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 .
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.
Claims 1-15, 17, 20-22, & 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea of a mental process of observing and assessing an alternator’s performance and state of operation without significantly more. Independent claims 1, 7, 14, & 20 all contain the 101 issues addressed below and the dependent claims do not appear to correct the deficiencies presented below regarding the limitations of claim 1. The additional elements recited do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application or amount to significantly more for the following reasons:
I. The limitation “receiving alternator output data indicating an electrical output of an alternator” is simply an observation of a user looking at a multimeter or some other similar tool.
II. The limitation “estimating an expected excitation current in a rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data” could simply be the mental process performed after making the above listed observation.
III. The limitation “plotting a characteristic test curve for the alternator using the estimated equivalent open circuit voltage and [[the]] a measured excitation current in the rotor of the alternator” is a task that can be performed mentally or by hand on paper.
IV. The limitation “assessing a condition of the rotor of the alternator using the characteristic test curve” is a mental step wherein the user makes a decision regarding the state of the alternator based on the provided information.
The claims recite a series of steps that can be performed by hand by a user. All of the method steps are simply using a computer to perform calculations and generic estimations that a human can do with a pencil and paper. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because they amount to simply implementing the abstract idea on a computer. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional limitations only store and retrieve information in memory, and these are well-understood, routine, conventional computer functions as recognized by the court decisions listed in MPEP § 2106.05(d). These are also steps that are easily performed by a human with access to relevant information and a pencil and paper. As such, the additional elements do not incorporate the abstract ideas, identified above into a practical application or amount to significantly more.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-15, 17, 20-22, & 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) & (a)(2) as being anticipated by Bosch et al (U.S. PGPub # 2010/0182037).
Regarding Independent claim 1, Bosch teaches:
A method of monitoring an alternator (Paragraph 0024.), the method comprising:
receiving alternator output data indicating an electrical output of an alternator (Paragraphs 0020-0021.);
estimating an expected excitation current in a rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data (Paragraphs 0020-0021.);
estimating an equivalent open circuit voltage of the alternator from the estimated expected excitation current estimated (Paragraphs 0020-0021.);
plotting a characteristic test curve for the alternator using the estimated equivalent open circuit voltage and [[the]] a measured excitation current in the rotor of the alternator (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.); and
assessing a condition of the rotor of the alternator using the characteristic test curve (Paragraphs 0023-0024.).
Regarding claim 2, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 1, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches looking up a first characteristic reference curve for the alternator and wherein estimating an excitation current in the rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data comprises using the first characteristic reference curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 3, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 2, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the first characteristic reference curve for the alternator is a V-curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 4, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 1, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches looking up a second characteristic reference curve and wherein estimating an equivalent open circuit voltage using the estimated excitation current in the rotor comprises using the second characteristic reference curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 5, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 4, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the second characteristic reference curve is a no load saturation or open circuit characteristic curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 6, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 1, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the characteristic test curve is a no load saturation or open circuit characteristic test curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding Independent claim 7,
A method of monitoring an alternator (Paragraph 0024.), the method comprising:
receiving alternator output data indicating an electrical output of an alternator (Paragraphs 0020-0021.), the alternator output data comprising a measured excitation current in [[the]] a rotor of the alternator (Paragraphs 0020-0021.);
estimating an expected excitation current in a rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data (Paragraphs 0020-0021.); and
assessing a condition of the rotor of the alternator by comparing the expected excitation current in the rotor of the alternator with the measured excitation current in the rotor of the alternator (Paragraphs 0023-0024.).
Regarding claim 8, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 7, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches comparing the expected excitation current in the rotor of the alternator with the measured excitation current in the rotor of the alternator comprises calculating a deviation between the expected excitation current and the measured excitation current (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 9, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 7, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches looking up a first characteristic reference curve for the alternator and wherein estimating an excitation current in the rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data comprises using the characteristic reference curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 10, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 9, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the first characteristic reference curve for the alternator is a V-curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 11, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 1, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches generating a graph showing the condition of the rotor of the alternator (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 12, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 11, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the graph showing the condition of the rotor of the alternator shows results over a time period (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 13, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 1, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches a computer readable medium storing processor executable instructions which when executed on a processor cause the processor to carry out a method according to claim 1 (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 14, Bosch teaches:
An alternator monitoring system (Paragraph 0024.) comprising:
a processor and a data storage device (Fig. 1 Element LE & Diagnostics. See paragraphs 0016-0019.) storing computer program instructions operable to cause the processor to:
receive alternator output data indicating an electrical output of an alternator (Paragraphs 0020-0021.);
estimate an expected excitation current in a rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data (Paragraphs 0020-0021.);
estimate an equivalent open circuit voltage of the alternator from the estimated expected excitation current estimated (Paragraphs 0020-0021.);
plotting a characteristic test curve for the alternator using the estimated equivalent open circuit voltage and [[the]] a measured excitation current in the rotor of the alternator (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.); and
assess a condition of the rotor of the alternator using the characteristic test curve (Paragraphs 0023-0024.).
Regarding claim 15, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 14, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the data storage device further stores computer program instructions operable to cause the processor to: look up a first characteristic reference curve for the alternator (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.); and estimate an excitation current in the rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data using the first characteristic reference curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 17, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 14, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the data storage device further stores computer program instructions operable to cause the processor to: look up a second characteristic reference curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.); and estimate an equivalent open circuit voltage using the estimated excitation current in the rotor comprises using the second characteristic reference curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding Independent claim 20, Bosch teaches:
An alternator monitoring system (Paragraph 0024.) comprising:
a processor and a data storage device (Fig. 1 Element LE & Diagnostics. See paragraphs 0016-0019.) storing computer program instructions operable to cause the processor to:
receive alternator output data indicating an electrical output of an alternator (Paragraphs 0020-0021.), the alternator output data comprising a measured excitation current in [[the]] a rotor of the alternator (Paragraphs 0020-0021.);
estimate an expected excitation current in a rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data (Paragraphs 0020-0021.); and
assess a condition of the rotor of the alternator by comparing the expected excitation current in the rotor of the alternator with the measured excitation current in the rotor of the alternator (Paragraphs 0023-0024.).
Regarding claim 21, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 20, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the data storage device further stores computer program instructions operable to cause the processor to: compare the expected excitation current in the rotor of the alternator with the measured excitation current in the rotor of the alternator by calculating a deviation between the expected excitation current and the measured excitation current (Paragraphs 0020-0021.).
Regarding claim 22, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 20, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the data storage device further stores computer program instructions operable to cause the processor to: look up a first characteristic reference curve for the alternator (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.); and estimate an excitation current in the rotor of the alternator from the alternator output data using the characteristic reference curve (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Regarding claim 24, Bosch teaches all elements of claim 20, upon which this claim depends.
Bosch teaches the data storage device further stores computer program instructions operable to cause the processor to: generate a graph showing the condition of the rotor of the alternator (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.), wherein the graph showing the condition of the rotor of the alternator shows results over a time period (See Fig. 2 and associated text of paragraphs 0020-0024.).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The prior art listed but not cited represents the previous state of the art and analogous art that teaches some of the limitations claimed by applicant.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER P MCANDREW whose telephone number is (469)295-9025. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6-4:30.
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/CHRISTOPHER P MCANDREW/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858