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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “disconnect switch’ must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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 § 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.
Claim 20 is 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.
Claim 20 recites “determining a status of a disconnect switch” in line 2. It is unclear from Applicant’s specification this is conveyed. Instead application specification discloses determining whether the switch in close or open states not “ a status of a disconnect switch”.
Applicant’s specification does not describe how such determination is conveyed. The limitation renders the claim unclear. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-7, 9 and 11-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xu et al. (US 2020/0366236), hereinafter Xu.
As to claims 1 and 11 and 17, Xu discloses 1-6 (figure 3 is reproduced below):-
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system comprising: an energy storage system including one or more batteries [energy storage batteries; see figure 3 and above; ] that is configured to obtain direct current power from each of a plurality of photovoltaic modules [photovoltaic array; see figure above and also ¶0047-0048] in a photovoltaic module array;
and a plurality of switch devices [3-port switching devices; see ¶0046] , each of the switch devices including: a first port [port A; ¶0050] configured to be directly coupled to a single photovoltaic module of the plurality of photovoltaic modules in the photovoltaic module array such that each of the plurality of photovoltaic modules are directly coupled to a different one of the plurality of switch devices and the first ports receive direct current power generated by the photovoltaic modules [see figure above; see ¶0046-0050];
a second port [port B] configured to be coupled to a connection system for coupling the photovoltaic modules to an electrical grid [power grid; see figure above]; and
a third port [port C] configured to be coupled to the energy storage system,
wherein each switching device is configured to couple the first port to the second port in a first configuration [connecting port A and port B; see ¶0043] and to couple the first port to the third port [connecting port A and C; ¶0043 ] in a second configuration, wherein the energy storage system is configured to provide a control signal to each of the plurality of switch devices to select between the first configuration and the second configuration [¶0050].
As to claim 2, Xu discloses in figure 5, wherein the switch is further configured to couple the first port to a disconnected position in a third configuration [ the ports are connected and disconnected based on the control signal; and when the power demand keeps dropping port A is disconnected; see ¶0043].
As to claims 3 and 14, Xu discloses in figure 5, wherein the disconnected position is a floating position where the switch is only electrically connected to the single photovoltaic module [when A is disconnected it only connected to the photovoltaic module and no current path is provided, which is in floating status see ¶0043].
As to claims 4 and 15, Xu discloses in figure 5, wherein each of the first port, the second port, and the third port include a positive terminal and a negative terminal [it is implicit that the ports have negative and positive terminals in order to allow current flow; see ¶0041-0043].
As to claim 5, Xu discloses in figures 1-5, wherein the first port [port A; see figure 5] is directly coupled to the single photovoltaic module [see figure 5] such that only an electrical conductor is electrically coupled between the first port and the single photovoltaic module [the ports are electrically connected to the photovoltaic, to the batteries and to the power grid; see ¶0041-0043].
As to claim 6, Xu discloses in figures 1-5, wherein a first group of the plurality of switch devices [the 3-port switch devices; see figure 5] are configured in the first configuration and a second group of the plurality of switch devices are configured in the second configuration at the same time .
As to claim 7, Xu discloses in figures 1-6, a power combination device configured to be couple between the third ports of a group of two or more of the plurality of switch devices and the energy storage system [photovoltaic inverter is combination device].
As to claim 9, Xu discloses in figure 9, wherein energy storage system includes a processor configured to execute instructions to cause or direct performance of operations, the operations comprising: determine an availability of power from the electrical grid; and in response to no power being available, direct the plurality of switch devices to the second configuration [see ¶0018; controller is disclosed to control the charging and discharging of the power supplies by controlling the status of the switches ].
As to claim 12 Xu discloses in figures 1-6, wherein a configuration of the switch is selected based on a control signal from the energy storage system [ MPPT controller controls the current flow; ¶0015-0018].
As to claim 13, Xu discloses in figures 1-6, wherein the switch is further configured to couple the first port to a disconnected position in a third configuration [see ¶0018 and also ¶0041-0043; port A disconnected from the second photovoltaic array].
As to claim 16, Xu discloses in figures 1-6, wherein the first port is directly coupled to the single photovoltaic module such that only an electrical conductor is electrically coupled between the first port and the single photovoltaic module [port A is always connected to the photovoltaic module; see figure above].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 10 and 18-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
For Claim 8: primarily, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest in the claimed combination: a second power combination device configured to be couple between the third ports of the group of two or more of the plurality of switch devices and the energy storage system, wherein the power combination device is coupled between first terminals of the group of two or more of the plurality of switch devices and the energy storage system and the second power combination device is coupled between second terminals of the group of two or more of the plurality of switch devices and the energy storage system
For Claim 10: primarily, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest in the claimed combination: wherein the operations further comprise: determine a second availability of power from the electrical grid ; in response to the power being available, determine if a power level of the energy storage system satisfies a threshold; and in response to the power level of the energy storage system satisfying the threshold, direct the plurality of switch devices to the first configuration.
For Claim 18: primarily, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest in the claimed combination: determining a second availability of power from the electrical grid; in response to the power being available, determining if a power level of the energy storage system satisfies a threshold; and in response to the power level of the energy storage system satisfying the threshold, directing the plurality of switch devices to a second configuration where a switch device couples the first port to the second port.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Abe et al. (US 2013/0187465) discloses power management system.
Choi (US 2011/0133556) discloses energy storage system.
Beck (US 2010/0264732) discloses photovoltaic system with battery and reserve power plant.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL BERHANU whose telephone number is (571)272-8430. The examiner can normally be reached M_F.
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/SAMUEL BERHANU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
