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 .
Claims 1-5 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 for Application No. JP2024-016346 filed on 02/06/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited in the information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 11/13/2024 and 07/30/2026 have been considered by the examiner.
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)(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.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chow et al. (US 2016/0372925 A1) (“Chow”).
Regarding independent claim 1, Chow teaches:
An electricity storage system comprising: an electricity storage device that is provided in a facility that receives supply of purchased electricity from an electricity system; an electricity demanding device that is different from the electricity storage device, and a management device that manages use of electricity in the electricity storage device and the demanding device, (Chow: Abstract “Disclosed herein are power management systems for controlling recorded electrical demand by isolating loads from a utility distribution grid connection. The loads are isolated when an energy storage system (ESS) is placed in series between the loads and the grid, with a charger that keeps the ESS from depleting and a power converter that provides energy to the loads from the ESS. A system controller may be enabled to manage the charging of the ESS by the charger relative to a consumption metric. In some embodiments, the loads are categorized, controlled, or curtailed by the controller and may be isolated from other loads. Some embodiments include bypass features or bimodal connections. Additional methods of control to prevent depletion of the ESS are also set forth. Systems herein can prevent or limit demand charges, protect the utility grid from backflow and other dangers, and raise the customer's effective utility service limit.”) [The energy storage system (ESS) reads on “an electricity storage device”. Any one or combination of the loads reads on “an electricity demanding device”. The controller reads on “a management device”. The controller managing the charging of the ESS and curtailing the load reads on “… that manages use of electricity …”. The power from the utility grid reads on “purchased electricity from an electricity system”.]
wherein the management device includes a processor, and (Chow: [0080] “Some methods and systems of the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein may also be embodied as a computer-readable medium containing instructions to complete those methods or implement those systems. … In the present example, a computer-readable medium (such as memory) may be included to store instructions for the controller to operate the heating of the ESD and historical or forecasted temperature data for the ESD or its surroundings.”) [Executed software in the controller reads on “a processor”.]
the processor performs control such that the electricity storage device is charged when a remaining capacity stored in the electricity storage device is equal to or less than a predetermined value after use of the purchased electricity in the demanding device is restricted. (Chow: [0074] “FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing another exemplary method of managing the consumption of a site according to the present invention. The process shown 1100 determines the state of charge (SOC) of the energy storage system (ESS) at step 1102, and if the SOC is greater than or equal to a target SOC, the charge rate for the charger of the ESS is set to zero in step 1104. If the SOC is less than the target SOC, the rate of change of the SOC is determined (e.g., as percent SOC per minute) and the current charge rate is measured from the charger in step 1106. If the charge rate is equal to the maximum charge rate of the charger and the SOC plus a timing factor times the rate of change of the SOC is less than or equal to an absolute minimum SOC, all curtailable loads are curtailed to a minimum consumption value, other loads are disabled, a transfer switch is closed, and the customer may be alerted of the conditions in step 1108. If the charge rate is equal to the maximum charge rate of the charger and the SOC is greater than the absolute minimum SOC, loads are curtailed or disabled incrementally until the rate of charge increases by a preset amount or maximum curtailment/disabling of loads is reached in step 1110. However, if the current charge rate is less than the maximum charge rate and the rate of change of SOC is negative, a new charge rate is set, such as the minimum value between the current charge rate minus the change in rate of SOC times a timing factor and the maximum charge rate in step 1112. Finally, if the current charge rate is the maximum charge rate and the rate of change in SOC is positive, any previously curtailed or disabled loads are restored to power incrementally or sequentially until the rate of change of SOC decreases by a preset value but remains positive.”) [Determining if the SOC is less than the target SOC reads on “when a remaining capacity stored … is equal to or less than a predetermined value”. Curtailing and/or disabling control of the loads and charging the ESS read on “such that electricity storage device is charged … after use of the purchased electricity … is restricted”.]
Regarding claim 2, Chow teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Chow further teaches:
wherein the processor performs control such that the use of the purchased electricity in the demanding device is restricted when a peak shaving of the purchased electricity is required at the facility. (Chow: [0054]” In this CMS, intermittent loads 204 may be monitored by the system controller 208 in order to more effectively determine the charging levels of the ESS charger 108. The charging level of the charger 108 may need to be increased when intermittent loads 204 are more active to compensate for the increased drain on the ESS. If overall consumption of the site is determined by the system controller 208 (by reading the demand meter 102, by measuring the loads 104 at the site, or by using another similar method) to be approaching a demand charge-inducing limit or a utility service limit for the site, the system controller 208 may take action to curtail or control the consumption or power factor of the curtailable or controllable loads 206 and prevent the consumption at the site from reaching undesirable levels. In some embodiments, these loads 206 are controllable by an interface link to the system controller 114. The interface link may be a wired or wireless connection through which information can be transferred back and forth between the loads and the controller to carry out the control function of the controller.”) [The consumption of the site determined to be approaching the demand charge-inducing limit or the utility service limit reads on “when a peak shaving … is required …”. The curtailing the load reads on “the demanding device is restricted”.]
