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 Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “a monitoring device” in claims 1,4,5,7,8,9; “a sensing unit” in claim 17 (claims 5-8 specify that the sensing unit is an electronic circuit, which gives sufficient structure);
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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) 1-2,4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20110320834 A1 (Ingels) and further in view of US 20110035624 A1 (Miller).
Regarding claim 1, Ingels teaches,
A system, comprising;
a data router and a monitoring device connected to or integrated with the data router,(par 71 “The DCMU 100 in FIG. 1 further features four RS232 serial data ports 151, 152, 153 and 154 for connectivity with the computers, servers, routers, etc. in the data center.”) the monitoring device configured to monitor a power consumption of the data router(par 45 “Indeed, when the power consumption of an individual server or computer exceeds a certain per-outlet threshold, the processor may irrespective of the logged values and trends analysis, immediately take preventive measures such as switching off the outlet or alerting the data center operator.”) or a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data and to trigger a restart or reset(Par 21 “Alternatively, the processor may immediately take action by de-activating certain power outlets, activating certain power outlets in case of rebooting, or re-activating certain de-activated power outlets in case the overall power has decreased again to a level where re-activation of a power outlet is acceptable.”) of the data router(par 71 “Via remote management, certain power outlets can be switched on/off, rebooting servers can be scheduled, certain ports on servers, routers, switches can be turned off/on, etc. by the data center operator without disposing a technician to the data center.”;) depending on its power consumption.(par 20 “Logging the parameters or events (or both) and analysis thereof by the DCMU's processor enables to detect abnormalities and to pro-actively shutdown the power outlets where such abnormalities are detected in order to avoid disastrous power outages in the data center…”).
wherein the monitoring device is adapted to monitor whether the data router or a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data(par 71 “The DCMU 100 in FIG. 1 further features four RS232 serial data ports 151, 152, 153 and 154 for connectivity with the computers, servers, routers, etc. in the data center.”) consumes a predetermined minimum power within a predetermined period of time,(par 20 “Examples of such situations are the crossing of a threshold (upper limit or lower limit) for the overall power consumption, the crossing of a threshold for the power consumption per outlet, the crossing of a threshold for the leakage current per outlet, the crossing of a lower or upper temperature threshold, etc.”) and to trigger switch-off and later re-activation of the data router power (par 76 “When the measured power consumption exceeds the threshold, the corresponding outlet is switched off via a switch-on/switch-off circuit.”; par 39 “According to another optional aspect of the present invention the processor may be adapted to apply a second priority scheme for re-activating power outlets out of the plurality of power outlets in a second priority order after a power outage.”) if the power consumed by the data router in the predetermined period of time is less than the predetermined minimum power. (par 72 “The processor also maintains a number of predetermined or configurable thresholds, …, an upper and lower threshold for the individual power consumption per outlet, …. Exceeding such a threshold ( eventually by a certain percentage and/or for a certain period of time)
However, although Ingels teaches triggering a power switch off and separately teaches turning on after a power outage, Ingels does not specifically teach “to trigger a restart or reset of the data router”.
On the other hand, Miller teaches,
A system, comprising;
a data router and a monitoring device connected to or integrated with the data router,(fig 1:104,106; par 22 “FIG. 1 depicts an example of a system 100 for rebooting a device upon failure. FIG. 1 includes power source 102, intelligent power device 104, and monitored device 106. As depicted, components 102, 104, and 106 are separate, however, the components can be combined or divided in accordance with these teachings.”; par 25 “In the example of FIG. 1, the device 106 can be a modem, router, computing system, or other device having two states, an active state and a failed state.”) the monitoring device configured to monitor data indicative of the state of the data router or a component or unit of the data router whose state data correlates with the transmission of data(fig 2:202; par 30 “The device can be passively or actively monitored. For example, consider passively collecting data indicative of the state of the device. Many devices continuously or regularly transmit data. The device can be monitored for the presence of such regular transmissions. Such data can be a simple "heartbeat" or brief message transmitted at regular intervals to a monitoring system solely to indicate proper functioning.”) and to trigger a restart or reset of the data router(fig 2:204,206; par 34 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 206 with rebooting the device. Rebooting can involve transmitting an instruction to temporarily disable power to the device. Alternatively, rebooting can be accomplished by transmitting a software instruction to allow the device to reboot itself, e.g. where the device is a computing system and would potentially suffer damage when power is temporarily disabled. Having rebooted the device, the flowchart terminates.”) depending on its power consumption. (fig 2:204; par 32 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 204 with determining that the device has entered a failed state. Various rules can be created from these definitions of a failed state. The rules can be used to determine that the device has entered the failed state.”)
