DETAILED ACTION
This is the first Office Action regarding application number 19/036,315, filed 01/24/2025, claims foreign priority to CN 202410166883.7, filed 02/05/2024.
This action is in response to the Applicant’s Response received 04/01/2026.
Election of Restricted Inventions
The Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I and Species A1/B1 (claims 1-10, 19, and 20) is acknowledged.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-10, 19, and 20 are pending and examined.
Claims 1, 2, 8, 10, 19, and 20 are rejected.
Claims 3-7 and 9 are objected to.
The examiner requests confirmation that the absence of an Information Disclosure Statement indicates that responsible entities know of no information which is material to patentability. See MPEP 609.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-7 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 prior art references reviewed by this examiner do not appear to fairly teach or suggest the method steps recited.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Indefiniteness
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.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 9 recites “…wherein before obtaining the first output voltage of the photovoltaic panel, the method further comprising: obtaining an output voltage of the photovoltaic panel…”. The examiner determines this phrase to be confusing and unclear, as it is written in a way that may use circular logic. How does it make sense that a step of “obtaining an output voltage of the photovoltaic panel” is performed “before obtaining the first output voltage of the photovoltaic panel”? It is not clear what the difference is between the first output voltage and the output voltage.
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, 2, 8, 10, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JUDKINS (US 10,396,593 B1).
Regarding claim 1, JUDKINS teaches a method for operating a photovoltaic system, comprising:
determining, by a controller (controller 201 within the control circuit 150, Figs. 1 and 2), an output power parameter and an output electrical parameter ratio (control circuit 150 measures and determines the panel voltage and panel output power; ratio could include V2/R) associated with a photovoltaic panel (panel 100), wherein the photovoltaic panel is connected to a load (resistors within controller circuit 150) and a micro-inverter (inverter 160, connected to single panel 100 and thus construed as “micro-inverter”), and the load is connected to a switching device (control circuit 150); and
adjusting a connection status between the photovoltaic panel and the micro-inverter based on the output power parameter and the output electrical parameter ratio (based on the determined panel voltage and other electrical component properties, the control circuit 150 opens and closes switch 151 for a normal mode and a safety shutdown mode, equivalent to adjustment of a connection status between the panel and inverter).
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Regarding claim 2, JUDKINS teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the determining the output power parameter and the output electrical parameter ratio comprises:
obtaining a first output voltage of the photovoltaic panel when the switching device is open;
obtaining a second output voltage of the photovoltaic panel when the switching device is closed; and
determining the output power parameter and the output electrical parameter ratio based on the first output voltage, the second output voltage, and a resistance of the load (the two modes produce different voltages, and thus will generate different output power parameters when considering the voltage squared divided by resistance).
Regarding claim 8, JUDKINS teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting is based on each of the first output voltage and the second output voltage being within a preset voltage range (col. 9, ll. 15-19 describes using different preset voltage ranges for the first and second output voltage values).
Regarding claim 10, JUDKINS teaches the method according to claim 3, wherein the first power parameter is obtained by dividing a square of the second output voltage by the resistance (power is measured by the ratio of voltage squared divided by resistance).
Regarding claim 19, JUDKINS teaches a method for operating a photovoltaic system, comprising:
determining, by a controller, a first output voltage of a photovoltaic panel when a switching device is open (open circuit voltage), wherein the photovoltaic panel is connected to a load and a micro-inverter, and the load is connected to a switching device,
a second output voltage of the photovoltaic panel when the switching device is closed (voltage measured when electrically connected to the load/inverter), and
adjusting a connection status between the photovoltaic panel and the micro-inverter based on the first output voltage and second output voltage (MPPT adjustment, col. 16, ll. 59-62).
Regarding claim 20, JUDKINS teaches the method according to claim 19, wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting the connection status between the photovoltaic panel and the micro-inverter based on a ratio of the second output voltage to the first output voltage (the status of the connection voltage, i.e., increased/decreased, can be adjusted).
Conclusion
No claim is allowed.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELO TRIVISONNO whose telephone number is (571) 272-5201 or by email at <angelo.trivisonno@uspto.gov>. The examiner can normally be reached on MONDAY-FRIDAY, 9:00a-5:00pm EST. The examiner's supervisor, NIKI BAKHTIARI, can be reached at (571) 272-3433.
/ANGELO TRIVISONNO/
Primary Examiner
Prosecution Insights