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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 3 and 12-18 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 3 and 11 recite that the direction of the given wind flow applied to the first photovoltaic panel moves continuously from a first angle to a second angle. Paragraph [0041] recites: “The wind tunnel testing can apply wind on the test panel from multiple different directions… In some cases, the wind directions and magnitudes used in the wind tunnel testing can be selected based on wind patterns at the locations where the test PV panel (or panels like the test panel) is to be installed.” The disclosure as originally filed does not support continuously changing the direction of given wind flow.
Claims 12-18 are also rejected based on their dependence from claim 11.
Claim 20 recites “wherein the direction of the given wind flow applied to the first photovoltaic panel moves clockwise or counterclockwise around the first photovoltaic panel”. Paragraph [0041] recites: “The wind tunnel testing can apply wind on the test panel from multiple different directions… In some cases, the wind directions and magnitudes used in the wind tunnel testing can be selected based on wind patterns at the locations where the test PV panel (or panels like the test panel) is to be installed.” The disclosure as originally filed does not support changing the direction of the given wind flow in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. The later limitations that the first actuator positions the first photovoltaic panel into the given wind flow in response to the clockwise or counterclockwise change in wind flow also lacks support. Claims 21-28 are also rejected based on their dependence from claim 20.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 19-28 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 19 recites “causing… the first actuator to position the front side planar surface of the photovoltaic panel relative to the direction of the wind flow experienced by the first photovoltaic panel during a stow state”. A skilled artisan would understand, based on the instant disclosure, that the first photovoltaic panel can be placed in a stow state no matter what direction the wind flows from. Therefore, “the direction of the wind flow experienced by the first photovoltaic panel during a stow state” is indefinite. Other independent claims 2 and 11 recite a similar phrase, but are followed by the clarifying phrase “wherein the front side planar surface of the first photovoltaic panel is positioned in a low angle stow read state while the given wind flow is applied parallel to the single rotation axis and is positioned into the given wind flow in response to the direction of the given wind flow applied to the first photovoltaic panel deviating from parallel to the single rotation axis”. Claims 20-28 are also rejected based on their dependence from claim 19.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 4-10 are allowed. The allowable subject matter finds support throughout the disclosure, but especially in Fig. 4, and paragraphs [0039]-[0042]. WO2021/085400A1 to Sugiyama (with a foreign priority date of 11/1/2019, machine translation also attached) teaches a method of testing a photovoltaic power system in a wind tunnel (see Figs. 4-6 and associated text), but does not teach all of the claimed steps, including the steps in the last passage of instant claim 2 in which the positioning of the photovoltaic panel is changed with respect to a shift in wind flow from parallel to the single rotation axis. Claim 2, and its dependent claims 4-10 are free of the art and allowable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Ryan S Cannon whose telephone number is (571)270-7186. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8:30am-5:30pm PST.
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Ryan S. Cannon
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1726
/RYAN S CANNON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726