DETAILED ACTIONS
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 07/10/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections- 35 USC §101
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- 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.§101 because the claimed invention is directed to judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Regarding claim 1,
An equipment performance calculation device for calculating the performance of at least one of a power generation device and a storage battery for a base station including the power generation device using renewable energy and the storage battery, the equipment performance calculation device comprising circuitry configured to:
acquire power consumption amount information related to a power consumption amount of the base station, power generation amount information indicating a power generation amount of the power generation device, and snow removal information related to snow removal for the power generation device; and
calculate the performance based on the acquired power consumption amount information, the power generation amount information, and the snow removal information.
The claim limitations underlined above is abstract idea, and the remaining limitations are “additional elements”.
Step 1 (Statutory Category): Yes. 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 above claim is considered to be in a statutory category (a mathematical manipulation). Therefore, it is directed to a statutory category, i.e., a mathematical manipulation.
Step 2 A, Prong-1 (the claim is evaluated to determine whether it is directed to a judicial-exception/abstract-idea): Yes.
In the above claim, the underlined portion constitutes an abstract idea because, under a broadest reasonable interpretation, it recites limitations that fall into/recite an abstract idea exception. Specifically, under the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, it falls into the grouping of subject matter when recited as such in a claim limitation that covers mental processes – concepts performed in the human mind including an observation, evaluation, judgement, and/or opinion and mathematical concepts (mathematical relationships, mathematical formulas or equations, mathematical calculations, a mathematical manipulation).
For example, steps of “calculate the performance based on the acquired power consumption amount information, the power generation amount information, and the snow removal information.”, represents both the mathematical manipulation (Specification [0024]-[0034], and [0041]-[0045]) discloses that a pre-stored mathematical equation/ machine learning model (Specification [0024]) are manipulated with the acquired power generation data, consumption data and time series snow removal data. These steps represent a process (a mathematical manipulation) that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, it encompasses a calculating device/ a computer (as explained in the specification [0018], [0059]) calculating/evaluating equipment performance or generating performance data based on the acquired data.
Step 2A, Prong-2 (the claim is evaluated to determine whether the judicial exception/abstract-idea is integrated into a Practical Application): No.
Claim 1 recites additional elements
“acquire power consumption amount information related to a power consumption amount of the base station, power generation amount information indicating a power generation amount of the power generation device, and snow removal information related to snow removal for the power generation device”; are data gathering steps for the particular technological environment or field of use. And the additional elements “An equipment performance calculation device, a power generation device and a storage battery for a base station including the power generation device using renewable energy and the storage battery, the equipment performance calculation device comprising circuitry” are means of collecting data. Acquiring power generation data, power consumption data, and snow removal data are mere data gathering means and gathering steps and only add an insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception. The above additional elements, considered individually and in combination with the other claim elements do not reflect how the calculation of performance is presented to the user and its practical application or an improvement to other technology or technical field (as disclosed in the specification [0047]-[0049]) and, therefore, do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. Therefore, the claims are directed to a judicial exception and require further analysis under the Step 2B.
Step 2B (the claim is evaluated to determine whether recites additional elements that amount to an inventive concept, or also, the additional elements are significantly more than the recited the judicial-exception/abstract-idea): No. the additional element(s) are just insignificant extra-solution activity which are simply routine and conventional steps previously known to the pertinent industry that includes acquiring data from external factors such as power generation device and environmental/ weather related data and power consumption data. Therefore, the claim does not include additional element(s) significantly more, and/or, does not amount to more than the judicial-exception/abstract-idea itself and the claim is not patent eligible.
claims 2-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because claims depend on claim 1, therefore, has the abstract idea of claim 1 and also has the routine and conventional structure above of claim 1. In addition, claims 2-5 further recite the elements which are simply more standard computational, mathematical-calculation to data gathering /generate data and/ or a model, and data gathering means and device. Furthermore, claims 2-5 do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception
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, 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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mura et al. (JP 2019-4564 A, hereinafter Mura, an original copy with preview translation is uploaded by the examiner. The figure numbers are from original copy.) and in view of Kim et al. (KR 2017-0115179 A, hereinafter Kim).
