DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
This action is in reply to amendment and response filed on 3/13/26. Claims 1, 8 and 15 were amended. Claims 1-3, 7-10, 14-17 and 20 are pending and examined.
Response to Arguments
101: The Applicant’s amendments and arguments have been fully considered, but are not persuasive.
The Applicant essentially argues that the amended claims do not recite an abstract idea.
The Examiner disagrees.
The Applicant’s arguments are moot because the amended claims include substantive amendments. Per example, claim 1 recites additional elements (e.g.: “”) that necessitate reconsideration of the claims.
As such, an updated rejection addressing the amended claims is provided.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3, 7-10, 14-17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
With respect to claims 1, 8, and 15, these claims are rejected because the “providing charge or discharge commands” lacks written description in the specification. The scope of this limitation appears to be reciting command and control of charging station. However, the specification does not provide a written description of “providing … commands”. Instead, the specification merely describes “generating optimal intraday bids and operating schedules” (see PG PUB 20230410201, ¶ 31), there is no description of a “command” or the similar.
Dependent claims from claims 1, 8 and 15 are rejected under the same rationale.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-3, 7-10, 14-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more (Step 1). The claims recite a process (claim 1), an apparatus (claim 8) and an article of manufacture (claim 15). For the purposes of this analysis, representative claim 8 (from claims 1, 8 and 15) is addressed (Step 2A, prong 1). Abstract ideas are in bold below, and represent organizing human activity and mathematical concepts, as a method of energy demand pricing and associated distribution scheduling by modeling and converting energy demand pricing information, as are all a form of commercial or legal interaction and mathematical concepts (it has been held that merely adding one abstract idea (math) to another abstract idea (energy demand pricing and associated distribution scheduling) does not provide a practical application, see MPEP 2106.04.II.A.2, e.g.: RecogniCorp).
A system, comprising:
a memory storing instructions;
one or more communication interfaces; and
one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory via the one or more communication interfaces, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured by the instructions to:
obtain an input comprising (i) historical data pertaining to generation and demand of energy, (ii) historical intraday market data, (iii) a specification of a plurality of distributed energy resources (DERs) connected to a network specific to an aggregator, (iv) a preference of one or more subscribers, and (v) information associated with the network specific to the aggregator, wherein the preference of the one or more subscribers corresponding to an availability of a battery and flexible demand is communicated on a day ahead basis to the aggregator, wherein the plurality of DERs comprises to at least one of homogeneous DERs and heterogeneous DERs including a solar, wind farms, electric vehicles, energy storage systems;
orchestrate a plurality of operations of the plurality of DERs by a DER aggregator, wherein the DER aggregator is a centralized set-up for participating in an intraday market and the DER aggregator comprises knowledge of characteristics of participating DERs and customer preferences, demands, asset constraints, and generation availability, wherein the DER aggregator forecasts renewable generation and overall demand of the DER's subscribers using historical logs and pertinent information of the subscribers, and wherein the DER aggregator is used to coordinate the plurality of DERs and provide services to a power system by providing a necessary technology to communicate and control the plurality of DERs, wherein the DER aggregator splits customer's overall demand into flexible and fixed components by leveraging information about the customer's appliance set and operational preferences collected periodically;
forecast a generation and demand of energy by the plurality of DERs for a plurality of delivery slots in an initialized optimization window, based on the input using a trained forecasting model, wherein the forecasting model is trained using the corresponding historical input data;
estimate a two-dimensional distribution of price-volume for the plurality of delivery slots in the initialized optimization window based on the forecasted generation and demand of energy by the plurality of DERs; and
execute, an optimization model, using the estimated two-dimensional distribution of price-volume for the plurality of delivery slots in the initialized optimization window to obtain (i) an optimal intraday operating schedule for one or more DERs from the plurality of DERs, and (ii) an intraday bid associated with the plurality of DERs for the plurality of delivery slots to be traded in an intraday market, wherein the step of executing the optimization model comprises:
formulating a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem based on the input and the estimated two-dimensional distribution of price-volume for the plurality of delivery slots in the initialized optimization window
converting the formulated MINLP problem to a non-linear programming (NLP) problem, wherein the NLP problem is obtained by performing integer relaxation on at least one (i) a first integer variable, and (ii) a second integer variable comprised in the MINLP, wherein the first integer variable is based on a decision of a type of the intraday bid, and wherein the second integer variable is based on a constraint specific to a DER type, wherein integer variables are introduced due to either-or-constraints in operation of batteries present in a DER pool, wherein the either-or-constraints include either battery charge or discharge during a time slot, wherein the integer relaxation is performed by removing the second integer variables Zh.s, and replacing with a continuous variable rh.s that refers to the charging rate of the battery with subscriber s during a delivery slot h and removing the first integer variable Oh and replacing with a sigmoid function, wherein a positive value for the continuous variable indicates that the battery is charging and a negative value for the continuous variable indicates that the battery is discharging,
wherein the NLP problem solves an entire problem size in less time to optimize the bids, thereby the NLP problem is scalable than the MINLP problem, and wherein the problem size refers to a varying number of DERs,
