DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment, filed 01/02/26, for application number 18/594,978 has been received and entered into record. Claims 1 and 7 have been amended, and Claims 16-18 have been cancelled. Therefore, Claims 1-15 are presented for examination.
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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 8, lines 4-5 recite, “determine, by the one or more processors, if the predicted failure time is before the scheduled maintenance time.” (emphasis added) However, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim, as there does not appear to be any mention of a maintenance time elsewhere in Claim 8 preceding the limitation, nor in Claims 7, 6, nor 1, on which Claim 8 directly or indirectly depends.
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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite receipt of power consumption measurements, determination of power consumption, and storage of power consumption to execute programs or generate a bill based on the power consumption.
Regarding Claim 1, under the broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the Specification, the limitations “receive, by the one or more processors, a baseline power measurement from software executing hardware,” “receive, by the one or more processors, a loaded power measurement of the software executing hardware,” “determine, by the one or more processors, the additional power measurement by determining a difference between the baseline power measurement and the loaded power measurement,” “store, by the one or more processors, a software power usage,” and “execute, by the one or more processors, the one or more programs on the software executing hardware” recite abstract ideas in the form of a mental process.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the additional features of processors and non-transitory computer readable media are generic computer elements as they amount to simply implementing the abstract idea on a computer. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the step of “executing one or more programs” is a well-understood, routine, and conventional computer function.
Claims 2-15 depend on Claim 1, but do not appear to introduce any addition elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Thus, the claims are not patent eligible.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al., US 2019/0163250 A1, in view of Blankenburg et al., US 2021/0089364 A1.
Regarding Claim 1, Lee discloses a system comprising for measuring energy usage of software [electronic device 201, Fig. 2] comprising:
one or more computers comprising one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer readable media [processor 210, memory 230], the one or more non-transitory computer readable media including program instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to:
receive, by the one or more processors, a baseline power measurement from software executing hardware device of a plurality of software executing hardware devices, the baseline power measurement comprising a power usage of the software executing hardware component during an idle time period [the power consumption of the CPU/GPU, the electronic device may estimate power consumption separately for an active time and an inactive time. The electronic device may estimate active power consumption and base power consumption in the active time on the basis of the use time of each application and the stay time rate of each frequency, and estimate power consumption in the corresponding frequency by the estimated active power consumption and base power consumption. In the inactive time, the electronic device may estimate power consumption on the basis of an idle (sleep) time, an awake (state 0) time log or idle power in an idle mode, or an awake power profile, i.e. determining a baseline power consumption during idle; the electronic device may estimate power consumption according to each hardware component or each hardware combination corresponding to the determined application category in step 620, par 194, 193];
receive, by the one or more processors, a loaded power measurement of the software executing hardware, the loaded power measurement including the baseline power measurement and an additional power measurement, the additional power measurement comprising power used by the software executing hardware during the execution of one or more programs [the power profile may define the power consumption of each hardware component per unit time (hereinafter, referred to as “unit power consumption”) according to each application category. In this case, power consumption of a particular hardware component may be estimated by the total time during which the particular hardware component operates and unit power consumption of the particular hardware component. The total time corresponds to a time during which the particular hardware component operates while the target application is in use, i.e. power profile is the time when application is in use, i.e. includes base and additional power, par 114];
determine, by the one or more processors, the additional power measurement by determining a difference between the baseline power measurement and the loaded power measurement [equation 6 determining the loaded power (PCPU) from the active power (Pa(fi)) (additional power) combined with the base power value (Pb(fi)); Equation 6 can be used to determine difference as additional power as the value of power consumption value of based power value are measured, par 83, 194]; and
store, by the one or more processors, a software power usage, the software power usage comprising the additional power measurement and an association of the additional power measurement to the one or more programs [the initial power profile on the basis of measured power consumption of combinations of driven hardware components involved in executing one or a plurality of applications newly installed. Furthermore, the power profile may be continuously updated or tuned on the basis of estimated and measured power consumption of the newly installed applications; different power consumption levels associated and grouped into corresponding categories, power profiles are necessarily stored, and categorizing the power consumption is based on the hardware utilized by the corresponding applications; for the update of the power profile, the electronic device may separately record power consumption estimated for each hardware component corresponding to an application category to be estimated in step 630, Tables 1-3, par 170, 87, 198].
However, Lee does not explicitly teach causing a computer to execute, by the one or more processors, the one or more programs on the software executing hardware device selected based on the software power usage.
In the analogous art of power monitoring, Blankenburg teaches causing a computer to execute, by the one or more processors, the one or more programs on the software executing hardware device selected based on the software power usage [applications running on computing modules are selected to be performed based on their power usage, par 35].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee and Blankenburg before him before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the execution of software based on power usage, as taught by Blankenburg, into the system as disclosed by Lee, to ensure execution of applications while meeting the power demands of the system [Blankenburg, par 2].
