Detailed Office Action
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Examiner’s Comment
It appears that an unintentional cut and paste edit excised original claim 7’s preamble. To correct this situation, the examiner restored the following text, “7. The optical fiber sensing method according to claim 6 …”
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-20
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Enlund, Mark Andrew (2020/0191613; “Englund”) in view of Barzegar et al. (2017/0093693; “Barzegar”), further in view of Godfrey, Alastair (2018/0180658; “Godfrey”), and further in view of Farhadiroushan et al.(2014/0025319; “Farhadiroushan”).
Regarding claim 1, Englund discloses in figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text, embodiments of acoustic sensor systems, for example, ‘DAS system 100 includes a coherent optical time-domain reflectometer (C-OTDR) 102; with machine learning and ‘AI’ electronic storage and processing features, ‘acoustic signature-based filters,’ ‘aerial optical fibres … deployed like power lines’ ‘in a network across …arterial roads’ communication interfaces to field requests, to ‘mine historical data. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; and paragraph [0090] (“In one arrangement, the optical fibres may include those installed underground, in which case the coverage of the geographical area includes the street level of a city, which is useful in monitoring vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Alternatively or additionally, the optical fibres may be installed within a multi-storey building (e.g. an office building or a shopping mall), in which case the alternative or additional coverage of the geographical area is the multiple floors of the building, which is useful in monitoring staff or shopper movements.”).
Englund, Figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and Selected Text
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Abstract. An acoustic system and method is disclosed for providing spatial and temporal classification of a range of different types of sound producing targets in a geographical area. The system includes an optical signal transmitter arrangement for repeatedly transmitting, at multiple instants, interrogating optical signals into each of one or more optical fibres distributed across the geographical area and forming at least part of an installed fibre-optic communications network. An optical signal detector arrangement receives, during an observation period following each of the multiple instants, returning optical signals scattered in a distributed manner over distance along the one or more of optical fibres. A processing unit demodulates acoustic data from the optical signals, processes the acoustic data and classifies it in accordance with the target classes or types to generate a plurality of datasets including classification, temporal and location-related data, and a storage unit stores the datasets in parallel with raw acoustic or optical data which is time and location stamped so that it can be retrieved for further processing.
[0015] In one aspect, the step of classifying the acoustic data includes the application of AI or machine learning based algorithms.
[0066] In one example, a system 100 for use in distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is illustrated in FIG. 1. The DAS system 100 includes a coherent optical time-domain reflectometer (C-OTDR) 102. The C-OTDR 102 includes a light source 104 to emit an optical interrogation field 106 in the form of a short optical pulse to be sent into each of optical fibres 105A, 105B and 105C. The optical fibres 105A, 105B and 105C are distributed across a geographical area 107. The C-OTDR 102 includes a photodetector 108 configured to detect the reflected light 110 scattered in a distributed manner and produce a corresponding electrical signal 112 with an amplitude proportional to the reflected optical intensity resolved over time. The time scale may be translated to a distance scale relative to the photodetector 108. An inset in FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic plot of such signal amplitude over distance at one particular instant. The DAS system 100 also includes a processing unit 114, within or separate from the C-OTDR 102, configured to process the acoustic fluctuations 116 in the electrical signal 112.
[0067] These acoustic fluctuations are acoustic signals that contain a number of different acoustic frequencies at any one point and also along a series of different spatial points that the processing unit will convert to a digital representation of the nature and movement of the sound targets around the cable grid. In contrast to scalar measurands such as temperature (which typically don't provide any dynamic information above a few Hz, so it is not feasible to determine what type of heat sources are around the cable and how they are moving), acoustic signals contain a significant number of frequency components (up to many kHz's, which are unique and distinguishable to a specific target type) and vector information. i.e. the amplitude information derived from the Fourier domain (of single channels) and the multi-channel time domain (spatial information such as direction of the “target” and the spatial position for facilitating GIS overlay and velocity parameters (speed and acceleration).
[0068] The digitised electrical signal 112, any measured fluctuations 116 and/or processed data associated therewith may be stored in a storage unit 115. The storage unit 115 may include volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) for the processing unit 114 to execute instructions, calculate, compute or otherwise process data. The storage unit 115 may include non-volatile memory, such as one or more hard disk drives for the processing unit 114 to store data before or after signal-processing and/or for later retrieval. The processing unit 114 and storage unit 115 and may be distributed across numerous physical units and may include remote storage and potentially remote processing, such as cloud storage, and cloud processing, in which case the processing unit 114 and storage unit 115 may be more generally defined as a cloud computing service.
[0074] At step 208 acoustic signature-based filters 114A, 114B, 114C and 14D are applied to the acoustic data to detect acoustic objects/events. These filters could be in the form of software-based FIR (finite impulse response) or correlation filters, or classification could alternatively be implemented using big data and machine learning methodologies. This latter approach would be applicable where higher levels of discrimination of sound objects is required, such as details of vehicle type or sub-class or sub-classes of other objects.
[0090] In one arrangement, the optical fibres may include those installed underground, in which case the coverage of the geographical area includes the street level of a city, which is useful in monitoring vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Alternatively or additionally, the optical fibres may be installed within a multi-storey building (e.g. an office building or a shopping mall), in which case the alternative or additional coverage of the geographical area is the multiple floors of the building, which is useful in monitoring staff or shopper movements.
