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 .
Summary
This is the response to the Amendment/Request for Reconsideration filed on 03/05/2026.
Claims 1-18 remain pending in the application.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-10 and 12-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Menard (WO2020/165272).
Addressing claim 1, Menard discloses a floating solar tracking device (figs. 1-8) comprising a central float (figs. 4 and 8 show embodiments with central float; fig. 1A shows an embodiment with two central floats 102 and 103), two lateral floats (101 and 104) located on both sides of the central float (figs. 1A-1B and 8 show the lateral floats located on both sides of the central float or floats) and a structure 210 for attaching a plurality of photovoltaic panels 300, wherein:
the central float comprises a spacer that configures two independent chambers (figs. 4A-4C show the central float having spacer that configures three independent chambers, which also includes two independent chambers);
the lateral floats are sealed and filled with air (in fig. 8, the lateral floats 101 and 104 are configured to float on the water surface; therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the tracking device of Menard in fig. 8 to fill and seal the lateral floats 101 and 104 in fig. 8 in order to keep the floats 101 and 104 on the water surface at the desired level);
the structure comprises:
a plurality of bulkheads (200 in fig. 1A and 200 in fig. 8) where the central and lateral floats are stably attached (figs. 1A-1B and 8), and
a number of beams 210 that join the bulkheads for attaching the photovoltaic panels 300 (fig. 1B);
each of the independent chambers comprises a hole for communication with a pump responsible for introducing or extracting water from each of the independent chamber (Menard does not explicitly disclose the claimed limitation; however, fig. 7 of Menard discloses a control system 600 that includes pumps 610 for introducing water into the floating tubes, with each floating tube is connected to a respective water line 603, which implies the existence of a hole in each floating tube for receiving the water from the pump; therefore, at the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the independent chambers of the floating tube of the embodiment in figs. 4A-4C with its respective hole for communication with a pump in order to receive water to facilitate the rotation of the solar tracking device), and
the bulkheads 200 have a V-shaped configuration including two wings with ends (the wings with ends attached to the lateral floats 101 and 104), with a base that joins the ends of the wings and a vertex (figs. 1 and 8 show the a base that is attached to the central floats 102 and 103 shown in fig. 1 or 102 shown in fig. 8 that joins the ends of the wings and the location of the base is also the claimed vertex).
It is acknowledged that Menard does not disclose all of the claimed structural requirements in one embodiment; however, Menard discloses in figs. 4A-4C that the central float with its independent chambers are selectively filled with water for rotating the solar tracking device and fig. 8 discloses that the central float 102 is also selectively filled with water for actuating the rotation of the solar tracking device. Therefore, at the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the embodiment in fig. 8 of Menard with the central floating having individual chambers disclosed in the embodiment of figs. 4A-4C in order to precisely rotating the solar tracking device about a desired axis by selectively filling the individual chambers of the central float with water. Alternatively, at the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the embodiment in figs. 4A-4C of Menard with the lateral floats and the corresponding bulkheads for holding the lateral floats and the central float as disclosed in figs. 1 and 8 in order to provide stabilization of the solar tracking device via the lateral floats while still enabling the solar tracking device to rotate about the desired axis (figs. 1A-1C, 4A-4C and 5).
Addressing claims 2-6 and 15-17, fig. 3D shows the float includes two holes (one 121 for air and hole 122 for water) that are symmetrically positioned; therefore, at the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify each independent chamber with two holes symmetrically positioned in order to introduce or extract water and air from the respective chambers.
Regarding claims 3 and 15, the holes are configured to be connected to the corresponding opening at the ends of the water and air lines as well as the openings of the pumps shown in fig. 7, which qualify as holes of other devices.
Regarding claims 4, 6 and 16, independent chambers are part of the central float that is located at the closest position to the vertex of the bulkhead; therefore, the hole of each independent chamber is also located closest to the vertex of the bulkhead by being associated with the central float.
Regarding claims 5 and 17, fig. 7 shows that the pump is in fluid communication with the respective float; therefore, in the modified device of Menard, each independent chamber is in communication with the pump in order for the pump to introduce water and/or air.