Regarding Claim 13, Lee and Blankenburg disclose the system of Claim 1. Blankenburg further teaches determining, by the one or more processors, software power usage for each of a plurality of programs [Fig. 2 illustrates power usage plan for software (and associated software executing hardware) based on power limit properties of the hardware and the power demands of each of the plurality of applications].
Regarding Claim 14, Lee and Blankenburg disclose the system of Claim 14. Blankenburg further teaches generating, by the one or more processors, an execution schedule for the software executing hardware based on the software power usage for each of a plurality of programs [Fig. 2 illustrates power usage plan for software (and associated software executing hardware) based on power limit properties of the hardware and the power demands of each of the plurality of applications].
Regarding Claim 15, Lee and Blankenburg disclose the system of Claim 15. Blankenburg further teaches wherein the execution schedule comprises one or more of: a program list, a software power usage for each of the programs on the program list, a current power usage for the software executing hardware, a predicted power usage for the software executing hardware, and a maintenance prediction [Fig. 2 illustrates power usage plan for software (and associated software executing hardware) based on power limit properties of the hardware and the power demands of each of the plurality of applications; i.e. predicted/expected power usage for the software executing hardware].
Claims 2-7, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and Blankenburg, and further in view of Kern et al., US 2021/0081266 A1.
Regarding Claim 2, Lee and Blankenburg disclose the system of Claim 1. However, the combination of references does not explicitly teach wherein the one or more non-transitory computer readable media include further program instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: receive, by the one or more processors, a maintenance prediction for a hardware component of the software executing hardware.
In the analogous art of server and system management, Kern teaches receiving, by the one or more processors, a maintenance prediction for a hardware component of the software executing hardware [the method for predicting failures includes gathering server failure data of servers of the same type as the remote server from the health alerts and constructing the server failure model using server failure data, the trends in the power consumption data, and the health alerts; predicting a failure in the remote server is further based on the current total power consumption of the remote server (software runs on the server, i.e. software executing hardware), par 35].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern before him before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the predictions as taught by Kern, into the system as disclosed by Lee and Blankenburg, to avoid loss of computing resources by predicting upcoming component failures [Kern, par 3].
Regarding Claim 3, Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern disclose the system of Claim 2. Kern further teaches wherein the maintenance prediction includes a failure prediction for the hardware component [the method for predicting failures includes gathering server failure data of servers of the same type as the remote server from the health alerts and constructing the server failure model using server failure data, the trends in the power consumption data, and the health alerts; predicting a failure in the remote server is further based on the current total power consumption of the remote server, par 35].
Regarding Claim 4, Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern disclose the system of Claim 3. Kern further teaches wherein the maintenance prediction includes a correlation between total power usage and the failure prediction [the method for predicting failures includes combining the power consumption data of the remote server with previous power consumption data to determine a current total power consumption of the remote server, where predicting a failure in the remote server is further based on the current total power consumption of the remote server; the controller 112, in some embodiments, monitors overall power consumption of the remote server 102 in which it resides, such as server input power. In other embodiments, the controller 112 monitors power consumption of various components of the remote server 102. For example, the controller 112 may measure CPU power, a memory power, graphical processor unit (“GPU”), fan power, and the like and stores the power consumption data, par 35, 46].
Regarding Claim 5, Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern disclose the system of Claim 3. Kern further teaches wherein the maintenance prediction includes a correlation between the software power usage and the failure prediction [the method for predicting failures includes combining the power consumption data of the remote server with previous power consumption data to determine a current total power consumption of the remote server, where predicting a failure in the remote server is further based on the current total power consumption of the remote server; the controller 112 monitors power consumption of various components of the remote server 102. For example, the controller 112 may measure CPU power, a memory power, graphical processor unit (“GPU”), fan power, and the like and stores the power consumption data, i.e. software running on the servers, and thus monitoring the hardware power consumption indirectly monitors the software power consumption; , par 35, 46].
Regarding Claim 6, Lee and Blankenburg disclose the system of Claim 1. However, the combination of references does not explicitly teach wherein the one or more non-transitory computer readable media include further program instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: determine, by the one or more processors, a predicted failure time of the software executing hardware.
In the analogous art of server and system management, Kern teaches determining, by the one or more processors, a predicted failure time of the software executing hardware [the method for predicting failures includes gathering server failure data of servers of the same type as the remote server from the health alerts and constructing the server failure model using server failure data, the trends in the power consumption data, and the health alerts; predicting a failure in the remote server is further based on the current total power consumption of the remote server (software runs on server, i.e. the software executing hardware), par 35].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern before him before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the predictions as taught by Kern, into the system as disclosed by Lee and Blankenburg, to avoid loss of computing resources by predicting upcoming component failures [Kern, par 3].
Regarding Claim 7, Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern disclose the system of Claim 6. Kern further teaches wherein the predicted failure time is determined from a historical analysis of total power usage and hardware component failures in similar software executing hardware [the method for predicting failures includes gathering server failure data of servers of the same type as the remote server from the health alerts and constructing the server failure model using server failure data, the trends in the power consumption data, and the health alerts; predicting a failure in the remote server is further based on the current total power consumption of the remote server (software runs on server, i.e. software executing hardware), par 35].
