DETAILED ACTION
Final Action
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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 1-20 are rejected below.
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) 1-15, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Williams (U.S. PG Pub. 2015/0128625).
As to claims 1 and 18, Williams teaches a heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and electrical power generation (HVAC-P) system for a structure, comprising: a fuel agnostic generator configured to selectively operate in each of a heating mode and a cooling mode[0008-0009], wherein, in the heating mode, the fuel agnostic generator burns one or more fuels to generate and supply a heated airflow to the structure and electrical power to at least one of a battery system, the structure, or an electrical grid[0047], and wherein, in the cooling mode, the fuel agnostic generator operates on electrical power provided by at least one of the battery system or the electrical grid to generate and supply a cooled airflow to the structure[0056]; and a system controller that executes instructions to selectively control operation of the HVAC-P system in each of the heating mode and cooling mode[0047-0048, 0056] wherein the fuel agnostic generator is configured to burn a plurality of different types of fuel, the plurality of different types of fuel comprising compressed natural gas, liquified natural gas, diesel, hydrogen, liquified petroleum gas, propane, kerosene, dimethyl ether (DME), and any combination thereof to generate electrical power to charge the battery system [0045].
As to claim 2, Williams teaches wherein emissions from the fuel agnostic generator comprise only carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, or a combination thereof [0046, 0049 e.g. combustion engine].
As to claim 3, Williams teaches wherein the heated airflow comprises a higher temperature than an ambient air temperature in the structure, and wherein the heated airflow increases the ambient air temperature in the structure[0047 – heated air].
As to claim 4, Williams teaches wherein the cooled airflow comprises a lower temperature than an ambient air temperature in the structure, and wherein the cooled airflow decreases the ambient air temperature in the structure[0043 – cooling demand is satisfied].
As to claim 5, Williams teaches wherein, in the cooling mode, the fuel agnostic generator is powered by electrical power from the battery system, the electrical grid, or a combination thereof without burning the one or more fuels[0056].
As to claim 6, Williams teaches further comprising: a cooling system coupled to the fuel agnostic generator and configured to regulate an operating temperature of the fuel agnostic generator(fig. 2)[0055].
As to claim 7, Williams teaches wherein the fuel agnostic generator is coupled to one or more fuel sources that supply the one or more fuels to the fuel agnostic generator, and wherein the one or more fuel sources comprises an internal fuel source having a fuel tank that stores fuel and supplies the fuel upon demand to the fuel agnostic generator[0045].
As to claim 8, Williams teaches wherein the HVAC-P system comprises a plurality of generators[0050].
As to claim 9, Williams teaches wherein the HVAC-P system is configured to selectively supply the heated airflow and/or electrical power simultaneously with the cooled airflow[0050, 0056]. The system of Williams has a DC bus in which various generators supply power to multiple elements, such as batteries or loads.
As to claim 10, Williams teaches wherein the plurality of generators comprises, at least, a first generator or a first set of generators that operate in the heating mode and burns one or more fuels to generate and supply the heated airflow [0047] and/or electrical power and a second generator or second set of generators that operate in the cooling mode to generate and supply the cooled airflow without burning the one or more fuels[0056 stored power from batteries. The power can be from any source and does not need to be from burning fuel].
As to claim 11, Williams teaches wherein the heated airflow is provided to a first area or one or more first rooms of the structure, and wherein the cooled airflow is supplied to a second area or one or more second rooms of the structure (abstract. It is well known to have multiple rooms in a building that are heated or cooled).
As to claim 12, Williams teaches wherein the plurality of generators are individually operable in each of the heating mode [0047] and the cooling mode[0050, 0056 electric motor can drive the cooling compressor].
As to claim 13, Williams teaches wherein the battery system comprises one or more batteries or battery packs, and wherein the fuel agnostic generator supplies the generated electrical power to the battery system to charge the battery packs, and wherein the battery packs store electrical power and selectively supply the electrical power to the fuel agnostic generator, the structure, the electrical grid, or a combination thereof upon demand[0045, 0053, 0056].
As to claim 14, Williams teaches wherein the battery system comprises a battery management controller configured to selectively control an amount of the electrical power supplied from the battery system to the fuel agnostic generator, the structure, the electrical grid, or a combination thereof upon demand[0052].
As to claim 15, Williams teaches wherein the battery management controller controls the charging of the battery packs by the generator[0051].
As to claim 17, Williams teaches further comprising: a housing configured for installation in the structure and containing the fuel agnostic generator, the one or more fuel sources, the battery system, the system controller, or a combination thereof [0051 ECU is within a controller known to having housings, battery system can be housed the element seen in fig. 5B, since diesel is a liquid, it must be housed in a container on or near site].
As to claim 19, Williams teaches further comprising: operating the HVAC-P system in the heating mode by the system controller in response to a demand for heating and/or electrical power received through a user interface communicatively coupled to the system controller[0043, 0052], in response to an ambient air temperature in the structure exceeding a predetermined setpoint temperature stored in the user interface, or a combination thereof; and operating the HVAC-P system in the cooling mode by the system controller in response to a demand for cooling received through the user interface communicatively coupled to the system controller [0043, 0052], in response to an ambient air temperature in the structure exceeding a predetermined setpoint temperature stored in the user interface, or a combination thereof.
As to claim 20, Williams teaches wherein the fuel agnostic generator is one of a plurality of generators, the method further comprising: simultaneously operating at least one of the plurality of generators in the cooling mode, wherein in the cooling mode, the fuel agnostic generator operates on electrical power provided by the battery system, the electrical grid, or a combination thereof to generate and supply a cooled airflow to the structure [0050, 0056]. The system of Williams has a DC bus in which various generators supply power to multiple elements, such as batteries or loads.
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.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Williams (U.S. PG Pub. 2015/0128625) in view of Tennant (U.S. PG Pub. 2023/0139514).
Williams teaches most of the claimed invention, but fails to teach the limitations of claim 16. However, this is an obvious variation as taught by Tennant as follows:
As to claim 16, Tennant teaches wherein the battery system comprises a battery cooling system to regulate a temperature of the one or more batteries or battery packs[0071, 0138, 0145, 0148].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include the teachings of Tennant into the system and methods of Williams the motivation to combine is that Tennant teaches advantageously, this (monitoring and controlling battery temperature) may prevent the temperature of the energy storage devices from becoming too high, reducing the risk of fire or damage to components of the energy system [0071].
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12-8-25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Williams does not teaches amendments. Specifically, that Williams only burns one type of fuel. Regardless of if that is true or not the amendments do not state this. The amendment state that the generator is configured to burn a plurality of different fuels. This burning does not need to take place concurrently or even consecutively it merely just needs to the ability to do so and since Williams states that the generator can run on propane or natural gases it shows it is “configured to”.
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 NATHAN L LAUGHLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-1042. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
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/NATHAN L LAUGHLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119