wherein the monitoring device is adapted to monitor whether the data router or a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data transmits a predetermined minimum data transmission activity within a predetermined period of time(fig 2:202; par 30), and to trigger a restart or a reset of the data router(fig 2:204,206; par 34 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 206 with rebooting the device. Rebooting can involve transmitting an instruction to temporarily disable power to the device. Alternatively, rebooting can be accomplished by transmitting a software instruction to allow the device to reboot itself, e.g. where the device is a computing system and would potentially suffer damage when power is temporarily disabled. Having rebooted the device, the flowchart terminates.”) if the data transmission activity from the data router in the predetermined period of time is less than the predetermined minimum data transmission activity.(fig 2:202; par 30 “The device can be passively or actively monitored. For example, consider passively collecting data indicative of the state of the device. Many devices continuously or regularly transmit data. The device can be monitored for the presence of such regular transmissions. Such data can be a simple "heartbeat" or brief message transmitted at regular intervals to a monitoring system solely to indicate proper functioning.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Ingels to incorporate the router details of Miller. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to remedy the shortcomings of Ingels -- a need for how to handle devices that are not working properly at a power supplier level(Miller par 6 “A device can be expected to fail at times, but manually rebooting can be inconvenient because the delay associated with manually rebooting the device will interrupt the use of the computing device. Further, when the computing device is located in a different location from the individual using the device, the problem can be exacerbated because of the increased delay and inconvenience in traveling to the device (s) for the reboot. Alternatively, individuals using the device may not be familiar with the process for re-booting the device, making rebooting difficult or unlikely.”) -- with Miller providing a known method to solve a similar problem. Miller provides “…a method in accordance with these teachings to monitor the device for entry into the failed state, apply the rules to determine that the device has entered the failed state, and then reboot the device to restore the device from the failed state to the active state.”(Miller par 11)
Regarding claim 2, Ingels and Miller teaches,
The system according to claim 1,
However, although Ingels teaches monitoring routers, Ingels does not go into detail about the components inside the routers. Ingels does not specifically teach wherein the data router comprises electronic components, in particular a mobile radio modem and a wired interface for connecting further data processing devices via a data line, as well as a power supply unit for supplying the electrical components of the data router with power.
On the other hand, Miller further teaches,
A system that monitors a device, determines if the device has failed, and reboots the device when the device has failed(par 11 “The system can perform a method in accordance with these teachings to monitor the device for entry into the failed state, apply the rules to determine that the device has entered the failed state, and then reboot the device to restore the device from the failed state to the active state.”)
wherein the data router comprises electronic components, in particular a mobile radio modem and a wired interface for connecting further data processing devices via a data line(fig 2; par 30 “Further, the data could be transmitted between the device and another local device, e.g. between a router and modem facilitating communications with the other local device.” Par 77 “The data interface 802 can an Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 interface, wireless 802.11 interface, WiMAX/IEEE 802.16 interface, token ring IEEE 802. 5 interface, or other known or convenient data interface. More than one data interface may be used. … The SMM 810 can monitor the control system 804 for failure, in a manner similar to that of a modem and/or router; however, in this case, the SMM and related components can be included in the same device as the CSU/DSU, obviating the need for external connections and multiple devices.” Wireless communication includes a mobile radio), as well as a power supply unit for supplying the electronic components of the data router with power.(fig 8:814; par 76 “The SMM 810, rules 812, electrical input 814, switches 816, and electrical outlets 818 are as discussed above.”)
Regarding claim 4, Ingels and Miller teaches,
The system according to claim 1,
Ingels further teaches,
wherein a value for the predetermined minimum power is represented by a variable stored in a parameter memory of the monitoring device.(par 72 “The processor also maintains a number of predetermined or configurable thresholds, … an upper and lower threshold for the individual power consumption per outlet, ….”)
Claim(s) 5,6,7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20110320834 A1 (Ingels) and US 20110035624 A1 (Miller) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 20210064388 A1 (Gardner).
Regarding claim 5, Ingels and Miller teaches,
The system according to claim 1,
Ingels further teaches,
A system, comprising:
a data router and a monitoring device connected to or integrated with the data router,(par 71 “The DCMU 100 in FIG. 1 further features four RS232 serial data ports 151, 152, 153 and 154 for connectivity with the computers, servers, routers, etc. in the data center.”) the monitoring device configured to monitor a power consumption of the data router(par 45 “Indeed, when the power consumption of an individual server or computer exceeds a certain per-outlet threshold, the processor may irrespective of the logged values and trends analysis, immediately take preventive measures such as switching off the outlet or alerting the data center operator.”) or a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data and to trigger a restart or reset(Par 21 “Alternatively, the processor may immediately take action by de-activating certain power outlets, activating certain power outlets in case of rebooting, or re-activating certain de-activated power outlets in case the overall power has decreased again to a level where re-activation of a power outlet is acceptable.”) of the data router(par 71 “Via remote management, certain power outlets can be switched on/off, rebooting servers can be scheduled, certain ports on servers, routers, switches can be turned off/on, etc. by the data center operator without disposing a technician to the data center.”;) depending on its power consumption,(par 20 “Logging the parameters or events (or both) and analysis thereof by the DCMU's processor enables to detect abnormalities and to pro-actively shutdown the power outlets where such abnormalities are detected in order to avoid disastrous power outages in the data center…”)
wherein the monitoring device comprises a sensing unit in the form of an electronic circuit which is designed to continuously sense the power consumption of the downstream data router or of the component or unit of the data router, (par 74 “Thanks to the voltage and current sensors that sample the voltage and current per port at a rate of 20.000 samples/second, the processor 141 can perform true root mean square (RMS) power consumption measurements per outlet.”; par 76 “The processor 141 compares the real-time true RMS power consumption measured for each power outlet...”) and to provide an output signal correlated with the power consumption of the data router or of a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data.(par 73 “The processor 141 in DCMU 100 performs trends analysis on the parameter values and events logged in memory 142. … The processor 141 performs trends analysis by comparing short term logged values with long term logged values. The short term values of a parameter are the values logged over the last 10 minutes, whereas the long term values are the values logged over a period of 7 days. At start-up or during operation of a server, the short term values of parameters are compared with long term values or averages, and when the deviation between short term value and long term value is excessive, the processor will take measures for disaster prevention ( e.g. alerting the system operator or de-activating the outlet) or measures for disaster recovery (e.g. disallowing the server to become active).”)
