DETAILED ACTION
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
2. 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 1-5 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
In view of the new 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (Federal Register Vol. 84, No. 4, January 7, 2019), the Examiner has considered the claims and has determined that under step 1, claims 1-4 are to a machine, claims 5 is to a process, and claims 7-8 are to an article of manufacture. Next under the new step 2A prong 1 analysis, the claims are considered to determine if they recite an abstract idea (judicial exception) under the following groupings: (a) mathematical concepts, (b) certain methods of organizing human activity, or (c) mental processes. The independent claims contain at least the following bolded limitations (see representative independent claims) that fall into the grouping of mental processes:
1. A power outage confirmation apparatus configured to confirm whether a power outage has occurred in an area including a communication building and a plurality of subscribed users that are accommodated in the communication building, the power outage confirmation apparatus comprising:
circuitry configured to
acquire information on the plurality of subscribed users, upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device;
confirm a log of an in-home device of each of the subscribed users based on the information; and
determine whether the power outage has occurred in the area based on the log.
3. A power supply depletion confirmation apparatus configured to confirm whether a power source of a communication building is depleted, the power supply depletion confirmation apparatus comprising:
circuitry configured to
acquire information on a plurality of first transmission devices connected to a second transmission device in the communication building via one or more transmission paths, upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device;
confirm communication from each of a part or all of the plurality of first transmission devices to the second transmission device in the communication building; and
determine whether the power source of the communication building is depleted based on a confirmation result of the communication.
5. A power outage confirmation method executed by a power outage confirmation apparatus that confirms whether a power outage has occurred in an area including a communication building and a plurality of subscribed users that are accommodated in the communication building, the power outrage confirmation method comprising:
acquiring information on the plurality of subscribed users upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device;
confirming a log of an in-home device of each of the subscribed users based on the information; and determining whether the power outage has occurred in the area based on the log.
The limitations of "confirm whether a power outage has occurred in an area," and "confirm whether a power source of a communication building is depleted" amount to a mental process to evaluate and recognize data, which can be performed mentally by a person looking at data and forming a conclusion. The limitations to "confirm a log of an in-home device of each of the subscribed users based on the information" amounts to a mental process to evaluate and recognize recorded log data, where a user can use information of a plurality of subscribed users to visually perform a look-up of log data for each of those users. The limitations to "confirm communication from each of a part or all of the plurality of first transmission devices to the second transmission device in the communication building" amount to a mental process to recognize and acknowledge that device communication has occurred, which can include observing that data has been sent and received. The limitations of "determine whether the power outage has occurred in the area based on the log" amount to a mental process to evaluate and recognize a data signature in the log that is indicative of a power outage, which can be performed by a person viewing log data and identifying a power outage event. The limitations to "determine whether the power source of the communication building is depleted based on a confirmation result of the communication" amounts to a mental process to evaluate a confirmation result and forming a judgment/recognition of a depleted power source condition.
Next in step 2A prong 2, the independent claims are analyzed to determine whether there are additional elements or combination of elements that apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception such that it is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception, in order to integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. These limitations have been identified and underlined above, and are not indicative of integration into a practical application because: (1) the recitations of "a power outage confirmation apparatus" and "circuitry configured to…" amount to mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer or merely using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)); (2) the recitations of "in an area including a communication building and a plurality of subscribed users that are accommodated in the communication building" amount to generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular environment or field of use (see MPEP 2106.05(h)); (3) the recitations to "acquire information on the plurality of subscribed users, upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device" or to "acquire information on a plurality of first transmission devices connected to a second transmission device in the communication building via one or more transmission paths, upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device" amount to adding insignificant extra-solution data gathering activity to the judicial exception (see MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Next in step 2B, the independent claims are considered to determine if they recite additional elements that amount to an inventive concept (“significantly more”) than the recited judicial exception. The recitations of "a power outage confirmation apparatus" and "circuitry configured to…" do not add significantly more because such limitations amount to mere instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer or merely using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)). The use of generic computer equipment is considered insignificant additional elements. As recited in the MPEP, 2106.07(b), merely adding a generic computer, generic computer components, or a programmed computer to perform generic computer functions does not automatically overcome an eligibility rejection (see Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int'l, 134 S. Ct. 2347, 2359-60, 110 USPQ2d 1976, 1984 (2014). See also OIP Techs. v. Amazon.com, 788 F.3d 1359, 1364, 115 USPQ2d 1090, 1093-94). The recitations of "in an area including a communication building and a plurality of subscribed users that are accommodated in the communication building" do not add significantly more because such limitations amounts to generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular environment or field of use (see MPEP 2106.05(h)), serving to merely describe the background environment upon which the analysis occurs without applying any subsequent improvements or changes to the environment itself. The recitations to "acquire information on the plurality of subscribed users, upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device" or to "acquire information on a plurality of first transmission devices connected to a second transmission device in the communication building via one or more transmission paths, upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device" amount to adding insignificant extra-solution data gathering activity to the judicial exception (see MPEP 2106.05(g)), as necessary data gathering.