[0091] Aerial optical fibres may also be deployed like power lines or across harbours or other bodies of water. In addition or alternatively submarine fibres may be used for shipping, marine life, or environmental monitoring and the like. A dedicated fibre section may be spliced in to the existing optical fibre network on which the network is already deployed—eg a dedicated optical fibre cable could be routed around the Australia's Sydney harbour bridge at points of interest and then the two ends of the section of dedicated fibre is spliced in to the existing optical fibre network as is shown schematically at 405J for convenient remote access by a node located at for example a remote data centre. The system 100 may include a communications interface 117 (e.g. wireless or wired) to receive a search request from one or more remote mobile or fixed terminals 117A, 117B and 117C. Upon receiving a search request, the processing unit 114 may be configured to determine the requested information based on the stored electronic data, including those stored in the volatile and/or non-volatile memory. The requested information is on one or more of: (a) one or more of the multiple targets (i.e. the “what” or “who”), (b) one or more of the multiple instants (i.e. the “when”), and (c) one or more of the approximate locations (the “where”). Where the search request relates to specific targets (e.g. particular pedestrians in a suburb), the determined information for return may include where and when each of them is/was, based on the stored electronic data. Where the search request relates to specific times (e.g. between 5 am and 9 am on Jan. 1, 2016), the determined information for return may include what targets and where they are/were. Where the requested information relates to specific locations (e.g. locations surrounding a crime scene), the determined information for return may include what and/or who were nearby the crime scene and when they were there. A skilled person would appreciate that the requested information may be on a combination of “what”, “who”, “when” and “where”. Some non-limiting examples are provided below.
[0092] In the case where the geographical area includes the street level of a city, a search request may be for the number of vehicles between 5 am and 9 am within a particular area spanning 10 blocks by 10 blocks, corresponding to an intersecting grid of optical fibres. In this case, the requested information may be determined by the processing unit 114 by retrieving the electronic data recorded at the multiple instants between 5 am and 9 am associated with detected acoustic disturbance signals at fibre distances corresponding to the approximate locations in the particular area. The retrieved electronic data may be processed to generate acoustic disturbance signals.
[0093] The FIR or other correlation filter types generate a digital detection event of a sound object (in the same way that an analog signal is converted into a digital representation of 1 and 0's depending on the signal amplitude at the sample time. The system generates digital symbols from processed acoustic signals that represent objects (with properties) in cities such as cars, pedestrians, trucks, excavators and events such as car crashes, gun shots, explosions, etc). This may be incorporated on a GIS overlay, with digital symbols overlaid on the map, as is clear from FIG. 5B, which includes pedestrian and car symbols.
[0094] Once the system has a digital record of these symbols it is possible to put together a very efficient index (in terms of time to search it and in terms of data size to hold the real time and historical indices) of object symbols that can be searched in the same way that any data base is presently searched on a computer. This search function will operate at the level of symbols, ie. will not use raw acoustic information in standard operation other than circumstances where a higher fidelity of symbols may be required (for example—one symbol index may just be made up of cars and trucks in a given city and what is subsequently required is a further 3 different categories of trucks (ie 18 wheelers, medium trucks, light trucks) and cars (Large, medium and small) in which case some re-processing may be required of the raw acoustic information (with more specifically tuned correlation filters) to generate the higher fidelity symbol index, in cases where an additional higher fidelity index has not yet been generated for the particular geographic area and time.
[0095] FIG. 2C shows the steps involved in receiving the search request at 220, searching the symbol index databases at 222 and at 224 correlating the symbol index databases with non-acoustic data, returning search information 225 so as to provide an enriched dataset.
[0096] FIG. 2D shows the additional retrieval steps involved in mining historic data at 222 by retrieving raw acoustic and/or optical data from the cloud 215A at step 222A, processing the raw acoustic/optical data at step 222B, which in the case of the optical data would include demodulating it at the optimum sampling frequency, and at step 222C applying acoustic signature-based filters to the acoustic and/or processed optical data to detect historic sound objects or events. At step 222D the process reverts to step 224 of FIG. 2C or alternatively or subsequently to step 210 of FIG. 2A.
[0097] With the grid of fibre paths and substantially overlapping sensing range described in this disclosure, multiple phased array beams may be formed with subsets of sensor channels from the total sensor array formed over the length of optical fibre interrogates. This plurality of beams may have different spatial positions (ie. which subset of sensors from the total sensor array are selected corresponding to a different geographical location in the system), angular orientation (which angle or angles relative to the local length axis of the fiber) and/or directivity (aspect ratio of the sensing beams—ie. how sharp or obtuse are the beam spatial shapes) properties around the system to achieve higher level sensing functions in the system that include long range detection, localisation, classification and tracking of acoustic sources in a 2D or 3D coordinate system.
