DETAILED 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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references listed in the Information Disclosure Statements filed on 01/31/2025 have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449 forms).
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because the figures, 1, 4, 5, and 7-23 contain blurred print making the content illegible. Clearer print is recommended. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claim 1 recites an energy and carbon performance monitoring method for stationary production units, comprising:
identifying stored operational data of interest on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions;
structuring the operational data of interest;
calculating at least one energy and carbon performance indicator corresponding to at least one level of a stationary production unit (SPU) among: installation, system, equipment, or a combination thereof;
connecting information and structured data obtained from the operational data of one or more stored SPU levels; and
building a display panel to display one or more displays that present the calculated performance indicators in real time.
Claim 18 recites an energy and carbon performance monitoring system for stationary production units, implemented on a computer, comprising:
a memory; a processor; and a screen; wherein the memory contains a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the following steps: identifying stored operational data of interest on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions; structuring the operational data of interest;
calculating at least one energy and carbon performance indicator corresponding to at least one level of a stationary production unit (SPU) among: installation, system, equipment, or a combination thereof;
connecting information and structured data obtained from the operational data of one or more stored SPU levels; and
building a display panel to display, on the screen, one or more displays that present the calculated performance indicators in real time.
and thus grouped as Mathematical concepts – mathematical relationships, mathematical formulas or equations, mathematical calculations.
Claim 1 recites an energy and carbon performance monitoring method for stationary production units, comprising:
identifying stored operational data of interest on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions;
structuring the operational data of interest;
calculating at least one energy and carbon performance indicator corresponding to at least one level of a stationary production unit (SPU) among: installation, system, equipment, or a combination thereof;
connecting information and structured data obtained from the operational data of one or more stored SPU levels; and
building a display panel to display one or more displays that present the calculated performance indicators in real time.
Claim 18 recites an energy and carbon performance monitoring system for stationary production units, implemented on a computer, comprising:
a memory; a processor; and a screen; wherein the memory contains a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform the following steps: identifying stored operational data of interest on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions; structuring the operational data of interest;
calculating at least one energy and carbon performance indicator corresponding to at least one level of a stationary production unit (SPU) among: installation, system, equipment, or a combination thereof;
connecting information and structured data obtained from the operational data of one or more stored SPU levels; and
building a display panel to display, on the screen, one or more displays that present the calculated performance indicators in real time…
and thus grouped as Mental Processes – concepts performed in the human mind (including an observation, evaluation, judgement, opinion).
These judicial exceptions are not integrated into a practical application because the additional elements, the data gathering step, (claims 1 and 18) “structuring the operational data of interest” are mere data gathering that do not add a meaningful limitation to the method as they are insignificant extra-solution activity. Furthermore, the additional elements (claim 18) “a memory; a processor” are recited as performing generic computer functions routinely used in computer applications. Generic computer components recited as performing generic computer functions amount to no more than using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea. Regarding claims 1 and 18, the elements, “building a display panel to display, on the screen, one or more displays that present the calculated performance indicators in real time,” are considered insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception – see MPEP 2106.05(g). All of which are considered not indicative of integration into a practical application (see MPEP 2106.04(d)).
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements of the data gathering steps are mere data collect steps which fall under insignificant extra solution activity and deemed insufficient to qualify as “significantly more” - see MPEP 2106.05(g). The additional elements of the processor and memory are mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely uses a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea and deemed insufficient to qualify as “significantly more” see MPEP 2106.05(f).
Dependent claims 2-17 when analyzed as a whole are patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. §101 because the dependent claims fail to establish that the claims are not directed to an abstract idea as they are directed mathematical concepts and/or mental processes and do not add significantly more to the abstract idea.
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 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.
(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 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mayerle et al. [US 2024/0070354 A1; hereinafter “Mayerle”].
