DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to applicant’s communication filed 06/15/2026.
Claim(s) 1-5 have been considered.
- Claim(s) 1-5 are pending.
- Claim(s) 1-2, and 4-5 has/have been amended.
- No claim(s) has/have been canceled.
- No claim(s) has/have been newly added.
- Claim(s) 1-5 have been rejected as described below.
- This action is NON-FINAL.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/15/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites in its 1st limitation, “… and information representing time series and causal relationships …” and then in the last line of last limitation, “… information having the relationship with the alarm master information”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for the last limitation in the claim as it is not clear which relationship from the previous limitations of the claim is specifically being referred to. To promote compact prosecution, for the purpose of applying prior art, examiner will read this as: “… information having at least one of the relationships with the alarm master information”.
Similar to above, claim(s) 4 and 5 are also rejected based on the same reasoning and thus will be interpreted similarly as well.
Claim(s) 2-3 are rejected based on their dependency to claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ramadoss (US 20160328954 A1) in view of Liu (US 20180224831 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ramadoss teaches:
A first aid presentation system comprising: (abstract, Fig. 2-6, etc.)
at least one memory (Fig. 2 – Alarm activation timeline database 212. 0030 teaches the storage of an activation alarm timeline in memory. 0082-83 also teach examples of memory for storage.) that stores one piece or a plurality of pieces of alarm master information associated with each alarm issued (Fig. 6 and 0070 teach storing a particular pattern of alarms (e.g., an alarm flood) with corresponding control actions. 0074 teaches the example alarm presentation interface 300 of FIG. 3 with another example alarm activation timeline 602 retrieved/recalled from a database such as 212. 0064-65 teach the interface 300 includes an alarm list pane 326 to provide relevant information associated with the active alarms represented in the active alarm timeline 302 in a typical alarm list format (and operator/user to access historical process control data (e.g., alarm data and/or control action data) to generate and display an alarm activation timeline)). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, all of the active alarm icons 304 are associated with alarms from an Overhead Receiver Unit 332 of the process control system.) from one or a plurality of monitoring targets, (Fig. 1 and 0039 teach the alarm data is stored in the historical data archive 206 for later retrieval and/or analysis, where the communicatively coupled (with the controller) monitoring targets are the field devices 110, 112, 114, 120, 122 and other components.) information representing each first aid which is a response procedure for each alarm associated with each piece of the alarm master information, (0069-70 teach storing a particular pattern of alarms (e.g., an alarm flood) with corresponding control actions. 0025 teaches in some examples, the operator and/or other plant personnel may add annotations, remarks, or comments to the alarm activation timeline further explaining the nature of the saved alarm pattern, the particular actions taken and/or the reasoning behind such actions, insights into potential alternative response strategies, and so forth. Here, the insights into potential alternative response strategies is considered to be part of a response procedure, for example. 0044, 0070, 0106, etc. teach further details regarding operator response strategies and/or the procedure of providing guidance to other operators (e.g., in training and/or taking over in a subsequent shift) regarding what alarm patterns have occurred.) and information representing time series and … relationships between the respective pieces of alarm master information; (Fig. 3-4, and fig. 6 along with 0039 teach, further, in some examples, the historical data archive 206 also stores operator control data indicative of control actions taken by operators and/or other personnel, which may include, for example, the nature of control actions, the time of such actions, parameters affected by such actions, etc. 0044 teaches, in some examples, alarm activation timelines include icons representative of control actions taken by the operator during the historical period of time to indicate the temporal relationship of the alarms and the control actions, where for example, the particular historical period of time may correspond to an alarm flood or other pattern of alarms that the operator or other user desires to review.)
and at least one processor, the at least one memory comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to at least: (0031, 0082-83 teach the methods may be implemented using machine readable instructions that comprise a program for execution by a processor where the instructions are stored in a memory.)
