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 § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kincade (USPN 11372033) in view over Franks et al. (PG/PUB 20150207301).
Claim 1.
Kincade et al. teaches an electrical management system (Figure 1) operable to operable to inhibit, permit, and modulate operation of high amperage devices (e.g. see breaker-based load control) (ABSTRACT, Figure 1), but Kincade et al. does not expressly teach the first energy management component comprising an interface screen; however, Franks teaches the interface screen described below, wherein the electrical management system comprises:
a first energy management component (e.g. “electrical panel,” ABSTRACT, Figure 1), said first energy management component being installed in an electrical room for a structure (e.g. “garage”, said first energy management component being electrically coupled to monitor incoming power at a main service entrance (“mains power”), said first energy management component having a housing, said housing having disposed therein electronics configured to receive, store, transmit and manipulate data (Col 7 lines 25-30, Col 8 lines 1-14)
said first energy management component having an interface screen, said interface screen providing status information about said first energy management component (Franks, Figure 1-142, 0037-39 e.g. see touch based interface screen), see interface comp[rising “specialize each branch circuit; 6) the display provides status, time, power measurement information, plus a means for testing auxiliary functions; 7) the display shows circuit events, fault detection, and fault characterization (e.g., over-current, ground-fault, arc-fault, line spikes, brown- out, quality of power”);
; a first transceiver, said first transceiver being disposed within said housing of said first energy management component, said first transceiver being configured to transmit and receive signals utilizing wireless communication protocols (Col 8 lines 1-67, see also Col 7 lines 1-67 e.g. see breaker configured for wireless communication with remote controllers, see “To interface with the electric power distribution system 115, the control unit 110 also communicates with the electrical panel 116, for example, through the network 105. In some implementations, the electrical panel 116 includes electronic components (e.g., a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver) that enables it to communicate with the control unit 110 through the network 105 or through another wired and/or wireless connection. For example, the electrical panel 116 may exchange data with the control unit 110 through Z-wave or other low-energy wireless protocol. In some implementations, the control unit 110 and/or the electrical panel 116 may also be able to exchange data with one or more smart receptacles 118 (e.g., over a wired or wireless network), if those receptacles 118 include hardware and software configured for data communication.”)
at least one second energy management component (“control unit,” 110, see also 160 “monitoring server”), said at least one second energy management component being installed at a second location proximate to a breaker panel within a dwelling unit (Figure 1 e.g. see proximate location of breaker and controller of Figure 1), said at least one second energy management component being electrically coupled (e.g. see wired transmission) to the breaker panel (Figure 1 -105 e.g. see network coupling/electrically coupled/electronic signals), said at least one second energy management component configured to receive, store, transmit and manipulate data (Col 10 lines 1-67, col 11 lines 1-67 e.g. see control units configured for wireless communication)
a second transceiver, said second transceiver being operably coupled to said at least one second energy management component, said second transceiver being mounted proximate said at least one second energy management component, said second transceiver communicably coupled with said first transceiver; (Col 7 lines 14-67, Col 11 lines 1-67 e.g. see wireless communication protocols of the remote-control units)
at least one high amperage device, wherein the at least one high amperage device is operably coupled (e.g. communicatively coupled) to the second energy management device (Figure 1-119
wherein the electrical management system measures the amperage load at least two locations (col 8 lines 13-67 e.g. see multiple loads across multiple rooms such as utility room and kitchen) and
is programmed with a setpoint to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of the at least one high amperage device (Col 6 lines 1-15, col 21 lines 16-67, Col 11 lines 39-67, Col 12 lines 1-67, col 16 lines 33-67
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention applying the teachings of Frank, namely providing an integrated touch screen for displaying status information of the breaker, to the teachings of Kincade, namely providing a circuit breaker configured to relay state data to remote controllers, would achieve an expected and predictable result of adapting the circuit breaker of Kincade to integrate the display screen of Franks for locally displaying state data. Whether a display is local or remote to the circuit breaker, an improved invention is realized by enabling a user to locally interact, configure, and obtain data from the circuit breaker while providing redundancy in the event of remote controller failure. Franks is in the same field of endeavor and reasonably pertinent to a problem of accessing the circuit breaker, see ABSTRACT, summary of invention.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kincade (USPN 11372033) in view over Franks et al. (PG/PUB 20150207301) in view over Weber (USPN 8645722)
Claim 2. The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 1, but does not teach the eighty percent amperage limitations described below. Weber teaches the eighty percent amperage limitation described below
wherein said setpoint is eighty percent of available amperages provided by the incoming power (Col 8 lines 15-24)
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention applying the teachings of Weber, namely complying with national electric codes, to the teachings of Kincade, namely providing a circuit breaker configured to relay state data to remote controllers, would achieve an expected and predictable result of adapting the trip limits to comply with the national code as described. Weber is reasonably pertinent to a problem of determining trip limits and would commend itself to the circuit breaker rules of Kincade.
Claims 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kincade (USPN 11372033) in view over Franks et al. (PG/PUB 20150207301) in view over Weber (USPN 8645722) in view over Kling (USPN 6367023)
Claim 3.
