DETAILED ACTION
The following is a first office action upon examination of application number 19/190758. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application and have been examined on the merits discussed below.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 7/10/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the Examiner.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
(Step 1) Claims 1-12 are directed to a method; thus these claims are directed to a process, which is one of the statutory categories of invention. Claims 13-19 are directed to a system comprising a processor; thus the system comprises a device or set of devices, and therefore, is directed to a machine which is a statutory category of invention. Claim 20 is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which is a manufacture, and this a statutory category of invention.
(Step 2A – Prong one) The claims recite an abstract idea instructing how to manage gas supply and allocate gas maintenance tasks, which is described by claim limitations reciting:
determine a preset frequency based on a frequency corresponding to a response time and/or a measurement range … in a target region, a data storage capacity of a data collector of the gas metering device, and an overall communication interface type;
… obtain gas statistical data at the preset frequency and store the gas statistical data in the storage unit …
obtain historical gas consumption data in the target region from the storage unit;
determine, based on the historical gas consumption data, target demand information of the target region at a future time point, a number of the future time point being positively related to a remaining storage space of the storage unit;
predict, based on the target demand information, a target difference amplitude of a gas supply and demand difference at the future time point in the target region;
for the target region where the target difference amplitude meets a first preset condition, determine, based on the gas statistical data, the target difference amplitude, and environmental data, a reason for supply and demand difference through a reason model…;
determine, based on the target difference amplitude and the reason for supply and demand difference, a gas supply adjustment parameter, and store the gas supply adjustment parameter in the storage unit,
wherein the reason for supply and demand difference includes a fault type reason and a non-fault type reason;
generate, based on the gas supply adjustment parameter, a gas supply adjustment instruction, and send the gas supply adjustment instruction … to perform an adjustment on gas supply;
in response to that the reason for supply and demand difference is the fault type reason, the gas supply adjustment parameter including a fault type and a fault probability, generate a maintenance instruction based on the gas supply adjustment parameter, and send the maintenance instruction … to repair a fault device;
in response to that the reason for supply and demand difference is the non-fault type reason, the gas supply adjustment parameter including a gas replenishment parameter, generate a deployment instruction based on the gas replenishment parameter, and send the deployment instruction … to perform a gas deployment operation; and
in response to the remaining storage space meeting a second preset condition, generate a distribution instruction to control the storage device to store the gas statistical data obtained by each gas metering device based on a distribution ratio of an available storage space of each target region.
The identified limitations in the claims describing managing gas supply and allocate gas maintenance tasks (i.e., the abstract idea) fall within the “Certain Methods of Organizing Human Activity” grouping of abstract ideas, which covers fundamental economic practices. Dependent claims 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, and 19, recite limitations that further narrow/describe the abstract idea; therefore, these claims are also found to recite an abstract idea.
(Step 2A – Prong two) This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because additional elements such as the smart gas management platform of a maintenance system for the smart gas pipeline network, wherein the smart gas management platform includes a smart gas data center, the smart gas data center is configured as a storage device, a storage unit is deployed in the storage device for storing data related to the maintenance system; terminal device; and gas metering device in claim 1; the smart gas user platform, a smart gas service platform, a smart gas management platform, a smart gas sensor network platform, and a smart gas object platform, wherein the smart gas management platform includes a smart gas data center, and the smart gas data center is configured as a storage device, a storage unit is deployed in the storage device for storing data related to the maintenance system, and the smart gas object platform includes a gas metering device; gas metering device; and terminal device in claim 13; and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions in claim 20, do not add a meaningful limitation to the abstract idea since these elements are only broadly applied to the abstract ideas at a high level of generality; thus, none of recited hardware offers a meaningful limitation beyond generally linking the abstract idea to a particular technological environment, in this case, implementation via a computer/processor.
Additional elements such as a flow sensor of a gas metering device; control the gas metering device in the target region; store … based on a communication interface between a processor and the storage unit; the reason model being a support vector machine; send the gas supply adjustment instruction to a terminal device and the gas metering device to instruct an instruction execution object; send the maintenance instruction to the terminal device to instruct the instruction execution object; and send the deployment instruction to the terminal device to instruct the instruction execution object… do not yield an improvement in the functioning of the computer itself, nor do they yield improvements to a technical field or technology. Similarly, additional elements in claims 2, 8, 9, 14, 17, and 18, do not yield an improvement and only generally link the abstract idea to a technological environment. Accordingly, these additional element do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
(Step 2B) The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because as discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the hardware additional elements amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. Additional elements such as a flow sensor of a gas metering device; control the gas metering device in the target region; store … based on a communication interface between a processor and the storage unit; the reason model being a support vector machine; send the gas supply adjustment instruction to a terminal device and the gas metering device to instruct an instruction execution object; send the maintenance instruction to the terminal device to instruct the instruction execution object; and send the deployment instruction to the terminal device to instruct the instruction execution object… do not yield an improvement in the functioning of the computer itself, nor do they yield improvements to a technical field or technology. Additional elements in claims 2, 8, 9, 14, 17, and 18, do not yield an improvement and only generally link the abstract idea to a technological environment. In addition, when taken as an ordered combination, the ordered combination adds nothing that is not already present as when the elements are taken individually. There is no indication that the combination of elements improves the functioning of a computer or improves any other technology.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2023/0324900 (Yates) – discloses the use of smart meters to collect operational status data and uses the data to predict asset failure.
US 2019/0372348 (Miyake) – discloses the monitoring a gap between demand and supply of electric power.
US 2023/0246912 (Cella) – discloses the use of AI to forecast demand and make adjustments to meet demand.
US 10430725 (Anderson) – discloses the use of gas pipeline data to optimize maintenance.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN TORRICO-LOPEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-3247. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Beth Boswell can be reached at (571)272-6737. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALAN TORRICO-LOPEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3625
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