wherein the monitoring device has an evaluation unit which is connected to the sensing unit and is designed to analyze the output signal of the sensing unit with regard to at least one test criterion and to trigger a de-activating and re-activating of the data router if the test criterion is met,(par 22 “In addition to a data center management unit (DCMU), the current invention applies to a corresponding method for managing and controlling power distribution towards computers in a data center via a data center management unit (DCMU) comprising a power inlet, a plurality of power outlets and a processor, the method comprising storing one or more logged parameters or events; and taking measures for disaster prevention and/or disaster recovery based on the logged parameters or events,”; Par 21 “Alternatively, the processor may immediately take action by de-activating certain power outlets, activating certain power outlets in case of rebooting, or re-activating certain de-activated power outlets in case the overall power has decreased again to a level where re-activation of a power outlet is acceptable.”) and
wherein the evaluation unit has a trend analysis model (par 83 “The trends analysis may be any statistical or correlation analysis showing trends or tendencies of parameter evolution in time, and is consequently not limited to the comparison of short term and long term logs.”) and the output signal supplied by the sensing unit comprises data records which represent the respective current temporal course of the power consumption of the data router or of a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data. (par 74 “Thanks to the voltage and current sensors that sample the voltage and current per port at a rate of 20.000 samples/second, the processor 141 can perform true root mean square (RMS) power consumption measurements per outlet.”; par 76 “The processor 141 compares the real-time true RMS power consumption measured for each power outlet...”)
However, although Ingels teaches triggering a power switch off and separately teaches turning on after a power outage, Ingels does not specifically teach “to trigger a restart or reset of the data router”.
On the other hand, Miller further teaches,
wherein the monitoring device has an evaluation unit which is connected to the sensing unit and is designed to analyze the output signal of the sensing unit with regard to at least one test criterion and to trigger a reset or a restart of the data router if the test criterion is met.(fig 3; 304 “The information gathered could be provided to the SMM 304, identify the server as entering a failed state, and then reboot the server, and any devices coupled to the server, e.g. a router and modem.”)
However, although Ingels teaches using trend analysis, Ingels and Miller do not specifically teach wherein the evaluation unit has a neural network.
On the other hand, Gardner teaches,
A system that monitors characteristics of server environments and produces instruction to shut down or power up the server environments(par 3 “In some implementations, a computer system can use machine learning to monitor characteristics of server environments and produce instructions to shut down or power up on the server environments.”)
wherein the evaluation unit has a neural network and the output signal supplied by the sensing unit comprises data records which represent the respective current temporal course of the server environment or of a component or unit of the server environment whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data. (par 61 “In some implementations, the machine learning model 124 acts as a classifier and produces an indication of whether to shut down or power-on the server environment 106 instead of producing a usage likelihood 126. For example, the machine learning model 124 would output a label that indicates "Shut Down" or "Power On." The final neural network layer of the machine learning model 124 can perform additional processing to convert a likelihood generated by one or more hidden layers of the machine learning model 124 to a classification label.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Ingels and Miller to incorporate the neural network machine learning analysis technique of Gardner. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to remedy the shortcomings of Ingels and Miller -- a need for how to analyze data to classify if changes to the system are needed(Ingels par 83 “The trends analysis may be any statistical or correlation analysis showing trends or tendencies of parameter evolution in time, and is consequently not limited to the comparison of short term and long term logs.”) -- with Gardner providing a known method to solve a similar problem. Gardner provides “In some implementations, a computer system can use machine learning to monitor characteristics of server environments and produce instructions to shut down or power up on the server environments.”(Gardner par 3)
Regarding claim 6, Ingels, Miller, and Gardner teaches,
The system according to claim 5,
Gardner further teaches,
wherein the neural network is configured as a binary classifier(par 61 “In some implementations, the machine learning model 124 acts as a classifier and produces an indication of whether to shut down or power-on the server environment 106 instead of producing a usage likelihood 126. For example, the machine learning model 124 would output a label that indicates "Shut Down" or "Power On." The final neural network layer of the machine learning model 124 can perform additional processing to convert a likelihood generated by one or more hidden layers of the machine learning model 124 to a classification label.” On/Off is equivalent to the binary states of a binary classifier.) that is trained with training data sets representing the course of the power consumption of the data router over time for the case that the data router is operational and an Internet connection to a next node exists,(par 37 “The computing system 110 can monitor the variety of factors associated with the server environment 106, and provide data indicative of those factors to its machine learning model 124. These factors can be used to train the machine learning model 124 to predict a likelihood of usage over a predetermined period of time. For example, the machine learning model 124 can be trained to predict a likelihood of an amount of usage over a subsequent period of time.”; fig 4:406; par 112 “For example, if the predicted likelihood is less than the usage likelihood threshold set by the computing system, then the computing system can generate a "Shut Down" command. Alternatively, if the predicted likelihood is greater than the usage likelihood threshold set by the computing system, then the computing system can generate a "Power On" command.”;) said binary classifier being configured to assign data records representing the current power consumption of the data router either to a state class for which the neural network is trained (i.e., for a case that a data connection to the Internet exists) or not to the state class and if a current data set cannot be assigned to the state class representing a functional data router, the binary classifier outputs a corresponding membership value, which in turn is the test criterion for restarting the data router.(fig 4:406; par 112 “For example, if the predicted likelihood is less than the usage likelihood threshold set by the computing system, then the computing system can generate a "Shut Down" command. Alternatively, if the predicted likelihood is greater than the usage likelihood threshold set by the computing system, then the computing system can generate a "Power On" command. The computing system can generate a "Restart" command if the server environment is already powered on.”)
