DETAILED ACTION
(1)
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 . This is the first office action on the merits. Claims 1-15 are pending before the Office for review.
(2)
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in France on January 25, 2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the FR2400753 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
(3)
Claim Objections
Claims 1-15 are objected to because of the following informalities: Applicant should amend claim 1 to refer to “An electric generator,” claims 2-13 to refer to “The electric generator,” claim 14 to refer to “A conversion method” and claim 15 to refer to “A method” to improve the form of the claims. Applicant should also use a consistent format and either include a comma after each wherein clause or remove the comma. Appropriate correction is required.
(4)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-15 are 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.
Independent claim 1 requires an electric generator. The claimed invention requires “connectors running along a support device being disconnected from the at least one aerial cable in the rest position” in the last clause. The structure of this feature of the generator is unclear. Specifically, the awkward formatting of the various elements of the last clause renders the claim unclear as to whether the connectors are positioned onto the support device after being disconnected from the at least one aerial cable in the rest position.
Applicant is also encouraged to clarify for the record whether the claimed invention is required to contain one or two support devices. Currently, because each supporting device is referred to as “a support device,” the invention is interpreted to require two.
Claim 3 is unclear as to whether the requirement of the hauling cable “is also at least one carrying cable…” is a requirement for first and second hauling cables or merely a recitation that one cable performs two functions. Applicant should consider amending claim 3 to be more descriptive of the claimed invention. Examiner suggests either affirming that two cables are present or amending the claim to require the hauling cable supports the photovoltaic modules in the production position. The use of a secondary name for the same cable is not necessary and adds ambiguity.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the adjacent solar modules" in 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 is also unclear as to whether the flexible connection is between the solar modules and the hauling cable or between the adjacent solar modules.
Claim 9 is ambiguous as to its scope. Specifically, it’s unclear if the omission of rainy spell from the last clause is intentional or inadvertent. Additionally, it’s unclear whether the circuit is only configured to act if the modules are in a production position or if some action might be taken if the modules are in a rest position.
Claim 14 is unclear as to the required steps of the method and what structure is required. Claim 14 depends from claim 1, which means it contains all the elements recited therein, but also purports to introduce a new control circuit, aerial cable, station and hauling cable. The nature of the claimed invention is ambiguous as to what is required structurally.
Claim 15 is unclear as to what is required by the claimed invention. The preamble to the claim is a method for using an energy generator. However, the only step of the claim is stowing the energy generating components in a rest position, meaning the claimed method stops contradict the preamble, rendering the claim ambiguous.
Therefore, the claims are indefinite because their scope is unascertainable to one ordinarily skilled in the art. Claims 2-15 are also rejected due to their dependency on claims 1 and/or 5, respectively.
(5)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 2-15 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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 prior art taken either singularly or in combination fails to anticipate or fairly suggest the limitations of the independent claims in such a manner that a rejection under 35 U.S.C. Sec. 102 or Sec. 103 would be proper.
More specifically, Baer (U.S. Patent No. 4,832,001) teaches a lightweight solar support comprising solar modules supported on a cabling system, but fails to teach or fairly suggest the generator of claim 1, which requires solar modules supported on an aerial cable, wherein the cable defines a loop between a connecting pulley and a return pulley, the pulley being associated with a station defining a storage facility for the solar modules, wherein the generator further comprises a hauling cable and a drive device that moves the hauling cable to move the modules along the aerial loop, the modules being connected to the hauling cable with a connector and the generator further comprising a control circuit to move the modules from a production position to a rest position.
Thomas (U.S. Publication No. 2011/0005583) teaches an electrical generator comprising solar modules suspended on a supporting device with cabling, wherein the modules are tiltable (Figures 1 and 5), but fails to teach or fairly suggest an electrical generator meeting the cumulative limitations of claim 1, as explained above.
Min (CN 104506126 A) teaches a retractable solar power station (electrical generator) comprising a pulley/cabling retraction system for deploying solar modules between a rest position and a production position (Abstract and paragraphs 4 and 11) but fails to teach or fairly suggest an electrical generator meeting the cumulative limitation of claim 1, as explained above.
Gonzalez et al. (ES 1295389 U), which is cited in Applicant’s information disclosure statement, teaches an electrical generator comprising cable-suspended solar modules that are tiltable, but fails to teach or fairly suggest the deployment/stowage features required by claim 1, as explained above.
(6)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELI S MEKHLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7597. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00 am to 5:00 pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Curtis Mayes can be reached at 571-272-1234. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ELI S MEKHLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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