[0106] In another arrangement, the step of processing signals representing the acoustic disturbance in to symbols may be based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. In this case AI has the ability to discern a far greater number of distinct sound objects (ie car detections in symbols that represent distinct make and model) as well as the ability to pull out sound objects from very faint acoustic signatures amongst high noise backgrounds. This will expand the range over which the fibre optic cable can hear certain object classes and sub-classes and increase the detection rates of all objects around the cable. It will also decrease the false alarm rates as many more logic parameters can be brought to bear before making a sound object detection and classification decision. AI is accordingly applicable in particular to expanding the symbol set that can be detected for sound objects on roads, for example, where multiple vehicle classes and sub-classes are present.
[0107] A key part of the machine learning and AI function is a mechanism to record an acoustic signature associated with a particular sound object classification and have a feedback mechanism for the system to 1) link a symbol/object type (ie. make and model of a car) with that sound signature detection. This could be done manually with an operator looking at a video monitor of a given road way or with machine vision applied to a singular or otherwise small number of locations on a road way. An iterative training sequence may also be employed where the detection and classification of objects is fed back as correct or incorrect based on other means of detecting the objects (ie video and machine vision). This feedback is key to developing high fidelity discernment and low false alarms, and could be implanted in a live in situ environment with for example the operation of a CCTV camera/video monitor in conjunction with DAS to record and identify sound objects and events. FIG. 2B shows how step 210 in FIG. 2A can include a number of training sub-steps in which sound objects and events that have been classified at 210.1 are compared with object/event images at 210.2. At 210.3 if the comparison is correct the resultant correctly classified symbol is stored in the digital symbol index database at 210.4. If not the classification process is repeated until the image of the object/event and the sound image/event match.
[0108] FIG. 1 shows how an existing CCTV network represented by cameras 118A, 118B and 118C linked to a monitoring centre 119 may be used in the training steps above, with the digital video data or at least the video classification data being transmitted back to the processing unit 114.
[0109] FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate distribution geometry of the acoustic system in with a Google® maps GIS overlay of part of Sydney. A fibre optic network comprises the existing fibre optic network which extends across the Sydney area, from data centre 100. As described above, the network extends across main, arterial roads indicated in dark outline and other roads indicated in light outline, to obtain widespread coverage of the city area.
[0110] FIG. 5B shows typical graphical representations of a typical monitor at any moment in time including representations of sound object symbols 501 and activity-based symbols 502, which are self-explanatory. The symbols may be moving or stationary.
Further regarding claim 1, Barzegar discloses in figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text, embodiments of sensor systems which, in response to sensor data, are enabled to ‘redirect and repurpose network assets,’ while notifying utility personnel of the nature and location of interrupts,’ and, ultimately, restoring network assets to pre-disturbance configurations and implementing test protocols. Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text;
Barzegar – Figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and Selected Text
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[0226] Referring now to the sensors 1604 of the waveguide system 1602, the sensors 1604 can comprise one or more of a temperature sensor 1604a, a disturbance detection sensor 1604b, a loss of energy sensor 1604c, a noise sensor 1604d, a vibration sensor 1604e, an environmental (e.g., weather) sensor 1604f, and/or an image sensor 1604g. The temperature sensor 1604a can be used to measure ambient temperature, a temperature of the transmission device 101 or 102, a temperature of the power line 1610, temperature differentials (e.g., compared to a setpoint or baseline, between transmission device 101 or 102 and 1610, etc.), or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, temperature metrics can be collected and reported periodically to a network management system 1601 by way of the base station 1614.
[0234] The environmental sensor 1604f can include a barometer for measuring atmospheric pressure, ambient temperature (which can be provided by the temperature sensor 1604a), wind speed, humidity, wind direction, and rainfall, among other things. The environmental sensor 1604f can collect raw information and process this information by comparing it to environmental profiles that can be obtained from a memory of the waveguide system 1602 or a remote database to predict weather conditions before they arise via pattern recognition, an expert system, knowledge-based system or other artificial intelligence, classification or other weather modeling and prediction technique. The environmental sensor 1604f can report raw data as well as its analysis to the network management system 1601.
[0244] At step 1714, the network management system 1601 can determine a mitigation, circumvention, or correction technique, which may include directing the waveguide system 1602 to reroute traffic to circumvent the disturbance if the location of the disturbance can be determined. In one embodiment, the waveguide coupling device 1402 detecting the disturbance may direct a repeater such as the one shown in FIGS. 13-14 to connect the waveguide system 1602 from a primary power line affected by the disturbance to a secondary power line to enable the waveguide system 1602 to reroute traffic to a different transmission medium and avoid the disturbance. In an embodiment where the waveguide system 1602 is configured as a repeater the waveguide system 1602 can itself perform the rerouting of traffic from the primary power line to the secondary power line. It is further noted that for bidirectional communications (e.g., full or half-duplex communications), the repeater can be configured to reroute traffic from the secondary power line back to the primary power line for processing by the waveguide system 1602.
[0245] In another embodiment, the waveguide system 1602 can redirect traffic by instructing a first repeater situated upstream of the disturbance and a second repeater situated downstream of the disturbance to redirect traffic from a primary power line temporarily to a secondary power line and back to the primary power line in a manner that avoids the disturbance. It is further noted that for bidirectional communications (e.g., full or half-duplex communications), repeaters can be configured to reroute traffic from the secondary power line back to the primary power line.
[0246] To avoid interrupting existing communication sessions occurring on a secondary power line, the network management system 1601 may direct the waveguide system 1602 to instruct repeater(s) to utilize unused time slot(s) and/or frequency band(s) of the secondary power line for redirecting data and/or voice traffic away from the primary power line to circumvent the disturbance.
[0247] At step 1716, while traffic is being rerouted to avoid the disturbance, the network management system 1601 can notify equipment of the utility company 1652 and/or equipment of the communications service provider 1654, which in turn may notify personnel of the utility company 1656 and/or personnel of the communications service provider 1658 of the detected disturbance and its location if known. Field personnel from either party can attend to resolving the disturbance at a determined location of the disturbance. Once the disturbance is removed or otherwise mitigated by personnel of the utility company and/or personnel of the communications service provider, such personnel can notify their respective companies and/or the network management system 1601 utilizing field equipment (e.g., a laptop computer, smartphone, etc.) communicatively coupled to network management system 1601, and/or equipment of the utility company and/or the communications service provider. The notification can include a description of how the disturbance was mitigated and any changes to the power lines 1610 that may change a topology of the communication system 1655.
[0248] Once the disturbance has been resolved (as determined in decision 1718), the network management system 1601 can direct the waveguide system 1602 at step 1720 to restore the previous routing configuration used by the waveguide system 1602 or route traffic according to a new routing configuration if the restoration strategy used to mitigate the disturbance resulted in a new network topology of the communication system 1655. In another embodiment, the waveguide system 1602 can be configured to monitor mitigation of the disturbance by transmitting test signals on the power line 1610 to determine when the disturbance has been removed. Once the waveguide system 1602 detects an absence of the disturbance it can autonomously restore its routing configuration without assistance by the network management system 1601 if it determines the network topology of the communication system 1655 has not changed, or it can utilize a new routing configuration that adapts to a detected new network topology.
Consequently, in light of Barzegar’s disclosure of evaluation, decision, and intersession embodiments, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Englund’s embodiments to disclose an optical fiber sensing system comprising: an optical fiber network configured to detect sensing data; a communication unit configured to receive an optical signal from the optical fiber network; an identification unit configured to identify status information appropriate to a service providing destination from among a plurality of pieces of status information; an analysis unit configured to analyze the identified status information, based on sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, by using an analysis method related to the identified status information among a plurality of analysis methods; and a providing unit configured to provide the identified status information to the service providing destination; wherein status information includes status information indicating traffic conditions; Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; because the resulting configuration would facilitate mitigating a disturbance’s deleterious effects as, ‘the network management system.… can determine a mitigation, circumvention, or correction technique.’ Barzegar, paragraph [0244].
Further regarding claim 1, Godfrey discloses in figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; embodiments of fiber sensor systems that can detect ‘environmental stimuli acting on the fiber. Such sensing, when used to detect dynamic strains resulting from incident pressure waves or other mechanical vibration of the fibre, may be referred to as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). Godfrey, paragraphs [0054] and [0066] (“Such changes may be dynamic strains due to mechanical disturbances on the optical fibre, for instance from incident pressure waves. The distributed fibre optic sensor may therefore be operable as a distributed acoustic sensor which generates measurement signals indicative of acoustic disturbances acting on sensing portions of the sensing fibre. Note that as used herein the term acoustic shall be taken to mean any type of pressure wave or varying strain generated on the optical fibre and for the avoidance of doubt the term acoustic will be used in the specification to include mechanical vibrations.”).
Godfrey – Figures 1-3, and Selected Text
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[0003] On land, outside of urban areas, it is typical to transmit power using high voltage AC power distribution using overhead transmission lines. The various conducting lines are suspended so as to be sufficiently far above the ground and away from one another to provide electrical isolation, i.e. the surrounding air acts as an insulator.
[0054] One particular form of such sensor used in embodiments of the invention uses coherent interrogating radiation and detects any such radiation which undergoes Rayleigh scattering from within the fibre due to the scattering sites inherent in the optical fibre. The backscatter can be analysed to determine any dynamic strains acting on the optical fibre resulting from environmental stimuli acting on the fibre. Such sensing, when used to detect dynamic strains resulting from incident pressure waves or other mechanical vibration of the fibre, may be referred to as distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). Embodiments of the present invention may thus use the principles of coherent Rayleigh scatting based DAS. In some embodiments a standard DAS sensor may be used but in some embodiments, as will be described in more detail below, the sensor may interrogate an optical fibre that has been designed to be sensitive to magnetic field variations.
[0066] Such changes may be dynamic strains due to mechanical disturbances on the optical fibre, for instance from incident pressure waves. The distributed fibre optic sensor may therefore be operable as a distributed acoustic sensor which generates measurement signals indicative of acoustic disturbances acting on sensing portions of the sensing fibre. Note that as used herein the term acoustic shall be taken to mean any type of pressure wave or varying strain generated on the optical fibre and for the avoidance of doubt the term acoustic will be used in the specification to include mechanical vibrations.
