digital converter in the same smart plug or an additional smart plug 145 to generate a fourth digital signal not used by the power monitor 150, wherein the first processing component processes the third digital signal and the second processing component processes the fourth digital signal, since duplicating the numbers of analog-to-digital converters and the power monitor or smart plugs used in the system can be desired to provide additional power consumption information for additional subset of devices connected in the house.
As for claims 6, 7 and 20, choueiter et al. discloses the electric meter/method of claims 1 and 14, wherein the first information comprises information identifying information about a first device in the building, information about a state change of a first device in the building, energy consumption of a first device in the building, or energy consumption of a second device in the building (see [0286]).
Choueiter et al. does not specifically disclose wherein the first information comprises one or more of information about operation of an electrical grid connected to the electrical meter, or information about a location of a power outage.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Choueiter et al. to disclose wherein the first information comprises one or more information about operation of an electrical grid or information about a location of a power outage, or any other desired information, for the purpose of providing the additional functionalities of the electrical meter that may be required by another application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on September 11, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument that “Choueiter do not show or disclose at least a first and a second analog-to-digital converters that process the same analog output/sensor signal of a same electrical sensor”, the examiner asserts that both the power monitor 150 (with the first analog-to-digital converter) and the smart plug 145 (with the second analog-to-digital converter) are connected to receive the analog output from the same sensor (130 in Fig. 1 or 231 in Fig. 2).
In response to applicant’s argument that “Choueiter does not show or disclose at least wherein the second digital signal is not used by the metrology component of the electrical meter”, the examiner asserts that Choueiter does clearly disclose that the second digital signal is obtained by using ADC in the smart plug 145 for digitally sampling at a lower sampling rate, and the second digital signal is used or processed by the smart plug 145, to provide additional power consumption of devices connected to the smart plug. And the smart plug is external of the power monitor 150. Thus, the second digital signal is not used by the metrology component of the power monitor 150.
Paragraph [0040] of Choueiter discloses that “power monitor may receive information about the power consumption of device 155 from two sources: (1) a first -main power monitoring signal obtained via a first sensor 231 and (2) a smart-plug power monitoring signal obtained from smart plug 145”. However, this paragraph only discloses that the power monitor 150 may receive information about the power consumption of device 155 from the smart-plug 145. It does not imply that the second digital signal is used by the metrology component of the power monitor 150. Because the second digital signal is used/processed in the smart-plug 145 itself, it does not need to be used/processed in the power monitor to obtain the power consumption information.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 AMY HE whose telephone number is (571)272-2230. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am--5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Phan can be reached at (571) 272-7924. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AMY HE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858