Wei Qiao et al.

Patent Trials and Appeals Board

Aug 21, 2019

13904469 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Aug. 21, 2019)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
13/904,469 05/29/2013 Wei Qiao 24742-0061001 1045
26191 7590 08/21/2019
FISH & RICHARDSON P.C. (TC)
PO BOX 1022
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55440-1022
EXAMINER
ISHIZUKA, YOSHIHISA
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2865
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
08/21/2019 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):
PATDOCTC@fr.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________________

BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
________________

Ex parte WEI QIAO and XIANG GONG
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Appeal 2018-008261
Application 13/904,469
Technology Center 2800
________________

Before CATHERINE Q. TIMM, JEFFREY B. ROBERTSON, and
SHELDON M. MCGEE, Administrative Patent Judges.

MCGEE, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL
Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellant1 seeks our review of the
Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1–23 under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
We have jurisdiction. 35 U.S.C. § 6.
We reverse.

1 Appellant is the Applicant NUtech Ventures. Appellant identifies the
Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska as the real party in interest.
App. Br. 1.
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Application 13/904,469

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SUBJECT MATTER
The subject matter on appeal relates to wind turbine generators, and
more specifically, to “detecting faults produced by wind turbine generators.”
Spec. ¶¶ 3, 4.
According to the Specification, “[d]etecting faults in wind turbines
before damage occurs to other components can increase the lifespan and/or
energy output capabilities of the turbine.” Id. ¶ 5. Prior art fault detection
systems that use sensors mounted on the surface or located within wind
turbine components are stated to be “subject to failure due to poor working
conditions, which could cause additional problems with system reliability
and additional operating and maintenance costs.” Id.
The invention purports to address these problems by using
“[f]requency and amplitude demodulation, resampling, frequency spectrum
analysis, and impulse detection” in order “to discover and isolate one or
more fault components of the current and to generate a fault identifier.”
Id. ¶ 6. Such signal processing techniques that analyze the measured current
purportedly “determine whether or not a fault or failure is present in the
wind turbine generator, or alternatively, in the wind turbine itself” (id.) and
“preemptively discover failures” in the wind power generation system (id.
¶ 24).
Independent claim 1 is illustrative of the claimed subject matter and is
copied below from pages 1 and 2 of the Claims Appendix to the Appeal
Brief2:

2 We refer to the Claims Appendix filed February 21, 2018 along with the
Response to Notice of Non-Compliant Appeal Brief dated January 25, 2018.
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1. A computer-implemented wind turbine generator fault detection
method executed by at least one processor, the method
comprising:
receiving, by the at least one processor, current data from a
wind turbine generator during operation, the current data being
sampled at a first sampling frequency;
determining, by the at least one processor, a frequency
demodulated signal and an amplitude demodulated signal by
frequency demodulating and amplitude demodulating the
current data;
resampling, by the at least one processor, the frequency
demodulated signal and amplitude demodulated signal
corresponding to the current data using a second, different
sampling frequency in order to convert a variable IP frequency
of the wind turbine to a constant value;
monitoring respective frequency spectra of the resampled
frequency demodulated signal and amplitude demodulated
signal corresponding to the current data to identify excitations
in the frequency spectra; and
in response to identifying an excitation in the frequency spectra
at a frequency that is characteristic of a wind turbine generator
fault, generating and transmitting an alert that indicates that a
wind turbine generator fault is detected.
App. Br. (Claims Appendix 1–2).

OPINION
We review the 35 U.S.C. § 101 rejection of claims 1–23––the sole
rejection on appeal––under the revised guidance governing the application
of this statute. USPTO’s January 7, 2019 Memorandum, 2019 Revised
Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance (“Memorandum”). Under that
guidance, we first look to determine whether the claims recite:
(1) any judicial exceptions, including certain groupings of abstract
ideas (i.e., mathematical concepts, certain methods of organizing
human activity, or mental processes); and, if so,
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(2) additional elements that integrate the judicial exception into a
practical application (see MPEP § 2106.05(a)–(c), (e)–(h)).
Applying the guidance set forth in the Memorandum to the claims at
issue here, we determine that each independent claim 1, 14, and 19 recites at
least one abstract idea as explained below.
Claims 1 and 19
Claims 1 and 19 each recite the mathematical concept of converting a
variable frequency to a constant value, as well as using mathematical
operations to identify excitations in a frequency spectra. For example, claim
1 recites “resampling, by the at least one processor, the frequency
demodulated signal and amplitude demodulated signal corresponding to the
current data using a second, different sampling frequency in order to convert
a variable 1P frequency of the wind turbine to a constant value.” Claim 19
recites a similar limitation. As explained in the Specification, such
conversion of the 1P frequency to a constant value involves a number of
mathematical calculations as set forth in “process 400.” Spec. ¶¶ 68–75;
Fig. 4. For example, the Specification explains that “process 400 includes a
variable rate downsampling” process which utilizes mathematical equations
(44) and (45), and also “includes calculating [] the classical frequency
spectrum of the downsampled current demodulated signal Sdown(j) for the
fault signature extraction.” Id. at ¶¶ 74–75 (emphasis added).
Furthermore, claims 1 and 19 each recite “monitoring respective
frequency spectra of the resampled frequency demodulated signal and
amplitude demodulated signal corresponding to the current data to identify
excitations in the frequency spectra.” This monitoring “can include
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iteratively calculating the frequency spectra of the resampled frequency and
amplitude demodulated signals corresponding to the current data.” Spec.
¶ 12.
Because claims 1 and 19 each recite mathematical concepts, it follows
that these claims recite an abstract idea.
Claim 14
Claim 14 recites a processor that is programmed to “estimate a shaft
rotating frequency of the wind turbine generator based on the frequency
demodulated signal corresponding to the current data.” The Specification
explains that “the system (or a user) may select a base frequency fb to be an
averaged value of the estimated shaft rotating frequency during a certain
period.” Spec. ¶¶ 65, 68. Thus, the claimed estimation appears to be a
mental process. Claim 14 also requires the processor to be programmed to
“calculate respective frequency spectra,” which is a mathematical concept.
Spec. ¶¶ 61, 66; Figure 3 (step 310).