Addressing claim 8, figs. 1A-1B show the floats have equal lengths; therefore, in the modified device of Menard according to the rejection of claim 1 above, the floats also have equal lengths in order to evenly support the photovoltaic modules.
Addressing claim 9, figs. 1A-1B discloses that the bulkheads comprise five bulkheads, which is inclusive of the claimed three bulkheads, evenly distributed along the central and lateral floats from the ends; therefore, the limitation of current claim would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in the modified device of Menard according to the rejection of claim 1.
Addressing claim 10, fig. 8 shows that each of the lateral floats 101 and 104 is located at one end of the base of the bulkheads as claimed.
Addressing claim 12, Menard discloses the hollow tube elements has cylindrical shape with circular transversal cross section, which qualifies as the shape corresponding to the limitation “the like”. Additionally, page 11 lines 19-23 disclose that the shape of the hollow tube can be modified to other shapes; therefore, lacking evidence of unexpected result, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the shape of the hollow tube of Menard to arrive at the claimed float having transversal cross section shape that is qualified as “parabolic or the like”.
Addressing claim 13, figs. 6A and 6B disclose cables that are attached to the bottom of the water where the device is floating that correspond to the claimed at least one pair or extensions.
Addressing claim 14, in the accompanying figures, Menard discloses that the floats are attached to the ends of the bulkheads. Menard further discloses in page 11 lines 19-29 that the floats are attached to the bulkheads via mechanical fasteners that are the structural equivalence to the claimed extensions attached to the bulkheads at the ends, in order to facilitate the attachment of the floats to the corresponding ends of the bulkheads.
Claim(s) 7 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Menard (WO2020/165272 or ‘272) in view of Menard (US 2024/0253748 or ‘748).
Addressing claim 7, Menard ‘272 is silent regarding the spacer is a flexible membrane.
Menard ‘748 discloses a floating solar tracking device (figs. 4 and 5) similarly to that of Menard ‘272; wherein, the floats are made of flexible aluminum ribbon (fig. 1, [0099-0100]).
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the device of Menard ‘272 with the known flexible aluminum material disclosed by Menard ‘748 in order to obtain the predictable result of forming floating structures for supporting photovoltaic panels (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143). In the modified device of Menard ‘272 in view of Menard ‘748, the floats made of flexible aluminum material includes the spacer that is also made of flexible aluminum material that corresponds to the claimed flexible membrane.
Addressing claim 11, annotated fig. 8 below shows that the lateral floats extend transversely beyond the photovoltaic panels (the vertical lines that are aligned with the lateral ends of the lateral floats in the transverse direction do not contact the outer lateral ends of the photovoltaic panels).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 18 is 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/05/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. With regard to the rejection of claims 1-6, 8-10 and 12-18 as being unpatentable of the disclosure of Menard (WO2020/165272), the Applicants argued that Menard does not disclose the limitation “a number of beams that join the bulkheads for attaching the photovoltaic panels” because the support brackets 210 are not the equivalence structures to the claimed beams. The support brackets 210 of Menard does not “join” a frame assembly 200 with another frame assembly. The argument is not persuasive. The word “join” is interpreted to include the definition “to connect” or “to adjoin” according to www.thefreedictionary.com. In instant situation, the support brackets 210, which have elongated shape that satisfies the claimed beams, forms the structure, which includes other structures such as the solar module frame and another support bracket, that “connects” or “adjoins” one bulkhead 200 to another. In the configuration of Menard, if the support brackets 210 are not present, one bulkhead 200 would not be connected or adjoined to an adjacent bulkhead 200 because the connection between the bulkhead and the solar cell that forms the connecting structure would not be there. Therefore, the support bracket 200 connects or adjoins or joins the bulkheads 200 together as claimed. There are clear structural differences between the beam shown in the application and the support brackets 210 of Menard; however, the structural differences are not conveyed through the word “join” in the claim. For the reason above, Examiner maintains the position that claims 1-6, 8-10 and 12-17 are unpatentable over the disclosure of Menard.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 BACH T DINH whose telephone number is (571)270-5118. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday 8:00 - 4:30 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Barton can be reached at (571)-272-1307. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 04/13/2026
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