acquire, from the at least one memory, and present the first aid which is the response procedure to a designated alarm associated with the alarm master information corresponding to a designated alarm and information relating to another piece of the alarm master information having the relationship with the alarm master information. (Fig. 4, fig. 6 and 0075-76 teach a user can quickly view each timeline to visually compare the patterns of alarms represented in each. In some examples, when a stored alarm activation timeline 608 is retrieved from the alarm activation timeline database 212, the data in the alarm list pane 326 and the control actions pane 328 (collapsed in FIG. 6) is updated to include data corresponding with the selected alarm activation timeline. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, more than one timeline may be rendered simultaneously to enable a side-by-side comparison of the patterns of alarms in each timeline. For the response procedure, as above, see 0044, 0070, 0106, etc. teach further details regarding operator response strategies and/or the procedure of providing guidance to other operators (e.g., in training and/or taking over in a subsequent shift) regarding what alarm patterns have occurred.)
While Ramadoss implicitly teaches below by teaching the alarm activation timelines and associated control actions (Among many applicable examples, see 0044 teaches, in some examples, alarm activation timelines include icons representative of control actions taken by the operator during the historical period of time to indicate the temporal relationship of the alarms and the control actions, where for example, the particular historical period of time may correspond to an alarm flood or other pattern of alarms that the operator or other user desires to review.),
Ramadoss does not explicitly disclose information representing causal relationships [between the respective pieces of alarm master information;]
Liu explicitly teaches information representing causal relationships [between the respective pieces of alarm master information;] (0071 teaches, the cause-effect relationship analyzer 106 acquires the integrated event data stored (saved) in the event database 11 and analyzes a cause-effect relationship for a combination of two or more events in considering (applying) a time concept on the basis of the process variation event data and the continued event data included in the acquired integrated event data. A combination of two or more events for which the cause-effect relationship is analyzed by the cause-effect relationship analyzer 106 may be a combination of the process variation event included in the process variation event data and any one of the alarm event and the operation event included in the continued event data. See also 0089 teaches a plurality of cause-effect models are stored (saved) and retrieved and 0095 teaches a storage device storing such data for the event analyzing programs etc.)
Accordingly, as Ramadoss and Liu are directed to abnormality detection, communications, and control technology, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have specifically added the feature of utilizing the well-known technology of storing information representing cause-effect relationships between alarm events data, as taught by Liu to the monitoring and control system with storage devices storing alarm data such as the historical data archive/database including alarm activation timelines with associated control actions related data as taught by Ramadoss. One would have been motivated to do so to take advantage of the well-known feature of monitoring and control of alarm, operation and process variation information in a way that enables improvement in further supporting the management of operations of facilities that is performed by the user by presenting various information (including a causal analysis) to the user, as evident in Liu, 0155-58, etc.
Regarding claim 2, Ramadoss and Liu teach all the elements of claim 1.
Ramadoss further teaches:
wherein the at least one memory further stores work history information relating to a work history for the monitoring target and information associating the work history information with one piece or a plurality of pieces of the alarm master information, (Among many applicable examples, see 0026 teaches the operator may use the stored alarm activation timeline (and any associated annotations or remarks) as a guide or reference in responding to the pattern of alarms the operator is currently addressing. 0039 teaches, in some examples, the historical data archive 206 also stores operator control data indicative of control actions taken by operators and/or other personnel (besides storing the alarm data).) and the at least one processor further acquires, from the at least one memory, and presents, in a case where the alarm master information corresponding to the designated alarm is associated with the work history information, information relating to another one piece or a plurality of other pieces of the alarm master information associated with the work history information. (Besides above, see 0074-75 teach comparison (done by operator/user) of stored alarm activation timeline(s) with current activation timeline for matching patterns in each of the timelines. Note, the comparison can be based on various factors including the control actions and/or the timing of the control actions in addition to the alarms activated during each timeline. For presentation, see 0074 teaches, “FIG. 6 illustrates the example alarm presentation interface 300 of FIG. 3 with another example alarm activation timeline 602 retrieved from a database (e.g., the alarm activation timeline database 212 of FIG. 2).”.)
