DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-15 have been presented for examination based on the application filed on 12/1/2022.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent No. US 11128539 B1 by Gimza; Marek et al..
Claim(s) 11-13, 2, and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No. US 11128539 B1 by Gimza; Marek et al., in view of US Patent No. US 9489399 B1 by Laporte; Russell et al.
Claim(s) 14-15 and 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No. US 11128539 B1 by Gimza; Marek et al., in view of US Patent No. US 9489399 B1 by Laporte; Russell et al., further in view of US PGPUB No. US 20090072967 A1 by Campbell; Levi A. et al.
Claim(s) 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No. US 11128539 B1 by Gimza; Marek et al., in view of US Patent No. US 9489399 B1 by Laporte; Russell et al. further in view of US PGPUB No. US 20210028999 A1 by Balakrishnan; Ganesh et al.
This action is made Non-Final.
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent No. US 11128539 B1 by Gimza; Marek et al..
Regarding Claim 1
Gizma teaches A computer implemented method (Gizma: Fig.2 Col.6 Lines 60 – Col.2 Lines 59)) comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors (Gimza: Fig.1 element 12 Col.4 Line 17—Col.5 Line 15), location information for a portable device located at a site having an information technology (IT) infrastructure with IT equipment (Gimza : Col.10 Lines 32-41 – cell phone having a camera application;Col.7 Lines 19-30 "...capturing images may include utilizing one or more cameras or video cameras located in a data center with the network system. The process 30 may further comprise the steps of recording location information pertaining to the location of each of the cameras or video cameras while the one or more visual representations are obtained and determining the identity of the one or more components based on the location information...." );
identifying, by the one or more processors, geo-location data for the IT infrastructure and/or site based on the location information (Gimza: Col.14 Lines 48-56 "... the system could use the CLLI information to associate that this camera feed is associated with a particular location, instead of using the IP address. Then, this information [camera location] can be associated with specific network elements. For example, Common Language, Location Identifier (CLLI) can do that...."; Col.7 Lines 19-30 "...capturing images may include utilizing one or more cameras or video cameras located in a data center with the network system. The process 30 may further comprise the steps of recording location information pertaining to the location of each of the cameras or video cameras while the one or more visual representations are obtained and determining the identity of the one or more components based on the location information...." );
receiving, by the one or more processors, IT equipment data generated by a machine learning (ML) model based on one or more images of the IT equipment (Gimza: Col.12 Lines 59-66 "... An intent of the present disclosure is to provide a system that uses ML technology to pick up images from a data center, which may include nodes, switches, routers, etc., where it is possible from a visual line of sight (e.g., from one or more cameras) to be able to see the LEDs on that node. Also, the cameras may see the different types of cards, the ports on those cards, or any physical inventory that is visible on that node. The image data obtained from these cameras may be stored in the memory device 14 or database 20...."); and
mapping, by the one or more processors, the IT equipment data to an IT record to update the IT record for the site and/or IT infrastructure (Gimza: : Col.14 Lines 48-56 "... the system could use the CLLI information to associate that this camera feed is associated with a particular location, instead of using the IP address. Then, this information [camera location] can be associated with specific network elements. For example, Common Language, Location Identifier (CLLI) [as geospatial location of each network element] can do that...."; Col.6 Lines 54-59 "... The monitoring system 10 can cause a reconciliation with an inventory application based on its evaluation such that the inventory application is updated based on discrepancies between the monitoring system 10 and data in the inventory application...." Col.12 Lines 64-66 "... The image data obtained from these cameras may be stored in the memory device 14 or database 20..." Col.13 Lines 36-54 "... The cameras can be used as a main source of the inventory for a certain duration of time when the connectivity to the devices is actually lost. As an augmentation monitoring system, it may be possible to achieve a broader coverage for different environmental conditions or situations...").
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 11-13, 2, and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No. US 11128539 B1 by Gimza; Marek et al., in view of US Patent No. US 9489399 B1 by Laporte; Russell et al.