Regarding claim 7, Ingels, Miller, and Gardner teaches,
The system according to claim 5
Ingels teaches,
wherein the neural network is configured as a binary classifier.(par 73 “At start-up or during operation of a server, the short term values of parameters are compared with long term values or averages, and when the deviation between short term value and long term value is excessive, the processor will take measures for disaster prevention ( e.g. alerting the system operator or de-activating the outlet) or measures for disaster recovery (e.g. disallowing the server to become active).” Sorting responses between two choices(de-activating the outlet/activating the outlet ) is a binary classifier.) that is trained with training data sets that represent the course of the power consumption of the data router in the event that the data router is not operational or there is no data connection,(par 3 “Data indicative of current and/or prior usage of a computing environment can be input to a trained machine learning model, which can produce output that indicates a prediction of how likely the environment is to have at least a threshold level of demand or utilization in a future time period.”; par 7; par 37 “The computing system 110 can monitor the variety of factors associated with the server environment 106, and provide data indicative of those factors to its machine learning model 124. These factors can be used to train the machine learning model 124 to predict a likelihood of usage over a predetermined period of time. For example, the machine learning model 124 can be trained to predict a likelihood of an amount of usage over a subsequent period of time.”;) and
wherein the monitoring device is designed to trigger a reset or a restart of the data router if the binary classifier assigns a data set representing a current power consumption to the state class for which the neural network is trained.(par 36 “In general, the system 100 provides for generating and providing activity instructions to the computing system 108 based on a variety of factors of the server environment 106. The instructions can include whether to restart the server environment 106, …. The system 100 can determine to provide one of these instructions to the computing system 108 dynamically based on a variety of factors associated with the server environment 106 and the corresponding client devices 102 and 104. For example, the variety of factors can include data such as: … the CPU utilization and other resource utilization of the server environment 106; historical user activity data for the server environment 106; and other factors about the characteristics, usage, and status of the server environment 106.”; par 37; par 61 )
Claim(s) 8,11,16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20110320834 A1 (Ingels) in view of US 20110035624 A1 (Miller) and US 20210064388 A1 (Gardner).
Regarding claim 8, Ingels teaches,
A monitoring device for a system comprising a data router, wherein the monitoring device is connected to or integrated with the data router(par 71 “The DCMU 100 in FIG. 1 further features four RS232 serial data ports 151, 152, 153 and 154 for connectivity with the computers, servers, routers, etc. in the data center.”) and is configured to monitor a power consumption of the data router or a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data and to trigger a switch-off and later re-activation (par 76 “When the measured power consumption exceeds the threshold, the corresponding outlet is switched off via a switch-on/switch-off circuit.”; par 39 “According to another optional aspect of the present invention the processor may be adapted to apply a second priority scheme for re-activating power outlets out of the plurality of power outlets in a second priority order after a power outage.”) of the data router depending on its power consumption (par 20 “Logging the parameters or events (or both) and analysis thereof by the DCMU's processor enables to detect abnormalities and to pro-actively shutdown the power outlets where such abnormalities are detected in order to avoid disastrous power outages in the data center…”; par 71 “Via remote management, certain power outlets can be switched on/off, rebooting servers can be scheduled, certain ports on servers, routers, switches can be turned off/on, etc. by the data center operator without disposing a technician to the data center.”;)
the monitoring device is characterized by a sensing unit in the form of an electronic circuit which is designed to continuously sense the power consumption of the downstream data router or of a component or unit of the data router(par 74 “Thanks to the voltage and current sensors that sample the voltage and current per port at a rate of 20.000 samples/second, the processor 141 can perform true root mean square (RMS) power consumption measurements per outlet.”; par 76 “The processor 141 compares the real-time true RMS power consumption measured for each power outlet...”) whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data and to provide an output signal correlated with the power consumption of the data router or of the component or unit of the data router, the power consumption of which correlates with the transmission of data, (par 73 “The processor 141 in DCMU 100 performs trends analysis on the parameter values and events logged in memory 142. … The processor 141 performs trends analysis by comparing short term logged values with long term logged values. The short term values of a parameter are the values logged over the last 10 minutes, whereas the long term values are the values logged over a period of 7 days. At start-up or during operation of a server, the short term values of parameters are compared with long term values or averages, and when the deviation between short term value and long term value is excessive, the processor will take measures for disaster prevention ( e.g. alerting the system operator or de-activating the outlet) or measures for disaster recovery (e.g. disallowing the server to become active).”),
wherein the evaluation unit comprises a trend analysis model (par 83 “The trends analysis may be any statistical or correlation analysis showing trends or tendencies of parameter evolution in time, and is consequently not limited to the comparison of short term and long term logs.”;) configured as a binary classifier.(par 73 “At start-up or during operation of a server, the short term values of parameters are compared with long term values or averages, and when the deviation between short term value and long term value is excessive, the processor will take measures for disaster prevention ( e.g. alerting the system operator or de-activating the outlet) or measures for disaster recovery (e.g. disallowing the server to become active).” Sorting responses between two choices(de-activating the outlet/activating the outlet ) is a binary classifier.)
However, although Ingels teaches triggering a power switch off and separately teaches re-activating after a power outage, Ingels does not specifically teach “to trigger a restart or reset of the data router”.
