12854858 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 29, 2016)

Ex Parte Lee

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardFeb 29, 2016

12854858 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 29, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE 12/854,858 08/11/2010 23363 7590 03/02/2016 Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP POBOX29001 Glendale, CA 91209-9001 FIRST NAMED INVENTOR Sung-Im Lee UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www .uspto.gov ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 66146/S744 8715 EXAMINER AMAYA, CARLOS DAVID ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2836 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 03/02/2016 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address( es): pair_cph@firsttofile.com pto@lrrc.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte SUNG-IM LEE 1 Appeal 2014-002348 Application 12/854,858 Technology Center 2800 Before PETER F. KRATZ, MARK NAGUMO, and KAREN M. HASTINGS, Administrative Patent Judges. NAGUMO, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Sung-Im Lee ("Lee") timely appeals under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 134(a) from the Final Rejection2 of all pending claims 1-20. We have jurisdiction. 35 U.S.C. Â§ 6. We reverse for reasons well-stated by Lee. 1 The real party in interest is listed as Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. (Appeal Brief, filed 11 July 2013 ("Br."), 1.) 2 Office action mailed 19 February 2013 ("Final Rejection"). Appeal2014-002348 Application 12/854,858 A. Introduction 3 OPINION The subject matter on appeal relates to an energy storage system associated with a renewable source, such as a solar powered panel on a house. Typically, a battery is used as the energy storage device. The energy storage system is also interfaced with the power grid and with a load. The '858 Specification teaches that the renewable energy source and the battery are DC, while the power grid and the load are AC. (Spec. 2 [0006].) Each may operate at a distinct voltage. (Id.) Thus, there is a need for DC-DC, DC-AC, and AC-DC conversions, especially to enable charging of the storage battery by the grid during periods when both renewable power generation and load requirements are low (e.g., in the dark when the household is inactive), or to enable distribution of renewably-generated power to the grid when renewable energy generation is high but load demands are low (e.g., at mid-day, when the house 1s mactive ). It is also desirable to be able to disconnect the energy storage system from the grid in the event of a grid failure. (Id.) The claimed invention is said to accomplish these goals by providing, as shown in Figure 1, reproduced on the following page, an energy storage system 100 that is connected to a renewable energy source 130, comprised of, for example, solar cells 131, and that provides power to 3 Application 12/854,858, Energy storage system and method of controlling the same, filed 11 August 2010, claiming the benefit of an application filed in the Republic of Korea on 16 December 2009. We refer to the '"858 Specification," which we cite as "Spec." 2 Appeal2014-002348 Application 12/854,858 energy management system 110, which is connected to a battery 120. 4 Energy storage system 100 is also connected to power grid 140 and to a load 150. {Specification Fig. 1 is shown below} ""! Â·:i.n ,, .. ,./Â·.~Â·:Â· .. _. 100 {Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the claimed energy storage system 100} As will be seen, the critical issue to be resolved in this appeal is whether, in the art as applied by the Examiner, the voltage of the DC power provided at a location corresponding to node Nl is higher than the voltage of a storage battery corresponding to storage battery 120. The particular findings and arguments made by the Examiner and challenged by Lee are such that we need not describe in detail the inter-relations of all the components of the system. It suffices to point out that the Specification describes maximum power point tracking (MPPT) converter 111 as converting the DC voltage output by solar cells 131 to a DC voltage of first 4 Throughout this Opinion, for clarity, labels to elements are presented in bold font, regardless of their presentation in the original document. 3 Appeal2014-002348 Application 12/854,858 node Nl, e.g., in the range of about 300 V to about 600 V (Spec. 6 [0032]), and more particularly, 380 V (id. at 7 [0034]). Bi-directional converter 113 is a DC-DC voltage converter that Lee describes, in embodiments, as dropping the voltage from 380 Vat node Nl to 100 V, the voltage of the storage battery. (Id. at 8-9 [0039].) Claim 1 is representative of the dispositive issues and reads: An energy storage system [100] comprising: a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) converter [111] converting power generated by a renewable power generation system [130] and outputting the converted power to a first node [Nl]; a bi-directional inverter [112], connected between the first node [Nl] and a second node [N2], the second node [N2] being connected to a grid [140] and a load [150], converting a first direct current (DC) power input through the first node [Nl] to an alternating current (AC) power and outputting the AC power to the second node [N2], and converting an AC power from the grid [140] to the first DC power and outputting the first DC power to the first node [Nl]; a battery [120] for storing a second DC power; a bi-directional converter [113], connected between the battery [120] and the first node [Nl ], converting the second DC power output from the battery to the first DC power and outputting the first DC power to the bi-directional inverter [112] through the first node [Nl ], and converting the first DC power output from the bi-directional inverter [112] through the first node [Nl] to the second DC power, 4 Appeal2014-002348 Application 12/854,858 the first DC power having a higher voltage than the second DC power; and an integrated controller [114] sensing an electrical failure signal of the grid [140] and controlling the second DC power stored in the battery [120] to be transferred to the load [150] when the electrical failure signal is received. (Claims App., Br. 6; some indentation, paragraphing, bracketed material, and emphasis added.) The Examiner maintains the following ground of rejection: 5 Claims 1-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 103(a) in view of the combined teachings of Yanai 6 and Adest. 7 B. Discussion Findings of fact throughout this Opinion are supported by a preponderance of the evidence of record. Lee urges that no substantial evidence supports the Examiner's finding, based on the Yanai abstract and paragraphs [0016], [0025]-[0027], and [0059], that Yanai provides a DC voltage at a point corresponding to node Nl, that is higher than the voltage of the storage battery. (Br. 3-5.) Review of these passages supports Lee's arguments. None of these passages reveals the voltage provided by the solar cell device 1, or the 5 Examiner's Answer mailed 3 October 2013 ("Ans."). 6 Atsushi Yanai et al., Photovoltaic power generation system with storage batteries, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0047209 Al (2003) (hereinafter "Yanai"). 7 Meir Adest et al., Method for distributed power harvesting using DC power sources, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0150366 Al (2008) (hereinafter "Adest"). 5 Appeal2014-002348 Application 12/854,858 voltage of the storage battery 2 that is monitored by current control unit 3 "so as to control the current control unit 4 to supply direct current from the solar cell device 1 to the inverter 5 when the storage batteries complete charging" (Yanai 4 [0059]). These devices are illustrated in block form in Yanai, Fig. 1, which is reproduced below. r.wre~t cJ::.1n:tf{;