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 .
This Office Action is sent in response to Applicant’s Communication received 12/23/2024 for application number 18/922,131. The Office hereby acknowledges receipt of the following and placed of record in file: Specification, Drawings, Abstract, Oath/Declaration, and claims.
Claims 2 – 21 are presented for examination.
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. The examiner believes that the title of the invention is imprecise. A descriptive title indicative of the invention will help in proper indexing, classifying, searching, etc. See MPEP 606.01. However, the title of the invention should be limited to 500 characters.
Drawings
Examiner contends that the drawings filed 10/21/2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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(s) 2-3, 5-6, 10-14, 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Dresselhuys PGPUB 2023/0137653.
As per claim 2, Dresselhuys teaches a method for controlling delivery of power [claim 1], the method comprising:
providing power to a processing system according to a first power configuration at a first time, wherein the first time is associated with a first weather condition [0046: (renewable energy availably may be different during different seasons or times of days, or during weather events; first time associated with a first weather condition is a first time where it is sunny) and 0043, and 0046-0047: (control unit 208 adjusts energy flow from the low or no-carbon energy source (solar power) to the cryptocurrency mining device; based on the solar power being available, control unit 208 directs the cryptocurrency mining device to start mining (a first power configuration))];
detecting a change from the first weather condition to a second weather condition [0011, 0046, 0049, 0060, 0063, and 0101-0102: (control unit is provided weather forecasts and is able to determine when less power is available from the low or no-carbo energy source, such as there being less power due to cloud coverage over the sun, hurricane, tornado, and change in temperature; process is repeated and method returns to continue monitoring conditions)]; and
providing power to the processing system according to a second power configuration at a second time [0046-0047 and 0101: (based on the new weather pattern being cloudy or tornado or hurricane at a different time, cryptocurrency mining may be signaled to provide a different percentage of energy or signaled to stop (second configuration))], wherein the second time is associated with the second weather condition that is different than the first weather condition [0046-0047 and 0101: (sunny condition is different than a cloudy or hurricane or tornado condition)], and
wherein the second power configuration is associated with provision of a different amount of power to the processing system compared to the first power configuration [0047 and 0052: (the percentage of energy provided to mining is dependent on the available amount of renewable energy, which is dependent on weather conditions; thus sunny weather (first condition) has a greater percentage of energy provided to mining than cloudy weather (second condition); and 0047 and 0101: (at the very least, sunny weather leads to a first power configuration that has the cryptocurrency mining devices receive power to start mining, and a hurricane or tornado leads to a second power configuration that has the cryptocurrency mining devices to not receive power to stop mining)].
As per claim 3, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 2, wherein the processing system is a cryptocurrency mining system, wherein the cryptocurrency mining system is configured to perform hashing calculations [0037: (cryptocurrency mining involves hash calculations)] at a first speed according to the first power configuration, and wherein the cryptocurrency mining system is configured to perform the hashing calculations at a second speed according to the second power configuration [0069, 0076-0077, 0098, 0102: (hash/mining rate may be reduced based on the energy costs and energy availability; in the worst case, hash rate is changed from a high rate during sunny conditions to 0 when cloudy or hurricane or tornado)].
As per claim 5, Dresselhuys teaches a method comprising:
providing power to a processing system according to a first power configuration at a first time, wherein the first time is associated with a first weather condition[0046: (renewable energy availably may be different during different seasons or times of days, or during weather events; first time associated with a first weather condition is a first time where it is sunny) and 0043, and 0046-0047: (control unit 208 adjusts energy flow from the low or no-carbon energy source (solar power) to the cryptocurrency mining device; based on the solar power being available, control unit 208 directs the cryptocurrency mining device to start mining (a first power configuration))]; and
providing power to the processing system according to a second power configuration at a second time [0046-0047 and 0101: (based on the new weather pattern being cloudy or tornado or hurricane at a different time, cryptocurrency mining may be signaled to provide a different percentage of energy or signaled to stop (second configuration))], wherein the second time is associated with a second weather condition that is different than the first weather condition [0046-0047 and 0101: (sunny condition is different than a cloudy or hurricane or tornado condition)], and
wherein the second power configuration is associated with provision of a different amount of power to the processing system compared to the first power configuration [0047 and 0052: (the percentage of energy provided to mining is dependent on the available amount of renewable energy, which is dependent on weather conditions; thus sunny weather (first condition) has a greater percentage of energy provided to mining than cloudy weather (second condition); and 0047 and 0101: (at the very least, sunny weather leads to a first power configuration that has the cryptocurrency mining devices receive power to start mining, and a hurricane or tornado leads to a second power configuration that has the cryptocurrency mining devices to not receive power to stop mining)].
Claim 6 is similar in scope to claim 3 as addressed above and is thus rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 10, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5, wherein a first amount of sunlight under the first weather condition differs from a second amount of sunlight under the second weather condition [0047: (sunny is the first weather condition and cloud coverage is the second weather condition; cloud coverage means a reduced amount of sunlight in comparison to sunny)].