On the other hand, Miller teaches,
A monitoring device for a system comprising a data router, wherein the monitoring device is connected to or integrated with the data router and is configured to monitor a data transmission activity of the data router or a component or unit of the data router whose data transmission activity correlates with the transmission of data(fig 2:202; par 30 “The device can be passively or actively monitored. For example, consider passively collecting data indicative of the state of the device. Many devices continuously or regularly transmit data. The device can be monitored for the presence of such regular transmissions. Such data can be a simple "heartbeat" or brief message transmitted at regular intervals to a monitoring system solely to indicate proper functioning.”) and to trigger a restart or reset of the data router depending on its power consumption (fig 2:204,206; par 34 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 206 with rebooting the device. Rebooting can involve transmitting an instruction to temporarily disable power to the device. Alternatively, rebooting can be accomplished by transmitting a software instruction to allow the device to reboot itself, e.g. where the device is a computing system and would potentially suffer damage when power is temporarily disabled. Having rebooted the device, the flowchart terminates.”)
the monitoring device also having an evaluation unit which is connected to the sensing unit and is designed to analyze the output signal of the sensing unit with regard to at least one test criterion and to trigger a reset or a restart of the data router if the test criterion is fulfilled. (fig 3; 304 “The information gathered could be provided to the SMM 304, identify the server as entering a failed state, and then reboot the server, and any devices coupled to the server, e.g. a router and modem.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Ingels to incorporate the router details of Miller. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to remedy the shortcomings of Ingels -- a need for how to handle devices that are not working properly at a power supplier level(Miller par 6 “A device can be expected to fail at times, but manually rebooting can be inconvenient because the delay associated with manually rebooting the device will interrupt the use of the computing device. Further, when the computing device is located in a different location from the individual using the device, the problem can be exacerbated because of the increased delay and inconvenience in traveling to the device (s) for the reboot. Alternatively, individuals using the device may not be familiar with the process for re-booting the device, making rebooting difficult or unlikely.”) -- with Miller providing a known method to solve a similar problem. Miller provides “…a method in accordance with these teachings to monitor the device for entry into the failed state, apply the rules to determine that the device has entered the failed state, and then reboot the device to restore the device from the failed state to the active state.”(Miller par 11)
However, although Ingels teaches using trend analysis, Ingels and Miller do not specifically teach wherein the evaluation unit has a neural network.
On the other hand, Gardner teaches,
A system that monitors characteristics of server environments and produces instruction to shut down or power up the server environments(par 3 “In some implementations, a computer system can use machine learning to monitor characteristics of server environments and produce instructions to shut down or power up on the server environments.”)
wherein the evaluation unit comprises a neural network configured as a binary classifier. (par 61 “In some implementations, the machine learning model 124 acts as a classifier and produces an indication of whether to shut down or power-on the server environment 106 instead of producing a usage likelihood 126. For example, the machine learning model 124 would output a label that indicates "Shut Down" or "Power On." The final neural network layer of the machine learning model 124 can perform additional processing to convert a likelihood generated by one or more hidden layers of the machine learning model 124 to a classification label.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Ingels and Miller to incorporate the neural network machine learning analysis technique of Gardner. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to remedy the shortcomings of Ingels and Miller -- a need for how to analyze data to classify if changes to the system are needed(Ingels par 83 “The trends analysis may be any statistical or correlation analysis showing trends or tendencies of parameter evolution in time, and is consequently not limited to the comparison of short term and long term logs.”) -- with Gardner providing a known method to solve a similar problem. Gardner provides “In some implementations, a computer system can use machine learning to monitor characteristics of server environments and produce instructions to shut down or power up on the server environments.”(Gardner par 3)
Regarding claim 11, Ingels teaches,
A method for monitoring a data router(par 71 “Via remote management, certain power outlets can be switched on/off, rebooting servers can be scheduled, certain ports on servers, routers, switches can be turned off/on, etc. by the data center operator without disposing a technician to the data center.”;), the method comprising:
sensing at least one measured value correlated with the power consumption of a data router or a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data, (par 74 “Thanks to the voltage and current sensors that sample the voltage and current per port at a rate of 20.000 samples/second, the processor 141 can perform true root mean square (RMS) power consumption measurements per outlet.”; par 76 “The processor 141 compares the real-time true RMS power consumption measured for each power outlet...”)
checking the measured value against a reference criterion; (par 76 “When the measured power consumption exceeds the threshold, the corresponding outlet is switched off via a switch-on/switch-off circuit.”; and
switching off and eventually re-activating the data router depending on the test result, (par 76 “When the measured power consumption exceeds the threshold, the corresponding outlet is switched off via a switch-on/switch-off circuit.”; par 39 “According to another optional aspect of the present invention the processor may be adapted to apply a second priority scheme for re-activating power outlets out of the plurality of power outlets in a second priority order after a power outage.”)
wherein the at least one measured value correlated with power consumption of a data router or the component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data is the amperage of current drawn by the router or the component or unit of the data router, (par 74 “Thanks to the voltage and current sensors that sample the voltage and current per port at a rate of 20.000 samples/second, the processor 141 can perform true root mean square (RMS) power consumption measurements per outlet.”; par 76 “The processor 141 compares the real-time true RMS power consumption measured for each power outlet...”; par 73 ““The processor 141 in DCMU 100 performs trends analysis on the parameter values and events logged in memory 142…”)
wherein checking the measured value against the reference criterion includes comparing the measured value to a reference value wherein the reference value is a minimum energy or a minimum amount of current that the data router or the component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data consumes in the operable state within a predetermined period of time, (par 72 “The processor also maintains a number of predetermined or configurable thresholds, like an upper and lower threshold for the overall power consumption, an upper and lower threshold for the individual power consumption per outlet, …. Exceeding such a threshold ( eventually by a certain percentage and/or for a certain period of time) represents an event that is also logged by the memory 142.” par 73 “The processor 141 in DCMU 100 performs trends analysis on the parameter values and events logged in memory 142. … when the deviation between short term value and long term value is excessive, the processor will take measures for disaster prevention ( e.g. alerting the system operator or de-activating the outlet)”;) and
wherein the reference criterion is a membership value formed by a trend analysis model trained with appropriate training data sets(par 83 “The trends analysis may be any statistical or correlation analysis showing trends or tendencies of parameter evolution in time, and is consequently not limited to the comparison of short term and long term logs.”) in the form of a binary classifier to a state class of the data router or the component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data. (par 73 “At start-up or during operation of a server, the short term values of parameters are compared with long term values or averages, and when the deviation between short term value and long term value is excessive, the processor will take measures for disaster prevention ( e.g. alerting the system operator or de-activating the outlet) or measures for disaster recovery (e.g. disallowing the server to become active).” Sorting responses between two choices(de-activating the outlet/activating the outlet ) is a binary classifier.)
