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 .
This non-final office action is responsive to Applicants' application filed on 05/28/24. Claims 1-5 are presented for examination and are pending for the reasons indicated herein below.
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-2 and 4 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamasaki et al. (US 20180241097 A1 and hereinafter as Yama)
Regarding claim 1. Yama teaches a stationary power storage [fig 1] system,
comprising: a plurality of power storage devices [see 10-40 excluding 50a-d]; a plurality of current sensors [each 10-40 has 53a shown in fig 2] provided in the plurality of power storage devices, respectively;
and a control device [50m/50a] configured to control a current value of each of the plurality of power storage devices [i.e. controlled by switching S1],
wherein each of the plurality of power storage devices is configured to be switchable between conduction and interruption in accordance with a command from the control device [¶50],
the control device is configured to select at least one power storage device to be used for energy management from the plurality of power storage devices and interrupt a current of at least one power storage device that has not been selected [¶56], for the energy management, control a current value of the at least one power storage device that has been selected [controlling switches controls the current value sense by current sensors], and during execution of the energy management [i.e. controlling switches], acquire an output value [fig 2, 52a always detects a voltage value], when no current flows [when S1 is open no current is flowing in R1, fig 2], of at least one current sensor of the plurality of current sensors, the at least one current sensor corresponding to the at least one power storage device that has not been selected [53a sensor detect current independently to which storage device is selected].
Regarding claim 2. Yama teaches the stationary power storage system according to claim 1,
wherein the plurality of power storage devices are connected to each other in parallel [as shown in fig 2],
the stationary power storage system further comprising a plurality of relays that are provided in the plurality of power storage devices [¶28], respectively,
each of the plurality of relays being configured to switch between conduction and interruption of a corresponding power storage device of the plurality of power storage devices in accordance with a command from the control device [function of 50a-d], and the control device is configured to during the execution of the energy management, interrupt the current by at least one relay of the plurality of relays [¶56],
the at least one relay corresponding to the at least one power storage device that has not been selected, and correct [i.e. manage power], based on the output value of the current sensor when no current flows [¶45],
a detection error [output 53a] of the at least one current sensor corresponding to the at least one power storage device that has not been selected.
Regarding claim 4. Yama teaches the stationary power storage system according to claim 1,
wherein the control device is configured to repeatedly perform the selection of a power storage device during the execution of the energy management [steps in fig 6 are repeated to manage power], and the control device is configured to during the execution of the energy management, sequentially interrupt a current of each of the plurality of power storage devices [¶50],
and acquire an output value of a current sensor [53a] of the plurality of current sensors, the current sensor corresponding to the power storage device for which the current is interrupted [implicit per fig 2, 10].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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.
Claim 3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamasaki et al. (US 20180241097 A1 and hereinafter as Yama) in view of Wu et al. (US 20150069844 A1)
Regarding claim 3. Yama teaches the stationary power storage system according to claim 1,
wherein the plurality of power storage devices are connected to each other in parallel [as shown in fig 2],
the stationary power storage system further comprising a plurality of power conversion circuits that are provided in the plurality of power storage devices, respectively, wherein the plurality of power storage devices includes a first power storage device [fig 2, 11-1n] including a first battery and a second power storage device including a second battery different [¶27, implies that storage device has a different battery module type] in type from the first battery.
However, Yama does not explicitly mention a device [fig 3] comprising: each of the plurality of power conversion circuits [see 222] being configured to transform an output voltage [out of 221] of a corresponding power storage device of the plurality of power storage devices in accordance with a command from the control device [implicit in ¶35].
Wu teaches a device comprising: each of the plurality of power conversion circuits being configured to transform an output voltage of a corresponding power storage device of the plurality of power storage devices in accordance with a command from the control device.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the features of Wu in order to provide a stable and clean synchronizer power without the system experiencing damage or destabilize voltage.
Claim 5 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi et al. (US 20140184165 A1 and hereinafter as Taka)
Regarding claim 5. Yama teaches the stationary power storage system according to claim 1, However, Yama does not explicitly mention wherein the stationary power storage system is configured to execute energy management of a power grid in response to a request from a server that manages the power grid, and the control device is configured to always accept the request from the server.
Taka teaches wherein the stationary power storage system [8000] is configured to execute energy management of a power grid in response to a request from a server [8013, ¶500] that manages the power grid [8001, ¶510], and the control device [i.e. 8004] is configured to always accept the request from the server.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the features of -- in order to provide real time monitoring of power usage which gives precise insight into consumption and thus, optimizing power cost.
Examiner Note
The examiner cites particular columns and lines numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bryan Perez whose telephone number is (571)272-8837. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon.-Fri. (7:30 – 5:00).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Crystal Hammond, can be reached on (571) 270-1682. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRYAN R PEREZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2838