DETAILED ACTION
This Non-Final Office Action is in response to the arguments, amendments, and Request for Continued Examination filed April 6, 2026.
Claim 16 has been amended.
Claims 33-36 are newly added.
Claims 1-36 are currently pending and have been considered below.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 April 6, 2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed towards non-eligible subject matter.
In terms of step 1, claims 1-36 are directed towards one of the four categories of statutory subject matter.
In terms of step 2(a)(1), independent claims 1, 21, and 22 are directed towards (as represented by claim 1), “obtaining, at a network monitoring location, an indication of a network performance event at a remote network location; responsive to obtaining the indication, initiating an automated triage process to determine whether the network performance event is an actual power service failure; and issuing an alert based on the determination of whether the network performance event is an actual power service failure”. The claims are describing a collection of information, high level analysis, and display based on the results. The claims describe providing a notification of an actual power failure based on high level analysis of a network performance event. A person would be able to receive information of a potential power failure, determine if the network performance event is an actual failure, and provide an alert based on the determination. Therefore, the claims are directed towards limitations that fall into the abstract idea grouping of mental process.
Step 2(a)(II) considers the additional elements in terms of being transformative into a practical application. The additional elements of claims 1, 21, and 22 are, “A method comprising: using at least one hardware processor (claim 1); A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method comprising the steps of (claim 21); An apparatus comprising: a memory; and at least one processor, coupled to the memory, and operative to (claim 22)”. The additional elements are described in the originally filed specification [64-70, 145-146, and 155-162]. The computer elements are merely described as generic technology to implement the abstract idea. The additional elements are not directed towards a technical improvement and are merely generic technology to implement the abstract idea. Therefore, the claims are not directed towards additional elements that are transformative into a practical application. Refer to MPEP 2106.05(f).
Step 2(b) considers the additional elements in terms of being significantly more than the identified abstract idea. The additional elements of claims 1, 21, and 22 are, “A method comprising: using at least one hardware processor (claim 1); A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method comprising the steps of (claim 21); An apparatus comprising: a memory; and at least one processor, coupled to the memory, and operative to (claim 22)”. The additional elements are described in the originally filed specification [64-70, 145-146, and 155-162]. The computer elements are merely described as generic technology to implement the abstract idea. The additional elements are not directed towards a technical improvement and are merely generic technology to implement the abstract idea. Therefore, the claims are not directed towards additional elements that are significantly more than the identified abstract idea. Refer to MPEP 2106.05(f).
Dependent claims 2, 5, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 25, 30, and 31 are further describing the abstract idea with additional elements beyond those identified above. The claims are directed towards, “wherein the determination is that there is an actual power service failure, further comprising refraining from dispatching a remote technician to the remote network location based on the determination”, “wherein the determination is that there is not an actual power service failure, further comprising dispatching a remote technician to the remote network location based on the determination”, “wherein the determination is that there is an actual power service failure, further comprising dispatching a remote technician to the remote network location based on the determination”, “wherein the automated triage process includes checking whether a dying gasp message has been received from the remote network location”, “wherein the automated triage process includes consulting a plurality of external resources including one or more of third party power outage tracking web sites, power company text messages, subscription weather services, social media, emergency alert systems, and power company web sites”, “wherein the automated triage process includes consulting at least social media, further comprising applying natural language processing with the at least one processor to understand sentiment of social media posts”, “wherein determining whether the network performance event is an actual power service failure is carried out with a rules-based correlation engine”, “training a machine learning-based correlation engine to make the determination whether the network performance event is the actual power service failure; wherein the determination whether the network performance event is the actual power service failure is carried out with the trained machine learning- based correlation engine”, and “further comprising determining a type of remote technician to dispatch to the remote network location based on the determination of whether the network performance event is an actual power service failure”. The claims are further describing the collection, high level analysis, and display aspects of the identified abstract idea. The claims provide further aspects of data collection (dying grasp message, social media, and other websites), analysis elements (machine learning, correlation rules, and NLP/sentiment), and display (dispatching elements for refraining and dispatching). Though the analysis aspects are described and considered as part of the abstract idea, the elements will be considered as additional elements. The analysis techniques are described in the originally filed specification [86, 95-96, and 140]. The specification merely describes the analysis techniques as generic technology to implement the abstract idea. The analysis techniques are merely describing the aspect of techniques for analysis and are not describing a technical improvement to the analysis techniques themselves. As such, the additional elements are not transformative into a practical application or significantly more than the identified abstract idea. Refer to MPEP 2106.05(f).