However, although Ingels teaches triggering a power switch off and separately teaches turning on after a power outage, Ingels does not specifically teach “to trigger a restart or reset of the data router”.
On the other hand, Miller teaches,
A method for monitoring a data router(par 25 “In the example of FIG. 1, the device 106 can be a modem, router, computing system, or other device having two states, an active state and a failed state.”), the method comprising:
sensing at least one measured value correlated with the status of a data router or a component or unit of the data router whose transmission activity correlates with the transmission of data, (fig 2:202; par 30 “The device can be passively or actively monitored. For example, consider passively collecting data indicative of the state of the device. Many devices continuously or regularly transmit data. The device can be monitored for the presence of such regular transmissions. Such data can be a simple "heartbeat" or brief message transmitted at regular intervals to a monitoring system solely to indicate proper functioning.”)
checking the measured value against a reference criterion; (fig 2:204; par 32 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 204 with determining that the device has entered a failed state. Various rules can be created from these definitions of a failed state. The rules can be used to determine that the device has entered the failed state.”) and
restarting or resetting the data router depending on the test result, (fig 2:204,206; par 34 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 206 with rebooting the device. Rebooting can involve transmitting an instruction to temporarily disable power to the device. Alternatively, rebooting can be accomplished by transmitting a software instruction to allow the device to reboot itself, e.g. where the device is a computing system and would potentially suffer damage when power is temporarily disabled. Having rebooted the device, the flowchart terminates.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Ingels to incorporate the router details of Miller. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to remedy the shortcomings of Ingels -- a need for how to handle devices that are not working properly at a power supplier level(Miller par 6 “A device can be expected to fail at times, but manually rebooting can be inconvenient because the delay associated with manually rebooting the device will interrupt the use of the computing device. Further, when the computing device is located in a different location from the individual using the device, the problem can be exacerbated because of the increased delay and inconvenience in traveling to the device (s) for the reboot. Alternatively, individuals using the device may not be familiar with the process for re-booting the device, making rebooting difficult or unlikely.”) -- with Miller providing a known method to solve a similar problem. Miller provides “…a method in accordance with these teachings to monitor the device for entry into the failed state, apply the rules to determine that the device has entered the failed state, and then reboot the device to restore the device from the failed state to the active state.”(Miller par 11)
However, although Ingels teaches using trend analysis, Ingels and Miller does not specifically teach a neural network.
On the other hand, Gardner teaches,
A system that monitors characteristics of server environments and produces instruction to shut down or power up the server environments(par 3 “In some implementations, a computer system can use machine learning to monitor characteristics of server environments and produce instructions to shut down or power up on the server environments.”)
wherein the reference criterion is a membership value formed by a neural network trained with appropriate training data sets in the form of a binary classifier to a state class of the data router or the component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data. (par 61 “In some implementations, the machine learning model 124 acts as a classifier and produces an indication of whether to shut down or power-on the server environment 106 instead of producing a usage likelihood 126. For example, the machine learning model 124 would output a label that indicates "Shut Down" or "Power On." The final neural network layer of the machine learning model 124 can perform additional processing to convert a likelihood generated by one or more hidden layers of the machine learning model 124 to a classification label.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Ingels and Miller to incorporate the neural network machine learning analysis technique of Gardner. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to remedy the shortcomings of Ingels and Miller -- a need for how to analyze data to classify if changes to the system are needed(Ingels par 83 “The trends analysis may be any statistical or correlation analysis showing trends or tendencies of parameter evolution in time, and is consequently not limited to the comparison of short term and long term logs.”) -- with Gardner providing a known method to solve a similar problem. Gardner provides “In some implementations, a computer system can use machine learning to monitor characteristics of server environments and produce instructions to shut down or power up on the server environments.”(Gardner par 3)
Regarding claim 16, Ingels, Miller, and Gardner teaches,
The method according to claim 11,
Ingels further teaches,
wherein restarting the data router is effected by momentarily interrupting the power supply to the data router,(par 20 “Logging the parameters or events (or both) and analysis thereof by the DCMU's processor enables to detect abnormalities and to pro-actively shutdown the power outlets where such abnormalities are detected in order to avoid disastrous power outages in the data center”) or wherein restarting the data router is effected by delivering a reboot signal to the data router.(par 42 “Indeed, also the priority for rebooting servers after a power outage may be determined in dependence of the comparison between the short term and long term behavior of the servers.”)
However, although Ingels teaches triggering a power switch off and separately teaches turning on after a power outage, Ingels does not specifically specify how long the “wherein restarting the data router is effected by delivering a reset signal to the data router”.