As per claim 11, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5, wherein a first amount of cloud cover under the first weather condition differs from a second amount of cloud cover under the second weather condition [0047: (sunny is the first weather condition which means no cloud cover, and cloud coverage is the second weather condition)].
As per claim 12, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5, wherein a first cloud thickness under the first weather condition differs from a second cloud thickness under the second weather condition [0047: (sunny is the first weather condition which means no cloud cover and no thickness, and cloud coverage is the second weather condition which would have a higher thickness)].
As per claim 13, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5, wherein the first weather condition is associated with a direct line between a sun and a photovoltaic array, and wherein the second weather condition is associated with at least partial blockage of the direct line between the sun and the photovoltaic array [0047: (sunny is the first weather condition which means no cloud cover and thus direct exposure of photovoltaic array to sunlight, and cloud coverage is the second weather condition which has partial blockage in the direct line between sun and the photovoltaic array (sunlight has to pass through cloud to reach the photovoltaic array))].
As per claim 14, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5, further comprising: detecting a change from the first weather condition to the second weather condition [0053, 0060, 0065, and 0071: (constantly monitor conditions such as changes in available power due to weather conditions)].
As per claim 16, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving information from a network server, wherein the information is indicative of at least one of the first weather condition or the second weather condition [0011, 0020, 0049, and 0074: (input from cloud network include current and predicted weather/weather forecasts)].
As per claim 17, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5, wherein the processing system is arranged between terminals of a power supply, and wherein providing power to the processing system includes providing power to the processing system from the power supply [0013, 0020, 0025-0034, 0038, FIG. 1, and FIG. 2: (battery system is included in the cryptocurrency mining system, and its terminals are used to provide power to processing devices of the mining system)].
Claim 18 is similar in scope to claim 5 as addressed above and is thus rejected under the same rationale. Dresselhuys further teaches a processing system [FIG. 2 cryptocurrency mining device 204]; a power supply [FIG. 2 energy storage device 206 and 0038: battery]; and one or more power management circuits [FIG. 2 control unit 208 or FIG. 1 controller 88].
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) 4, 7-9, and 19-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dresselhuys PGPUB 2023/0137653, and further in view of McNamara et al. (hereinafter as McNamara) PGPUB 2020/0136388.
As per claim 4, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 2, wherein the processing system includes a plurality of processing components [FIG. 2, 0037, and 0043],
Dresselhuys does not explicitly teach wherein providing power to the processing system according to the first power configuration includes providing power to a first subset of the plurality of processing components, and wherein providing power to the processing system according to the second power configuration includes providing power to a second subset of the plurality of processing components.
McNamara teaches blockchain mining using solar power generation. McNamara is thus similar to Dresselhuys. McNamara further teaches providing power to the processing system according to the first power configuration includes providing power to a first subset of the plurality of processing components [0070: (when there is sufficient power availability, power is provided to a plurality of computing systems or a subset thereof (first subset) to perform the blockchain hashing operations)], and wherein providing power to the processing system according to the second power configuration includes providing power to a second subset of the plurality of processing components [0071, 0073, and 0137: (when there is not enough power available to power the entire datacenter, power is provided to only a smaller subset of computing systems (second subset)]. McNamara teaches providing power to only a subset of computing devices to perform the hash operations of cryptocurrency mining when there is insufficient power available from the solar power generation source.
The combination of Dresselhuys with McNamara allows Dresselhuys to provide power to only a subset of computing devices (the highest priority ones) when solar power availability is low. When solar power is low, Dresselhuys outputs a reduced amount or percentage of power to the computing devices, and McNamara allows providing this reduced amount of power to only a subset of computing devices.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use McNamara’s teachings of allowing only a subset of computing devices to be powered based on power availability of the solar power source in Dresselhuys. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide power to only a subset of computing devices in Dresselhuys when power availability of the renewable energy source is lowered because it allows the highest priority computing devices to continue running, thus allowing those devices to continue operation and maintain its performance.
Claim 7 is similar in scope to claim 4 as addressed above and is thus rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 8, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5 wherein the processing system includes a plurality of processing components [FIG. 2, 0037, and 0043].
Dresselhuys does not explicitly teach wherein providing power to the processing system according to the first power configuration includes providing power to all of the plurality of processing components, and wherein providing power to the processing system according to the second power configuration includes providing power to a subset of the plurality of processing components.
McNamara teaches blockchain mining using solar power generation. McNamara is thus similar to Dresselhuys. McNamara further teaches wherein providing power to the processing system according to the first power configuration includes providing power to all of the plurality of processing components [0070: (when there is sufficient power availability, power is provided to a plurality of computing systems (all) to perform the blockchain hashing operations)], and wherein providing power to the processing system according to the second power configuration includes providing power to a subset of the plurality of processing components [0071, 0073, and 0137: (when there is not enough power available to power the entire datacenter, power is provided to only a smaller subset of computing systems (second subset)]. McNamara teaches providing power to only a subset of computing devices to perform the hash operations of cryptocurrency mining when there is insufficient power available from the solar power generation source.