Regarding Claim 11
Gimza teaches A system (Gimza : Fig.1 Col.4 Lines 17-Col.6 Line 59) comprising:
memory to store machine-readable instructions and data (Gimza: Fig.1 element 14 Col.5 Line 46-Col.6 Line 31) ; and
one or more processors to access the memory and execute the machine-readable instructions (Gimza: Fig.1 element 12 Col.4 Line 17—Col.5 Line 15) , the machine-readable instructions comprising:
a site surveyor (Gimza : as inventory evaluation module 24 in Fig.1 performing action as shown in Fig.2 Col.6 Line 41-50, Col.10-14 showing various use cases how the inventory evaluation module 24 is used) that:
causes a network interface of a portable device (Gimza : Col.10 Lines 32-41 – cell phone having a camera application) to communicate location information for the portable device to a geospatial inventory database hosted by a computing system (Gimza: Col.7 Lines 19-30 "...capturing images may include utilizing one or more cameras or video cameras located in a data center with the network system. The process 30 may further comprise the steps of recording location information pertaining to the location of each of the cameras or video cameras while the one or more visual representations are obtained and determining the identity of the one or more components based on the location information....") , the geospatial inventory database being configured to provide the site surveyor with geo-location data for an information technology (IT) infrastructure and/or site with IT equipment based on the location information of the portable device (Gimza: Col.14 Lines 48-56 "... the system could use the CLLI information to associate that this camera feed is associated with a particular location, instead of using the IP address. Then, this information [camera location] can be associated with specific network elements. For example, Common Language, Location Identifier (CLLI) can do that....") ;
causes a camera of the mobile device to capture one or more images of the IT equipment (Gimza: Col.12 Lines 59-66 "... An intent of the present disclosure is to provide a system that uses ML technology to pick up images from a data center, which may include nodes, switches, routers, etc., where it is possible from a visual line of sight (e.g., from one or more cameras) to be able to see the LEDs on that node. Also, the cameras may see the different types of cards, the ports on those cards, or any physical inventory that is visible on that node. The image data obtained from these cameras may be stored in the memory device 14 or database 20....") ; and
an image processing database comprising a machine learning (ML) model (Gimza: Col.12 Lines 59-66 "... An intent of the present disclosure is to provide a system that uses ML technology to pick up images from a data center, which may include nodes, switches, routers, etc., where it is possible from a visual line of sight (e.g., from one or more cameras) to be able to see the LEDs on that node. Also, the cameras may see the different types of cards, the ports on those cards, or any physical inventory that is visible on that node. The image data obtained from these cameras may be stored in the memory device 14 or database 20....") that: processes the one or more images of the IT equipment to identify IT equipment information therein (Gimza: Col.12 Lines 59-66 "... An intent of the present disclosure is to provide a system that uses ML technology to pick up images from a data center, which may include nodes, switches, routers, etc., where it is possible from a visual line of sight (e.g., from one or more cameras) to be able to see the LEDs on that node. Also, the cameras may see the different types of cards, the ports on those cards, or any physical inventory that is visible on that node. The image data obtained from these cameras may be stored in the memory device 14 or database 20....");
generates IT equipment data using the identified IT equipment information (Gimza: Col.12 Line 59-Col.14 Line 2) ; and
causes an IT record of the geospatial inventory database for the site and/or IT infrastructure to be updated based on the IT equipment data (Gimza: Col.14 Lines 48-56 "... the system could use the CLLI information to associate that this camera feed is associated with a particular location, instead of using the IP address. Then, this information [camera location] can be associated with specific network elements. For example, Common Language, Location Identifier (CLLI) [as geospatial location of each network element] can do that...."; Col.6 Lines 54-59 "... The monitoring system 10 can cause a reconciliation with an inventory application based on its evaluation such that the inventory application is updated based on discrepancies between the monitoring system 10 and data in the inventory application...." Col.12 Lines 64-66 "... The image data obtained from these cameras may be stored in the memory device 14 or database 20..." Col.13 Lines 36-54 "... The cameras can be used as a main source of the inventory for a certain duration of time when the connectivity to the devices is actually lost. As an augmentation monitoring system, it may be possible to achieve a broader coverage for different environmental conditions or situations...") .
Gimza does not specifically teach renders the geo-location data on a display of the portable device.
Laporte teaches renders the geo-location data on a display of the portable device (Laporte: Col.2 Lines 41-45 "... (10) In some embodiments, the method can include tracking, by the mobile computing device, a location of the mobile computing device in the data center and displaying, by the mobile computing device, the first indicia at the location of the mobile computing device...."; See Fig.3 element 330 and also Fig.4 showing indicia as 415 in front of the rack (IT equipment)) . Laporte also teaches using mobile device camera to capture location information (as in Gizma) (Laporte: Col.7 Lines 47-Col.8 Line 59).