Because each of the independent claims 1, 14, and 19 recites at least
one abstract idea, we must now determine––under the guidance set forth in
the Memorandum––whether these claims integrate the recited abstract ideas
into a practical application, and are, thus, patent eligible under 35 U.S.C.
§ 101.
Upon review of the Specification, as well as Appellant’s arguments
set forth in the Appeal and Reply Briefs, we determine that the claims recite
additional elements that integrate the recited abstract ideas into the practical
application of improving detection of wind turbine generator faults, and are
thus patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101. See MPEP § 2106.05(a).
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The Specification informs us that wind turbine blade imbalance faults,
caused by, e.g., “errors in manufacturing and construction, icing,
deformation due to aging, or wear and fatigue during” wind turbine
generator operation “constitute a significant portion of all faults in” such
generators. Spec. ¶ 28. When these imbalance faults occur, “a torque
variation will be induced in the shaft, which in turn can induce vibrations in
the shaft rotating frequency of the wind turbine generator.” Id.
“[C]haracteristic frequencies of shaft and/or blade imbalance and
aerodynamic asymmetry both appear at the 1P frequency in the shaft speed
signal of a wind turbine,” which 1P frequency3 “can be used as a signature
for imbalance fault detection.” Id. ¶ 32. The Specification explains that
“converting the variable 1P frequency to a constant value and monitoring a
frequency spectra of the resampled current data” can be used “to detect a
wind turbine generator fault” by identifying “one or more excitations at the
fault characteristic frequency or frequencies in the frequency spectra,” for
example, during spectra monitoring, Id. ¶¶ 59–60.
The Specification furthermore provides technical details regarding
what is involved in:
1) determining the frequency and amplitude demodulated signals from
the acquired current data (id. ¶¶ 48–54; claims 1, 14, 19),
2) resampling the frequency demodulated signal to convert the
variable 1P frequency to a constant value (id. ¶¶ 59, 68–75; claims 1, 19),
3) estimating a shaft rotating frequency of the wind turbine generator
based on the frequency demodulated signal corresponding to current data,

3 The “1P frequency” is described to be “the shaft rotating frequency of the
wind turbine generator.” Spec. ¶ 6.
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and resampling the frequency and amplitude demodulated signals based on
that estimated shaft rotating frequency (id. ¶¶ 65–66; claim 14), and
4) monitoring frequency spectra and identifying excitations / detecting
impulses in that frequency spectra that is characteristic of a wind turbine
fault (id. ¶¶ 60, 76–79; claims 1, 14, 19). See also id. Figs. 2–5 (setting forth
several process flow charts detailing how to identify a generator fault, detect
one or more impulses in a frequency spectrum, perform a frequency
spectrum analysis, and an impulse detection algorithm for automatic
extraction of fault signatures in a wind turbine generator, respectively).
Carrying out such activities “purport[s] to improve the functioning of .
. . the technical field” of wind turbine generator fault detection. Alice Corp.
Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Intern., 573 U.S. 208, 225 (2014); Spec. ¶¶ 4–5, 16,
24–26. In view of such purported improvements, and because the specific
techniques for realizing such purported improvements are recited in each of
the independent claims 1, 14, and 19, we determine that the claims integrate
the abstract ideas recited therein into a practical application. It follows, then,
that these claims and the claims dependent therefrom are patent eligible.
For these reasons, we do not sustain the Examiner’s rejection of
claims 1–23 under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

DECISION
We reverse the rejection of claims 1–23 under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

REVERSED