DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Remarks
2. Claims 1 and 3-16 have been examined and rejected. This is the first Office action on the merits.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
4. Claims 1, 3, 5-9, 11, 13, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hashiguchi et al (Pub. No. US 2016/0139580) in view of Kobayashi et al (Pub. No. US 2017/0246741).
4-1. Regarding claim 1, Hashiguchi teaches the claim comprising: processing circuitry including an input terminal to receive an input signal, including an output terminal to output a signal, by disclosing a process control system 1 that includes an I/O module 12 [paragraph 48] having a lower-level layer interface 21 that includes I/O ports P connected to field devices 11 and that transmits and receives a variety of signals to and from the field device 11 connected to the I/O ports P [paragraph 57]. Process values measured by a sensor device 11a may be acquired and operation may be transmitted to a valve device 11b [paragraph 52].
Hashiguchi teaches processing circuitry to receive first setting information from a host controller, the first setting information being information for setting a condition of a value of the signal to be output from the output terminal or a condition between a value of the input signal received by the input terminal and a value of the signal to be output from the output terminal and being information for controlling an operation of an external device connected to the input-output module, by disclosing that engineering terminal 15 generates information to be set to the field device 11, the I/O module 12, and the controller 13, based on process design information, which is design information of the process control system 1, and such information generated by the engineering terminal 15 includes information relating to input and output between the field device 11 and the I/O module 12 [paragraph 54].
Hashiguchi teaches processing circuitry to receive second setting information, the second setting information being information for setting the condition of the value of the signal to be output from the output terminal or the condition between the value of the input signal received by the input terminal and the value of the signal to be output from the output terminal and being information for controlling an operation of an external device connected to the input-output module, by disclosing a maintenance port 23 that transmits and receives various signals to and from the setting apparatus 16 [paragraph 58, lines 4-6]. The setting apparatus 16 and maintenance port 23 provide various settings for the field device 11 and the I/O module 12 [paragraph 80, lines 6-10; paragraph 82, lines 3-6].
Hashiguchi teaches processing circuitry… to switch a mode between a first mode and a second mode, wherein when the mode is in the first mode, the processing circuitry, based on the first setting information, causes the output terminal to output the signal with the set value or causes the output terminal to output the signal with the value in accordance with the set condition and the value of the input signal received by the input terminal, and when the mode is in the second mode and is a startup mode indicating a state of a startup operation, the processing circuitry receives the second setting information from a device other than the host controller, and, based on the second setting information, causes the output terminal to output the signal with the set value or causes the output terminal to output the signal with the value in accordance with the set condition and the value of the input signal received by the input terminal, by disclosing that under a control of control device 26, switch 24 switches between connecting the higher-level layer interface 22 to the lower-level layer interface 21 (online state) and connecting the maintenance port 23 to the lower-level layer interface 21 (maintenance state) [paragraph 59]. The online state may be considered the first mode in the claim since the lower-level layer interface is connected to the high-level layer interface, which, if there is a connection to controller 13, will allow setting information to be received from controller 13. The maintenance state may be considered the second mode in the claim since the lower-level layer interface is connected to the maintenance port, which is connected to setting apparatus for receiving setting information. During the initial launch stage of the process control system 1, the I/O module 12 and the controller 13 are not connected [paragraph 80, lines 1-6] and the I/O module 12 transitions from the online state ST11 (i.e. the claimed first mode) to the maintenance state 12 (i.e. the claimed second mode) so that setting apparatus 16 is connected to maintenance port 23 to perform various settings on the field device 11 and the I/O module 12 [paragraph 80, lines 6-10; paragraph 81; paragraph 82, lines 1-6]. This initial configuration is considered to be in a startup mode performing startup operations since the I/O module is being installed at a site, and is in the initial launch stage without being connected to controller 13.
Hashiguchi does not expressly teach processing circuity to store the received first setting information or the received second setting information, to, based on the stored first setting information or the stored second setting information cause the output terminal to output a signal with the set value or cause the output terminal to output a signal with a value in accordance with the set condition and the value of the input signal received by the input terminal. Kobayashi discloses that it was well known to store setting information in a memory of a command executor of a slave device [paragraphs 84, 113]. This would allow such setting information to be accessed more quickly. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to store received setting information, as taught by Kobayashi. This would allow such setting information to be accessed more quickly.
4-2. Regarding claim 3, Hashiguchi-Kabayashi teach all the limitations of claim 1, wherein when the mode is in the second mode and the processing circuitry receives the first setting information from the host controller, the mode is switched from the second mode to the first mode, by disclosing that the I/O module may transition from the maintenance state to the online state [Hashiguchi, paragraph 74, lines 5-10; paragraph 77].