Dependent claims 3, 4, 6, 7, 10-12, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24, 26-29, and 32 are further additional elements beyond those identified above. The claims are directed towards, “wherein the network monitoring location and the remote network location are connected by an enterprise wide area network”, “wherein the network monitoring location and the remote network location are connected by at least one of a hybrid fiber-coaxial network, a fiber to the curb network, and a fiber to the home network, wherein the refraining is further responsive to obtaining an indication that the actual power service failure is projected to be over in a predetermined time period”, “wherein the network monitoring location and the remote network location are connected by an enterprise wide area network”, “wherein the network monitoring location and the remote network location are connected by at least one of a hybrid fiber-coaxial network, a fiber to the curb network, and a fiber to the home network”, “wherein the automated triage process includes consulting a plurality of external resources via API calls”, “wherein the automated triage process includes consulting a plurality of external resources via at least one of screen scraping and synthetic web interactions”, “wherein the automated triage process includes checking at least one of a trap collector and a network monitoring toolset”, “consulting a database to determine a geographic location of the remote network location, wherein the automated triage process includes consulting a plurality of external resources based on the determined geographic location”, “wherein the automated triage process includes: consulting at least one external resource providing a point location of a power failure; and determining whether the remote network location is geographically proximate the point location”, and “implementing a daemon, an interface routine, and a correlation engine on the at least one processor, wherein: the step of obtaining the indication of the network performance event is carried out using the daemon; the step of initiating the automated triage process is carried out using the correlation engine; and the step of issuing the alert is carried out using the interface routine”, “a plurality of distinct software modules, each of the distinct software modules being embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, and wherein the distinct software modules comprise a daemon module, a correlation engine module, and an interface routine module; wherein {claim 29}”, and “wherein the distinct software modules further comprise a database module, wherein the at least one processor is further operative to {claim 32}”. The additional elements are directed towards elements of the structure, network, and other display/computer elements. The additional elements are described in the originally filed specification figures 1-9 and paragraphs [85, 89-86, 117-125, and 158-159]. The additional elements are merely describing generic technology to implement the abstract idea. The computer elements are not describing technical improvements to the computer elements, but rather used as tools to implement the identified abstract idea. As such, the claims are not directed towards additional elements that are significantly more or transformative into a practical application. Refer to MPEP 2106.05(f).
Dependent claims 33-36 are directed towards further additional elements than those identified above. The claims are directed towards, “further comprising obtaining network trap data from at least one hardware-based network device, wherein the automated triage process to determine whether the network performance event is the actual power service failure is based on the network trap data” and “wherein the at least one hardware-based network device is one or more of a network router, a network switch, an uninterruptible power supply, and a network firewall”. The additional elements of the network trap data and network devices are described in the originally filed specification [92-94 and 98-100]. The additional elements are merely describing generic technology to implement the abstract idea. The network trap and hardware device elements are not describing technical improvements, but rather used as tools to implement the identified abstract idea. As such, the claims are not directed towards additional elements that are significantly more or transformative into a practical application. Refer to MPEP 2106.05(f).
The claimed invention is describing an abstract idea without additional elements that are significantly more or transformative into a practical application. Therefore, claims 1-36 are rejected under 35 USC 101 for being directed towards non-eligible subject matter.
Response to Arguments
In response to the arguments filed April 6, 2026 in pages 14-21 regarding the 35 USC 103 rejection, specifically that the prior art does not teach the specific combination of elements. Examiner agrees. The previous combination provides utility outage and other information based on collected data, however, the combination does not provide the specific network outage being an actual outage based on network performance data. Further considered art is listed below and the combination of elements are not taught by the prior art. Therefore, the 35 USC 103 rejection has been withdrawn.
In response to the arguments filed April 6, 2026 in pages 9-13 regarding the 35 USC 101 rejection, specifically that the claimed invention is directed towards eligible subject matter.
Examiner respectfully disagrees.
The arguments allege that the claimed invention is directed towards a technical improvement in the technical field of network management for triaging a network failure and a correlation engine. The claims, as currently described and considered, receive information, analyze at a high level, and display the results. The analysis/determination step is, as currently considered, merely providing a determination that the network event is an actual power service failure. A person would be able to perform such determination with pen and paper. Further, in terms of the consideration, the claims are similar to Electric Power Group in that the claims receive information and display and alert. The correlation engine and machine learning elements provided in the dependent claims are not directed towards an improvement to analysis but rather providing generic techniques and tools to implement. This further includes describing the hardware and network devices that are utilized to collect the information utilized in the analysis. The claimed invention is not describing a technical improvement, but rather utilizing generic techniques to implement the abstract idea. As such, the claimed invention, when considered individually and as a combination, is directed towards an abstract idea without additional elements that are significantly more or transformative into a practical application. Refer to MPEP 2106.05(f).
Lacking any further arguments, claims 1-36 are maintaining the 35 USC 101 rejection, as considered above in light of the amended and newly added claim limitations.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Vaswani et al [2011/0077790];
Sobotka et al [2015/0185046];
Vasseur et al [11,063,842];
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW CHASE LAKHANI whose telephone number is (571)272-5687. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 730am - 5pm (EST).
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/ANDREW CHASE LAKHANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3629
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