The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 2 but does not expressly teach modulating the second management component limitations described below. Kling teaches modulating the second management component limitations described below (e.g. tripping a computer exceeding its current limit)
wherein said first energy management component inhibits or modulates operation of the at least one second energy management component (e.g. associated loads and/or controller itself) in an event of amperage load exceeding said setpoint (Kling, Col 2 lines 23-31, supra claim 1 for actionable rules applied to a circuit breaker for tripping or removing power to a load)
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention applying the teachings of Kling, namely determining a controller/computer exceeds its limit before tripping, to the teachings of Kincade, supra claim 1, namely configuring trip rules for disabling power to a load, where the load comprises the controller of Kincade, would achieve an expected and predictable result of tripping the controller/computer of Kling while relying upon the monitoring server to prevent controller damage. Whether a load represents an appliance or a controller/computer, an expected and predictable result is achieve by limiting the current consumption of the controller. In particular, one of ordinary skill in the art adapting the controller of Kincade to comprise a power lined computer of Kling would achieve an expected and predictable result of powering the controller/computer using the breaker for load regulation.
Claim 4.
The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 3, wherein said first energy management component permits and/or modulates operation of the at least one second energy management component in an event of amperage load being beneath said setpoint (supra claim 3, see allowing current to be supplied absent the trip conditions)
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kincade (USPN 11372033) in view over Franks et al. (PG/PUB 20150207301) in view over Weber (USPN 8645722) in view over Kling (USPN 6367023) in view over Horon (PG/PUB 20170287298)
Claim 5.
The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 4 but does not expressly teach the color limitations described below. Horon et al. teaches the color limitations described below
wherein the interface screen employs utilization of three colors to provide visual indication of the status of the electrical management system (Horon, 0033-34)
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention applying the teachings of Horon, namely providing three colors to display state data including alarms, warming, and normal, to the teachings of Kincade, as modified, namely displaying breaker state information, would achieve an expected and predictable result of color-coding display states of the circuit breaker. Horon is reasonably pertinent to a problem of using colors to apprise users of monitored states.
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kincade (USPN 11372033) in view over Franks et al. (PG/PUB 20150207301) in view over Weber (USPN 8645722) in view over Kling (USPN 6367023) in view over Horon (PG/PUB 20170287298) in view over Harris (USPN 11264825)
Claim 6.
The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 5 but does not expressly teach the vehicle charger limitations. Harris teaches the vehicle charger limitations described below
further including an electric vehicle charger, said electric vehicle charger being operably coupled to said second energy management component (Harris, see vehicle charger connect to controller 208, supra claim 1 for control unit, supra Kincade for second transceiver, second management components – portable controller for regulating power)
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention applying the teachings of Kincade, namely providing a portable power controller w/transceiver for regulating breaker operation, to the teachings of Harris, namely providing a portable vehicle charger with a control unit, would achieve an expected and predictable result of providing an integrated controller configured to regulate breaker operation, provide vehicle charging, and selectively control power flow in accordance with rules. Whether a vehicle charger is separate or integral to a control unit, an improved invention is realized by remotely controlling power distribution for multiple loads either connected to the controller and/or through the remote breaker.
Claim 7.
The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 6, wherein said first energy management component includes a switch, said switch configured to enable or disable the electrical management system (Figure 4-413, Col 2 lines 18-67, Col 21 lines 16-30)
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kincade (USPN 11372033) in view over Franks et al. (PG/PUB 20150207301) in view over Weber (USPN 8645722) in view over Kling (USPN 6367023) in view over Horon (PG/PUB 20170287298) in view over Harris (USPN 11264825) in view over Robinson (PG/PUB 20140098470)
Claim 8.
The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 7 but does not expressly teach the ‘between’ limitations described below. Robinson teaches the between limitations described below
wherein the first energy management component measures amperage demand at the main service entrance located between a main service disconnect and electrical meters (Robinson, see Figure 2-202 as main service entrance located between main service disconnect -221/205 and meters -212 214, 216, supra claim 1 for metering demand at the breaker itself)
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention adapting the breaker configuration of Kincade to comprise an upstream disconnect switch and downstream meters, as per Robinson, to the teachings of Kincade, namely measuring demand at the breaker itself, would achieve an expected and predictable result of measuring power demand at the main service entrance (e.g. main breaker location). Whether power is measured at the breaker itself or downstream of the breaker, an expected and predictable result is achieved with a benefit of determining individual and aggregate power consumption. Robinson is in the same field of endeavor and pertinent to a problem of metering power downstream of service disconnects.
Claim 9.
The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 8, wherein the second energy management component measures amperage demand at a breaker panel distal to the electrical room (e.g. see multiple distal breakers/spaced apart breakers, see controller/server obtaining breaker demand, Col 12 lines 13-25, Col 15 lines 50-55, Col 22 lines 9-14)
Claim 10.
The electrical management system operable to inhibit, permit, or modulate operation of high amperage devices as recited in claim 9, wherein the second transceiver, second energy management component and electric vehicle charger are contained in a single unit, supra claim 6 rationale for integrated controller comprising second transceiver, second energy management component, and vehicle charger)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
See electrical circuit panels:
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/DARRIN D DUNN/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2117