wherein a joint price-volume dynamics present in the intraday market is modelled which allows trades or bids placed earlier are corrected based on revised forecasts of the demand and the generation while allowing for energy exchanges within the DER pool,
wherein the bids placed are optimized based on forecasts of a two-dimensional histogram, customer demands and a solar generation for time slots in an optimization window, wherein the two-dimensional histogram for the time slots in the optimization window is obtained using a persistence model, wherein the customer demands and the solar generation are forecasted using a stacked Long short-term memory (LSTM) network,
wherein an amount of power injected by the plurality of DERs into the network is limited by a hosting capacity and other operational limits of the network communicated by a network operator to the DER aggregator at least i slots in advance, wherein connectivity, voltage levels, line parameters, and background loads are defined in network specifications and increasing the power injection or withdrawal by the DER aggregator in all nodes until network operational constraints including thermal limits of the line parameters and the voltage levels at network buses are violated during network operations and values at which the violations take place are taken as the network limits at respective nodes; and
executing the NLP problem to obtain (i) the optimal intraday operating schedule for one or more DERs from the plurality of DERs, and (ii) the intraday bid associated with the plurality of DERs for the plurality of delivery slots to be traded in an intraday market,
providing charge or discharge commands for a first DER type including the battery in each delivery slot of the initialized optimization window, wherein the optimal intraday operating schedule for a first DER type comprises at least one of (i) whether to charge or discharge in each delivery slot of the initialized optimization window, (ii) a charging level or a discharging level in each delivery slot of the initialized optimization window; and (iii) a state of charge (SOC) value of a DER of the first DER type at an end of each delivery slot, wherein a positive value of a lead time indicates battery charging, a negative value of the lead time indicates battery discharging, and an absolute value of the lead time is charging or discharging level,
providing quantity of energy required to a power grid in each delivery slot, wherein the optimal intraday operating schedule for the second DER type comprises the quantity of energy required to the power grid and the operating schedule for the second DER type is a net power that is exported to the power grid, wherein the second DER type includes a solar photovoltaic or energy or power generators,
scheduling and performing of an operation of a flexible load at one or more delivery slots, wherein the optimal intraday operating schedule for a third DER type comprises information pertaining to the scheduling, wherein the aggregator identifies a total flexible load and decides in which delivery slots to schedule the flexible load such that its operating cost is minimum.
(Step 2A prong 2) The additional elements are as follows:
“A system, comprising: a memory storing instructions; one or more communication interfaces; and one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory via the one or more communication interfaces, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured by the instructions”. This is no more than “apply it” as the additional elements are mere “[u]se of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks”, see MPEP 2106.05(f)(2).
“[obtain …] connected to a network specific to an aggregator…, a battery and flexible demand is communicated, …a solar, wind farms, electric vehicles, energy storage systems”. This is no more than “apply it” as “connected to a network specific to an aggregator” and “flexible demand is communicated” are mere “[u]se of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks”, see MPEP 2106.05(f)(2). Furthermore, “a battery” and “a solar, wind farms, electric vehicles, energy storage systems” are merely general linking as the additional elements do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“[orchestrate …] providing a necessary technology to communicate and control the plurality of DERs”. This is no more than “apply it” as “providing …” is mere “[u]se of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks”, see MPEP 2106.05(f)(2).
“[forecast … using a] trained [forecasting model], wherein the forecasting model is trained using the corresponding historical input data”. This is no more than “apply it” as “trained [… model], wherein the forecasting model is trained using the corresponding historical input data” is mere “[u]se of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks”, see MPEP 2106.05(f)(2).
“execute, an optimization model […] executing the optimization model”. This is no more than “apply it” as “executing the optimization model” is mere “[u]se of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks”, see MPEP 2106.05(f)(2).
“[converting …] operation of batteries… battery charge or discharge… the battery is charging … the battery is discharging”. This is merely general linking as “operation of batteries… battery charge or discharge… the battery is charging … the battery is discharging” does no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“wherein […] battery […], wherein an amount of power injected by the plurality of DERs into the network is limited by a hosting capacity and other operational limits of the network communicated by a network operator to the DER aggregator at least i slots in advance, wherein connectivity, voltage levels, line parameters, and background loads are defined in network specifications and increasing the power injection or withdrawal by the DER aggregator in all nodes until network operational constraints including thermal limits of the line parameters and the voltage levels at network buses are violated during network operations and values at which the violations take place are taken as the network limits at respective nodes”. This is merely general linking as the additional elements do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“[wherein …] a solar generation […] the solar generation [… are forecasted] using a stacked Long short-term memory (LSTM) network”. The “solar generation” is merely general linking as the additional elements do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use. “[… forecasted] using a stacked Long short-term memory (LSTM) network” is no more than “apply it” as using “LSTM” is mere “[u]se of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks”, see MPEP 2106.05(f)(2).
