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
Status of Claims
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 USC §101 Rejection.
Claims 2-10 are objected claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered.
In particular, the “Guide for Technology of Lightning Protection for Traction Power Supply System of High-speed Railway (TB/T3551-2019)” mentioned in paragraph 0063 of the specification has not been considered by the Examiner.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more as addressed below.
The new 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance published in the Federal Register (Vol. 84 No. 4, Jan 7, 2019 pp 50-57) has been applied and the claims are deemed as being patent ineligible.
The current 35 USC 101 analysis is based on the current guidance (Federal Register vol. 79, No. 241. pp. 74618-74633). The analysis follows several steps. Step 1 determines whether the claim belongs to a valid statutory class. Step 2A prong 1 identifies whether an abstract idea is claimed. Step 2A prong 2 determines whether an abstract idea is integrated into a practical application. If the abstract idea is integrated into a practical application the claim is patent eligible under 35 USC 101. Last, step 2B determines whether the claims contain something significantly more than the abstract idea. In most cases the existence of a practical application predicates the existence of an additional element that is significantly more.
Under the Step 1 of the eligibility analysis, we determine whether the claims are to a statutory category by considering whether the claimed subject matter falls within the four statutory categories of patentable subject matter identified by 35 U.S.C. 101: Process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. The below claim is considered to be in a statutory category (process).
Under Step 1 of the analysis, claim 1 does belong to a statutory category, namely it is a process claim.
Under Step 2A Prong 1, the independent claim 1 includes abstract ideas as highlighted (using a bold font) below.
“Claim 1. A method for predicting a lightning outage rate of a high-speed railway contact system based on a lightning location, comprising following steps:
setting up a lightning location network by taking a high-speed railway line as a central line, and carrying out a location of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes through a time of arrival method to obtain location errors of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes;
obtaining a ground flash density along the high-speed railway line according to the location errors of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes by obtaining a detection efficiency of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes of the lightning location network, wherein the ground flash density represents a number of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes detected in a unit area;
obtaining a cumulative probability distribution of lightning current amplitudes by obtaining cumulative probability values of different lightning current amplitudes based on the lightning current amplitudes of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes; and
determining an outage rate of the high-speed railway contact system after lightning strikes according to a lightning outage rate formula of a direct lightning of a messenger wire and contact wire (wire T) of the contact system, a lightning outage rate formula of a direct lightning of an auxiliary feeder (AF) of the contact system and a lightning outage rate formula of an induction lightning of the contact system after obtaining engineering parameters of the contact system of the high-speed railway based on the ground flash density and the cumulative probability distribution of the lightning current amplitudes.”
The highlighted steps indicated as Abstract idea are considered to be equivalent to mathematical steps and fundamental aspect of mathematics or directed to mental processes performed in the human mind (including observation, evaluation and opinion).
Under Step 2A Prong 2, claim 1 merely establishes a field of use of high-speed railway monitoring. The claims taken as a whole do not integrate the abstract idea into a particular practical application.
The steps of “setting up a lightning location network by taking a high-speed railway line as a central line, and carrying out a location of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes through a time of arrival method to obtain location errors of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes”, “obtaining a ground flash density along the high-speed railway line according to the location errors of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes by obtaining a detection efficiency of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes of the lightning location network, wherein the ground flash density represents a number of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes detected in a unit area” and “obtaining a cumulative probability distribution of lightning current amplitudes by obtaining cumulative probability values of different lightning current amplitudes based on the lightning current amplitudes of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes” are just broadly recited steps of data-gathering the data necessary to utilize the recited formulas, which is insignificant extra solution activity.
Under Step 2B, the steps discussed above as additional element data-gathering do not make the claims significantly more than the abstract idea limitations for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 2, claim 2 recites further additional elements, namely the use of three lightning which are specific machines which detect lightning strikes. Considering the factors in MPEP 2106.05(b), they are particular, not general, they implement the method by locating the lightning strikes, and they are a significant part of the claimed invention, not just extra-solution activity or field-of-use. Claim 2 is therefore considered eligible, as are claims 3-10 which depend from it.
Objection / Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-10 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.
Examiner note regarding the prior art of the record:
1. Gu et al., (CN102967785A), hereinafter Gu discloses a high speed railway drafting net lightning protection performance evaluation method, and discloses the following features (see paragraph [0011] of the specification):
employing a mesh method, dividing the evaluation area into several spatial grids, and based on mass lightning positioning system data, using the Lightning Parameter Statistics Method for Lightning Parameters for each Space Mesh using a computer through line corridor lightning parameter counting method to count out of each space grid in the appointed time flash density parameter and lightning current probability density distribution parameter, building calculation mode uses the lightning strike trip-out rate of the calculation method for calculating the line of each section and its direct lightning strike trip-out rate in the appointed time space(para [0011]).
The high-iron line lightning parameters counted in step S2, combining topographic geological features of the high-iron line given in step S1, a high bridge road-based tunnel structural feature, an insulating feature of a high iron line traction mesh, structural features of high iron lines, establishing a calculation mode, performing a segment-by-segment lightning strike trip rate calculation, the established calculation mode is using the lightning strike trip rate calculation method, performing the section-by section lightning strike trip rate calculation is calculating the direct lightning strike trip rate, the induced lightning strike trip rate and the total lightning strike trip rate for each section of the high-iron line segmented in the grid over a specified time period, the lightning strike trip rate for a full line of a high iron line is a weighted average of the total lightning strike trip rates for sections of the line (equivalent to a cumulative probability distribution based on the ground flash density and the lightning current amplitude (Para [011]).