Regarding Claim 10, Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern disclose the system of Claim 7. Blankenburg further teaches generating, by the one or more processors, a power usage plan for the software executing hardware and/or the hardware component [Fig. 2 illustrates power usage plan for software (and associated software executing hardware) based on power limit properties of the hardware and the power demands of each of the plurality of applications].
Regarding Claim 11, Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern disclose the system of Claim 10. Blankenburg further teaches wherein the power usage plan comprises a power limit for the software executing hardware [Fig. 2 illustrates power usage plan for software (and associated software executing hardware) based on power limit properties of the hardware and the power demands of each of the plurality of applications].
Claims 8, 9, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern and further in view of Seo et al., US 2019/0196430 A1.
Regarding Claim 8, Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern disclose the system of Claim 7. However, the combination of references does not explicitly teach wherein the one or more non-transitory computer readable media include further program instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: determine, by the one or more processors, if the predicted failure time is before the scheduled maintenance time.
In the analogous art of management methods based on failure prediction, Seo teaches determining, by the one or more processors, if the predicted failure time is before the scheduled maintenance time [the appliance operates according to the normal operation maintenance mode, so the appliance may delay the occurrence of a failure to a time point after a predicted failure time point and a user may more leisurely use a repair service; software and hardware components involved in executing functions of an appliance, par 109, 86].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Blankenburg, Kern, and Seo before him before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the failure prediction as taught by Seo, into the system as disclosed by Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern, to provide convenience to the user by allowing continued use of the device according to the user’s schedule based on predicted failure of the device [Seo, par 12].
Regarding Claim 9, Lee, Blankenburg, Kern, and Seo disclose the system of Claim 8. Seo further teaches determining, by the one or more processors, a power usage plan for the software executing hardware that results in a failure prediction time that is greater than or equal to the scheduled maintenance time [the appliance operates according to the normal operation maintenance mode, so the appliance may delay the occurrence of a failure to a time point after a predicted failure time point and a user may more leisurely use a repair service; software and hardware components involved in executing functions of an appliance, par 109, 86].
Regarding Claim 12, Lee and Blankenburg disclose the system of Claim 1. However, the combination of references does not explicitly teach wherein the one or more non-transitory computer readable media include further program instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: assign, by the one or more processors, one or more programs to the software executing hardware that includes a software power usage that results in an adjusted failure time for the software executing hardware that is greater than a predicted failure time.
In the analogous art of management methods based on failure prediction, Seo teaches assigning, by the one or more processors, one or more programs to the software executing hardware that includes a software power usage that results in an adjusted failure time for the software executing hardware that is greater than a predicted failure time [the appliance operates according to the normal operation maintenance mode, so the appliance may delay the occurrence of a failure to a time point after a predicted failure time point and a user may more leisurely use a repair service; software and hardware components involved in executing functions of an appliance, par 109, 86].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, having the teachings of Lee, Blankenburg, Kern, and Seo before him before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the failure prediction as taught by Seo, into the system as disclosed by Lee, Blankenburg, and Kern, to provide convenience to the user by allowing continued use of the device according to the user’s schedule based on predicted failure of the device [Seo, par 12].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 01/02/26 have been considered but are moot due to the new rejection based on the newly cited portions of the references previously presented.
Applicant argues against the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101, as the claims are allegedly “performed in a specific and limited manner to optimize execution based on empirically determined power usage characteristics of the software and hardware,” (Rem. 12) and thus are directed towards an practical application which improves the technical operation of software execution. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Claim 1 as presented, does not perform any of the determination of the power usages save for a determination of a difference between two power measurement values. Rather, the limitations of Claim 1 simply call for receipt of power usage values, storage of the values, and execution of a program. The execution itself similarly does not recite the act of selecting the program, but instead simply states execution of a selected program. As such, the claim simply recites an abstract idea without practical application.
As to Applicant’s argument regarding the improvement of technical operation, Examiner notes the claim does not purport to improve the functioning of the system, and Applicant has simply provided a conclusory statement, that the claims “improve the technical operation of software execution” (Rem. 13) absent any explanation or accompany support from the Specification. As such, there does not appear to be a purported improvement to the technology.
Regarding the rejection of Claim 8 under 35 USC 112(b), the rejection is maintained, as there does not appear to be any amendments to Claim 8 despite a statement to the contrary in the Remarks (Rem. 10).
Finally, Applicant argues against the combination of Lee and Blankenburg, arguing Blankenburg does not disclose evaluating software power usage across multiple hardware devices.
As illustrated in the newly-cited rejection above, the rejection relies upon Lee to address the software power usage across multiple hardware devices, and simply relies upon Blankenburg to teach the execution of software based on software power usage.
No additional arguments were made as to the claims, and as such, the rejection is maintained.
Conclusion
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 PAUL J YEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5047. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 PT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Andrew J Jung can be reached at (571) 270-3779. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Paul Yen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2175