DETAILED ACTION
This final rejection is responsive to the amendment filed 08 September 2026. Claims 1-15 are pending. Claims 1 and 14 are independent claims. Claim 14 is amended.
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 .
Response to Remarks
Applicant’s prior art arguments have been fully considered and they are persuasive. Applicant argues that Barbachano does not teach the newly amended claim which specify wherein a power buffer for the first quantity of power is defined as an amount of power which could be used to deliver to the production plant if the first quantity of power may not be sufficient. Examiner agrees. Accordingly, a new reference, Wobben (US 2005/0200133 A1), has been added to the rejection, as further detailed below.
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 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barbachano (US 2013/0093194 A1) hereinafter known as Barbachano in view of Wobben (US 2005/0200133 A1) hereinafter known as Wobben.
Regarding independent claim 14, Barbachano teaches:
A production plant using renewable power generation of a plurality of green generating systems to deliver a first quantity of power and to produce a final output product, comprising (Barbachano: ¶[0020], ¶[0047], and ¶[0051]; Barbachano teaches a hydrogen production system connected to one or several power stations based on non-manageable renewable resources, delivering power to the power grid.)
a plurality of green generating systems connected to a local energy grid, the plurality of green generating systems delivering the first quantity of power and operable to produce a maximum generatable quantity of power, (Barbachano: ¶[0020], ¶[0036], ¶[0047], and ¶[0051]; Barbachano teaches a wind farm connected to the power grid and delivering power to the power grid. Fig. 2 and ¶[0049]-¶[0050] further teaches that every wind turbine has a maximum power value.)
a controller to control the plurality of green generating systems; (Barbachano: ¶[0024], ¶[0048], and ¶[0050]; Barbachano teaches control systems for the wind farm and hydrogen production system
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An embodiment of Barbachano does not explicitly teach but another embodiment teaches:
wherein a power buffer for the first quantity of power is defined as an amount of power which could be used to deliver to the production plant … and (Barbachano: ¶[0051], ¶[0052], ¶[0056], and ¶[0058]-¶[0059]; Barbachano teaches the hydrogen production system operating at 50% of its operating range. The other paragraph citations further teach operating at different percentages. Further, ¶0[052] teaches
a power difference defined by the maximum generatable quantity of power minus the first quantity of power and the power buffer is defined as a second quantity of power from the production plant which is used to power a system that operates to produce the final output product. (Barbachano: ¶[0051] and ¶[0058]; Barabachano teaches that the power injected into the grid is the difference between the max electrical power generated by the wind turbines and the power consumed by the hydrogen production system, which already includes the buffer. ¶[0034] further teaches producing hydrogen.)
Barbachano is in the same field of endeavor as the present invention, as it is directed to controlling power output of renewable energy. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art, to combine a plurality of green generating systems delivering a first quantity of power and being able to produce a maximum amount of energy to further calculate the power difference based on the max, power buffer, and the second quantity of power from the production plant. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine these teachings because the combination would allow providing the appropriate amount of power to the system.
Barbachano does not explicitly teach but Wobben teaches:
… if the first quantity of power may not be sufficient, and (Wobben: ¶[0047]; Wobben teaches supplying missing power.)
Wobben is in the same field of endeavor as the present invention, as it is directed to controlling power output of renewable energy. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art, to combine a plurality of green generating systems delivering a first quantity of power, being able to produce a maximum amount of energy, and a power buffer to deliver to the production plant as taught in Barbachano with supplying the power in response to a deficit as taught in Wobben. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine these teachings because the combination would allow protecting the network, as suggested by Wobben: ¶[0065].
Regarding claim 15, Barbachano in view of Wobben further teaches a production plant of claim 14.
Barbachano further teaches:
wherein the final output product (204) is at least one of gasoline, methanol, ammonia or hydrogen. (Barbachano: ¶[0034]; Barbachano further teaches producing hydrogen.)
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEX OLSHANNIKOV whose telephone number is (571)270-0667. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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/ALEKSEY OLSHANNIKOV/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2118
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