Wei Qiao et al.Download PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardAug 21, 201913904469 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Aug. 21, 2019) Copy Citation 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 ________________ 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. Appeal 2018-008261 Application 13/904,469 2 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. Appeal 2018-008261 Application 13/904,469 3 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, Appeal 2018-008261 Application 13/904,469 4 (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 Appeal 2018-008261 Application 13/904,469 5 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). Appeal 2018-008261 Application 13/904,469 6 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. Appeal 2018-008261 Application 13/904,469 7 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 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation