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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 18 February 2026 and 17 July 2023 are is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-14 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 1, 3, 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14 use the abbreviation “ID” before first defining what “ID” stands for. Since the dependent claims incorporate the deficiencies of the independent claims, dependent claims 2-14 are also objected to. Amending claim 1 to recite what “ID” represents will overcome the objection. Appropriate correction is required.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent No 10,466,686 to Moorhouse et al (hereafter Moorhouse) in view of US PGPub 2013/0090853 to Anderson (hereafter Anderson).
Referring to claim 1, Moorhouse discloses a control device provided in an industrial machine [machine-level controllers] to collect data (see column 4, lines 1-26), comprising:
a primary data holding unit [database] that stores data, which corresponds to a single control period, held in the control device (see column 4, lines 1-26; column 6, lines 23-27 – For example, the machine-level controllers could log information collected or generated by the controllers 106, such as measurement data from sensors. Various levels of the Purdue model can include other components, such as one or more databases. The databases associated with each level could store any suitable information associated with that level.);
a collection setting holding unit [collection model 210] that stores a collection setting including a reference to the primary data holding unit, a data ID specifying data collected from the control device, and a request user list which is a list of users having requested the data ID (see column 7, line 65 – column 8, line 30 – The schedule represents a collection schedule indicating the health or performance data that is collected from various assets 205, when and how often the data is collected, and to which applications the health or performance data is provided. The schedule 225 is generated according to the framework 200 by cross-referencing the information of assets 205 and the collection model 210 with the applications 215 and, optionally the policies 220.);
a data holding unit that has a collection channel for storing data collected from the control device (see column 10, lines 30-44 – According to the schedule 225, the app 240 collects the information and transmits the information to the computing device 230 for storage in database 235. The information is then available at the computing device 230 for retrieval by, or transmission to, one or more applications 215.); and
a data collection calculation unit that executes data collection processing including reading the collection setting from the collection setting holding unit, reading data corresponding to the data ID of the collection setting from the primary data holding unit, and writing the data read from the primary data holding unit in an arbitrary channel in the data holding unit (see column 10, lines 10-44).
While Moorhouse discloses a collection channel, Moorhouse fails to explicitly disclose the further limitation and has, in the collection channel a queue structure for reading data in an order of addition of data. Anderson teaches the collection of data using a sensor and a controller, including the further limitation of a data holding unit that has a collection channel for storing data collected from the control device and has, in the collection channel a queue structure for reading data in an order of addition of data (see [0026] – A continuous first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer can record data).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the collection channel of Moorhouse be a FIFO buffer as taught by Anderson. One would have been motivated to do so in order for the data to be managed in an efficient manner (Anderson: see [0026]).
Referring to claim 2, the combination of Moorhouse and Anderson (hereafter Moorhouse/Anderson) teaches the control device according to claim 1, further comprising a timing notification unit that increments a lap count value by a preset increment value and notifies processing timing of executing processing in the control device (Anderson: [0029]; [0031]; [0032]).
Referring to claim 8, Moorhouse/Anderson teaches the control device according to claim 1, wherein in the control device, the primary data holding unit, the collection setting holding unit, and the data holding unit include one or more primary data holding units, one or more collection setting holding units, and one or more data holding units (Moorhouse: see column 7, lines 5-7).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 and 9-14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPub 2020/0100223 to Park et al teaches assignment of data channels.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIMBERLY LOVEL WILSON whose telephone number is (571)272-2750. The examiner can normally be reached 8-4:30.
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/KIMBERLY L WILSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2165
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