Regarding claim 1, Mayerle teaches an energy and carbon performance monitoring method for stationary production units, comprising:
identifying stored operational data of interest on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (ERP data - 0017) (data creation phase may generate footprint data based on an energy flow model and replicated transaction data - 0062) (carbon emissions - 0067);
structuring the operational data of interest (via in-memory database system – 0054-0056) (A data layering step consistent with the present teachings may leverage an in-memory database system – 0063);
calculating at least one energy and carbon performance indicator corresponding to at least one level of a stationary production unit (SPU) among: installation, system, equipment, or a combination thereof (calculation engine associated with event management application may be built as a general-purpose network calculation engine consuming and orchestrating application-specific calculation steps - 0057) (a final calculation may be triggered – 0064);
connecting information and structured data obtained from the operational data of one or more stored SPU levels (application router may also connect to multi-tenant server … connected to in-memory – 0058) (in connection with certain cloud platforms - 0059) (connect directly to event management service layer - 0061); and
building a display panel to display one or more displays that present the calculated performance indicators in real time (via sankey chart/ sankey diagrams- 0060) (The final results may be visualized in connection with a Sankey chart that maps input sources to outputs – 0064).
Regarding claim 2, Mayerle teaches the identifying the stored operational data of interest is performed in a plant information infrastructure (plant identifier – 0027-0049) (from one plant to another plant - 0053).
Regarding claim 3, Mayerle teaches the structuring the operational data of interest is performed on a plant information asset structure server (plant identifier – 0027-0049) (from one plant to another plant - 0053).
Regarding claim 5, Mayerle teaches the performance indicators are calculated based on energy performance metrics, carbon performance metrics, or a combination thereof (energy flows, emission flow – 0066, 0067) - (performance reasons – 0060).
Regarding claim 16, Mayerle teaches the display panel is configured to display one or more displays via a Sankey graph that allows immediate visualization of a distribution of usage portions and gas consumption according to an operating condition of each equipment or system involved in monitoring within the SPU (calculated emission flow may be visualized in connection with a Sankey chart – 0060, 0064, 0067)(display 512 - 0068).
Regarding claim 17, Mayerle teaches the display panel is configured to display one or more displays via one or more metric dials (calculated emission flow may be visualized in connection with a Sankey chart – 0060, 0064, 0067)(display 512 - 0068).
Regarding claim 18, Mayerle teaches an energy and carbon performance monitoring system for stationary production units, implemented on a computer, comprising:
a memory; a processor; and a screen (computer, memory, processor, display - 0068);
wherein the memory contains a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor (instructions that, when executed by a processor – 0004), perform the following steps:
identifying stored operational data of interest on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (ERP data - 0017) (data creation phase may generate footprint data based on an energy flow model and replicated transaction data - 0062) (carbon emissions - 0067);
structuring the operational data of interest (via in-memory database system – 0054-0056) (A data layering step consistent with the present teachings may leverage an in-memory database system – 0063);
calculating at least one energy and carbon performance indicator corresponding to at least one level of a stationary production unit (SPU) among: installation, system, equipment, or a combination thereof (calculation engine associated with event management application may be built as a general-purpose network calculation engine consuming and orchestrating application-specific calculation steps - 0057) (a final calculation may be triggered – 0064);
connecting information and structured data obtained from the operational data of one or more stored SPU levels (application router may also connect to multi-tenant server … connected to in-memory – 0058) (in connection with certain cloud platforms - 0059) (connect directly to event management service layer - 0061); and
building a display panel to display, on the screen, one or more displays that present the calculated performance indicators in real time (via sankey chart/ sankey diagrams- 0060) (The final results may be visualized in connection with a Sankey chart that maps input sources to outputs – 0064).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 6-15 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101 set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Relevant Prior Art / Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Prifti et al. (US Patent Application Publication 2023/0230663 A1) discloses a system that predicts the carbon footprint of an industrial process;
FARROKHABADI et al. (US Patent Application Publication 2023/0155387 A1) discloses systems and methods for dynamic tuning of controller in power grids;
Kaufman et al. (US Patent Application Publication 2010/0274602 A1) discloses a system for real time energy consumption analysis and reporting.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICKY GO whose telephone number is (571)270-3340. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arleen M. Vazquez can be reached on (571) 272-2619. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RICKY GO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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