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 .
This office action is in response to the RCE filed on 07/02/2025.
Claims 13-24 and 26-27 are presented for further examination.
Continued Examination under 3 7 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/02/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 13-24 and 26-27 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite in that it fails to point out what is included or excluded by the claim language. This claim is an omnibus type claim.
Claim 13 recites the steps “a) triggering an event, b) retrieving current device
data, c) updating the data correlation, d) triggering a query at a semantic rule engine to obtain inferences about said known contexts or said known items of context-dependent information”. However, using the step d) is not required to perform the steps a), b) and c) because step d) is not relevance with the steps a), b) and c). Applicant is required for clarification.
All dependent claims are rejected under the same rational as their based claims.
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.
Claims 13-15, 19, 21-23 and 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niedermeier (WO 2007/009932 A1) and view of Meis et al., (EP 1527554 B1), hereinafter “Meis”.
As per claim 13, Niedermeier discloses a method for generating items of context-dependent information for informing a user about a status of a technical system (page 2, par. [9], modelling a local attribute and the context attribute is formed from said local attribute for selecting a profile comprising at least one configuration parameter in order to determine the operating performance of the communication terminal operating device), the method comprising:
- providing items of context-dependent information of the technical system by various data sources (page 2, par. [9] & page 5, para [5]-[6]modelling a local attribute and the context attribute is formed from said local attribute for selecting a profile comprising at least one configuration parameter in order to determine the operating performance of the communication terminal operating device),
- generating items of context- dependent information of known contexts (page 5, par. [4], prepares the received information by linking to a set of predetermined evaluation rules, wherein a context attribute is provided as the output data),
- generating items of estimated context-dependent information of a new context and associated data elements (page 5, par. [5-7], and page 6, par. [4-5], page 4, par. [8], defining by scheduling data and time information, the context determination device CM generates a message about the context change after determining the new context), which is not a real data source, by correlating the data elements of the various data sources, based on known and experience-related values (page 3, par. [9], and page 4, par. [1], determining a change in the linkage of the context attribute, new context attributes or new profiles, wherein the change of the context attribute is determined by the device for determining a change in the linkage of the context attribute, comprising:
a) triggering an event (page 5, para [7] and page 7, par. [2], detecting context change),
d) triggering a query at a semantic rule engine to obtain inferences about said known contexts or said known items of context-dependent information (page 5, par. [4], prepares the received information by linking to a set of predetermined evaluation rules, wherein a context attribute is provided as the output data),
e) creating the new context of items of estimated context-dependent information based on context rules, and based on a result of semantic rules in d) (page 5, par. [5-7], and page 6, par. [4-5], defining by scheduling data and time information, the context determination device CM generates a message about the context change after determining the new context), and
However, Niedermeier does not explicitly disclose the claimed retrieving current device data; and assigning the first query to the known and estimated items of information and formulating a result.
Meanwhile, Meis discloses b)retrieving current device data (page 3, para [5], [6] and page 5, para [2], errors and other events in the technical-physical process and / or process computer nodes should be promptly communicated to the user via the user interface of the associated client computing node and displaying a diagnostic data originating from the process computer node via the diagnostic server or diagnostic computer node to the client computer node can, as it were, be triggered on the user interface); c) updating the data correlation (page 10, para [7], events occurring at the system, such as the occurrence of an error or the update of a parameter value in a user interface, must be communicated to the user interfaces via an event channel or polled continuously), and f) assigning the first query to the known and estimated items of information and formulating a result (page 4, para [6], sending a request to the diagnostic server and presenting new event specially new error).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Niedermeier to retrieve the current device data, in order to ensure quick and efficient diagnostics and troubleshooting in case of service.
As per claim 14, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed. In addition, Meis discloses the items of context-dependent information are provided as information models in the form of device-specific data by first data sources in the form of devices of automation technology (see page 15, fig.6-7, para [6]).
As per claim 15, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed. In addition, Niedermeier discloses the context-based items of information are provided as information models in the form of semantic data by second data sources in the form of an ontology, by an ontology/inference machine (page 3, para [6], modeling a time attribute can be provided as a further information source, wherein the context attribute is formed from the time attribute).
As per claim 19, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed. In addition, Niedermeier discloses a database is used as the data source for current and past values (page 5, para [6], the context attribute serves to characterize the current situation or the current context of the communication terminal).
As per claim 21, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed. In addition, Niedermeier discloses the provision of the new context of estimated items of context-dependent information comprises the presentation of semantic information by a user interface (page 5, para [5]-[6]).
As per claim 22, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed. In addition, Meis discloses items of context-dependent diagnostic information are generated based on the items of reliable or known context- dependent information and the items of estimated context-dependent information (page 8, para [3], the diagnostic computer node takes over the storage of all accumulating data in the database DB, wherein all plant-specific data such as the plant configuration or component databases, all diagnostic-specific data such as Long-term recordings or ring buffer data as well as application-related data are managed in the database DB).
As per claim 23, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed. In addition, Meis discloses the device-specific data are device data, diagnostic data and/or measurement data (page 4, para [7], cyclically transfer data, in particular diagnostic data, between the diagnostic computer node and the user interface of a client computer node).
As per claim 26, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed. In addition, Meis discloses the ontology is selected from a device ontology, a location ontology, and a diagnostic ontology (page 5, para [2], a display of diagnostic data originating from the process computer node via the diagnostic server or diagnostic computer node to the client computer node can, as it were, be triggered on the user interface).
As per claim 27, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed. In addition, Meis discloses wherein the database, is a TimeSeries database (page 11, para [5], a recording is stored in a database by the recording manager and, upon request, is sent to other modules, such as a computer. a graphic module of the surface provided).
Claims 16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niedermeier, Meis, and further in view of Gattiker et al., (US 9,262,510), hereinafter “Gattiker”.
As per claims 16 and 18, the combination of Niedermeier and Meis discloses the invention as claimed, except for context ID.
On the other hand, Gattiker discloses context identifier is assigned directly or indirectly to each data element so that a specific concept, a specific property, or a specific device is actually represented identically in the various data sources (col.8, lines 29-36, context identification is used during retrieval to choose the appropriate tags and dictionary-mutations to apply in a matching process and can also be used during dictionary creation to determine context-specific term-associated attributes).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combined system of cited references to utilize a context identification (ID), in order to facilitate transfer of content between source and target data stores.
Claims 17, 20 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niedermeier, Meis, Gattiker, and further in view of Fumagalli et al., (US 2021/0157565), hereinafter “Fumagalli”.
As per claims 17, 20 and 24, the combination of Niedermeier, Meis and Gattiker discloses the invention as claimed, except for the Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture servers.
Meanwhile, Fumagalli discloses Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture servers information model by way of a namespace or a node identifier, wherein an assignment table is used to convert the namespace or the node identifier into the contest identifier (par. [0034]-[0035], OPC UA server functionality which allows to display the values relating to the variables under control to other affected components, which implement the OPC UA client standard).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combined system of cited references to use Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture servers, in order to provide robust security features to protect data shared between devices, thereby ensuring integrity and privacy.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure (see PTO-892).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LOAN T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)-270-3103. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, Thursday-Friday from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Aleksandr Kerzhner can be reached on (571) 270-1760. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-4103. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/LOAN T NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2165
9/29/2025