[0069] As mentioned above in embodiments of the present invention the sensing fibre is deployed along the path of a power cable to be monitored and in particular may be deployed within the power cable, i.e. the sensing fibre 301 may be a suitable optical fibre running through a conduit 109 of the power cable illustrated in FIG. 1. A Rayleigh backscatter distributed fibre optic sensor interrogator unit 302 may be connected to one end of the sensing fibre, e.g. at power station 201 or power station 203, to monitor the cable in use to detect disturbances acting on the sensing fibre, in particular to perform distributed acoustic sensing. Thus up to 40 km or so of power cable could be monitored by a single interrogator which may be located on shore for example. For power cables of up to 80 km or length or so two interrogators could be arranged, one at each end of the power cable, i.e. one on the off-shore platform and one on shore. To avoid interference each interrogator could interrogate a separate sensing fibre within the power cable.
[0077] Even if the sensing fibre is not sensitised to be responsive to varying magnetic fields it will be appreciated that the result of deformation of the fibre, will mean that the magnetic fields are imbalanced and thus the magnetic field produced by one conductor may induced a force on another of the conductors. This will result in a strain being applied to the power cable that varies with the current. For power cables carrying significant currents, say up to 1000A or so, the forces induced in use may be significant and thus at least some strain may be imparted to an optical fibre coupled to or embedded within the power cable. Thus using a distributed fibre optic sensor such as a conventional DAS sensor with an optical fibre running along the length of the cable may additionally or alternatively be used to detect a strain due to the imbalanced magnetic forces induced on the power cables conductors in use. This strain signal will depend with the direction of field and thus will tend to lead to a characteristic signal with a component at three times the power frequency of the AC cycle, e.g. about 150 Hz for a 50 Hz AC power cycle.
[0079] In some embodiments the sensor may be a DAS sensor and the characteristic signature may be a signal with a component at a characteristic frequency of three times the power frequency (for three phase AC).
[0086] For a power cable with n phases the characteristic frequency for a magnetically sensitised fibre will be 2n times the power frequency, whereas for strain detection using a DAS sensor the characteristic frequency will be n times the power frequency.
[0093] It should be noted that in typical power cable installations the optical fibre itself may have a gel buffer. The gel, which helps protect the optical fibre, has the effect of effectively substantially decoupling the optical fibre from low frequency strains, e.g. strains below about 0.1 Hz for example. The strains on the optical fibre generated by cable movement such as VIV would typically be low frequency strains. Thus using a conventional DAS sensor it would not generally be possible to directly detect the movement of the power cable. However the effect of the movement on the magnetic field balance creates a magnetic induced strain. It is this secondary strain effect that generates a detectable signal, e.g. the 150 Hz signal for a three phase 50 Hz AC power cable.
Consequently, in light of Godfrey’s disclosures, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Englund in view of Barzegar’s embodiments to incorporate ‘information indicating weather status;’ Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; because the resulting configuration would facilitate mitigating a disturbance’s deleterious effects as, ‘the network management system.… can determine a mitigation, circumvention, or correction technique;’ Barzegar, paragraph [0244]; while monitoring in situ power cable conditions. Godfrey, paragraph [0069] (“the sensing fibre is deployed along the path of a power cable to be monitored and in particular may be deployed within the power cable”).
Further regarding claim 1, Farhadiroushan discloses in figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text, embodiments of, “A method and apparatus for monitoring a structure using an optical fiber based distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) extending along the length of the structure. The DAS is able to resolve a separate acoustic signal with a spatial resolution of 1 m along the length of the fibre, and hence is able to operate with an acoustic positioning system to determine the position of the riser with the same spatial resolution. In addition, the fiber can at the same time also detect much lower frequency mechanical vibrations in the riser, for example such as resonant mode vibrations induced by movement in the surrounding medium. By using vibration detection in combination with acoustic positioning then overall structure shape monitoring can be undertaken, which is useful for vortex induced vibration (VIV) visualisation, fatigue analysis, and a variety of other advanced purposes.” Farhadiroushan, Abstract.
Farhadiroushan – Figures 2 and 12-15, and Selected Text
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Abstract. A method and apparatus for monitoring a structure using an optical fiber based distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) extending along the length of the structure. The DAS is able to resolve a separate acoustic signal with a spatial resolution of 1 m along the length of the fibre, and hence is able to operate with an acoustic positioning system to determine the position of the riser with the same spatial resolution. In addition, the fiber can at the same time also detect much lower frequency mechanical vibrations in the riser, for example such as resonant mode vibrations induced by movement in the surrounding medium. By using vibration detection in combination with acoustic positioning then overall structure shape monitoring can be undertaken, which is useful for vortex induced vibration (VIV) visualisation, fatigue analysis, and a variety of other advanced purposes. The structure may be a sub-sea riser.
[0061] In addition, by using digital signal processing, the acoustic response along the fiber can be combined to enhance the detection sensitivity by two-orders of magnitude, thereby exceeding the sensitivity of point sensors as well achieving highly directional information. With the DAS, the fiber acts as an acoustic antenna whose sensitivity and frequency response can be adjusted electronically by using different sensing configurations. For example, the fiber can be deployed in linear, directional or multi-dimensional array configurations. In addition, the precision that the DAS can achieve uniquely allows the speed of sound in the material surrounding the fiber to be accurately determined. This allows the DAS to detect, for example, the presence of gas in oil (a necessary step towards multiphase flow measurement).