Regarding Claim 1, Mura teaches,
An equipment performance calculation device (Mura, Figure 1, determination unit 14) for calculating the performance of at least one of a power generation device (Mura, Figure 1, solar power generation device 51) and a storage battery (Mura, Figure 1, a storage battery 52)for a base station including the power generation device using renewable energy and the storage battery, the equipment performance calculation device comprising circuitry (Mura, Figure 1, Page 3, top paragraph, “The self-supporting power supply system 50 is a system that supplies power in, for example, a radio base station). Middle paragraph, determination unit 14 that determines the power supply mode to the load device 54 in the independent power supply system 50”) configured to:
acquire power consumption amount information related to a power consumption amount of the base station, power generation amount information indicating a power generation amount of the power generation device, (Mura, Figure 1, Page 3, upper middle paragraph, “the power acquisition unit 11 derives (acquires) an actual measurement value of the power generation amount in the solar power generation device 51 by acquiring power data from, for example, the power conversion device 53, the storage battery 52, and the load device 54. Can do. Or the solar power generation device 51 acquires the predicted value of the power generation amount in the solar power generation device 51 by, for example, acquiring the generated power information in the solar power generation device 51 and the weather prediction information held in the weather database 60. Derived (acquired)”.
Mura teaches determination of predicted value of power out put considering the power generation data, power consumption data and weather data. Mura is silent on specific weather data such as snow removal data.
Mura is silent on snow removal information related to snow removal for the power generation device; and calculate the performance based on the acquired power consumption amount information, the power generation amount information, and the snow removal information.
However, Kim teaches snow removal information related to snow removal for the power generation device (Kim, page 3, Top paragraph, Snow removal function) “; and calculate the performance based on the acquired power consumption amount information, the power generation amount information, and the snow removal information. (Kim, Page 3 Top paragraph, “The present invention relates to a solar power generation system having a snow removal function and a solar power generation method using the solar power generation system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a solar power generation system having a snow
removal function for increasing solar power generation efficiency by removing snow ”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Mura’s equipment performance calculation method for predicting optimized power generation to incorporate a snow removal function for removing solar snow to improve efficiency of photovoltaic power generation, and a photovoltaic power generation to obtain improved power efficiency by considering the relation between the generated power after snow removal(Kim, Page 4, top paragraph, abstract). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill to include the well-known snow removal function along with the other external factors, in order to yield the predicted results of generating accurate power efficiency, yet with higher accuracy (KSR).
Regarding Claim 2, Combination of Mura and Kim teaches the equipment performance calculation device according to claim 1,
Mura is silent on wherein the circuitry acquires, as the snow removal information, a parameter indicating a time related to the snow removal, and
calculates the performance using a pre-stored calculation equation for calculating the performance, the calculation equation including, as a variable, the acquired parameter indicating the time related to the snow removal.
However, Kim teaches wherein the circuitry, as the snow removal information, a parameter indicating a time related to the snow removal acquires (Kim, Figure 1-2, Snow removal function, Page 7, lower middle paragraph, Fig. 1 is a view for explaining a solar power generation system having a snow removal function according to an embodiment of the present invention”). acquires, and
calculates the performance using a pre-stored calculation equation for calculating the performance, the calculation equation including as a variable, (Kim, Figure 2,Page 8, middle paragraph, As shown in FIG. 2, the control panel 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a determination unit 210 and a signal generation unit 220. First, the determination unit 210 determines whether the current time is included in the snow removal time. At this time, the snow removal operation time can be preset to a time zone between sunrise time and sunset time. In addition, since the sunrise time and the sunset time vary with a year, the snow removal time can be set differently at a constant date interval “), the acquired parameter indicating the time related to the snow removal. (Kim, Page 7, middle paragraph, “The power efficiency can be improved. In addition, the power efficiency can be improved by considering the relation between the power used for snow removal and the generated power after snow removal through the irradiation amount to determine the snow removal”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Mura’s equipment performance calculation method for predicting optimized power generation to incorporate a snow removal function for removing solar snow to improve efficiency of photovoltaic power generation, and a photovoltaic power generation to obtain improved power efficiency by considering the relation between the generated power after snow removal(Kim, Page 4, top paragraph, abstract). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill to include the well-known snow removal function along with the other external factors, in order to yield the predicted results of generating accurate power efficiency, yet with higher accuracy (KSR).