Dependent claims 2 and 4 contain additional limitations that fall under the abstract idea grouping of a mental process to describe additional data evaluation and comparison steps that could be performed equivalently by a person reviewing data or visually observing a condition. Dependent claims 7-8 do not provide an integration into a practical application or an inventive concept as they further describe a non-transitory computer storage medium storing a program, which amounts to merely using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea (see MPEP 2106.05(f)).
3. An invention is not rendered ineligible for patent simply because it involves an abstract concept. Applications of such concepts "to a new and useful end" remain eligible for patent protection (see Alice Corp., 134 S. Ct. at 2354 (quoting Benson, 409 U.S. at 67)). However, "a claim for a new abstract idea is still an abstract idea" (see Synopsys v. Mentor Graphics Corp. _F.3d_, 120 U.S.P.Q. 2d1473 (Fed. Cir. 2016)). There needs to be additional elements or combination of additional elements in the claim to apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception or render the claim as a whole to be significantly more than the exception itself in order to demonstrate “integration into a practical application” or an “inventive concept.” For instance, particular structural sensor arrangements for actively obtaining the acquired measurement data, or further physical applications using the information that a power outage has occurred or a power source is depleted in order to drive a transformation, change in physical operation, or repair/maintenance of a technology or technical process, could provide integration into a practical application to demonstrate an improvement to the technology or technical field.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
5. Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Vaswani et al. (US Pat. Pub. 2008/0183339, hereinafter "Vaswani").
In regards to claim 1, Vaswani teaches a power outage confirmation apparatus configured to confirm whether a power outage has occurred in an area (Vaswani abstract and paragraph [0003] teaches a power outage detection system configured to confirm whether a power outage has occurred in an area of a utility grid) including a communication building and a plurality of subscribed users that are accommodated in the communication building (Vaswani paragraph [0027] teaches where the utility grid is deployed by a utility company in a topology designed to serve customers in a service area, and paragraph [0081] teaches a customer location at a residential building (power communication building) that may be experiencing an outage), the power outage confirmation apparatus comprising:
circuitry configured (Vaswani paragraph [0013] teaches a central utility network management center (NMC) as a radio network management controller, and paragraph [0025] teaches implementation of the modules and logic structures by application specific integrated circuits) to
acquire information on the plurality of subscribed users, upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device (Vaswani paragraph [0082] teaches acquiring an imminent failure warning (information) upon occurrence of a condition in which a power communication abnormality (as discovered in response to scheduled polling) is detected by a power monitoring neighboring electronic utility device);
confirm a log of an in-home device of each of the subscribed users based on the information (Vaswani paragraph [0016] teaches where polling of at least a subset of the electronic utility devices is done in response to an input to confirm whether the information relating to a performance parameter indicates a problem with the utility utility network; Vaswani paragraph [0084] teaches confirming a poll response (log) from each of the electronic devices similar to and in the neighborhood of an initiating electronic utility device in response to the imminent failure message (information) to confirm that an outage has occurred at the initiating electronic utility device); and
determine whether the power outage has occurred in the area based on the log (Vaswani paragraph [0062] teaches processing the polling (log) information to determine the extent of the outage condition and the location of the outage within the utility grid; Vaswani Figs. 5-7 and paragraphs [0081]-[0090] teach determining varying scopes of outages based on the confirmed polling log responses).
In regards to claim 2, Vaswani teaches the power outage confirmation apparatus, wherein the circuitry is configured to determine that the power outage has occurred in the area in a case of confirming power-off logs in logs of in-home devices of subscribed users whose number is equal to or greater than a threshold within a time section, the subscribed users being included in the plurality of subscribed users (Vaswani paragraph [0051] teaches determining that a power outage has occurred in the area in a case of confirming the number of unreachable (power-off) polling response logs of in-home electronic utility devices rising above a configurable threshold number; and paragraph [0044] teaches where the time length of polling occurs over a time section of a configurable schedule).
In regards to claim 3, Vaswani teaches a power supply depletion confirmation apparatus configured to confirm whether a power source of a communication building is depleted (Vaswani abstract and paragraph [0003] teaches a power outage detection system configured to confirm whether a power outage has occurred in an area of a utility grid, where given broadest reasonable interpretation, a power outage amounts to a depletion in supplied power from a power source; Vaswani paragraph [0027] teaches where the utility grid is deployed by a utility company in a topology designed to serve customers in a service area, and paragraphs [0081] and [0085] teaches a customer location at a residential building (power communication building) that may be experiencing an outage (depletion) due to a failing transformer (power source)), the power supply depletion confirmation apparatus comprising:
circuitry configured (Vaswani paragraph [0013] teaches a central utility network management center (NMC) as a radio network management controller, and paragraph [0025] teaches implementation of the modules and logic structures by application specific integrated circuits) to
acquire information on a plurality of first transmission devices connected to a second transmission device in the communication building via one or more transmission paths, upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device (Vaswani Fig. 2 teaches where the NMC controller circuitry acquires information from a plurality of electronic utility devices 26 as first transmission devices connected to a second transmission device gateway 42 via one or more transmission paths, and Vaswani paragraph [0082] teaches acquiring an imminent failure warning (information) upon occurrence of a condition in which a power communication abnormality (as discovered in response to scheduled polling) is detected by a power monitoring neighboring electronic utility device);
confirm communication from each of a part or all of the plurality of first transmission devices to the second transmission device in the communication building (Vaswani paragraph [0016] teaches where polling of at least a subset of the electronic utility devices is done in response to an input to confirm whether the information relating to a performance parameter indicates a problem with the utility utility network; Vaswani paragraphs [0049]-[0050] and [0084] teach confirming a poll response (communication) from each of the electronic utility devices (first transmission devices) to the gateway (second transmission device) in response to the imminent failure message (information) to confirm that an outage (depletion event) has occurred); and
determine whether the power source of the communication building is depleted based on a confirmation result of the communication (Vaswani paragraph [0062] teaches processing the polling (communication) information to determine the extent of the outage condition and the location of the outage within the utility grid; Vaswani Fig. 6 and paragraphs [0085]-[0087] teach determining that a transformer (power source) has an outage (i.e., is depleted) based on a result of the polling communication indicating downstream affected electronic utility devices).