On the other hand, Miller further teaches,
wherein restarting the data router is effected by momentarily interrupting the power supply to the data router,(par 25 “For example, the reboot can be accomplished by software, or alternatively, power can be temporarily disabled to reboot the device 106.”) or wherein restarting the data router is effected by delivering a reset signal to the data router.(par 34 “Rebooting can involve transmitting an instruction to temporarily disable power to the device. Alternatively, rebooting can be accomplished by transmitting a software instruction to allow the device to reboot itself, e.g. where the device is a computing system and would potentially suffer damage when power is temporarily disabled.”)
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20110320834 A1 (Ingels) in view of US 20110035624 A1 (Miller), US 20210064388 A1 (Gardner) and NPL Reddit 2016 – “ELI5 why unplug router for 30 seconds”(herein referred to as Reddit2016).
Regarding claim 17, Ingels teaches,
A power supply(par 22 “In addition to a data center management unit (DCMU), the current invention applies to a corresponding method for managing and controlling power distribution towards computers in a data center via a data center management unit (DCMU) comprising a power inlet, a plurality of power outlets and a processor, the method comprising storing one or more logged parameters or events; and taking measures for disaster prevention and/or disaster recovery based on the logged parameters or events,”), comprising:
a sensing unit adapted to continuously sense the power delivered and to provide an output signal correlated with the power delivered(par 74 “Thanks to the voltage and current sensors that sample the voltage and current per port at a rate of 20.000 samples/second, the processor 141 can perform true root mean square (RMS) power consumption measurements per outlet.”; par 76 “The processor 141 compares the real-time true RMS power consumption measured for each power outlet...”), and
an evaluation unit which is connected to the sensing unit(par 71 “The DCMU 100 in FIG. 1 further features four RS232 serial data ports 151, 152, 153 and 154 for connectivity with the computers, servers, routers, etc. in the data center.”) and is designed to analyze the output signal of the sensing unit with regard to at least one test criterion(par 20 “Examples of such situations are the crossing of a threshold (upper limit or lower limit) for the overall power consumption, the crossing of a threshold for the power consumption per outlet, the crossing of a threshold for the leakage current per outlet, the crossing of a lower or upper temperature threshold, etc.”) and to trigger a switch-off and later re-activation of a data router power if the test criterion is fulfilled,(par 76 “When the measured power consumption exceeds the threshold, the corresponding outlet is switched off via a switch-on/switch-off circuit.”; par 39 “According to another optional aspect of the present invention the processor may be adapted to apply a second priority scheme for re-activating power outlets out of the plurality of power outlets in a second priority order after a power outage.”) wherein the evaluation unit comprises a trend analysis model(par 83 “The trends analysis may be any statistical or correlation analysis showing trends or tendencies of parameter evolution in time, and is consequently not limited to the comparison of short term and long term logs.”),
wherein the power supply is configured to cause an interruption of power output by the power supply for a until a reboot is prioritized when the test criterion is met.(par 20 “Logging the parameters or events (or both) and analysis thereof by the DCMU's processor enables to detect abnormalities and to pro-actively shutdown the power outlets where such abnormalities are detected in order to avoid disastrous power outages in the data center”; par 42 “Indeed, also the priority for rebooting servers after a power outage may be determined in dependence of the comparison between the short term and long term behavior of the servers.”)
However, Ingels does not specifically teach “wherein the power supply is configured to cause a momentary interruption of power output by the power supply … when the test criterion is met.“
On the other hand, Miller teaches,
A system that monitors a device, determines if the device has failed, and reboots the device when the device has failed(par 11 “The system can perform a method in accordance with these teachings to monitor the device for entry into the failed state, apply the rules to determine that the device has entered the failed state, and then reboot the device to restore the device from the failed state to the active state.”)
A power supply, comprising:
a sensing unit adapted to continuously sense data indicative of the state of the device (fig 2:202; par 30 “The device can be passively or actively monitored. For example, consider passively collecting data indicative of the state of the device. Many devices continuously or regularly transmit data. The device can be monitored for the presence of such regular transmissions. Such data can be a simple "heartbeat" or brief message transmitted at regular intervals to a monitoring system solely to indicate proper functioning.”), and
an evaluation unit which is connected to the sensing unit and is designed to analyze the output signal of the sensing unit with regard to at least one test criterion (fig 2:204; par 32 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 204 with determining that the device has entered a failed state. Various rules can be created from these definitions of a failed state. The rules can be used to determine that the device has entered the failed state.”)and to trigger a reset or a restart of a data router(fig 2:204,206; par 34 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 206 with rebooting the device. Rebooting can involve transmitting an instruction to temporarily disable power to the device. Alternatively, rebooting can be accomplished by transmitting a software instruction to allow the device to reboot itself, e.g. where the device is a computing system and would potentially suffer damage when power is temporarily disabled. Having rebooted the device, the flowchart terminates.”) if the test criterion is fulfilled,(fig 2:202; par 30 “The device can be passively or actively monitored. For example, consider passively collecting data indicative of the state of the device. Many devices continuously or regularly transmit data. The device can be monitored for the presence of such regular transmissions. Such data can be a simple "heartbeat" or brief message transmitted at regular intervals to a monitoring system solely to indicate proper functioning.”)
