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 .
The information disclosure statement filed on 6/4/2024 has been entered. The preliminary amendment filed on 6/4/2024 has been entered. Claims 1-8 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(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 and 4-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Slater et al. (Slater et al. (Slater et al. – 2019/0079122; herein after referred to as “Slater”).
Regarding claims 1 and 7, Slater discloses a method for establishing an electrical consumption of an electrical installation that is electrically supplied by at least one phase and is monitored by an electricity meter (Slater; Fig. 1; the Abstract; par. 0003-0007 – meter 100 for measuring power consumption having current sensing and voltage sensing), the method being implemented by a controller of the electricity meter and wherein the method comprises:
obtaining, for each phase, samples of voltage measurements and samples of current measurements (Slater; Fig. 1; the Abstract; par. 0003-0007 – meter 100 for measuring power consumption having current sensing and voltage sensing; par. 0012 – “The present invention fulfills the above needs, as well as others, by providing a sensor portion for a modular electronic meter that includes sensor devices and a memory device storing calibration information specific to the sensor devices. Such a sensor portion is designed for use with a corresponding measurement portion that extracts the calibration information from the memory in the sensor portion. The measurement module then employs the calibration information in its calculation of energy consumption information. The calibration information includes phase and magnitude error information for at least one of a current sensing device and/or a voltage sensing device. That error information may include coefficients of a polynomial);
applying an amplitude adjustment KU and a phase adjustment Δφ to the voltage measurement samples to obtain adjusted voltage samples (Slater; Fig. 1; par. 0028-0030; par. 0029 – “to compensate for such errors, adjustments may be made in the measurement module 14. In particular, the measurement module 14 may use scalar multiplier A to adjust the magnitude of the current measurement signal. For example, if the magnitude error in a particular current sensor is uniformly 5% low, then the measurement circuit may effect a calculation such that the current signal is multiplied by a scalar quantity of 1.05. The quantity 1.05 represents a scalar compensation factor that compensates for the 5% magnitude error of the current sensor”; par. 0030 – “ Phase error may be compensated in many ways by the measurement circuitry 42 in the measurement module 14. In a preferred embodiment, the phase error is compensated by introducing a delay that corresponds to the phase error. It is noted that phase error is relevant because it can adversely affect the accuracy of a power measurement. For example, if a 120 volt rms line carries a current of 2 amps rms that is 45.degree. out of phase with the voltage, then the actual power consumption is Vrrns*Irms*Cos(.theta.), which is 240*Cos(45.degree.) or 169.7 watts. If, however, the current sensor introduces a +5.degree. phase error, then the measured power consumption would be 240*Cos(50.degree.) or 154.3 watts. Such an error is significant in metering);
applying an amplitude adjustment KI and a phase adjustment Δφ’ to the current measurement samples to obtain adjusted current samples (Slater; Fig. 1; par. 0028-0041; par. 0029 – “to compensate for such errors, adjustments may be made in the measurement module 14. In particular, the measurement module 14 may use scalar multiplier A to adjust the magnitude of the current measurement signal. For example, if the magnitude error in a particular current sensor is uniformly 5% low, then the measurement circuit may effect a calculation such that the current signal is multiplied by a scalar quantity of 1.05. The quantity 1.05 represents a scalar compensation factor that compensates for the 5% magnitude error of the current sensor”; par. 0030 – “ Phase error may be compensated in many ways by the measurement circuitry 42 in the measurement module 14. In a preferred embodiment, the phase error is compensated by introducing a delay that corresponds to the phase error. It is noted that phase error is relevant because it can adversely affect the accuracy of a power measurement. For example, if a 120 volt rms line carries a current of 2 amps rms that is 45.degree. out of phase with the voltage, then the actual power consumption is Vrrns*Irms*Cos(.theta.), which is 240*Cos(45.degree.) or 169.7 watts. If, however, the current sensor introduces a +5.degree. phase error, then the measured power consumption would be 240*Cos(50.degree.) or 154.3 watts. Such an error is significant in metering; par. 0040 – “ In this manner, the correction for error can have a higher accuracy. Development of the coefficients may be achieved by performing several measurements through the current and/or voltage sensors at different known load currents and/or voltages and plotting the error. An example of how current sensor phase and magnitude errors may be determined is discussed in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/325,075, entitled "Self-Calibrating Electricity Meter," filed Sep. 25, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference. Although the self-calibration aspects of such Patent Application are not necessary, the general types of measurements performed to determine the sensor magnitude and phase error may be adapted for use in connection with the present invention” );
making at least one power calculation from the adjusted voltage and current samples ; and - establishing the electrical consumption from said at least one power calculation. wherein the method further comprises, for obtaining the adjusted current samples: - applying a supplementary adjustment to the current measurement samples to compensate for a spreading of voltage measurement samples with respect to the current measurement samples, the supplementary adjustment being an application of gain K’I to said corresponding adjusted voltage samples (Slater; Fig. 1; par. 0028-0041; par. 0029 – “to compensate for such errors, adjustments may be made in the measurement module 14. In particular, the measurement module 14 may use scalar multiplier A to adjust the magnitude of the current measurement signal. For example, if the magnitude error in a particular current sensor is uniformly 5% low, then the measurement circuit may effect a calculation such that the current signal is multiplied by a scalar quantity of 1.05. The quantity 1.05 represents a scalar compensation factor that compensates for the 5% magnitude error of the current sensor”; par. 0030 – “ Phase error may be compensated in many ways by the measurement circuitry 42 in the measurement module 14. In a preferred embodiment, the phase error is compensated by introducing a delay that corresponds to the phase error. It is noted that phase error is relevant because it can adversely affect the accuracy of a power measurement. For example, if a 120 volt rms line carries a current of 2 amps rms that is 45.degree. out of phase with the voltage, then the actual power consumption is Vrrns*Irms*Cos(.theta.), which is 240*Cos(45.degree.) or 169.7 watts. If, however, the current sensor introduces a +5.degree. phase error, then the measured power consumption would be 240*Cos(50.degree.) or 154.3 watts. Such an error is significant in metering; par. 0040 – “ In this manner, the correction for error can have a higher accuracy. Development of the coefficients may be achieved by performing several measurements through the current and/or voltage sensors at different known load currents and/or voltages and plotting the error. An example of how current sensor phase and magnitude errors may be determined is discussed in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/325,075, entitled "Self-Calibrating Electricity Meter," filed Sep. 25, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference. Although the self-calibration aspects of such Patent Application are not necessary, the general types of measurements performed to determine the sensor magnitude and phase error may be adapted for use in connection with the present invention” ).
Regarding claim 4, Slater discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the electrical installation that is monitored by the electricity meter is supplied in three phase (Slater; Fig. 1; par. 0065 -single phase, polyphase).
Regarding claim 5, Slater discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein said at least one power calculation is an active power and/or reactive power and/or apparent power calculation (Slater; see the Abstract, par. 0005, 0012, 0029 – power calculation).
Regarding claims 6 and 8, Slater discloses a non-transitory storage medium storing program code instructions causing an implementation of the method according to claim 1, when said instructions are read and executed by a processor of an electricity-meter controller (Slater; Fig. 1, 5; par. 0057 - controller or processor 48).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
i. The prior art fails to disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein the phase adjustment Δφ is applied by interpolation in the manner as recited in claim 2 (claim 3 depends on claim 2).
Conclusion
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/THIEN M LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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