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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Embodiment I, Claims 1-3 and 5-6 in the reply filed on 12/4/2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Title
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
*It is noted the present objection appear to arise form the fact that the claims lack consistency with the language provided in the Figures, which is problematic. The claims and Figures should be congruent with one another to make the claimed invention clear.
“Base” not shown. Disclosed as the Building, which is not numbered. The claimed subject matter should be given a reference number and consistent with the Figure (pick either “Base” or “Building”).
First/Second power supply device not shown. Best understood as the “Power supply converter”. The claim should recite it as such “first converter” since “power supply” is a known component in the art which is not equivalent to a converter.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khazaei et al. “Minimizing DC system loss in multi-terminal HVDC systems through adaptive droop control” in view of Tzimas et al. US 2019/0296553.
Khazaei teaches:
1, 5, and 6. A control apparatus that executes control for a DC power supply system (see FIG1) in which a plurality of bases including at least a first base including a first power supply device (ie wind farm side base) and a second base including a second power supply device and a load device (ie depicted as V-ACgn (load) and corresponding power supply device (inverter) are connected by electrical supply lines (ie said DC cable and other corresponding lines), the control apparatus comprising:
Acquiring information about a bus between the second power supply device and the load device (ie see at least Ign, current acquisition, FIG1);
Determining whether to execute voltage control in the DC power system, based on the information (Ign) and a threshold value (ie one or more of PLL values or P*, Q* values used to determine control via Inner Current Control and resulting PWM control, FIG1); and
Executing voltage control on at least one of the first power supply device and the second power supply device in a case where the control is determined to be executed (as determined by PWM, Inner Current Control and corresponding disclosure, see Section 2. Operation and control of a MTDC system).
Khazaei fails to teach wherein the process taught is executed via a processor, and
a memory that includes instructions, which when executed, cause the processor to execute said process.
Tzimas teaches a power control apparatus process taught is executed via a processor, and
a memory that includes instructions, which when executed, cause the processor to execute said process (see [0008]).
It would have been obvious to incorporate the processor and memory as taught by Tzimas into the system of Khazaei with the motivation of ease of acquisition as processors and memory are well know, available options that are also economical as well as added benefits of faster processing, better multitasking, improved responsiveness.
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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL CAVALLARI whose telephone number is (571)272-8541. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 0900-18:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rexford Barnie can be reached at (571)272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL CAVALLARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836