wherein the power supply is configured to cause a momentary interruption of power output by the power supply for a period of time between 5 seconds and 120 seconds when the test criterion is met.(fig 2:204,206; par 34 “In the example of FIG. 2, the flowchart continues to module 206 with rebooting the device. Rebooting can involve transmitting an instruction to temporarily disable power to the device. Alternatively, rebooting can be accomplished by transmitting a software instruction to allow the device to reboot itself, e.g. where the device is a computing system and would potentially suffer damage when power is temporarily disabled. Having rebooted the device, the flowchart terminates.” Miller’s device could be a router as taught in par 25 “In the example of FIG. 1, the device 106 can be a modem, router, computing system, or other device having two states, an active state and a failed state.”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Ingels to incorporate the router details of Miller. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to remedy the shortcomings of Ingels -- a need for how to handle devices that are not working properly at a power supplier level(Miller par 6 “A device can be expected to fail at times, but manually rebooting can be inconvenient because the delay associated with manually rebooting the device will interrupt the use of the computing device. Further, when the computing device is located in a different location from the individual using the device, the problem can be exacerbated because of the increased delay and inconvenience in traveling to the device (s) for the reboot. Alternatively, individuals using the device may not be familiar with the process for re-booting the device, making rebooting difficult or unlikely.”) -- with Miller providing a known method to solve a similar problem. Miller provides “…a method in accordance with these teachings to monitor the device for entry into the failed state, apply the rules to determine that the device has entered the failed state, and then reboot the device to restore the device from the failed state to the active state.”(Miller par 11)
However, although Miller teaches a momentary interruption of power, Ingels and Miller does not specifically teach “wherein the power supply is configured to cause a momentary interruption of power output by the power supply for a period of time between 5 seconds and 120 seconds when the test criterion is met.”
On the other hand, Reddit2016 teaches,
wherein the power supply is configured to cause a momentary interruption of power output by the power supply for a period of time between 5 seconds and 120 seconds when the test criterion is met.(NPL Reddit 2016 – “ELI5 why unplug router for 30 seconds” page 1 “ELI5: Why is it that we are told to unplug modem/router for 30 seconds when we are having issues with our internet? Why is 30 better than 1 second? ….. A lot of modern technology contains capacitors! These are like energy buckets, little batteries that fill up when you put a current through them, and discharge otherwise. 10 seconds is the time it takes most capacitors to discharge enough for the electronics they’re powering to stop working. That’s why when you turn your PC off at the wall, things like an LED on your motherboard take a few seconds to disappear. You probably could wait a different time, but 10 seconds is the shortest time you can be sure everything’s discharged. 30 seconds is better since most people don't realize just how long seconds are, and so if they tried waiting ten seconds they might find they actually end up waiting much less than ten seconds.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Ingles and Miller to incorporate the momentary interruption of power output by the power supply for a period of time between 5 seconds and 120 seconds of Reddit2016. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to remedy the shortcomings of Ingles and Miller -- a need for how long to define Miller’s temporarily disable power or how long to wait before reactivating in Ingles-- with Reddit2016providing a known method to solve a similar problem. Reddit2016 provides an answer to the question “ELI5: Why is it that we are told to unplug modem/router for 30 seconds when we are having issues with our internet? Why is 30 better than 1 second?”( Reddit2016 pg1)
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks pg 7, filed 12/24/2025, with respect to the 6,8,17 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The claims have been amended to include a neural network, which gives sufficient structure. The claim interpretation under 35 U.S.C. §112(f) of the "an evaluation unit" in claims 6,8,17 of 07/29/2025 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed see remarks pg 7, filed 12/24/2025, with respect to the claim interpretation under 35 U.S.C. §112(f) of “a monitoring device” in claims 1,4,5,7,8,9; “a sensing unit” in claim 17 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Examiner notes that although claims 5-8 also contain “a sensing unit”, claims 5-8 also specifies that the sensing unit is an electronic circuit, which gives sufficient structure for claims 5-8. The electronic circuit structure is not present in claim 17.
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks pg 7, filed 12/24/2025, with respect to the r(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejections under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) of 07/29/2025 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed see remarks pg 7-9, filed 12/24/2025, with respect to the claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. §103 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to the independent claims, the applicant has argued that Ingels does not teach limitations “wherein the monitoring device is adapted to monitor whether the data router or a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data consumes a predetermined minimum power within a predetermined period of time,” explaining that Ingels only teaches a predetermined maximum power threshold instead of a minimum power threshold. The examiner respectfully disagrees.
Regarding independent claims 5, 8, 17, in response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., a predetermined minimum power) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See [MPEP 2145 “arguing limitations which are not claimed”]).
Regarding independent claims 1 and 11, Ingels teaches in the cited (par 72 “The processor also maintains a number of predetermined or configurable thresholds, …, an upper and lower threshold for the individual power consumption per outlet, …. Exceeding such a threshold (eventually by a certain percentage and/or for a certain period of time)”). The examiner interprets this as limitations “wherein the monitoring device is adapted to monitor whether the data router or a component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data consumes a predetermined minimum power within a predetermined period of time,” in claim 1; and “wherein the reference value is a minimum energy or a minimum amount of current that the data router or the component or unit of the data router whose power consumption correlates with the transmission of data consumes in the operable state within a predetermined period of time,” in claim 11.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
WO 2006047583 A2 - Swanson - Wicom technologies US 2006 - monitors power consumption of devices and compares to predetermined consumption levels and raises alarms if there are discrepancies.
US 20180054347 A1 - Kojima - monitors a wired camera and restart the camera if the camera is unresponsive.
US 20110276818 A1 - Yamamoto - power consumption estimation system.
US 20170212530 A1 - Potucek - monitors IOT devices, collects voltage line information as part of collected data.
US 20080183339 A1 - Vaswani - utility network outage detection incorporated into electric utility power distribution network.
US 20190385057 A1 - Litichever - monitors wire signals to detect suspicious activity and responds accordingly.
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 MICHAEL XU whose telephone number is (571)272-5688. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm.
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, Bryce Bonzo can be reached at (571) 272-3655. 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.
/M.X./Examiner, Art Unit 2113
/MARC DUNCAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2113