4-3. Regarding claims 5 and 9, Hashiguchi-Kabayashi teach all the limitations of claims 1 and 3 respectively, wherein the processing circuitry connects a terminal device to receive the second setting information, by disclosing that I/O module is connected to setting apparatus 16 which provides setting information [Hashiguchi, paragraph 58, lines 4-6; paragraph 80, lines 6-10; paragraph 82, lines 3-6].
4-4. Regarding claims 6 and 11, Hashiguchi-Kabayashi teach all the limitations of claims 1 and 3 respectively, wherein the processing circuitry receives the second setting information being input, by disclosing that an operator operates the setting apparatus 16 to perform various settings, adjustments, etc., on the field device 11 and the I/O module 12 [Hashiguchi, paragraph 82, lines 3-6].
4-5. Regarding claims 7, 13, 15, and 16, Hashiguchi-Kabayashi teach a control system, comprising, the input-output module according to claims 1, 3, 5, and 6 respectively, by disclosing process control system 1 [Hashiguchi, paragraph 48; figure 1].
Hashiguchi-Kabayashi teach a display tool connectable to the input-output module, the display tool being configured to display the value of the input signal input from an external device into the input-output module or the value of the signal to be output from the input-output module to an external device, by disclosing operation monitoring terminal 14 acquires input and output data of the field device 11 from the controller 13 to convey the behavior of the field device 11 and the controller 13, which configure the process control system 1, to the operator, and operates the controller 13 based on instructions from the operator [Hashiguchi, paragraph 53].
4-6. Regarding claim 8, Hashiguchi-Kabayashi teach all the limitations of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry causes the output terminal to output the signal based on the second setting information before the input-output module is connected to the host controller, by disclosing that during the initial launch stage of the process control system 1, the I/O module 12 and the controller 13 are not connected [Hashiguchi, paragraph 80, lines 1-6] and the setting apparatus 16 is connected to maintenance port 23 to perform various settings on the field device 11 and the I/O module 12 [Hashiguchi, paragraph 80, lines 6-10; paragraph 81; paragraph 82, lines 1-6].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
6. Claims 4, 10, 12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hashiguchi et al (Pub. No. US 2016/0139580), in view of Kobayashi et al (Pub. No. US 2017/0246741), and further in view of Iriguchi et al (U.S. Patent No. 11,435,716).
6-1. Regarding claim 4, Hashiguchi-Kobayashi teach all the limitations of claim 3. Hashiguchi-Kobayashi do not expressly teach wherein when the second setting information is stored in the processing circuitry and the processing circuitry receives the first setting information from the host controller, the second setting information stored in the processing circuitry is overwritten with the first setting information. Iriguchi discloses that it was well known to overwrite stored configuration information with updated configuration information [column 6, lines 5-10]. This would save storage space. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to overwrite stored setting information, as taught by Iriguchi. This would save storage space.
6-2. Regarding claim 10, Hashiguchi-Kobayashi-Iriguchi teach all the limitations of claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry connects a terminal device to receive the second setting information, by disclosing that I/O module is connected to setting apparatus 16 which provides setting information [Hashiguchi, paragraph 58, lines 4-6; paragraph 80, lines 6-10; paragraph 82, lines 3-6].
6-3. Regarding claim 12, Hashiguchi-Kobayashi-Iriguchi teach all the limitations of claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry receives the second setting information being input, by disclosing that an operator operates the setting apparatus 16 to perform various settings, adjustments, etc., on the field device 11 and the I/O module 12 [Hashiguchi, paragraph 82, lines 3-6].
6-4. Regarding claim 14, Hashiguchi-Kobayashi-Iriguchi teach a control system, comprising: the input-output module according to claim 4, by disclosing process control system 1 [Hashiguchi, paragraph 48; figure 1].
Hashiguchi-Kobayashi-Iriguchi teach a display tool connectable to the input-output module, the display tool being configured to display the value of the input signal input from an external device into the input-output module or the value of the signal to be output from the input-output module to an external device, by disclosing operation monitoring terminal 14 acquires input and output data of the field device 11 from the controller 13 to convey the behavior of the field device 11 and the controller 13, which configure the process control system 1, to the operator, and operates the controller 13 based on instructions from the operator [Hashiguchi, paragraph 53].
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALVIN H TAN whose telephone number is (571)272-8595. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10AM-6PM.
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/ALVIN H TAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2118
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