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 .
Detailed Action
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 15 is considered indefinite because it is unclear how the embodiment, “A management system according to claim 14”, is different from “A system for managing”, which is the embodiment of claim 14.
Use of the word “A” instead of “The” prior to “management system” within claim 15 represents the introduction of a new (management) system, however the reference back to the system of claim 14 then immediately contradicts the introduction.
- The examiner suggests amending claim 15 to read, “The management system according to claim 14,”
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, 3, 4, 8, 9, and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsuyama et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2010/0141442.
Per Claim 1, Matsuyama discloses:
a method of managing the power consumption of a local communications network (LAN) (home network 100 (Fig. 1) or home network 300 (Fig. 29)) to which at least one piece of user equipment is connected (electric devices 21-30), the local communications network (LAN) being managed by a gateway (GW) (power control device 330) for access to a remote communications network (WAN) (Paragraphs 296-302, Figure 29; Power control device 330 controls the power received from a power company, an electricity generating device 320, and an electricity storage device 340 to manage the power distribution within the home network of devices (i.e. electric devices 21-30. The power and information communicated outside of the electric devices, slaves, and master are considered a remote communications network to these respective devices.), wherein the method is implemented by the gateway (GW) and comprises:
obtaining at least one piece of information relating to at least one power supply source for the local communications network (LAN) (Paragraph 21; “power outage information” refers to a power source provided by a power company. Paragraphs 21 and 22; “power stored in the electricity storage device” represents an amount of power stored in a battery (340) resident to the household.);
obtaining at least one piece of information relating to a power consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment (Paragraph 22; “recalculates power stored in the electricity storage device and the power consumption of electric devices”; Paragraphs 89-90, 130, 131; Master 1 receives power usage states of the electric devices 21-30. Power control device 330 receives this information from master 1/1A to perform the actions described in Paragraph 309 (i.e. “determining whether the sum of power…is larger than the power consumption of the electric devices 21 to 30 in the house 200”.).;
and a command for modifying the power consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment and/or the at least one power supply source according to the information obtained (Paragraphs 19-22 and 301-303; Note: The and/or language only requires the prior art to teach one of the limitations to anticipate the claim. In this example, Matsuyama teaches both in limiting the power supplied to electric devices and also teaches using power stored in an electricity storage device 340 to supply power to those devices deemed vital/priority to the residents of the house.),
the modification command depending on a priority level and/or an individual power consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment (Paragraph 19; “Preferably, in case of power outage, the power control device controls k modules (k is a positive integer that satisfies k.ltoreq.n) provided corresponding to k electric devices necessary to sustain the lives of the residents so that power stored in the electricity storage device is supplied to the k electric devices.” – Paragraph 21 “controls power supply from the electricity storage device to an electric device with the usage priority higher than a reference value”. – Paragraphs 301-303; In the case of a power outage, power control device 330 detects priority devices, such as a refrigerator, and taps into the power stored in a local power storage device 340 to supply power to those vital devices within the home.).
Per Claim 3, Matsuyama discloses the method of managing power consumption according to claim 1, wherein the command for modifying the power consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment is selected from (Note: only one of the listed limitations needs to be taught by the prior art to anticipate the claim.): a command for shutting down the at least one piece of equipment according to said the priority level and/or the individual consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment; a command for putting the at least one piece of equipment on standby according to the priority level and/or the individual consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment (Paragraphs 19, 29, and 350-352; Devices deemed not necessary in the case of a power outage can have the power supplied to them limited to zero if there is not enough power stored in the power storage device 340 for providing power to the higher priority electric devices deemed to be more necessary to the users of the household.); and a command for reactivating the at least one piece of equipment.
Per Claim 4, Matsuyama discloses the method of managing power consumption according to claim 1, wherein the command for modifying the at least one power supply source is selected from (Note: only one of the listed limitations needs to be taught by the prior art to anticipate the claim.): a command for putting into service another power supply source (Paragraphs 19-21 and 298-302, Figure 29; In the event of a power outage, power stored in storage device 340 can be distributed to electric devices 21-30 based on their priority.); a command for planned outage of the at least one power supply source.
Per Claim 8, Matsuyama discloses a processing circuit (computer 600) comprising a processor (CPU 601) and a memory (ROM 602), the memory storing program code instructions of a computer program product for implementing the method for managing a power consumption (Paragraphs 365-366; The ROM 602 stores a program including the flowchart shown in Figures 10, 20, 22, 24, 28, 31, and 38.) according to claim 1 (Please refer to the above rejection of Claim 1), when the computer program is executed by the processor (Paragraph 366; “The CPU 601 reads out and executes the respective programs stored in the Rom 602”).