[0062] In addition, further processing can be performed by processor 34 on the determined acoustic signal, for example to determine position information or to detect mechanical vibrations in the structure to which the fiber is attached. Therefore, as also shown in FIG. 2 and pertinent to the present embodiments, also provided as part of the apparatus of an embodiment is a computer readable medium 36 such as a flash drive or hard disk, which stores an acoustic positioning program 362 and a vibration detection program 364. As will be described later, the acoustic positioning program 362 is arranged to control the processor 34 to process the determined acoustic data from the optical fiber DAS to determine the position of the fiber, based on received acoustic signals from known acoustic sources 48. In addition, the vibration detection program 362 is arranged to control the processor 34 to process the determined acoustic data to look at significantly lower frequencies, and specifically to detect low frequency resonant vibrations of the riser structure, such as vortex induced vibrations. Such vibrations may not make actual acoustic noise, but are detectable by the DAS using the same physical mechanism of Rayleigh backscatter because as the fiber moves back and forth with the riser structure under the resonant vibration then parts of the fiber are placed under strain in the same manner as if they were within a vibro acoustic field. As such, the resonant vibration manifests itself in the DAS output in the same way as an acoustic input to the sensor array, although at a significantly lower frequency. Further details of the vibration detection performed by embodiments of the invention will be given later.
[0063] Hence, as described above, using a DAS such as that described turns a standard single mode fiber optic cable into a transduction system which functions like a string of hydrophones. The length and sensing density of this virtual string of hydrophones is limited by a combination of factors, including the sampling frequency and spatial resolution. For the sake of the discussion here, a 10 km fiber can be monitored using a Silixa iDAS with a sampling frequency of 10 kHz and a spatial resolution of about 1 m. Thus a single iDAS box can be used with a standard optical fiber to give the equivalent output of 10,000 hydrophones.
[0064] Acoustic positioning technology has been in wide use throughout the oil and gas industry for several decades. Positioning systems function by observing the signal from one or several controlled sources, and observing either changes in relative phase or absolute time-of-flight to determine the position of a receiver. This concept is unchanged regardless of the medium of interest and the radiation used to power the system. Thus an acoustic positioning can be conceptually similar to a GPS system in some implementations.
[0065] Given the capability of the DAS described above to turn a fiber into an array of virtual hydrophones, it is possible to consider a fiber as a string of discretely spaced sensors. The output from each of these sensors can then be manipulated just as one might for a standard sensor. In the case of a positioning system, this may involve observing the signal from a controlled receiver to find the position of that receiver, based, for example, on the receiver receiving signals from acoustic sources of known position. By doing this for each discrete acoustic zone along the fiber, one can extract the position of each zone and hence interpolate for the shape. If the position of each zone of the fiber is then related to the position of each zone of another structure, such as a riser, in a known way (for example by being co-located and fixed thereto), then knowing the shape of the fiber also gives us information of the shape of the structure, such as a riser, to which it is related.
[0066] In summary then, using an optical interferometer based DAS embodiments of the invention are able to measure acoustic signals at approximately 1 m resolution along the length of an optical fiber attached to a subsea structure, such as a riser. Combined with an acoustic positioning system such as a long baseline system then the position of each segment of the fiber may be determined, and hence also the related position of the structure. This therefore allows for shape monitoring of the structure such as riser to be undertaken, by interpolating between the found positions, and knowing the spatial relationship between the fiber and the structure. Changes in the shape or shape and position of the structure with respect to time may also be monitored, to determine how the structure moves under various conditions, such as loading conditions, or with movement of the surrounding environment (such as flows or vortices in the surrounding water, in the case of a riser). In addition, and advantageously, the fiber is also able to detect resonant vibrations of the structure, which occur at much lower, and generally inaudible, frequencies, due to the expansion and compression of the structure under the vibration being transferred to the fiber, and hence inducing strain in the fiber which affects the backscatter in a similar manner to being placed in a vibro acoustic field.
[0122] Consider a fiber optic cable suspended between two clamps and imparted with a mechanical impulse. The mechanical impulse will introduce a strain which can be observed using a differential strain measurement method. The dynamic range of a DAS, such as the Silixa iDAS, allows it to measure differential strain, and it can therefore observe the time history of this strain disturbance. If for instance this dynamic strain has a center frequency on the order of Hz, and this same cable is imparted with sound of a higher frequency (say, on the order of kHz), then a simple series of band pass filters can be used to distinguish the vibration-induced strain from the acoustic excitation. In this way, it is possible to facilitate both vibration monitoring and acoustic positioning along a single fiber. Hence the optic fiber DAS can be used to detect low frequency resonant type vibrations in structures such as risers, buildings, antenna towers, or any other large structure which may have resonant vibration modes. Other, non resonant, mechanical vibrations may also be detected.
[0123] FIGS. 12 and 13 give examples of possible resonant modes of a structure such as a riser. FIG. 12 shows a higher order mode, and FIG. 13 shows a fundamental resonant mode. In the case of a riser the structure is tethered at the top and bottom, and hence resonates substantially like a guitar string (although of much lower frequency). Structures tethered at one end, such as a tall building or tower may simply resonate by swaying from side to side. In addition, any structure may also be subject to non-resonant mechanical vibrations, which may also be detected by the present embodiments.
