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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. While independent claim 1 falls within a statutory class of a method (i.e., claim 1 passes Step 1 of the § 101 analysis, see MPEP § 2106.03.II), under Step 2A of the § 101 analysis, claim 1 recites a judicial exception without integrating the judicial exception into a practical application (i.e., fails Step 2A of the § 101 analysis). See MPEP § 2106.04.
Specifically, claim 1 recites “combining historical operational data and real-time operational data associated with the renewable energy asset and its operational ecosystem,” “incorporating historical environmental data and real-time environmental data to include multiple forecasts of weather activities,” “natural disasters, and atmospheric activities, ingesting the combined and incorporated data into an insight generation engine that operates on the combined and incorporated data to produce insights,” and “generating, based on an output of the insight generation engine, a particular insight that enables data-driven decisions related to operation, sustainment, and planning of a resource or resources associated with the renewable energy asset.” The claimed “combining,” the claimed “incorporating,” the claimed “ingesting,” and/or the claimed “generating” are abstract ideas because they can be performed mentally (e.g., with the aid of pen and paper). See MPEP § 2106.04(a)(2).I, II. Note that the claim does not require that anything be done with the “particular insight” that is generated by the claimed method. That is, the claim does not integrate the abstract ideas into a practical application. See MPEP § 2106.04(d).
In addition, the claim does not recite any improvement to the relevant technology. While the claim recites “generating … a particular insight that enables data-driven decisions related to operation, sustainment, and planning of a resource or resources associated with the renewable energy asset,” the claimed generation of an insight does not “improve[] the functioning of a computer or improve[] another technology or technical field” and thus it is still an abstract idea that does not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. See MPEP § 2106.04(d)(1).
Finally, claim 1 also fails under Step 2B of the § 101 analysis because claim 1 fails to recite any additional elements that “amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself.” See MPEP § 2106.05. Even assuming, arguendo, that “generating … a particular insight” is a new idea, this generation is still an abstract idea, as discussed above, and thus does not amount to “significantly more.” See MPEP § 2106.05 (“a claim for a new abstract idea is still an abstract idea” quoting Synopsys, Inc. v. Mentor Graphics Corp., 839 F.3d 1138, 1151, 120 USPQ2d 1473, 1483 (Fed. Cir. 2016), emphasis original).
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0368093 to Rachit Gupta (“Gupta”).
Claim 1:
A method for leveraging data sources into an insight generation system to generate a recommendation for a renewable energy asset (Gupta at Abstract, pars. 0004]-[0007], [0034]-[0048, and [0061]-[0067] and Figs. 5-7.), the method comprising:
combining historical operational data and real-time operational data associated with the renewable energy asset and its operational ecosystem (Gupta at pars. [0055] and [0060] and Fig. 6 (real-time process data 640 (“real-time operational data”) is stored in centralized data historian 664 (the previously stored process data 640 is “historical operational data.”); see also pars. [0028]-[0029] and [0035] and Fig. 5 (real-time production data 506 (“real-time operational data”) and useful life of assets (“historical operational data.”).);
incorporating historical environmental data and real-time environmental data to include multiple forecasts of weather activities, natural disasters, and atmospheric activities (Gupta at pars. [0019], [0030], [0032], [0045]-[0046], [0056], and [0058] (The system can use data from cameras 646, which can be streaming data (“real-time”), to recognize “smoke” and “flames” (“natural disasters”); data from drones 520, which can be non-real-time (“historical”) regarding shadows (“atmospheric activities”); and data corresponding to predicted weather conditions such as rain (“weather activities”).);
ingesting the combined and incorporated data into an insight generation engine that operates on the combined and incorporated data to produce insights (Gupta at pars. [0004]-[0007], [0034]-[0048, and [0061]-[0067] (AI/ML system analyzes (“ingesting”) variance between actual and predicted forecasts to create actionable alerts (“insights”).); and
generating, based on an output of the insight generation engine, a particular insight that enables data-driven decisions related to operation, sustainment, and planning of a resource or resources associated with the renewable energy asset (Gupta at pars. [0004]-[0007], [0021], [0034]-[0048, and [0061]-[0067] (The AI/ML system identifies problems such as, for example, “shadows” (“a particular insight”). As disclosed in par. [0021], identifying shadows is important as it relates to the operation of solar panels (e.g., due to shadows, a “solar panel may not output electrical power to avoid an imbalance of electrical power on the electrical system”). Thus, Gupta discloses that at least the identification of shadows (“generating … a particular insight”) “enables data-driven decisions related to operation, sustainment, and planning of a resource or resources associated with the renewable energy asset.”),
wherein the insight is associated with optimization, execution, emplacement, or substantiality of the resource (Gupta at pars. [0019]-[0021] (Shadows on the solar panel are associated with electrical power production and imbalance of electrical power on the system and thus “associated with [at least] optimization [and] execution … of the resource.”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2023/0214703 to Maheswari et al. discloses use of real-time and historical meteorological data to predict energy production.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2021/0203157 to Visweswariah et al. discloses use of real-time and historical data to predict health of renewable asset.
International Publication No WO 2020/242375 to Yuen Chau discloses use of real-time and historical data to control a renewable energy-based system.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0231028 to Michael T. Ozog discloses optimizing microgrid energy use.
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/B.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2116
/KENNETH M LO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2116
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