“executing the NLP problem […] a power grid […] the power grid […] wherein […] a solar photovoltaic or energy or power generators”. “executing the NLP problem” is merely apply it” as “executing” is claimed at a high level of generality, receives the information, performs the abstract idea, and outputs the results. “a power grid” and “a solar photovoltaic or energy or power generators” are merely general linking as they do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“providing charge or discharge commands […] including the battery … battery charging … battery discharging … is charging or discharging […]”. This is merely general linking as the additional elements do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“providing quantity of energy required to a power grid in each delivery slot, […] the quantity of energy required to the power grid and [the operating schedule …] is a net power that is exported to the power grid, […] a solar photovoltaic or energy or power generators”. This is merely general linking as the additional elements do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
“performing of an operation of a flexible load”. This is merely general linking as the additional elements do no more than link the use of the abstract idea to a particular technological environment or field of use.
(Step 2B) The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration into a practical application, the additional elements amount do no more than provide mere instructions to apply the abstract idea of using generic computer components. The claim elements when considered separately and in an ordered combination, do not add significantly more than implementing the abstract idea of energy demand pricing and associated distribution scheduling by modeling and converting energy demand pricing information, over a generic computer network with generic computing elements, and generic hardware.
Analysis of dependent claims 2, 9 and 16, recited “executing, an intraday market clearing model via the one or more hardware processors, based on the intraday bid associated with the plurality of DERs for the plurality of delivery slots to be traded in the intraday market, to obtain an intraday market output, wherein the intraday market output comprises information pertaining to at least one of (i) number of cleared buy bids, and (ii) number of cleared sell bids” and “generating a final optimal intraday operating schedule for the plurality of DERs based on the intraday market output, wherein the intraday market clearing model matches the aggregator's buy or sell bids against existing bids in a intraday log to obtain a clearing status”, additional details which further narrow the abstract idea and additional elements of:
“executing, an intraday market clearing model via the one or more hardware processors”. This is no more than “apply it” as “executing” is mere “[u]se of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks”, see MPEP 2106.05(f)(2).
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration into a practical application, the additional elements amount do no more than provide mere instructions to apply the abstract idea of using generic computer components. The claim elements when considered separately and in an ordered combination, do not add significantly more than implementing the abstract idea of energy demand pricing and associated distribution scheduling by modeling and converting energy demand pricing information, over a generic computer network with generic computing elements, and generic hardware.
Analysis of dependent claims 3, 10 and 17, recited “repeating the steps of forecasting, estimating, and executing the optimization model based on the final optimal intraday operating schedule generated for the plurality of DERs to obtain (i) a subsequent optimal intraday operating schedule for one or more DERs from the plurality of DERs, and (ii) a subsequent intraday bid associated with the plurality of DERs for the plurality of delivery slots to be traded in the intraday market for a subsequent optimization window, wherein the steps of forecasting, estimating, and executing the optimization model are performed by applying a moving window optimization for obtaining the subsequent optimal intraday operating schedule and the subsequent intraday bid for the subsequent optimization window based on the final optimal intraday operating schedule, and wherein the trained forecasting model is a stacked Long short-term memory (LSTM) network model”, additional details which further narrow the abstract idea and additional elements of:
“executing [the optimization model …] executing [the optimization model] are performed […]”. This is merely “apply it” as “executing” is mere “[u]se of a computer or other machinery in its ordinary capacity for economic or other tasks”, see MPEP 2106.05(f)(2).
The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration into a practical application, the additional elements amount do no more than provide mere instructions to apply the abstract idea of using generic computer components. The claim elements when considered separately and in an ordered combination, do not add significantly more than implementing the abstract idea of energy demand pricing and associated distribution scheduling by modeling and converting energy demand pricing information, over a generic computer network with generic computing elements, and generic hardware.
Analysis of dependent claims 7, 14 and 20, recited additional details which only further narrow the abstract idea and do not add any additional features, alone or in combination, that would provide a practical application or provide significantly more.
Conclusion
Reference made of record, not relied upon, pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure, includes US 20190165580 A1 (Dohert) disclosing optimal control of energy storage system.
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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/BROCK E TURK/Examiner, Art Unit 3692
/RYAN D DONLON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3692 June 2, 2026
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