The combination of Dresselhuys with McNamara allows Dresselhuys to provide power to only a subset of computing devices (the highest priority ones) when solar power availability is low. When solar power is low, Dresselhuys outputs a reduced amount or percentage of power to the computing devices, and McNamara allows providing this reduced amount of power to only a subset of computing devices.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use McNamara’s teachings of allowing only a subset of computing devices to be powered based on power availability of the solar power source in Dresselhuys. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide power to only a subset of computing devices in Dresselhuys when power availability of the renewable energy source is lowered because it allows the highest priority computing devices to continue running, thus allowing those devices to continue operation and maintain its performance.
As per claim 9, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 5, wherein the processing system includes a plurality of processing components [FIG. 2, 0037, and 0043].
Dresselhuys does not explicitly teach wherein providing power to the processing system according to the first power configuration includes providing power to a subset of the plurality of processing components, and wherein providing power to the processing system according to the second power configuration includes providing power to all of the plurality of processing components. Dresselhuys teaches changing from one configuration associated with a sunny day to another configuration associated with a cloudiness or extreme weather, and vice versa, but does not explicitly mention providing power to only a subset of devices.
McNamara teaches blockchain mining using solar power generation. McNamara is thus similar to Dresselhuys. McNamara further teaches wherein providing power to the processing system according to the first power configuration includes providing power to a subset of the plurality of processing components [0071, 0073, and 0137: (when there is not enough power available to power the entire datacenter, power is provided to only a smaller subset of computing systems (second subset)], and wherein providing power to the processing system according to the second power configuration includes providing power to all of the plurality of processing components [0070: (when there is sufficient power availability, power is provided to a plurality of computing systems (all) to perform the blockchain hashing operations)]. McNamara teaches providing power to only a subset of computing devices to perform the hash operations of cryptocurrency mining when there is insufficient power available from the solar power generation source, and providing power to all when there is enough power available.
The combination of Dresselhuys with McNamara allows Dresselhuys first configuration to be the configuration associated with the cloudiness or hurricane or tornado, while the second configuration is associated with the sunny day. The combination also allows Dresselhuys to provide power to only a subset of computing devices (the highest priority ones) when solar power availability is low. When solar power is low, Dresselhuys outputs a reduced amount or percentage of power to the computing devices, and McNamara allows providing this reduced amount of power to only a subset of computing devices. When full power is available again, the combination allows providing the full amount of power to all the computing devices.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use McNamara’s teachings of allowing only a subset of computing devices to be powered based on power availability of the solar power source in Dresselhuys. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide power to only a subset of computing devices in Dresselhuys when power availability of the renewable energy source is lowered because it allows the highest priority computing devices to continue running, thus allowing those devices to continue operation and maintain its performance. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide power to all the computing devices when full power is available from the solar power source in Dresselhuys because it improves performance and allow for more cryptocurrency mining.
Claim 19 is similar in scope to claim 7 as addressed above and is thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 20 is similar in scope to claim 8 as addressed above and is thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 21 is similar in scope to claim 9 as addressed above and is thus rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dresselhuys PGPUB 2023/0137653, and further in view of Mayhew PGPUB 2012/0166005.
As per claim 15, Dresselhuys teach the method of claim 14.
Dresselhuys does not teach further comprising: receiving image data from a camera, wherein detecting the change from the first weather condition to the second weather condition is based on the image data.
Mayhew teaches shifting of computational load based on the amount of power generated from a solar array. Mayhew is thus similar to Dresselhuys because they vary power consumption of computational load based on the amount of solar power generated, which is dependent on weather conditions. Mayhew further teaches : receiving image data from a camera, wherein detecting the change from the first weather condition to the second weather condition is based on the image data [0009, 0019, and claim 9: (photo-detectors/cameras are disposed around a solar array to detect upcoming changes in solar intensity; thus image data from the camera is received and analyzed to detect changes in weather condition)].
The combination of Dresselhuys with Mayhew leads to the solar panels in Dresselhuys having cameras around it to detect changes in solar intensity.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Mayhew’s teachings of providing cameras around the solar panel to detect changes in solar intensity in Dresselhuys. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to provide cameras around the solar panel in Dresselhuys because it is a direct way of measuring the changes in weather and the amount of sunlight reaching the solar panels, thereby allowing for more accurate forecasting and thus better power management.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicant is reminded that in amending in response to a rejection of claims, the patentable novelty must be clearly shown in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited and the objections made. Applicant must also show how the amendments avoid such references and objections. See 37 CFR §1.111(c).
Gebhardt et al. (PGPUB 2021/0287309) teaches mining cryptocurrency using solar power and a hash rate.
McNamara (PGPUB 2021/0036547) teaches providing solar power to mining cryptocurrency based on solar power availability.
Staehle (PGPUB 2013/0204451) teaches weather data detection using cameras to detect cloud patterns and cloud information for controlling an electrical energy supply network [0020].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANNY CHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5134. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10-7 EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrew J. Jung can be reached at 5712703779. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANNY CHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2175
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