Detailed Action
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) 1-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mixon et al. (US-9,470,747) in view of Luan et al. (Smart Meter Data Analytics for Distribution Network Connectivity Verification) and Spalt et al. (US-2024/0235197).
In regards to claim 1, Mixon teaches a utility distribution system, comprising a plurality of electrical meters; a plurality of transformers; and a central utility controller [fig. 1 elements 102, 105 and 123, col. 3 L. 7-9, L. 30-32 and L. 41-44]. Mixon further teaches that the central utility controller configured is to receive an initial map of the plurality of electrical meters to their respective transformers [col. 4 L. 24-29, col. 6 L. 60-67, col. 1-2]. Also, Mixon teaches that the central utility controller is configured to receive data from the plurality of electrical meters [col. 3 L. 58-64].
Furthermore, Mixon teaches that the central utility controller is configured to execute an initial analysis to the initial map by verifying that each electrical meter and transformer complies with a predefined constraint [col. 4 L. 24-29 and L. 46-54, col. 5 L. 18-41, col. 7 L. 29-37 and L. 55-57, col. 9 L. 23-28 and L. 38-41]. However, Mixon does not teach that the initial analysis comprises an adjustment to the initial map.
On the other hand, Luan teaches that when an initial analysis is performed, the system can be configured to correct any errors by updating the initial map [pg. 1965 section II. L. 12-19 and section III L. 3-8, L. 1-22 below fig. 1]. This teaching means that the initial analysis also executes an initial adjustment to the initial map by verifying that each electrical meter and transformer complies with a predefined constraint.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use Luan’s teachings of performing adjustments to the initial map in the system taught by Mixon because it will permit the system to connect the map without the need to send a technician to the meter site and later correct the map based on the technician’s observation.
The combination of Mixon and Luan does not teach randomly analyze a first meter.
On the other hand, Spalt teaches that mapping of a meter to a transformer can be verified by randomly selecting a first meter and analyzing the first meter to determine a connection to a first transformer [par. 0081 L. 1-8, par. 0082 L. 4-14, par. 0086]. Spalt also teaches that the analysis can be used to update a map [par. 0111 L. 1-3]. These teachings mean that the central utility controller is configured to randomly analyze a first meter of the plurality of electrical meters to determine a first likely connection to a first transformer of the plurality of transformers; and update a connection of the first meter to the first transformer in the initial map based on the determined first likely connection.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use Spalt’s teachings of randomly selecting a meter to verify its connection to a transformer in the system taught by the combination because it will permit the system to correct the connection of a meter to a transformer in the map in a fast and accurate manner.
In regards to claim 2, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as applied in the rejection of claim 1 above, further teaches that the central utility controller is further configured to execute one or more similarity measures to determine the first likely connection [see Spalt par. 0082 L. 14-16, par. 0086].
In regards to claim 3, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as applied in the rejection of claim 1 above, further teaches that the central utility controller is further configured to iteratively randomly analyze an n+1 meter of the plurality of electrical meters to determine an n+1 likely connection to an n+1 transformer of the plurality of transformers; and update the connection of the n+1 meter to the n+1 transformer based on the determined n+1 likely connection [see Spalt par. 0081 L. 1-8, par. 0082 L. 4-14, par. 0085 L. 12-15, par. 0086, par. 0111 L. 1-3].
In regards to claim 4, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as applied in the rejection of claim 3 above, further teaches that the central utility controller is further configured to finalize the iterative random analysis in response to all n+1 meters being iteratively analyzed [see Spalt par. 0085 L. 12-15].
In regards to claim 5, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as applied in the rejection of claim 3 above, further teaches that a first statistic of a first data set of the received data from the first meter is correlated to the plurality of transformers, and the first meter is determined to have a likely connection to the first transformer by maximizing a correlation between the first statistic of the first data set and a second statistic of a second data set of a second meter known to be connected to the first transformer [see Spalt par. 0100 L. 1-12, par. 0101 L. 1-7].
In regards to claim 6, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as applied in the rejection of claim 5 above, further teaches that the correlation is a Pearson correlation [see Spalt par. 0139 L. 3-14].
In regards to claim 7, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as applied in the rejection of claim 5 above, further teaches that the first data set includes a voltage magnitude [see Luan L. 13-20].
In regards to claim 8, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as applied in the rejection of claim 5 above, further teaches that the first data set include a phase data [see Spalt par. 0097 L. 1-8].
In regards to claim 9, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as applied in the rejection of claim 1 above, further teaches that updating the initial map includes revising the connection between the first meter and the first transformer [see Spalt par. 0087, par. 0104].
In regards to claim 10, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as shown in the rejection of claim 1 above, teaches a system performing the claimed functions. Therefore, the combination also teaches the claimed method.
Furthermore, the combination teaches that a map can be updated based on a distance between the meters and the transformers [see Spalt par. 0098 L. 1-6 and L. 11-18]. This teaching means that an initial map can be updated by assigning each electrical meter of the plurality of electrical meters to a closest transformer of the plurality of transformers based on a distance between each electrical meter and the closest transformer.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use Spalt’s teachings of using distance between meters and transformers to update a map in the system taught by the combination because it will permit the system to correct the connection of a meter to a transformer in the map in a fast manner knowing that a meter most likely receives power from the closest transformer.
In regards to claim 11, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as shown in the rejection of claim 2 above, teaches the claimed limitations.
In regards to claim 12, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as shown in the rejection of claim 3 above, teaches the claimed limitations.
In regards to claim 13, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as shown in the rejection of claim 4 above, teaches the claimed limitations.
In regards to claim 14, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as shown in the rejection of claim 5 above, teaches the claimed limitations.
In regards to claim 15, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as shown in the rejection of claim 6 above, teaches the claimed limitations.
In regards to claim 16, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as shown in the rejection of claims 7 and 8 above, teaches the claimed limitations.
In regards to claim 17, the combination of Mixon, Luan and Spalt, as shown in the rejection of claim 9 above, teaches the claimed limitations.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 18-20 is/are allowed.
In regards to claim 18, the prior art cited in this office action does not teach either by anticipation or combination the following limitations: revise the initial map by assigning each meter of the plurality of electrical meters to a closest transformer of the plurality of transformers by distance; determine a maximum number of meters per a first transformer of the plurality of transformers; revise the initial map to verify that the first transformer of the plurality of transformers does not exceed the maximum number of meters connected thereto.
In regards to claims 19-20, the claims are allowed due to their dependency on claim 18.
Conclusion
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/FRANKLIN D BALSECA/Examiner, Art Unit 2688