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 .
Response to Arguments
The Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s amendments and remarks filed on 3 April 2026. They have been fully considered and are sufficient to overcome the rejections set forth in the prior Office Action. The claims are not in condition for allowance, however, due to the new grounds of rejection set forth below.
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 11 and 14-16 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.
In the Requirement for Restriction mailed on 17 June 2025, the Examiner indicated that the following patentably distinct species were presented in the application:
Species I (claims 1-10, Fig. 1 and 4, para. 0024-0046 of the specification), directed to a data center and method for controlling crypto mining activity by opening and closing a network switch, thereby interrupting communication between crypto miner servers and a crypto network, resulting in a desired power usage for the data center.
Species Il (claims 11-17, Fig. 2 and 5, para. 0047-0067 of the specification), directed to a data center and method for maintaining a constant total data center power usage.
The species were held as independent and distinct for the following reasons:
The species are independent or distinct because they recite mutually exclusive characteristics. For example, Species I controls an amount of mining activity which results in controlling power consumption according to a desired amount. Species I further recites that a network switch is opened and closed to interrupt communication between crypto miner servers and a crypto network. Species II does not recite these features, and instead controls crypto miner servers to maintain constant total data center power usage by comparing to at least one prior measurement of total data center power usage. The specification also teaches that Species I and Il are separate embodiments (e.g., Fig. 1 vs. 2, Fig. 4 vs. 5). In addition, these species are not obvious variants of each other based on the current record.
In the Response to the Restriction Requirement mailed on 18 August 2025, Applicant elected Species II without traverse for examination. Claims 12 and 13 were originally dependent claims of claim 11, and thus were elected for further examination, but recited limitations directed to non-elected Species I. By incorporating claims 12 and 13 into claim 11, the amendment combined separate embodiments not disclosed as being usable together in the same embodiment. The specification as originally filed disclosed Species I and II as separate embodiments and provided no indication that features of the embodiments could be combined in the manner claimed. Specifically, the specification failed to disclose an embodiment for maintaining constant total data center power usage by controlling the opening and closing of network switches. Similar reasoning may be applied to claim 15, which has been amended to incorporate limitations originally recited in claim 17.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JI H BAE whose telephone number is (571)272-7181. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday to Friday and every other Monday, 9 am to 6 pm.
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/JI H BAE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2176 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Phone: 571-272-7181
Fax: 571-273-7181
ji.bae@uspto.gov
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