Pre-Grant Publication Number: 20070255832
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As noted above, addresses assigned by DHCP can be made either very long lived or permanent.
plugs in a device, the ESLAM reports the customer's device MAC when it
sees it. The DHCP server records the MAC <=> IP binding." http://www.ieee802.org/3/efm/public/email/msg00516.html . Although the patent descriotion rejects the relevance of DHCP because of its use of an IP address "lease" mechanism, in fact DHCP permirs very long leases as wee as enabling client devices to renew leases. It therefore appears that this claim represents a non-standard recreation of long existing standards based handshakes and inventory methods found in ethernet networks (and probably some predecessor environments such as SNA.
So maybe the tools are used uniquely. But those are DHCP, MAC addresses, preassigned identifiers, LLDP; and all are being used for the purpose they were intended. So that's not unique.
So maybe wind farms are uniquely different from any other collection of things that need to be organized. But they seem to be composed of parts and subsystems just like any other industrial system.
I think this invention may be unique to the management of wind farms, but not to the world of networked devices. This is probably because wind turbines have only recently become networked devices and so these problems and solutions look new to wind-turbine people. I think copyright is the appropriate level of protection for this invention. I think a patent would incorrectly credit this invention with the creation of some basic networking concepts.
looks like they just want to sue people for configuring a wind farm, just because they can.
where is the novelty , it is obvious and non inventive
This network was deployed in the 2001-2002 timeframe, and has only recently been replaced with a new network infrastructure (I was let go before they realized they didn't know how to maintain the network - even though I had extensive documentation).
This isn't much different than that scenario (test equipment vs wind turbine). Now if it did this through some mechanism involving quantum physics and the relationship of the space/time continuum to cheese, then I'd say good patent. Otherwise, there is prior art all over the globe.
When I read the title of this patent on Groklaw, I thought to myself how would I do that and came up with a plan similar to the patent, sight unseen. Given the requirements of the equipment being networked I think anyone versed in networking and remote monitoring/control would come up with something similar or quite possibly identical.
That to me qualifies it as obvious.
While the application to a wind farm may be novel, the DHCP, TC/IP, MAC and component monitoring/control/identification techniques involved are widespread and used together in common applications from the ubiquitous security monitoring camera to large server farms.
I did not see any unique challenge that is put forward by a wind farm/turbine/switch/controller.
The patent under consideration has been presented in such a manner, that there appears to be sufficient evidence towards granting this idea a patent. The basic concepts of the idea are clearly represented and the technical approach to setting up the windfarm network is both reasonable and probable. This idea would allow for decreased setup time and potentially increased efficiency in monitoring/maintaining the windfarm network. Since this idea hasn’t violated any laws or encroached upon any previously patented ideas or methods, we feel that this idea should be assigned a patent.
This invention will help and maintain windfarm networks efficiently as the size of windfarms grow bigger and bigger. The automation of the manual network processes, and the fact that it would be possible to control the turbines remotely where technical experts would be easily available, makes for better accuracy, speed, reliability and quicker identification of problems.
However, the invention needs to address the issue of a backup server for optimal performance and continuity of service in case of interruptions.
In my initial searching I don't see much art having to do specifically with wind farm networks. But the application of known techniques to a new domain might be considered obvious if the new domain presents similar networking needs as do at least some other networking applications.