DETAILED 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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-3, 5-11, 13-16 and 21-23 are pending for examination.
Claims 1, 9 and 21 are independent Claims.
Claims 1-3, 5-11, 13-16 and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6, 8-11, 13-14, 16 and 21-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng et al. (U.S. 2021/0357402 hereinafter Cheng) in view of Achin et al. (U.S. 2018/0046926 hereinafter Achin) in further view of Seth et al. (U.S. 2019/0265870 hereinafter Seth).
As Claim 1, Cheng teaches a system comprising:
one or more processors (Cheng (¶0040 line 1), a processor) configured to perform operations including:
generating, by a machine learning model receiving as input one or more input data points having a time dependency relationship (Cheng (¶0037 line 3-8), “includes receiving, at data processing hardware 144, a time series forecasting query 20 from a user 12 that requests the data processing hardware 144 to perform a plurality of time series forecasts 22. Each time series forecast 22 is a forecast of future data 162 based on respective current data 152”), a forecast including one or more forecast data points having the time dependency relationship and positions after the one or more input data points (Cheng (¶0038 last 7 lines), “simultaneously forecasting, by the data processing hardware 144, future data 162 based on the determined best fitting model 212S and the respective current data”);
causing a graphical user interface to present the forecast including the one or more forecast data points (Cheng (¶0027 line 4-8), “The user device 10 displays the forecasted data 162 as, for example, a graph. Each time series requested by the query 20 may be displayed on the same graph with user-configurable filters for controlling which portions of which time series are displayed”)
in response to user selection of a first forecast data point of the one or more forecast data points (Cheng (¶0027 line 4-8), “The user device 10 displays the forecasted data 162 as, for example, a graph. Each time series requested by the query 20 may be displayed on the same graph with user-configurable filters for controlling which portions of which time series are displayed”)
Cheng may not explicitly disclose:
identifying, for each forecast data point of the one or more forecast data points, a plurality of impact metrics of a plurality of features, wherein each impact metric of each feature of the plurality of features for the respective forecast data point indicates an extent of an impact of the respective feature on the respective forecast data point;
and, for each forecast data point of the one or more forecast data points, first impact indicators representing impact metrics of a first subset of the plurality of features, wherein the first impact indicators are presented using a first type of visual indicator; and
causing the graphical user interface to present second impact indicators corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of features that satisfy an impact threshold, wherein the second impact indicators are presented using a second type of visual indicator; and
Achin teaches:
identifying, for each forecast data point of the one or more forecast data points (Achin (¶0369 (line 1-4), “the system 100 "shuffles" the values of a particular feature F across the observations (each forecast data point) in the initial dataset, thereby generating a modified dataset representing a modified prediction problem”), a plurality of impact metrics of a plurality of features (Achin (¶0398 line 1-3, fig. 10 item 1050), “for each of the predictive modeling procedures (or fitted models) the system 100 calculates the predictive value of the feature F”), wherein each impact metric of each feature of the plurality of features for the respective forecast data point indicates an extent of an impact of the respective feature on the respective forecast data point (Achin (¶0398 line 1-3, fig. 10 item 1050), “for each of the predictive modeling procedures (or fitted models) the system 100 calculates the predictive value of the feature F”);
and, for each forecast data point of the one or more forecast data points, first impact indicators representing impact metrics of a first subset of the plurality of features, wherein the first impact indicators are presented using a first type of visual indicator (Achin (¶0403 (line 8-9), “display the predictive values of the features, (3) rank the features by their predictive values, and/or”); and
causing the graphical user interface to present second impact indicators corresponding to a second subset of the plurality of features that satisfy an impact threshold (Achin (¶0402 line 7-8), “the system 100 may prune "less important" features from the dataset.”), wherein the second impact indicators are presented using a second type of visual indicator (Achin (¶0403 (line 8-9), “display the predictive values of the features, (3) rank the features by their predictive values, and/or”); and
Cheng discloses a system and method for selecting a future time for data point forecasting. The data of Cheng is visualized on a graph. Achin discloses a system and method for user to select a time window and generate the feature importance for the selected time window. Feature importances of Achin are displayed with the features. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify future time window of Cheng instead be feature importances for a selected time window taught by Achin, with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation would be to “provide feature importance values either for a prediction problem in general or for a particular model may have numerous benefits” (Achin (¶¶ 0388-0392)).
Cheng in view of Achin may not explicitly disclose:
causing the graphical user interface to present an explanation portion including third impact indicators representing impact metrics of a third subset of the plurality of features for the first forecast data point, wherein the third impact indicators are presented using a third type of visual indicator.
Seth teaches:
causing the graphical user interface to present an explanation portion including third impact indicators representing impact metrics of a third subset of the plurality of features for the first forecast data point (Seth (¶0073 line 2-4, fig. 5B3 item 506), “selectable feature 506 for "Factor 3" has been selected, and graphical illustration 502 of the subset of factors has been recolored to highlight”), wherein the third impact indicators are presented using a third type of visual indicator (Seth (¶0074 line 8-13), “Textual description 516 pertaining to the selected factor may include, for example, a description of the selected factor, the factor risk for the selected factor, one or more time periods associated with the selected factor, and/or an extent to which the selected factor contributes to the model risk.”).