Regarding claim 4, Ramadoss teaches:
A first aid presentation method comprising: (abstract, Fig. 2-6, etc.)
storing in at least one memory (Fig. 2 – Alarm activation timeline database 212. 0030 teaches the storage of an activation alarm timeline in memory. 0082-83 also teach examples of memory for storage.) one piece or a plurality of pieces of alarm master information associated with each alarm issued (Fig. 6 and 0070 teach storing a particular pattern of alarms (e.g., an alarm flood) with corresponding control actions. 0074 teaches the example alarm presentation interface 300 of FIG. 3 with another example alarm activation timeline 602 retrieved/recalled from a database such as 212. 0064-65 teach the interface 300 includes an alarm list pane 326 to provide relevant information associated with the active alarms represented in the active alarm timeline 302 in a typical alarm list format (and operator/user to access historical process control data (e.g., alarm data and/or control action data) to generate and display an alarm activation timeline)). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, all of the active alarm icons 304 are associated with alarms from an Overhead Receiver Unit 332 of the process control system.) from one or a plurality of monitoring targets, (Fig. 1 and 0039 teach the alarm data is stored in the historical data archive 206 for later retrieval and/or analysis, where the communicatively coupled (with the controller) monitoring targets are the field devices 110, 112, 114, 120, 122 and other components.) information representing each first aid which is a response procedure for each alarm associated with each piece of the alarm master information, (0069-70 teach storing a particular pattern of alarms (e.g., an alarm flood) with corresponding control actions. 0025 teaches in some examples, the operator and/or other plant personnel may add annotations, remarks, or comments to the alarm activation timeline further explaining the nature of the saved alarm pattern, the particular actions taken and/or the reasoning behind such actions, insights into potential alternative response strategies, and so forth. Here, the insights into potential alternative response strategies is considered to be part of a response procedure, for example. 0044, 0070, 0106, etc. teach further details regarding operator response strategies and/or the procedure of providing guidance to other operators (e.g., in training and/or taking over in a subsequent shift) regarding what alarm patterns have occurred.) and information representing time series and … relationships between the respective pieces of alarm master information; (Fig. 3-4, and fig. 6 along with 0039 teach, further, in some examples, the historical data archive 206 also stores operator control data indicative of control actions taken by operators and/or other personnel, which may include, for example, the nature of control actions, the time of such actions, parameters affected by such actions, etc. 0044 teaches, in some examples, alarm activation timelines include icons representative of control actions taken by the operator during the historical period of time to indicate the temporal relationship of the alarms and the control actions, where for example, the particular historical period of time may correspond to an alarm flood or other pattern of alarms that the operator or other user desires to review.) and acquiring, from the at least one memory, and presenting the first aid which is response procedures for each alarm associated with the alarm master information corresponding to a designated alarm and information relating to another piece of the alarm master information having the relationship with the alarm master information. (Fig. 4, fig. 6 and 0075-76 teach a user can quickly view each timeline to visually compare the patterns of alarms represented in each. In some examples, when a stored alarm activation timeline 608 is retrieved from the alarm activation timeline database 212, the data in the alarm list pane 326 and the control actions pane 328 (collapsed in FIG. 6) is updated to include data corresponding with the selected alarm activation timeline. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, more than one timeline may be rendered simultaneously to enable a side-by-side comparison of the patterns of alarms in each timeline. For the response procedure, as above, see 0044, 0070, 0106, etc. teach further details regarding operator response strategies and/or the procedure of providing guidance to other operators (e.g., in training and/or taking over in a subsequent shift) regarding what alarm patterns have occurred.)
