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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Paragraph 0024, line 5 delete “140” and replace with –120--. Paragraph 0026, lines 6, 7, 9 delete “164” and replace with –166--. Paragraph 0034, line 12 delete “240b” and replace with –260b--. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Regarding claim 11, the phrase "such as" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claim 1 is also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph for indirectly including the above noted deficiencies.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6, 8-10, 12-15, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Smola et al. (US 2013/0079942).
With respect to claim 1, Smola discloses a power control device for an electrical load (figure 2 discloses power control to loads RTU), the power control device including: an input for receiving electrical power; an output for supplying electrical power from the input to the electrical load (figure 2 discloses controlling the power output to loads from input powers 391-399); a control module for controlling the supply of electrical power to the electrical load from the output (Unit controllers, figure 2), the control module being configured to define a plurality of discrete power-on timings, over a time period, during which electrical power is supplied from the output for powering the electrical load (paragraphs 0009-0010, 0039 discloses that the unit controller controls the power to the loads at a specific times); and a randomiser module configured to randomise the plurality of power-on timings over time (paragraphs 0054, 0057-0062, figure 4 discloses a randomizer 146 to randomized a delay time before applying power to the electrical load).
With respect to claims 2, 14, Smola discloses the power control device of one of the claims, wherein the randomiser module is configured to randomise the plurality of power-on timings over time such that, in a system that includes a plurality of electrical loads each to which a respective one of a plurality of power control devices, which includes the power control device, is connected, there is a low probability of all electrical loads being powered at the same time that would cause instability to an upstream power supply. Figure 2, paragraph 0035 discloses a plurality of loads that comprise a plurality of randomizer 146 to thus prevent electrical overload.
With respect to claims 3, 15, Smola discloses the power control device of one of the claims, wherein the power-on timings of the power control device are independent of power-on timings of other power control device(s) of the plurality of power control devices in the system. Figures 2, 4 discloses that the power on timings are independent of each other to thus prevent electrical overload of the system.
With respect to claim 6, Smola discloses the power control device according to claim 1. wherein the power control module is selectively configurable to define the time period. Figures 2, 4 discloses that the Unit Controllers define the time period/delay.
With respect to claim 8, Smola discloses the power control device according to claim 6, wherein the control module is configured to segment the time period into a plurality of segments, the one or more timings of the plurality of power-on timings corresponding to a subset of the plurality of segments. Figures 4-5 disclose that each of the loads is provided with a timing/delay for controlling the power to the loads.
With respect to claim 9, Smola discloses the power control device according to claim 6. wherein the time period is selectively configurable to up to about 4 seconds, up to about 3 seconds, up to about 2 seconds, or about 1.5 seconds. Paragraph 0055 discloses that the time period is about 0 sec, 5 sec.
With respect to claim 10, Smola discloses the power control device according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of power-on timings is selectively adjustable with respect to the time period. Figure 5 discloses that the timings are adjustable with respect to time and with respect to other timings of other loads.
With respect to claims 12, 18, Smola discloses an electrical load including the power control device according to claim 1, wherein the electrical load is a resistive heater. Smola discloses that the load comprises heating units.
With respect to claim 13, Smola discloses an electrical load including: an electrical component that is powered by electrical power, the electrical component for providing an output response (loads/RTU, figure 2); a control module for controlling the electrical component (Unit controllers, figure 2), the control module being configured to define a plurality of discrete power-on timings, over a time period, during which the electrical component is powered to provide the output response (paragraphs 0009-0010, 0039 discloses that the unit controller controls the power to the loads at a specific times); and a randomiser module configured to randomise the plurality of power-on timings over time(paragraphs 0054, 0057-0062, figure 4 discloses a randomizer 146 to randomized a delay time before applying power to the electrical load).
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.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smola et al. (US 2013/0079942).
With respect to claim 11, Smola discloses the power control device according to claim 10; except for, wherein the plurality of power-on timings is selectable to be up to 100% of the time period, such as any one of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, or 50% with respect to the time period.
Smola discloses that each of the controller units comprises a unique power-on delay, such that each load is turn on in a respective time period.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention, to have modify Smola and provide a time period of power-on timings to be 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50%, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 7, 16-17 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.
Claim 4 is allowable over the prior art of record, because the prior art of record does not disclose wherein the randomiser module is in communication with the plurality of power control devices in the system, wherein the randomiser module has or implements a plurality of channels each of which is allocatable to a respective one of the plurality of power control devices and the randomiser module is configured to generate a randomised control signal for each channel.
Claim 7 is allowable over the prior art of record, because the prior art of record does not disclose wherein the control module is configured to split, over the time period, the electrical power received by the input into a discrete number of half or full AC cycles, the one or more timings of the plurality of power-on timings corresponding to a subset of the discrete number of half or full cycles.
Claim 16 is allowable over the prior art of record, because the prior art of record does not disclose wherein the randomiser module has or implements a plurality of channels each of which is allocatable to a respective one of the plurality of electrical loads and the randomiser module is configured to generate a randomised control signal for each channel.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ganu et al. (US 2013/0274945) discloses a load shifting time deferrable devices to schedule a delivery of power to a load.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS AMAYA whose telephone number is (571)272-8941. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00AM-4:00PM.
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/CARLOS AMAYA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836