Regarding claim 3, Chow teaches all the claimed features of claims 1-2. Chow further teaches:
wherein the processor performs control such that the electricity storage device is charged in a case where an electricity demand in the demanding device is less than a predetermined first electricity and in a case where a remaining capacity stored in the electricity storage device is equal to or less than a predetermined value after the use of the purchased electricity in the demanding device is restricted. (Chow: [0066] “In these embodiments, the definition of depletion of the ESS may vary from case to case. In some embodiments the ESS will be considered depleted when it reaches zero state of charge, but in other embodiments, the ESS is “depleted” when the amount of charge falls below a threshold lower limit. The threshold lower limit embodiments may be preferable in order to prevent the ESS from falling below a critical amount of charge and causing damage to the ESS or undue harm to the lifespan of the ESS components.”) (Chow: [0067] “FIG. 8 depicts another exemplary method of managing the charging level of the energy storage system charger. This process 800 begins by the system controller measuring and monitoring the site demand in step 802. If a peak is detected in step 804, charging power of the charger is reduced in step 806 and, in at least some embodiments, some or all isolated loads are curtailed to reduce the drain on the ESS charge. Next, the controller checks to see if the peak has ended in step 808. If it has ended, normal charging power is restored and curtailed isolated loads are brought back to normal operations in step 810. If not, the controller checks to see if the ESS is depleted at step 812. If it is not depleted, it resumes the process at step 808. If it is depleted, it follows the bypass and recharge steps outlined in steps 710 through 716 as described previously before reaching step 808 again.”) [The peak reads on “a predetermined first electricity”. The curtailing of the load when the peak is detected reads on “… is less than a predetermined first electricity”. Seeing if ESS is depleted or not reads on “a remaining capacity … is equal to or less than a predetermined value …”.]
Regarding claim 4, Chow teaches all the claimed features of claims 1-3. Chow further teaches:
wherein the processor performs control such that electricity is discharged from the electricity storage device when the electricity demand in the demanding device is equal to or higher than a predetermined second electricity equal to or greater than the predetermined first electricity after the use of the purchased electricity in the demanding device is restricted. (Chow: [0068] “In this embodiment, the controller responds to changes in overall demand of the site to reduce the charging power of the charger or the discharging rate of the ESS, but the monitoring step 802 may alternatively or additionally consider the other consumption metrics discussed previously, such as time, historical or projected consumption of a load, cost of charging the ESS, etc. This method 800 is advantageous when a peak in consumption would cause the charging of the ESS to cause a new demand charge or cause the overall consumption of the site to exceed a utility service limit. In step 806 of these embodiments, the goal in reducing charging power is to cause the charger's load on the grid to be low enough that it does not push the consumption of the site to exceed a demand charge, utility service, or other limit at the site. By curtailing isolated loads in this step, the amount of time that the ESS can discharge is increased while the charging power is reduced. If necessary, the bypass switch can be used to supplement the power provided to the loads through the ESS with power from the grid.”) [Net depleting of the ESS reads on “electricity is discharged …” The utility service limit reads on “a predetermined second electricity”. Depleting the ESS to not exceed the utility service limit reads on the load without depleting “… is equal to or higher than a predetermined second electricity”. Curtailing the isolated loads to reduce depleting reads on “after the use of the purchased electricity … is restricted”.]
Regarding claim 5, Chow teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Chow further teaches:
wherein the processor performs control such that the electricity storage device is charged when a peak shaving of electricity consumption is not required in the facility, when the electricity storage device needs to be charged, when the electricity demand in the demanding device is not less than a predetermined third electricity, and when the electricity demand in the demanding device becomes less than the predetermined third electricity after performing control to restrict the use of the purchased electricity in the demanding device. (Chow: [0067] “FIG. 8 depicts another exemplary method of managing the charging level of the energy storage system charger. This process 800 begins by the system controller measuring and monitoring the site demand in step 802. If a peak is detected in step 804, charging power of the charger is reduced in step 806 and, in at least some embodiments, some or all isolated loads are curtailed to reduce the drain on the ESS charge. Next, the controller checks to see if the peak has ended in step 808. If it has ended, normal charging power is restored and curtailed isolated loads are brought back to normal operations in step 810. If not, the controller checks to see if the ESS is depleted at step 812. If it is not depleted, it resumes the process at step 808. If it is depleted, it follows the bypass and recharge steps outlined in steps 710 through 716 as described previously before reaching step 808 again.”) (Chow: [0068] “In this embodiment, the controller responds to changes in overall demand of the site to reduce the charging power of the charger or the discharging rate of the ESS, but the monitoring step 802 may alternatively or additionally consider the other consumption metrics discussed previously, such as time, historical or projected consumption of a load, cost of charging the ESS, etc. This method 800 is advantageous when a peak in consumption would cause the charging of the ESS to cause a new demand charge or cause the overall consumption of the site to exceed a utility service limit. In step 806 of these embodiments, the goal in reducing charging power is to cause the charger's load on the grid to be low enough that it does not push the consumption of the site to exceed a demand charge, utility service, or other limit at the site. By curtailing isolated loads in this step, the amount of time that the ESS can discharge is increased while the charging power is reduced. If necessary, the bypass switch can be used to supplement the power provided to the loads through the ESS with power from the grid.”) [The utility service limit reads on “a predetermined third electricity”. Depleting the ESS to not exceed the utility service limit reads on the load without depleting “… is not less than a predetermined second electricity”. Curtailing the isolated loads to reduce depleting reads on “after performing control to restrict …”. Charging during depleting, whether the charging power is reduced or not during depleting, reads on “… is charged when”. The peak shaving of electricity consumption is not required by depleting the ESS to not exceed the utility service limit.]
It is noted that any citations to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL W CHOI whose telephone number is (571)270-5069. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth Lo can be reached at (571) 272-9774. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL W CHOI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116
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