[0125] An example test embodiment to test the functionality of such a vibration sensor is shown in FIG. 15. A key motivation for this experiment was establishing the degree to which vibrations below about 1 Hz can be sensed using an unmodified DAS. The rig designed was made to resemble a riser with optical fiber cable mounted along its length. The cable was laid along a hose length 150 in four runs 152 and joined to the flexible hose using cable ties at 1 m intervals. The four separate runs of optical cable 152 were distributed radially as indicated in FIG. 15, with one run each at 0.degree., 90.degree., 180.degree. and 270.degree.. The purpose of using multiple cable runs was to demonstrate that the optic fiber DAS is capable of determining the sections in compression and tension simultaneously. The hose was suspended from a height of 4 m using nylon rope 154. The optical cable used for these experiments was hermetically sealed cable of the type appropriate for a deep-sea installation. The energy input for this test was provided by means of an engineer who displaced the cable in the horizontal plane with a zero-to-peak amplitude of approximately 1 diameter at the following frequencies: 0.5 Hz, 0.05 Hz, and 0.0083 Hz (the last frequency corresponding to a period of 2 minutes).
Consequently, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Englund in view of Barzegar and further in view of Godfrey’s embodiments, to disclose an optical fiber sensing system comprising: an optical fiber network configured to detect sensing data; a communication unit configured to receive an optical signal from the optical fiber network; an identification unit configured to identify status information appropriate to a service providing destination from among a plurality of pieces of status information; an analysis unit configured to analyze the identified status information, based on sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, by using an analysis method related to the identified status information among a plurality of analysis methods; and a providing unit configured to provide the identified status information to the service providing destination; wherein the plurality of pieces of status information includes first status information indicating the deterioration status of the utility pole, second status information indicating the traffic condition of vehicles traveling near the utility pole, and third status information indicating weather status; Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text; because the resulting configuration would facilitate mitigating a disturbance’s deleterious effects as, ‘the network management system.… can determine a mitigation, circumvention, or correction technique;’ Barzegar, paragraph [0244]; while monitoring in situ power cable conditions. Godfrey, paragraph [0069] (“the sensing fibre is deployed along the path of a power cable to be monitored and in particular may be deployed within the power cable”); and fatique effects in structures. Farhadiroushan, abstract (“By using vibration detection in combination with acoustic positioning then overall structure shape monitoring can be undertaken, which is useful for vortex induced vibration (VIV) visualisation, fatigue analysis, and a variety of other advanced purposes.”).
Regarding claims 2-5 and 16-20, as dependent upon claim 1, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Englund in view of Barzegar, further in view of Godfrey and further in view of Farhadiroushan,’s embodiments, as applied in the rejection of claim 1, to disclose:
2. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 1; wherein the identification unit identifies status information of a monitoring exclusion target from among the plurality of pieces of status information, and identifies status information appropriate to the service providing destination, based on the identified status information of the monitoring exclusion target. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
3. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 1; wherein the identification unit identifies status information of a monitoring exclusion target appropriate to the service providing destination from among the plurality of pieces of status information, and identifies status information appropriate to the service providing destination, based on the identified status information of the monitoring exclusion target. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
4. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 1; wherein the analysis unit excludes sensing data of a monitoring exclusion target, from among sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, and analyzes the identified status information, based on remaining sensing data. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
5. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 1; wherein the analysis method related to the identified status information is a method of extracting a pattern related to the identified status information from sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, and analyzing the identified status information, based on the extracted pattern. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
16. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 1; wherein the sensing data result from a plurality of different physical phenomena occurring in a vicinity of the optical fiber network, the plurality of different physical phenomena including at least the deterioration status of the utility pole and the traffic condition of vehicles traveling near the utility pole. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
17. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 1; wherein the sensing data superimposed on the optical signal include vibration data, and the analysis unit is configured to extract, from the vibration data, a first vibration pattern associated with the first status information and a second vibration pattern associated with the second status information, and to analyze the first and second status information based on the extracted first and second vibration patterns, respectively. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
18. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 1; wherein the optical fiber network comprises an optical fiber configured such that, when at least one of vibration, sound, or temperature occurring around the optical fiber is transmitted to the optical fiber, characteristics of the optical signal transmitted through the optical fiber are changed, thereby superimposing the sensing data on the optical signal. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
19. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 1; wherein the providing unit is configured to provide the first status information to a first service providing destination associated with the deterioration status of the utility pole, and to provide the second status information to a second service providing destination associated with the traffic condition of vehicles traveling near the utility pole, the second service providing destination being different from the first service providing destination. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
20. The optical fiber sensing system according to claim 16; wherein the analysis unit comprises a machine learning-based analyzer configured to learn unique patterns in the sensing data associated with each of the plurality of different physical phenomena, and to identify the first and second signal contributions based on the learned unique patterns. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
because the resulting configurations would facilitate mitigating a disturbance’s deleterious effects as, ‘the network management system.… can determine a mitigation, circumvention, or correction technique;’ Barzegar, paragraph [0244]; while monitoring in situ power cable conditions. Godfrey, paragraph [0069] (“the sensing fibre is deployed along the path of a power cable to be monitored and in particular may be deployed within the power cable”); and fatique effects in structures. Farhadiroushan, abstract (“By using vibration detection in combination with acoustic positioning then overall structure shape monitoring can be undertaken, which is useful for vortex induced vibration (VIV) visualisation, fatigue analysis, and a variety of other advanced purposes.”).