While Ramadoss implicitly teaches below by teaching the alarm activation timelines and associated control actions (Among many applicable examples, see 0044 teaches, in some examples, alarm activation timelines include icons representative of control actions taken by the operator during the historical period of time to indicate the temporal relationship of the alarms and the control actions, where for example, the particular historical period of time may correspond to an alarm flood or other pattern of alarms that the operator or other user desires to review.),
Ramadoss does not explicitly disclose information representing causal relationships [between the respective pieces of alarm master information;]
Liu explicitly teaches information representing causal relationships [between the respective pieces of alarm master information;] (0071 teaches, the cause-effect relationship analyzer 106 acquires the integrated event data stored (saved) in the event database 11 and analyzes a cause-effect relationship for a combination of two or more events in considering (applying) a time concept on the basis of the process variation event data and the continued event data included in the acquired integrated event data. A combination of two or more events for which the cause-effect relationship is analyzed by the cause-effect relationship analyzer 106 may be a combination of the process variation event included in the process variation event data and any one of the alarm event and the operation event included in the continued event data. See also 0089 teaches a plurality of cause-effect models are stored (saved) and retrieved and 0095 teaches a storage device storing such data for the event analyzing programs etc.)
Accordingly, as Ramadoss and Liu are directed to abnormality detection, communications, and control technology, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have specifically added the feature of utilizing the well-known technology of storing information representing cause-effect relationships between alarm events data, as taught by Liu to the monitoring and control system with storage devices storing alarm data such as the historical data archive/database including alarm activation timelines with associated control actions related data as taught by Ramadoss. One would have been motivated to do so to take advantage of the well-known feature of monitoring and control of alarm, operation and process variation information in a way that enables improvement in further supporting the management of operations of facilities that is performed by the user by presenting various information (including a causal analysis) to the user, as evident in Liu, 0155-58, etc.
Regarding claim 5, Ramadoss teaches:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to: (abstract, 0009, Fig. 2-6, etc.)
execute storing in at least one memory (Fig. 2 – Alarm activation timeline database 212. 0030 teaches the storage of an activation alarm timeline in memory. 0082-83 also teach examples of memory for storage.) one piece or a plurality of pieces of alarm master information associated with each alarm issued (Fig. 6 and 0070 teach storing a particular pattern of alarms (e.g., an alarm flood) with corresponding control actions. 0074 teaches the example alarm presentation interface 300 of FIG. 3 with another example alarm activation timeline 602 retrieved/recalled from a database such as 212. 0064-65 teach the interface 300 includes an alarm list pane 326 to provide relevant information associated with the active alarms represented in the active alarm timeline 302 in a typical alarm list format (and operator/user to access historical process control data (e.g., alarm data and/or control action data) to generate and display an alarm activation timeline)). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, all of the active alarm icons 304 are associated with alarms from an Overhead Receiver Unit 332 of the process control system.) from one or a plurality of monitoring targets, (Fig. 1 and 0039 teach the alarm data is stored in the historical data archive 206 for later retrieval and/or analysis, where the communicatively coupled (with the controller) monitoring targets are the field devices 110, 112, 114, 120, 122 and other components.) information representing each first aid which is a response procedure for each alarm associated with each piece of the alarm master information, (0069-70 teach storing a particular pattern of alarms (e.g., an alarm flood) with corresponding control actions. 0025 teaches in some examples, the operator and/or other plant personnel may add annotations, remarks, or comments to the alarm activation timeline further explaining the nature of the saved alarm pattern, the particular actions taken and/or the reasoning behind such actions, insights into potential alternative response strategies, and so forth. Here, the insights into potential alternative response strategies is considered to be part of a response procedure, for example. 0044, 0070, 0106, etc. teach further details regarding operator response strategies and/or the procedure of providing guidance to other operators (e.g., in training and/or taking over in a subsequent shift) regarding what alarm patterns have occurred.) and information representing time series and … relationships between the respective pieces of alarm master information, (Fig. 3-4, and fig. 6 along with 0039 teach, further, in some examples, the historical data archive 206 also stores operator control data indicative of control actions taken by operators and/or other personnel, which may include, for example, the nature of control actions, the time of such actions, parameters affected by such actions, etc. 0044 teaches, in some examples, alarm activation timelines include icons representative of control actions taken by the operator during the historical period of time to indicate the temporal relationship of the alarms and the control actions, where for example, the particular historical period of time may correspond to an alarm flood or other pattern of alarms that the operator or other user desires to review.)