Cheng disclose a system/method to select a future time window for data forecasting. Cheng suggests a user selected filter to filtering out a specific time window. Seth discloses a system/method to user GUI for selecting time window and a particular feature importance. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify future time window of Cheng in view of Achin instead GUI taught by Seth, with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation would be to “dynamically isolate, identify, and illustrate factors that contribute to model drift and/or model risk.” (Seth (¶0003 line 1-3))
As Claim 2, besides Claim 1, Cheng in view of Achin in further view of Seth teaches wherein each of the second impact indicators indicates a magnitude of impact of a respective feature of the second subset (Achin (¶0403 (line 8-9), “display the predictive values of the features, (3) rank the features by their predictive values, and/or”).
As Claim 3, besides Claim 1, Cheng in view of Achin in further view of Seth teaches wherein the operations further include:
based on user selection of a feature of the first subset of the plurality of features, causing the graphical user interface to change a visual property of a subset of the first impact indicators corresponding to the selected feature (Seth (¶0073 line 2-4, fig. 5B3 item 506), “selectable feature 506 for "Factor 3" has been selected, and graphical illustration 502 of the subset of factors has been recolored to highlight”).
As Claim 5, besides Claim 1, Cheng in view of Achin in further view of Seth teaches wherein a first subset of the first impact indicators represent impact metrics having a first direction of impact on the respective forecast data points, a second subset of the first impact indicators represent impact metrics having a second direction of impact on the respective forecast data points (Achin (¶0403 (line 8-9), “display the predictive values of the features, (3) rank the features by their predictive values, and/or”), and the operations further include:
assigning a first brightness to the first subset of the first impact indicators, and assigning a second brightness to the second subset of the first impact indicators (Seth (¶0073 line 2-4, fig. 5B3 item 506), “selectable feature 506 for "Factor 3" has been selected, and graphical illustration 502 of the subset of factors has been recolored to highlight”).
As Claim 6, besides Claim 1, Cheng in view of Achin in further view of Seth teaches
wherein a first subset of the first impact indicators correspond to a first feature of the plurality of features, a second subset of the first impact indicators correspond to a second feature of the plurality of features (Achin (¶0403 (line 8-9), “display the predictive values of the features, (3) rank the features by their predictive values, and/or”), and the operations further include:
assigning a first color to the first subset of the first impact indicators, and assigning a second color to the second subset of the first impact indicators (Seth (¶0073 line 2-4, fig. 5B3 item 506), “selectable feature 506 for "Factor 3" has been selected, and graphical illustration 502 of the subset of factors has been recolored to highlight”).
As Claim 8, besides Claim 1, Cheng in view of Achin in further view of Seth teaches wherein each impact indicator of the third impact indicators indicates at least two of a direction of impact, a magnitude of impact, or a type of impact (Seth (¶0074 line 8-13), “Textual description 516 pertaining to the selected factor may include, for example, a description of the selected factor, the factor risk for the selected factor, one or more time periods associated with the selected factor, and/or an extent to which the selected factor contributes to the model risk.”).
As Claim 9-11, 13-14 and 16, the Claims are rejected for the same reasons as Claims 1-3, 5-6 and 8, respectively.
As Claim 21-23, the Claims are rejected for the same reasons as Claims 1-3, respectively.
Claim(s) 7 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng and Achin in view of Seth in further view of Rikovic Tabak et al. (U.S. 2019/0340559 hereinafter Rikovic).
As Claim 7, besides Claim 1, Cheng in view of Achin in further view of Seth does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the operations further include:
causing the graphical user interface to present a highlight cursor including a bar enclosing a particular time or times.
Rikovic teaches:
wherein the operations further include:
causing the graphical user interface to present a highlight cursor including a bar enclosing a particular time or times (Rikovic (¶0041 line 2-8), “The time plot 316 includes first and sliders 318, 320 that allow the user to select a time period of interest 322, which is represented as the shaded area between the two sliders. A user can adjust the time period of interest 322 by moving (e.g., dragging) the either or both of the sliders 318, 320 back and forth along the time plot 316”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify future time window of Cheng in view of Achin in further view of Seth instead GUI timeline taught by Rikovic, with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation would be to conveniently “allow a user to select a time period from the incident data, plot the incident data over the selected time period, filter the event data based on one or more breakdowns or elements, display a listing of individual incident records, allow a user to set one or more threshold values, set one or more target values, and leave comments, etc.” (Rikovic (¶0005 middle portion))
As Claim 14, the Claim is rejected for the same reasons as Claim 7.
Response to Arguments
I. Claim Rejections under 35 U.S.C. §103:
As Claim 1, Applicant argue that cited references does not disclose “causing a graphical user interface to present forecast which including the one or more forecast data points …” (third paragraph of page 10 in the remarks).
PNG
media_image1.png
254
652
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Applicant’s arguments are moot because new reference Cheng, Achin and Seth teach the limitation(s).
II. General Comments on Dependent Claims:
Dependent Claims are not persuasive for the same reasons above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Keng et al. (U.S. 2011/0276881) teaches a system/method to select time in a timeline.
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).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NHAT HUY T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7333. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 12:00-8:00 EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Viker Lamardo can be reached at 571-270-5871. 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.
/NHAT HUY T NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2147