It would have been obvious to one (e.g. a designer) of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Laporte (2016) to Gimza (2021) to complement Gimza in equipment location identification and displaying the information on mobile device further complementing mobile device as not only a mapping tool, but also information providing tool (Laporte: Col.4 lines 55-62) . The motivation to combine would have been that Gimza and Laporte are analogous art to the instant claim in the field of data center mapping and inventory location identification (Laporte: Abstract: Gimza: Abstract).
Regarding Claim 12
Gimza teaches the system of claim 11, further comprising the geospatial inventory database, the geospatial inventory database to map the IT equipment data to the IT record to update the IT record for the IT infrastructure and/or site (Gimza: Col.6 Lines 54-59 "... The monitoring system 10 can cause a reconciliation with an inventory application based on its evaluation such that the inventory application is updated based on discrepancies between the monitoring system 10 and data in the inventory application...." Col.12 Lines 64-66 "... The image data obtained from these cameras may be stored in the memory device 14 or database 20..." Col.13 Lines 36-54 "... The cameras can be used as a main source of the inventory for a certain duration of time when the connectivity to the devices is actually lost. As an augmentation monitoring system, it may be possible to achieve a broader coverage for different environmental conditions or situations...") . Laporte also teaches the geospatial inventory database, the geospatial inventory database to map the IT equipment data to the IT record to update the IT record for the IT infrastructure and/or site
(Laporte: Col.6 Lines-Col.7 Line 30) .
Regarding Claim 13
Gimza & Laporte teaches the system of claim 11, wherein the geospatial inventory database is to generate an IT drawing based on the updated record (Gimza: Col.6 Line 51-59; Col.13 Lines 47-54 shows the updating the inventory; Laporte: teaches in Fig.4A Col.10 Lines 50-59, - IT drawing generated on the mobile device as map/virtual representation of data center).
Regarding Claim 2
Teachings of Gimza are shown in parent claim 1.
Gimza does not explicitly teach IT drawing limitation.
Gimza & Laporte teaches the computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the one or more processors, an IT drawing based on the updated record (Gimza: Col.6 Line 51-59; Col.13 Lines 47-54 shows the updating the inventory; Laporte: teaches in Fig.4A Col.10 Lines 50-59, - IT drawing generated on the mobile device as map/virtual representation of data center).
It would have been obvious to one (e.g. a designer) of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Laporte (2016) to Gimza (2021) to complement Gimza in equipment location identification and displaying the information on mobile device further complementing mobile device as not only a mapping tool, but also information providing tool (Laporte: Col.4 lines 55-62) . The motivation to combine would have been that Gimza and Laporte are analogous art to the instant claim in the field of data center mapping and inventory location identification (Laporte: Abstract: Gimza: Abstract).
Regarding Claim 5
Teachings of Gimza are shown in parent claim 1.
Gimza does not explicitly teach limitation of claim below.
Laporte teaches the computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising causing, by the one or more processors, the geo-location data to be provided to the portable device (Laporte: Col.7 Lines 26-30 "... Location logic 280 can display on display 205 a map of a data center based on the virtual representation of the data center. Location logic 280 can cause indicia of the locations of IT components and/or the mobile computing device 200 to be displayed on the map of the data center...." – here geolocation data of the device is provided for the purposes of map creation on the portable device).
It would have been obvious to one (e.g. a designer) of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Laporte (2016) to Gimza (2021) to complement Gimza in equipment location identification and displaying the information on mobile device further complementing mobile device as not only a mapping tool, but also information providing tool (Laporte: Col.4 lines 55-62) . The motivation to combine would have been that Gimza and Laporte are analogous art to the instant claim in the field of data center mapping and inventory location identification (Laporte: Abstract: Gimza: Abstract).
Regarding Claim 6
Gimza teaches the computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the portable device includes a camera to capture the one or more images of the IT equipment after receiving the geo-location data (Gimza: Col.7 Lines 19-30; Col.12 Lines 2-15).
Regarding Claim 7
Gizma teaches the computer implemented method of claim 6, further comprising processing the one or more images using the ML model to identify IT equipment information therein and generating the IT equipment data using the identified IT equipment information (Gizma: Col.12 Lines 59-67; Col.15 Lines 21-42) .
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Claim(s) 14-15 and 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No. US 11128539 B1 by Gimza; Marek et al., in view of US Patent No. US 9489399 B1 by Laporte; Russell et al., further in view of US PGPUB No. US 20090072967 A1 by Campbell; Levi A. et al.