acquire, from the at least one memory, and present the first aid which is the response procedure for each alarm associated with the alarm master information corresponding to a designated alarm and information relating to another piece of the alarm master information having the relationship with the alarm master information. (Fig. 4, fig. 6 and 0075-76 teach a user can quickly view each timeline to visually compare the patterns of alarms represented in each. In some examples, when a stored alarm activation timeline 608 is retrieved from the alarm activation timeline database 212, the data in the alarm list pane 326 and the control actions pane 328 (collapsed in FIG. 6) is updated to include data corresponding with the selected alarm activation timeline. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, more than one timeline may be rendered simultaneously to enable a side-by-side comparison of the patterns of alarms in each timeline. For the response procedure, as above, see 0044, 0070, 0106, etc. teach further details regarding operator response strategies and/or the procedure of providing guidance to other operators (e.g., in training and/or taking over in a subsequent shift) regarding what alarm patterns have occurred.)
While Ramadoss implicitly teaches below by teaching the alarm activation timelines and associated control actions (Among many applicable examples, see 0044 teaches, in some examples, alarm activation timelines include icons representative of control actions taken by the operator during the historical period of time to indicate the temporal relationship of the alarms and the control actions, where for example, the particular historical period of time may correspond to an alarm flood or other pattern of alarms that the operator or other user desires to review.),
Ramadoss does not explicitly disclose information representing causal relationships [between the respective pieces of alarm master information]
Liu explicitly teaches information representing causal relationships [between the respective pieces of alarm master information] (0071 teaches, the cause-effect relationship analyzer 106 acquires the integrated event data stored (saved) in the event database 11 and analyzes a cause-effect relationship for a combination of two or more events in considering (applying) a time concept on the basis of the process variation event data and the continued event data included in the acquired integrated event data. A combination of two or more events for which the cause-effect relationship is analyzed by the cause-effect relationship analyzer 106 may be a combination of the process variation event included in the process variation event data and any one of the alarm event and the operation event included in the continued event data. See also 0089 teaches a plurality of cause-effect models are stored (saved) and retrieved and 0095 teaches a storage device storing such data for the event analyzing programs etc.)
Accordingly, as Ramadoss and Liu are directed to abnormality detection, communications, and control technology, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have specifically added the feature of utilizing the well-known technology of storing information representing cause-effect relationships between alarm events data, as taught by Liu to the monitoring and control system with storage devices storing alarm data such as the historical data archive/database including alarm activation timelines with associated control actions related data as taught by Ramadoss. One would have been motivated to do so to take advantage of the well-known feature of monitoring and control of alarm, operation and process variation information in a way that enables improvement in further supporting the management of operations of facilities that is performed by the user by presenting various information (including a causal analysis) to the user, as evident in Liu, 0155-58, etc.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ramadoss (US 20160328954 A1) in view of Liu (US 20180224831 A1) in further view of Suzuki (US 20110142103 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Ramadoss and Liu teach all the elements of claim 2.
While Ramadoss implicitly teaches below by teaching the deletion of the information from the active timeline/display in a case where a predetermined time has elapsed (Among many applicable examples, see 0043 teaches, in some examples, alarm activation timelines include icons representative of fleeting alarms that are triggered and then cleared soon thereafter without operator action (e.g., a parameter value momentarily exceeds a set point but returns to a normal range without operator intervention). … In some examples, one or more types of alarms (e.g., chattering alarms, fleeting alarms, suppressed or shelved alarms, auto-acknowledged alarms, etc.) may be filtered or removed from a rendering of an alarm activation timeline. Note, here, exemplary auto-acknowledged alarms (i.e., work history being no operator control action) are removed/deleted. 0052, 0104 etc. also teach the historical data archive/database being included in mass storage devices such as various drives.),
Ramadoss and Liu do not explicitly disclose the deletion to be of the history/stored information (as in claim 1 and 2) in the limitation below.