Per Claim 9, Matsuyama discloses:
a device (Paragraphs 363-367, Figure 39; Computer 600 represents a “device” capable of implementing the teachings of the invention.) for managing a power consumption of a local communications network (LAN) (home network 100 (Fig. 1) or home network 300 (Fig. 29)) to which at least one piece of equipment (electric devices 21-30) is connected, the local communications network (LAN) being managed by a gateway (GW) (power control device 330) for access to a remote communications network (Paragraphs 296-302, Figure 29; Power control device 330 controls the power received from a power company, an electricity generating device 320, and an electricity storage device 340 to manage the power distribution within the home network of devices (i.e. electric devices 21-30. The power and information communicated outside of the electric devices, slaves, and master are considered a remote communications network to these respective devices.), wherein the management device comprises:
a first module for obtaining at least one piece of information relating to at least one power supply source for the local communications network (LAN) (Paragraph 21; “power outage information” refers to a power source provided by a power company. Paragraphs 21 and 22; “power stored in the electricity storage device” represents an amount of power stored in a battery (340) resident to the household. Note: paragraph 51 of the instant Specification defines “module” as being any combination of hardware and software components. Matsuyama teaches program(s) for performing the teachings of the invention.);
a second module for obtaining at least one piece of information relating to a power consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment (Paragraph 22; “recalculates power stored in the electricity storage device and the power consumption of electric devices”; Paragraphs 89-90, 130, 131; Master 1 receives power usage states of the electric devices 21-30. Power control device 330 receives this information from master 1/1A to perform the actions described in Paragraph 309 (i.e. “determining whether the sum of power…is larger than the power consumption of the electric devices 21 to 30 in the house 200”.); and
a command module for modifying the power consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment and/or the at least one power supply source according to the information obtained (Paragraphs 19-22 and 301-303; Note: The and/or language only requires the prior art to teach one of the limitations to anticipate the claim. In this example, Matsuyama teaches both in limiting the power supplied to electric devices and also teaches using power stored in an electricity storage device 340 to supply power to those devices deemed vital/priority to the residents of the house.), the command module being configured to take into account a priority level and/or an individual power consumption level of the at least one piece of equipment (Paragraph 19; “Preferably, in case of power outage, the power control device controls k modules (k is a positive integer that satisfies k.ltoreq.n) provided corresponding to k electric devices necessary to sustain the lives of the residents so that power stored in the electricity storage device is supplied to the k electric devices.” – Paragraph 21 “controls power supply from the electricity storage device to an electric device with the usage priority higher than a reference value”. – Paragraphs 301-303; In the case of a power outage, power control device 330 detects priority devices, such as a refrigerator, and taps into the power stored in a local power storage device 340 to supply power to those vital devices within the home.).
Per Claims 11 and 12, please refer to the above rejection of claims 3 and 4, respectively, as the limitations are substantially similar and the mapping of the reference to the limitations is equally applicable.
Per Claim 13, Matsuyama discloses a gateway (power control device 330) of a local communications network configured to manage the local communications network (Fig. 29; LAN consisting of electric devices, slaves, and master) to which at least one piece of equipment is connected (electric devices 21-30), the gateway being a device for managing power consumption according to claim 9 (Please refer above to the rejection of claim 9.).
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 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 2, 5-7, 10, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsuyama et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2010/0141442 in view of Lewin et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2022/0060017.
Per Claim 2, Matsuyama does not specifically teach the method of managing power consumption according to claim 1, wherein the modification command further depends on a cost threshold associated with an energy power level supplied by at least one power supply source external to the local communications network (LAN).
However, Lewin similarly teaches an electronic power management device 150 for controlling power to connected electronic devices 166 within a local network connection (see Figure 1 and solid line power connections) and also providing access to a remote communications network (Figure 1; via network 102).
Lewin further teaches the limitations not taught by Matsuyama, the modification command further depends on a cost threshold associated with an energy power level supplied by at least one power supply source external to the local communications network (LAN) (Paragraph 46: “In addition to providing useful information at varying levels of granularity, the technology may manage the consumption of power of particular devices to boost the efficiency of power utilization for individuals as well as energy companies. For instance, the technology may modify typical utilization patterns of devices in a variety of ways. In another aspect, the systems and methods may communicate with power suppliers and consumers to coordinate non-essential (e.g., charging of electronic devices, charging of batteries) power usage to periods of low demand. Similar to aspects mentioned above, this may diminish the impact of power interruption events as well as significantly reduce individual energy costs for consumers.” Paragraph 54; Information such as home power usage, scheduled power outages, and energy pricing information is used in making power consumption decisions.).
- It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the energy cost teachings of Lewin within the power management system of Matsuyama because knowing energy pricing data is useful in scheduling the consumption of energy to non-peak time periods when there is lower demand in order to reduce individual energy costs for consumers (Lewin; paragraph 25).
