Prior art

The prior art for US patent 10516270B2 primarily includes other U.S. patents and patent applications, as well as non-patent literature, that were considered by the patent examiner during prosecution. The full patent text lists both "Patent Citations" and "Non-Patent Citations".

Here's an analysis of the most relevant prior art cited in US10516270B2, focusing on the patent citations, as these are typically the most direct in assessing anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102:

Patent Citations:

1. US20100085035A1

   • Full Citation: US20100085035A1 - Method and apparatus for determining AC voltage waveform anomalies [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", provides this citation]
   • Publication Date: April 8, 2010 [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", lists the publication date for US20100085035A1 as 2010-04-08]
   • Priority Date: October 8, 2008 [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", lists the priority date for US20100085035A1 as 2008-10-08]
   • Brief Description: This patent application describes methods and apparatus for detecting anomalies in AC voltage waveforms. It is assigned to Enphase Energy, Inc., the same assignee as US10516270B2, and shares inventor Martin Fornage. While it broadly relates to grid monitoring, its focus is on waveform anomaly detection rather than hysteretic droop control for generator coordination.
   • Potential Anticipated Claim(s): This reference might be relevant to the general concept of "obtaining a first measurement of at least one grid parameter" (Claim 1, 7, 15), especially if frequency or voltage measurements are involved in anomaly detection. However, it's unlikely to anticipate the specific hysteretic droop control mechanism for generator turn-on/shut-down thresholds that are central to US10516270B2, as its primary purpose is different.

2. US20140097683A1

   • Full Citation: US20140097683A1 - Generator dispatching or load shedding control method and system for microgrid applications [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", provides this citation]
   • Publication Date: April 10, 2014 [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", lists the publication date for US20140097683A1 as 2014-04-10]
   • Priority Date: October 8, 2012 [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", lists the priority date for US20140097683A1 as 2012-10-08]
   • Brief Description: This patent application, assigned to Eaton Corporation, concerns methods and systems for controlling generators or shedding load in microgrid applications. This is directly relevant to the control of microgrid generators.
   • Potential Anticipated Claim(s): This reference could potentially anticipate aspects of Claim 1, 7, and 15 related to "operating a microgrid power generator" and potentially "initiating" or "stopping" power generation based on grid conditions. However, the unique aspect of US10516270B2 lies in the hysteretic nature of the turn-on and shut-down thresholds, where the shut-down threshold is greater than the turn-on threshold by an amount specifically designed to prevent oscillation due to the generator's minimum operating power. This specific hysteretic mechanism would likely be the distinguishing feature from US20140097683A1, which focuses on general dispatching or load shedding.

3. US20140183961A1

   • Full Citation: US20140183961A1 - Responding to Local Grid Events and Distributed Grid Events [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", provides this citation]
   • Publication Date: July 3, 2014 [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", lists the publication date for US20140183961A1 as 2014-07-03]
   • Priority Date: December 28, 2012 [cite: The full patent text, under "Patent Citations", lists the priority date for US20140183961A1 as 2012-12-28]
   • Brief Description: This patent application by Xtreme Power Inc. describes systems and methods for responding to local and distributed grid events. This broadly covers managing power sources in a grid environment.
   • Potential Anticipated Claim(s): Similar to US20140097683A1, this reference might address general concepts of generator operation and response to grid conditions (Claim 1, 7, 15). The key differentiator for US10516270B2 would remain the specific hysteretic droop control with distinct turn-on and shut-down thresholds to prevent oscillation.

Non-Patent Citations (Selected Examples for context, as per instructions focusing on patent citations):

While the instruction was to focus on patent citations, it's worth noting that the non-patent literature also cited in US10516270B2 primarily discusses various droop control methods for inverters and microgrids, demonstrating the existing knowledge in the field. For instance, several papers by Brabandere et al., Iyer et al., Kim et al., and others describe different approaches to droop control for parallel inverters and microgrids. These would likely demonstrate the general state of the art in droop control and microgrid operation but might not disclose the specific hysteretic approach for generator coordination that is central to US10516270B2.

Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102:

For a prior art reference to anticipate a claim under 35 U.S.C. § 102, it must disclose every limitation of the claim, either explicitly or inherently. Based on the brief descriptions, the cited patent prior art references (US20100085035A1, US20140097683A1, US20140183961A1) appear to cover general aspects of microgrid operation, grid parameter measurement, and generator control. However, the distinctive feature of US10516270B2's claims—the use of a hysteretic droop curve where the shut-down threshold is specifically greater than the turn-on threshold by an amount larger than the expected frequency jump resulting from the generator's minimum operating power to prevent oscillatory behavior (Claims 3, 4, 9, 10, 17, 18)—is likely the novel element that these prior art references do not explicitly or inherently disclose. Therefore, these references would likely be considered for obviousness challenges under 35 U.S.C. § 103, rather than direct anticipation under § 102, due to the lack of this specific hysteretic implementation.