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 § 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 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because a program in isolation without a corresponding computer readable storage medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon is merely a non-executable text file that is non-statutory subject matter.
Examiner suggests the following language to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101:
—A computer program product comprising a non-transitory, computer readable storage medium having executable instructions stored thereon, wherein when executed by a computer processor, the executable instructions cause the computer processor to execute the steps of the grid interconnection method of the cooperative autonomous distributed grid interconnection system according to claim 10.--
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.
Claims 1, 8, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kouno et al. (US 2023/0074852; “Kouno”) in view of Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art (See paragraph [0004] of the Background Art section of the instant application; “AAPA”).
Regarding claim 1, Kouno teaches a cooperative distributed grid interconnection system (Figure 1) comprising:
a synchronization checking circuit breaker (9) that is capable of connecting or disconnecting a main grid (4) and a cell grid system (2);
a grid interconnection controller (21, 24) that detects power information (detected voltage at 12) about the main grid (4) and power information (detected voltage at 11) about the cell grid system (2); and
one or more cooperative autonomous distributed devices (inverter 6) that are connected within the cell grid system (2) and perform power conversion (inversion) to synchronously interconnect with each other (Converters 1M and 1S “cooperate with one another”. Para. [0022]), wherein:
each of the cooperative autonomous distributed devices (6) receives frequency information and phase information transmitted from the grid interconnection controller based on the standard time signal, or a combined signal of the frequency information and the phase information (The output of generator 32 is a combined signal of frequency information and phase information. Generator 32 receives an output from phase calculator 31, which generates its output signal based on frequency calculator 24.);
when the synchronization checking circuit breaker (9) is open (isolated operation mode), each of the cooperative autonomous distributed devices (6) controls a voltage phase of the cell grid system (2) so that the voltage phase of the cell grid system (2) is synchronized with that of the main grid (Para. [0031], [0102], [0109] teach synchronizing frequency and phase before switching to the interconnected operation mode.); and
when the synchronization checking circuit breaker (9) is closed (interconnected operation mode), each of the cooperative autonomous distributed devices (6) controls a power flow (according to control signal from controller 3; para. [0032]) between the main grid (4) and the cell grid system (2).
Kouno fails to teach the grid interconnection controller and each of the cooperative autonomous distributed devices include a standard time signal acquisition device that acquires a standard time signal.
AAPA teaches cited literature 2 describing power conversion apparatuses receiving time signals to synchronize internal clocks of the power conversion apparatuses. (Para. [0004] of the instant application)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a standard time signal (e.g., a real-time clock) to the power converter elements of Kouno because such a modification would have provided the benefit of synchronizing internal clocks of the power converter elements, thus ensuring proper timing for the phase and frequency control of Kouno.
As for claim 8, Kouno teaches wherein the cooperative autonomous distributed device includes a common unit including a motherboard (electronic circuits are formed on a board), and one or more individual units (inverter device), and the motherboard performs control calculation including pulse wave generation (Output of inverter device 6).
Regarding claim 10, the method as recited in the claim is inherently present in the structure discussed above in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 11, Kouno teaches a computer program product comprising a non-transitory, computer readable storage medium having executable instructions stored thereon, wherein when executed by a computer processor, the executable instructions cause the computer processor to execute the steps of the grid interconnection method of the cooperative autonomous distributed grid interconnection system according to claim 10 (See para. [0031], [0113]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 9 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The best prior art reference of record, Kouno, fails to teach:
“wherein: the grid interconnection controller generates an inter-grid phase difference signal and transmits the inter-grid phase difference signal to each of the cooperative autonomous distributed devices; when the synchronization checking circuit breaker is closed, each of the cooperative autonomous distributed devices controls the power flow and a reverse power flow using the inter-grid phase difference signal; and even if the synchronization checking circuit breaker is open and information from the grid interconnection controller is unable to be received, each of the cooperative autonomous distributed devices can perform synchronization control on the cell grid system based on the standard time signal.”, as set forth in claim 2;
“wherein: the standard time signal acquisition device includes a first standard time acquisition unit that acquires a first standard time signal, and a second standard time acquisition unit that acquires a second standard time signal; the grid interconnection controller includes the first standard time acquisition unit, generates a phase synchronization signal as the combined signal of the frequency information and the phase information by applying the first standard time signal to a main grid frequency and a main grid rotational phase angle, and outputs the phase synchronization signal to the cooperative autonomous distributed device; and the cooperative autonomous distributed device includes the second standard time acquisition unit, and demodulates a cell grid system rotational phase angle signal synchronous with the main grid rotational phase angle by applying the second standard time signal to the phase synchronization signal output from the grid interconnection controller and the main grid frequency.”, as set forth in claim 3;
“wherein: the grid interconnection controller measures a main grid frequency measurement value with the power information about the main grid and/or the power information about the cell grid system as an input, generates an inter-grid phase difference signal, and outputs the inter-grid phase difference signal to the cooperative autonomous distributed device; and the cooperative autonomous distributed device generates a cell grid system phase angle signal and a cell grid system angular velocity signal from the cell grid system voltage, and calculates a cell grid system rotational phase angle signal from the cell grid system phase angle signal, the cell grid system angular velocity signal, the main grid frequency measurement value, and the inter-grid phase difference signal.”, as set forth in claim 4;
“wherein if the cell grid system is capable of connecting to a plurality of main grids via the synchronization checking circuit breakers and an abnormality occurs in a first main grid among the main grids, the cell grid system can interconnect with a second main grid other than the first main grid and transmit power to an area where the abnormality is not occurring in the first main grid.”, as set forth in claim 6;
“wherein: if the synchronization checking circuit breaker is closed and the main grid experiences an outage, the synchronization checking circuit breaker is switched from closed to open, and each of the cooperative autonomous distributed devices independently operates the cell grid system; and if the synchronization checking circuit breaker is open and a fault occurs in the cell grid system, the synchronization checking circuit breaker is closed and the power flow is controlled to supply a fault current to a fault point, so that a protective relay at the fault point is triggered to cut off the fault point.”, as set forth in claim 7; and
“wherein calculation for the pulse wave generation by the motherboard uses hysteresis control.”, as set forth in claim 9.
Conclusion
The prior art references made of record and not relied upon teach phase-synchronized power-converting micro-grids connected/disconnected to main grids with circuit breakers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEVI GANNON whose telephone number is (571)272-7971. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00AM-4:30PM.
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/LEVI GANNON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2849 January 7, 2026