Gu disclose the lightning outage rate calculation method is not suitable for high-speed railway line lightning trip rate calculation.(see para [008], e.g., Gu does not disclose determining an outage rate of the high-speed railway… outage rate formula.
Gu discloses a method of prediction of lightning strike trip rate of a network of high iron contacts based on lightning localization by obtaining high iron contact network engineering parameters, obtaining the trip-out rate after high iron contacts encounter a lightning strike according to the direct contact trip rate formula and the induced contact trip rate formula (3) (para [0022]).
Gu disclose the lightning outage rate calculation method is not suitable for high-speed railway line lightning trip rate calculation.(see para [008], e.g., Gu does not disclose determining an outage rate of the high-speed railway… outage rate formula.
Gu does not teach:
obtaining a cumulative probability distribution of lightning current amplitudes by obtaining cumulative probability values of different lightning current amplitudes based on the lightning current amplitudes of the cloud-to-ground lightning flashes;
determining an outage rate of the high-speed railway contact system after lightning
strikes according to a lightning outage rate formula of a direct lightning of a messenger wire and contact wire (wire T) of the contact system, a lightning outage rate formula of a direct lightning of an auxiliary feeder (AF) of the contact system and a lightning outage rate formula of an induction lightning of the contact system.”
2. Wang (CN108828332) discloses a lightning location system for calculating the detection efficiency of the method, comprising the following steps: S1: the lightning current amplitude is divided into several sections, each amplitude section calculating the detection efficiency of each station in the lightning location system, S2, the evaluation area is divided into several measuring area, calculating the detection efficiency of each measuring area each amplitude section thunder, S3: total lightning detection efficiency of computing each of said measurement area (Abstract).
2. “TRMMLIS Climatology of Thunderstorm Occurrence and Conditional Lightning Flash Rates” DANIEL J. CECIL et al., NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama (Manuscript received 9 February 2015, in final form 15 May 2015) Vol 28, pages 6536-6547 discloses products VOLUME 28 generally compute mean lightning flash rates by accumulating the total number of flashes observed by lightening imaging sensor (introduction).
3. Lei (CN115825636A) discloses dividing the target area into n grids; according to the lightning ground flash activity information, determining the ith grid of the lightning ground flash density and current amplitude probability distribution; according to the lightning ground flash density and the current amplitude probability distribution, determining the ith grid of the induction lightning flash rate index Ri(Abstract).
4. Tang (CN108009351A) discloses obtaining the network parameter and lightning stroke parameter analysis area, the area to be analyzed is divided into multiple grids; counting the grid of ground flash density; calculating the analysis area network circuit of lightning strike trip-risk value, the analysis area to be lightning network circuit tripping risk value performs grade division and visual processing to obtain the final lightning outage risk profile (Abstract).; further in step S3 disclose :
S1 obtaining the lightning parameter, if the lightning strike position in the grid, the grid of flash times adds one, repeating said steps until all of the lightning strike location parameter are searched, then all flash times the grid divided by grid area to obtain each grid of flash density; in Claim 7 shows the formula calculating the lightning outage risk values…formula, N1 is the impact of network circuit in some grid trip probability, N2 is the shielding of electric network circuitry in some grid trip probability, NW is statistics of a certain grid flash density, the equivalent network circuit flash density is the average of the area to be analyzed. Tang discloses the calculating outage risk values for power transmission line of the network, not outage risk formula for the direct lightning of catenary-contact wire system and a lightning outage rate formula of an induction lightning of the contact system of railway”.
5. Gu (CN1013154400B) discloses a lightning parameter statistics based transmission line lightning proof property evaluation method, comprising the following basic steps: (1) given the need information of the transmission line lightning proof property evaluation. (2) by specifying the given transmission time space in flash density of lightning current amplitude probability distribution statistical, (3) calculating the pole tower for segmenting transmission line lightning trip-out rate of each section in the appointed time space, (4) according to line lightning trip-out rate of the design value, regulated value or operation empirical value reference value. The (3) calculated in the prescribed time period obtained in each section and transmission line lightning trip-out rate of the whole line, and evaluating the transmission line lightning proof property on the time difference and the difference on the space.
The prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a method of predicting a lightning outage rage of a high-speed railway contact system having the steps of:
“determining an outage rate of the high-speed railway contact system after lightning strikes according to a lightning outage rate formula of a direct lightning of a messenger wire and contact wire (wire T) of the contact system, a lightning outage rate formula of a direct lightning of an auxiliary feeder (AF) of the contact system and a lightning outage rate formula of an induction lightning of the contact system after obtaining engineering parameters of the contact system of the high-speed railway based on the ground flash density and the cumulative probability distribution of the lightning current amplitudes.”
Claim 1 is therefore not rejected over prior art. Similarly, claims 2-10 are not rejected over prior art since they are dependent from base claim 1.
Conclusion
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/KALERIA KNOX/
Examiner, Art Unit 2857
/ANDREW SCHECHTER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2857
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