In other words, Ramadoss and Liu do not explicitly disclose:
wherein the information associating the work history information with the one piece or a plurality of pieces of the alarm master information is deleted in a case where a predetermined time has elapsed.
Suzuki explicitly teaches:
wherein the information associating the work history information with the one piece or a plurality of pieces of the alarm master information is deleted in a case where a predetermined time has elapsed. (Fig. 1, 0096-97 teach the alarm information stored in the alarm storage unit 86 by the packet classification unit 85 may be cleared after a certain time period.)
Accordingly, as Ramadoss, Liu and Suzuki are directed to abnormality detection, communications, and control technology, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have specifically added the feature of utilizing the well-known technology of clearing stored alarm information after a certain time period, as taught by Suzuki to the monitoring and control system with storage devices storing alarm data such as the historical data archive/database including alarm activation timelines and associated control actions along with cause-effect relationships between alarm events as taught by Ramadoss and Liu. The combination would have been motivated in order to take advantage of the well-known feature of monitoring and control of alarm/alert information in a way that ensures that the reliability of communication quality is improved, as evident in Suzuki, 0097, 0158, etc.
It is noted that any citation to specific pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the references should not be considered to be limiting in any way. “The use of patents as references is not limited to what the patentees describe as their own inventions or to the problems with which they are concerned. They are part of the literature of the art, relevant for all they contain.” In re Heck, 699 F.2d 1331, 1332-33, 216 USPQ 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1983) (quoting In re Lemelson, 397 F.2d 1006, 1009,158 USPQ 275, 277 (CCPA 1968)). Further, a reference may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill the art, including nonpreferred embodiments. Merck & Co. v. Biocraft Laboratories, 874 F.2d 804, 10 USPQ2d 1843 (Fed. Cir.), cert, denied, 493 U.S. 975 (1989). See also Upsher-Smith Labs. v. Pamlab, LLC, 412 F.3d 1319, 1323, 75 USPQ2d 1213, 1215 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (reference disclosing optional inclusion of a particular component teaches compositions that both do and do not contain that component); Celeritas Technologies Ltd. v. Rockwell International Corp., 150 F.3d 1354, 1361, 47 USPQ2d 1516, 1522-23 (Fed. Cir. 1998).
Response to arguments
Applicant's remarks and arguments filed 06/15/2026 have been fully considered. See below for further details.
Based on the amendment, the claim objections have been overcome.
Based on the amendment, 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections have been introduced.
Applicant’s arguments regarding the prior art rejection are fully considered and have been deemed to be persuasive for the amended claim 1.
Applicant’s amendment changes the scope of the claim language and thus overcomes the prior art rejection provided in the last office action. Accordingly, new grounds of rejections by introducing additional prior art, Liu, have been provided, necessitated by amendment.
All the citations and rejections for the other independent claims along with the dependent claims have been updated and further clarified accordingly.
Accordingly, claims 1-5 are not patentable over prior art(s).
Suggestions:
In order to move the prosecution forward, examiner recommends applicant to provide further claim amendments with inventive features (with support from specification) that may help overcome the current rejection based on further search and consideration.
Pertinent Art(s)
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
ZHANG et al. (US 20210014103 A1) relates to example methods and apparatus for locating a root cause alarm. One example method includes obtaining an alarm correlation rule of a telecommunications network. The alarm correlation rule is split to obtain candidate root cause rules. Time sequence information of the candidate root cause rules are determined based on historical alarm data of the telecommunications network.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARZIA T MONTY whose telephone number is (571)272-5441. The examiner can normally be reached on M, W-F: 11am -5pm (approximately). Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Fennema can be reached on 571-272-2748. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-5441.
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/MARZIA T MONTY/Examiner, Art Unit 2117
/ALICIA M. CHOI/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2117
Prosecution Insights