Per Claim 5, Matsuyama discloses the method of managing power consumption according to claim 2, wherein the at least one piece of information relating to the at least one power supply source belongs to a group comprising (Note: Only one of the listed limitations needs to be taught by the prior art to anticipate the claim due to the “at least one of” limitation.):
a piece of information relating to the energy power level supplied by the at least one power supply source (Paragraph 21; “based on power stored in the electricity storage device”);
a piece of information relating to a time limit for the availability of the energy power level supplied by the at least one power supply source;
a piece of information relating to a cost associated with the energy power level supplied by the at least one external power supply source; and
a piece of information relating to a supply incident involving the external energy source (Paragraph 21; Power outage information).
Per Claim 6, Matsuyama discloses that the power control device preliminarily holds power outage information (Paragraph 21), but does not specifically state that this information is received from an information platform relating to the power supply from the remote communications network.
However, Lewin teaches receiving scheduled power outage information from a power company (Paragraphs 3 and 54), which represents an information platform relating to the power supply from the remote communications network.
- It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the Lewin’s power outage information communication teaching within the system of Matsuyama because it allows for pre-emptive action by a user to obtain secondary power means to alleviate inconveniences caused by power outages (Lewin, Paragraph 3).
Per Claim 7, Matsuyama discloses the method of managing power consumption according to claim 5, wherein the at least one piece of information relating to the at least one power supply source is obtained from a message received from a piece of equipment of the local communications network (LAN) comprising an internal power supply source configured to supply the at least one piece of equipment of the local communications network (LAN) (Paragraph 21; “based on power stored in the electricity storage device” represents an amount of power stored within backup battery power supply 340.).
Per Claim 10, Matsuyama does not specifically teach the management device according to claim 9, wherein the command module is further configured to take into account a cost threshold associated with an energy power level supplied by at least one power supply source external to the local communications network (LAN).
However, Lewin similarly teaches an electronic power management device 150 for controlling power to connected electronic devices 166 within a local network connection (see Figure 1 and solid line power connections) and also providing access to a remote communications network (Figure 1; via network 102).
Lewin further teaches the limitations not taught by Matsuyama, the modification command further depends on a cost threshold associated with an energy power level supplied by at least one power supply source external to the local communications network (LAN) (Paragraph 46: “In addition to providing useful information at varying levels of granularity, the technology may manage the consumption of power of particular devices to boost the efficiency of power utilization for individuals as well as energy companies. For instance, the technology may modify typical utilization patterns of devices in a variety of ways. In another aspect, the systems and methods may communicate with power suppliers and consumers to coordinate non-essential (e.g., charging of electronic devices, charging of batteries) power usage to periods of low demand. Similar to aspects mentioned above, this may diminish the impact of power interruption events as well as significantly reduce individual energy costs for consumers.” Paragraph 54; Information such as home power usage, scheduled power outages, and energy pricing information is used in making power consumption decisions.).
- It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the energy cost teachings of Lewin within the power management system of Matsuyama because knowing energy pricing data is useful in scheduling the consumption of energy to non-peak time periods when there is lower demand in order to reduce individual energy costs for consumers (Lewin; paragraph 25).
Per Claim 14, please refer to the above rejection of claims 9 and 13, as claim 14 is directed to a “system” comprising a gateway according to claim 13, and claim 13 was directed to a gateway comprising a dive for managing power consumption according to claim 9. Therefore, the above rejections of claims 9 and 13 are equally applicable to claim 14.
Additionally, Matsuyama discloses a system (home network 300) for managing the power consumption of a local communications network (LAN) to which at least one piece of equipment is connected (Fig. 29; Electric devices 21-30 are pieces of equipment within a LAN consisting of electric devices, slaves, and a master.).
Matsuyama discloses that the power control device preliminarily holds power outage information (Paragraph 21), but does not specifically state that this information is received from an information platform relating to the power supply connected to the at least one information system of an energy supplier.
However, Lewin teaches receiving scheduled power outage information from a power company (Paragraphs 3 and 54), which represents an information platform relating to the power supply from the remote communications network.
- It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the Lewin’s power outage information communication teaching within the system of Matsuyama because it allows for pre-emptive action by a user to obtain secondary power means to alleviate inconveniences caused by power outages (Lewin, Paragraph 3).
Per Claim 15, Matsuyama discloses a management system according to claim 14 (Please refer to the above rejection of claim 14), wherein the management system further comprises at least one piece of equipment of the local communication network (LAN) comprising an internal power supply configured to power the at least one piece of equipment of the local communication network (LAN) (Paragraph 21; “based on power stored in the electricity storage device”. Battery 340 is considered internal to the home network 300.).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN T MISIURA whose telephone number is (571)272-0889 - (Direct Fax: 571-273-0889). The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 8-4:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrew Jung can be reached on (571) 272-3779. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Brian T Misiura/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2175