In regards to claim 4, Vaswani teaches the power supply depletion confirmation apparatus according to wherein the circuitry is configured to determine that the power source of the communication building is depleted upon occurrence of a condition in which the communication from all of the first transmission devices is not confirmed (Vaswani Fig. 6 and paragraphs [0085]-[0087] teach determining that a transformer (power source) has an outage (i.e., is depleted) upon occurrence of a condition in which communication from all of the first transmission devices 26A-26C is not confirmed).
In regards to claim 5, Vaswani teaches a power outage confirmation method executed by a power outage confirmation apparatus that confirms whether a power outage has occurred in an area (Vaswani abstract and paragraph [0003] teach a method carried out by a power outage detection system configured to confirm whether a power outage has occurred in an area of a utility grid) including a communication building and a plurality of subscribed users that are accommodated in the communication building (Vaswani paragraph [0027] teaches where the utility grid is deployed by a utility company in a topology designed to serve customers in a service area, and paragraph [0081] teaches a customer location at a residential building (power communication building) that may be experiencing an outage), the power outrage confirmation method comprising:
acquiring information on the plurality of subscribed users upon occurrence of a condition in which a communication abnormality is detected by a power monitoring device (Vaswani paragraph [0082] teaches acquiring an imminent failure warning (information) upon occurrence of a condition in which a power communication abnormality (as discovered in response to scheduled polling) is detected by a power monitoring neighboring electronic utility device);
confirming a log of an in-home device of each of the subscribed users based on the information (Vaswani paragraph [0016] teaches where polling of at least a subset of the electronic utility devices is done in response to an input to confirm whether the information relating to a performance parameter indicates a problem with the utility utility network; Vaswani paragraph [0084] teaches confirming a poll response (log) from each of the electronic devices similar to and in the neighborhood of an initiating electronic utility device in response to the imminent failure message (information) to confirm that an outage has occurred at the initiating electronic utility device); and
determining whether the power outage has occurred in the area based on the log (Vaswani paragraph [0062] teaches processing the polling (log) information to determine the extent of the outage condition and the location of the outage within the utility grid; Vaswani Figs. 5-7 and paragraphs [0081]-[0090] teach determining varying scopes of outages based on the confirmed polling log responses).
In regards to claim 7, Vaswani teaches a non-transitory computer storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute processing as in the power outage confirmation apparatus (Vaswani paragraph [0016] and [0025] teach hardware for storing a software program as machine readable code to cause a processor to execute processing).
In regards to claim 8, Vaswani teaches a non-transitory computer storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute processing as in the power supply depletion confirmation apparatus (Vaswani paragraph [0016] and [0025] teach hardware for storing a software program as machine readable code to cause a processor to execute processing).
Pertinent Art
6. Applicants are directed to consider additional pertinent prior art included on the Notice of References Cited (PTOL 892) attached herewith. The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action 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. Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
B. Mason et al. (US Pat. Pub. 2006/0217936) discloses Using a Fixed Network Wireless Data Collection System to Improve Utility Responsiveness to Power Outages. C. Veillette et al. (US Pat. Pub. 2009/0135018) discloses System and Method for False Alert Filtering of Event Messages Within a Network. D. Bhageria et al. (US Pat. Pub. 2013/0063272) discloses System and Method for Detecting and Localizing Abnormal Conditions and Electrical Faults in an Electrical Grid.
E. Myamoto et al. (US Pat. Pub. 2014/0042811) discloses Control Device, Power Control System, and Power Control Method.
F. Baynes et al. (US Pat. Pub. 2015/0100166) discloses Automated Crowdsourced Power Outage Identification and Staggering of HVAC System Restarts.
G. Bonicatto (US Pat. Pub. 2018/0352310) discloses Power-Outage-Assessment Apparatuses and Methods.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PAUL D LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-1598. The examiner can normally be reached on M to F, 9:30 am to 6 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arleen Vazquez can be reached at 571-272-2619. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PAUL D LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857 8/20/2026
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