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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cahill (U.S. Publication No. 2020/0225649 A1).
Regarding Claim 1:
Cahill teaches a computer-implemented method for providing immutable and tamper-resistant event data of an industrial control system, comprising: receiving data indicating an event from at least one industrial device; providing the received data indicating an event to nodes of a distributed ledger; (Paragraph [0089]-[0090], validating network nodes receive transaction data from field devices)
in response to receiving data indicating an event, selecting at least one of the nodes of a distributed ledger and writing a transaction into the distributed ledger, (Paragraph [0090], validating network nodes receive transaction data and add it to the network if it meets the requirements)
wherein the writing of a transaction into the distributed ledger is authorized by the selected at least one of the nodes of the distributed ledger, (Paragraph [0075]-[0076], edge gateways act as validating nodes for the distributed ledger network)
wherein the transaction comprises transaction data, wherein the transaction data allows an accessing of event data; (Paragraph [0089], cryptographic hash of the data is included in the blockchain)
wherein the transaction data comprises a pointer pointing to original or pre-processed data existing in one or more industrial databases of the at least one industrial device; (Paragraph [0089], only a cryptographic hash of the data is included in the blockchain, data itself is stored off chain; Additionally, Paragraph [0155]-[0156], field device provides the event or other process data to a database)
providing immutable and tamper-resistant event data based on the transaction data. (Paragraph [0156], event data stored in database can be compared to the cryptographic hash included in the distributed ledger to determine if data has been tampered with)
Regarding Claim 2:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the distributed ledger is a public ledger. (Paragraph [0093], main blockchain can be a public blockchain)
Regarding Claim 3:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the distributed ledger is a private ledger. (Paragraph [0093], main blockchain can be private)
Regarding Claim 4:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the distributed ledger is a central ledger having characteristics similar to a private ledger. (Paragraph [0093], main blockchain can be permissioned)
Regarding Claim 5:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the nodes of the distributed ledger are edge devices. (Paragraph [0075], edge gateways)
Regarding Claim 6:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the transaction data further comprises a label. (Paragraph [0118], product identifier)
Regarding Claim 7:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the selection of the at least one of the nodes of the ledger to authorize a transaction is provided by a random selection process, a round-robin selection process, and/or a weighted selection process. (Paragraph [0080], consensus algorithms are used such as taking turns, proof of weight, etc. can be used to mint new blocks)
Regarding Claim 8:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising providing event reaction data indicating a reaction of a human operator and/or a reaction of the industrial control system with respect to an event based on the immutable and tamper-resistant event data. (Paragraph [0167], event can be corrective action, user interaction, etc.)
Regarding Claim 9:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising providing control data for controlling the industrial control system based on the immutable and tamper-resistant event data and/or the event reaction data. (Paragraph [0167], event can be change in properties of a product or change in process parameter values)
Regarding Claim 10:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising providing training data for training a machine learning or an artificial intelligence based industrial control system based on the immutable and tamper-resistant event data and/or the event reaction data. (Paragraph [0137], device can generate machine learning model)
Regarding Claim 11:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising providing an identity-based security to the distributed ledger. (Paragraph [0090], only certain devices are authorized to provide certain information to the distributed ledger)
Regarding Claim 12:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising providing handling of the pointer in the distributed ledger as a stale pointer when the original data indicates an event, to which the pointers in the distributed ledger point, is moved to a different database or changes at a later point in time. (Paragraph [0081], transactions may include updates to a state database that contains current values of variables)
Regarding Claim 13:
Cahill additionally teaches the method according to claim 1, further comprising providing another layer of indirection avoiding stale pointers in case the original data indicating an event, to which the pointers in the distributed ledger point, is moved to a different database or changes at a later point in time. (Paragraph [0081], transactions may include updates to a state database that contains current values of variables; Additionally, Paragraph [0089], only a cryptographic hash of the data is included in the blockchain, data itself is stored off chain)
Regarding Claims 14-16:
Claims 14-16 have limitations similar to those of claims 1 and 8-9 respectively and are thus rejected under the same rational as cited above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gallagher et al. (U.S. Patent No. 12095925 B2) discloses a distributed ledger for storing alerts and responses from a state of a computer system.
Tugbo et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2020/0225643 A1) discloses using a distributed ledger in process control systems.
Bacon et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2010/0198885 A1) discloses updating of stale pointers.
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/T.D.H./Examiner, Art Unit 2115
/KAMINI S SHAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2115