Regarding Claim 3, Combination of Mura and Kim teaches the equipment performance calculation device according to claim 3,
Mura further teaches wherein the power generation device is a solar power generation device. (Mura, Figure 1, solar power generation device 51)
Regarding Claim 4, Combination of Mura and Kim teaches the equipment performance calculation device according to claim 1,
Mura further teaches wherein the circuitry acquires environmental information indicating an environment at a position where the base station is installed, and estimates the power generation amount of the power generation device based on the acquired environmental information to acquire the power generation amount information. (Mura, page 3, middle paragraph, the solar power generation
device 51 acquires the predicted value of the power generation amount in the solar power generation device 51 by, for example, acquiring the generated power information in the solar power generation device 51 and the weather prediction information held in the weather database 60. Derived (acquired). Although the method for deriving the predicted value of the power generation amount is not limited, for example, the solar power generation device 51 acquires a plurality of power generation amount patterns according to the weather for each time zone as the generated power information, and the weather prediction information As a result, a weather forecast for each time zone within a predetermined period is acquired, and a predicted value of the power generation amount in each of a plurality of continuous time zones is derived according to a plurality of power generation amount patterns according to the weather and the weather prediction ( get.”)
Regarding Claim 5, Combination of Mura and Kim teaches the equipment performance calculation device according to claim 2,
Mura further teaches wherein the power generation device is a solar power generation device. (Mura, Figure 1, solar power generation device 51).
Conclusion
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure.
YOUN et al (JP2020096509A) recites “To provide a highly efficient solar module for improving the efficiency of photovoltaic power generation by applying a carbon composite material, a carbon surface heating element and a snow removing device to a solar cell panel. A high-efficiency solar module according to the present invention includes a solar cell panel in which a frame, glass, a front EVA, a solar cell, a rear EVA, a carbon surface heating element, a back sheet, and a carbon coating film are laminated in this order. The snow remover includes a snow remover that melts the snow accumulated on the solar cell panel; the snow remover includes a monitoring unit that confirms whether or not the snow is accumulated on the solar cell panel via a CCTV monitor, and a solar cell that measures the current of the battery. It is characterized by including a reverse bias supply unit for sending to the side, and a control unit for controlling the monitoring unit, the battery, and the reverse bias supply unit.(Abstract)
Kawachi et al (JP2019219978A) discloses “Provided are a power generation output prediction device, a power generation output prediction system, and a power generation output prediction method for predicting power generation output. SOLUTION: The power generation output prediction device 20 includes a first acquisition unit that acquires current or future snow depth information, weather information, first temperature information, and solar radiation amount information, and snow is used for solar power generation equipment. The magnitude relationship between the first reference snow depth, which indicates the snow depth that does not affect power generation, and the second reference snow depth, which indicates the snow depth that is larger than the first reference snow depth and cannot be generated
by the photovoltaic power generation equipment due to the snow. When it is determined that the snow depth is a value between the first reference snow depth and the second reference snow depth in the threshold determining unit and the first determining unit, either the weather information or the first temperature information is determined. Based on one of them, a snow cover coefficient calculation unit that calculates a snow cover coefficient that indicates the degree of influence of snow cover on the power generation of the solar power generator, and the power output of the solar power generator based on the snow cover coefficient and solar radiation amount information. And a power generation output calculation unit for calculating”. (Abstract)
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/DILARA SULTANA/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
July 11th, 2026
/EMAN A ALKAFAWI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858 7/20/2026
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