Regarding independent claim 6, and claims 7-10 , as dependent upon claim 6, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Englund in view of Barzegar, further in view of Godfrey and further in view of Farhadiroushan,’s embodiments, as applied in the rejection of claims 1-5 and 16-20, to disclose:
6. An optical fiber sensing method performed by an optical fiber sensing device, the method comprising: a receiving step of receiving an optical signal from an optical fiber network configured to detect sensing data; an identification step of identifying status information appropriate to a service providing destination from among a plurality of pieces of status information; an analysis step of analyzing the identified status information, based on sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, by using an analysis method related to the identified status information among a plurality of analysis methods; and a providing step of providing the identified status information to the service providing destination; wherein the plurality of pieces of status information includes first status information indicating the deterioration status of the utility pole, second status information indicating the traffic condition of vehicles traveling near the utility pole, and third status information indicating weather status. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
7. The optical fiber sensing method according to claim 6; wherein the identification step includes identifying status information of a monitoring exclusion target from among the plurality of pieces of status information, and identifying status information appropriate to the service providing destination, based on the identified status information of the monitoring exclusion target. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
8. The optical fiber sensing method according to claim 6; wherein the identification step includes identifying status information of a monitoring exclusion target appropriate to the service provision destination from among the plurality of pieces of status information, and identifying status information appropriate to the service provision destination, based on the identified status information of the monitoring exclusion target. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
9. The optical fiber sensing method according to claim 6; wherein the analysis step includes excluding sensing data of a monitoring exclusion target from among sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, and analyzing the identified status information, based on remaining sensing data. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
10. The optical fiber sensing method according to claim 6; wherein the analysis method related to the identified status information is a method of extracting a pattern related to the identified status information from sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, and analyzing the identified status information, based on the extracted pattern. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
because the resulting configurations would facilitate mitigating a disturbance’s deleterious effects as, ‘the network management system.… can determine a mitigation, circumvention, or correction technique;’ Barzegar, paragraph [0244]; while monitoring in situ power cable conditions. Godfrey, paragraph [0069] (“the sensing fibre is deployed along the path of a power cable to be monitored and in particular may be deployed within the power cable”); and fatique effects in structures. Farhadiroushan, abstract (“By using vibration detection in combination with acoustic positioning then overall structure shape monitoring can be undertaken, which is useful for vortex induced vibration (VIV) visualisation, fatigue analysis, and a variety of other advanced purposes.”).
Regarding independent claim 11, and claims 12-15, as dependent upon claim 11, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Englund in view of Barzegar, further in view of Godfrey and further in view of Farhadiroushan,’s embodiments, as applied in the rejection of claims 1-10 and 16-20, to disclose:
11. A processing device comprising: at least one memory storing instructions, and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to: receive an optical signal from an optical fiber network configured to detect sensing data; identify status information appropriate to a service providing destination from among a plurality of pieces of status information; analyze the identified status information, based on sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, by using an analysis method related to the identified status information among a plurality of analysis methods; and to provide the identified status information to the service providing destination; wherein the plurality of pieces of status information includes first status information indicating the deterioration status of the utility pole, second status information indicating the traffic condition of vehicles traveling near the utility pole, and third status information indicating weather status. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
12. The processing device according to claim 11; wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to identify status information of a monitoring exclusion target from among the plurality of pieces of status information, and identify status information appropriate to the service providing destination, based on the identified status information of the monitoring exclusion target. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
13. The processing device according to claim 11; wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to identify status information of a monitoring exclusion target appropriate to the service providing destination from among the plurality of pieces of status information, and identify status information appropriate to the service providing destination, based on the identified status information of the monitoring exclusion target. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
14. The processing device according to claim 11; wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to exclude sensing data of a monitoring exclusion target from among sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, and analyze the identified status information, based on remaining sensing data. Englund, figures 1, 5A, and 5B, and related figures and text, for example, Englund Selected Text; Barzegar, figures 15, 16A, 16B, and 17A, and related figures and text, for example, Barzegar Selected Text; Godfrey, figures 1-3, and related figures and text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
15. The processing device according to claim 11; wherein the analysis method related to the identified status information is a method of extracting a pattern related to the identified status information from sensing data superimposed on the optical signal, and analyzing the identified status information, based on the extracted pattern. text, for example, Godfrey Selected Text; Farhadiroushan, figures 2 and 12-15, and related figures and text, for example, Farhadiroushan Selected Text.
because the resulting configurations would facilitate mitigating a disturbance’s deleterious effects as, ‘the network management system.… can determine a mitigation, circumvention, or correction technique;’ Barzegar, paragraph [0244]; while monitoring in situ power cable conditions. Godfrey, paragraph [0069] (“the sensing fibre is deployed along the path of a power cable to be monitored and in particular may be deployed within the power cable”); and fatique effects in structures. Farhadiroushan, abstract (“By using vibration detection in combination with acoustic positioning then overall structure shape monitoring can be undertaken, which is useful for vortex induced vibration (VIV) visualisation, fatigue analysis, and a variety of other advanced purposes.”).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
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/PETER RADKOWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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