Regarding Claim 14 & 3
Teachings of Gimza and Laporte are shown in the parent claim 12 & 1.
Laporte teaches location coordinates of the containers (such as racks and it contents (Laporte: Col.7 Lines 64-Col.8 Line.64).
Gimza and Laporte do not explicitly teach wherein the geospatial inventory database is to cause a printer to render the IT drawing on one or more papers.
Campbell teaches wherein the geospatial inventory database is to cause a printer to render the IT drawing on one or more papers (Campbell: Fig.3& [0026]-[0032] flow leading to automatically mapping the X-Y coordinates onto a map display (step 350); such coordinate information can be printed [0033] – i.e. rendered on paper).
Motivation to combine Gizma and Laporte is incorporated from the parent claim.
It would have been obvious to one (e.g. a designer) of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Campbell to Laporte and Gizma to display the IT component/container location (as in Laporte above) automatically instead of manually performing CAD manipulation ([0016]). The motivation to combine would have been that Campbell complements Laporte to overcome the manual mapping limitation by automatically determine the physical X,Y location of electronics racks within a data center room without the need for manual mapping of the electronics racks by a facility manager, which may include recording the individual ID numbers and locations of electronics racks within the data center and then manually or otherwise correlating this information with Internet Protocol (IP) or Media Access Control (MAC) addresses (e.g., each time a data center undergoes reconfiguration) (Campbell: [0017]). X-y location can be perfprmed by Laporte via alternate camera based technology as mapped in parent claim 12. Further Campbell, Laporte and Gizma are analogous art to the instant claim in the field of mapping a data center (Campbell: Fig.3 & Abstract, Laporte: Fig.3 & 4A and Gizma: : Col.14 Lines 48-56 "... the system could use the CLLI information to associate that this camera feed is associated with a particular location, instead of using the IP address. Then, this information [camera location] can be associated with specific network elements. For example, Common Language, Location Identifier (CLLI) can do that....").
Regarding Claim 151 & 4
Laporte teaches wherein the IT drawing is a computer aided design (CAD) drawing (Laporte: Col.4 Lines 20-45).
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Claim(s) 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No. US 11128539 B1 by Gimza; Marek et al., in view of US Patent No. US 9489399 B1 by Laporte; Russell et al. further in view of US PGPUB No. US 20210028999 A1 by Balakrishnan; Ganesh et al.
Regarding Claim 8
Teachings of Gizma and Laporte are shown in the parent claim 7.
While Lapoerte shows location logiv 280 for determining location for each IT device and displaying it (at least see Fig.2C, 3 and 4A), it does not disclose IT record stored with location information.
Balakrishnan teaches the computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the IT record is stored at a geospatial inventory database (Balakrishnan: Abstract [0039][0040][0052] & Fig.4 & 6).
It would have been obvious to one (e.g. a designer) of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Balakrishnan to Laporte and Gizma to store location information and keep it updated so as to plot in 3D view/mapping (Balakrishnan: See Fig.4 [0037]-[0040]) . The motivation to combine would have been that Balakrishnan, Laporte and Gizma are analogous art to the instant claim in the field of data center mapping (Balakrishnan, Laporte and Gizma: respective Abstract)
Regarding Claim 9
Balakrishnan teaches the computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the geospatial inventory database is part of a geographic information system (GIS) (Balakrishnan teaches the: [0037]-[0039] GIS database as location database with X-y-Z coordinates related to bins/containers in Laporte) .
Regarding Claim 10
Balakrishnan teaches the computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein the mapping is based on a mapping model (Balakrishnan: [0042]-[0043] shows the data center model mapping as shown in Fig.5) .
Conclusion
All claims are rejected.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Examiner’s Note: Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
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Communication
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AKASH SAXENA whose telephone number is (571)272-8351. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 7AM-3:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RYAN PITARO can be reached on (571) 272-4071. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
AKASH SAXENA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2188
/AKASH SAXENA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2188 Sunday, February 1, 2026
1 In alternate US 20190332730 A1 by AHMAD; Dilshad et al. [0043] creates a CAD model of data center from the conditioned space data (See Fig.3 flow and element 208) and using point coordinates (Fig.4 flow). This prior art is pertinent as it creates CAD model from ordinates data (Like Laporte and Campbell above) and may be used in future rejections.