DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the filing of 4/22/24. Claims 1-20 are pending and have been considered below.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7-8, 9-12, 14, 16-18, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Duraisingh (2019/0109725.)
Claim 1, 10: Duraisingh discloses a Building Management System (BMS) (Fig. 2A: BMS) comprising one or more memory devices storing instructions thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive (par. 72, devices in BMS 300 present themselves to the network using equipment models) a first set of data corresponding to a plurality of parameters of one or more aspects of a building, the first set of data including one or more first values (par. 72, An equipment model for a device can include a collection of point objects that provide information about the device (e.g., device name, network address, model number, device type, etc.) and store present values of variables or parameters used by the device; values of input variables accepted by the device (e.g., setpoint, control parameters, etc.));
generate, responsive to receipt of the first set of data, a user interface (par. 103, client interfaces (e.g., graphical user interfaces, reporting interfaces, text-based computer interfaces, client-facing web services, web servers that provide pages to web clients, etc.) for controlling, viewing, or otherwise interacting with HVAC system 100, airside system 200, BMS 300, and/or the various subsystems, and devices thereof) including one or more graphical representations of the one or more first values (par. 166, accessing the equipment models for the system bus devices and the zone bus devices to obtain data values for display in the user interface), the one or more graphical representations including selectable (par. 166, interacting with the system bus devices and the zone bus devices via the user interface) elements;
receive, from a computing device in communication with one or more pieces of building equipment of the building, a dataset corresponding to a Change of Value (COV) for at least one value of the one or more first values (par. 226, When a COV for a subscribed property occurs, equipment 1002 can send a COV notification to system manager 302 (step 1522). The COV notification may identify the property for which a COV has occurred and may include the current value of the property); and
update (par. 123, updated list of devices received from messaging engine 420. The web interface can include attributes or data points associated with each listed device), responsive to receipt of the dataset, at least one graphical representation of the one or more graphical representations (par. 198, the user interfaces present timeseries data at a variety of different levels of granularity (e.g., hourly, weekly, monthly, etc.) in a single chart or graph) to reflect the COV for the at least one value of the one or more first values (par. 227, If a subscribed property is present and reliable, system manager 302 may post a sample of the property to timeseries service.)
Claim 2, 11, 19: Duraisingh discloses the BMS of claim 1, wherein the one or more first values correspond to information maintained in a first cache stored in memory of the computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to update the information maintained in the first cache based on a detection of one or more COVs, and wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to: maintain, in a second cache stored in the one or more memory devices, a plurality of values corresponding to the plurality of parameters, the plurality of values provided by the computing device; update, responsive to receipt of the first set of data, the second cache to reflect the one or more first values; and update, responsive to receipt of the dataset, the second cache to reflect the COV for the at least one value of the one or more first values (par. 157, device list generator 428 can read active node table 414 in response to receiving a COV notification indicating that active node table 414 has been updated. Device list generator 428 can compare the data from active node table 414 to a previous (e.g., cached) version of active node table 414 to determine whether any new nodes have been added.)
Claim 3, 12: Duraisingh discloses the BMS of claim 1, wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to: receive, responsive to updating the at least one graphical representation of the one or more graphical representations, an indication of a selection of at least one selectable element of the selectable elements, the at least one selectable element associated with a given aspect of the one or more aspects of the building; and update, responsive to receipt of the indication, the user interface to include information associated with the given aspect of the one or more aspects of the building (par.166, Process 600 is shown to include interacting with the system bus devices and the zone bus devices via the user interface (step 616). Step 616 can include accessing the equipment models for the system bus devices and the zone bus devices to obtain data values for display in the user interface. In some embodiments, step 616 includes receiving input from a user via the user interface.)
Claim 5, 14: Duraisingh discloses the BMS of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to determine the COV based on: a difference between the one or more first values and one or more second values stored in a cache of the computing device, and wherein the computing device is configured to communicate one or more subsequent COVs (par. 157, device list generator 428 can read active node table 414 in response to receiving a COV notification indicating that active node table 414 has been updated. Device list generator 428 can compare the data from active node table 414 to a previous (e.g., cached) version of active node table 414 to determine whether any new nodes have been added.)
Claim 7, 16, 20: Duraisingh discloses the BMS of claim 1, comprising: the first set of data comprising a first size; the dataset comprising a second size; and the second size less than the first size (par. 227, removing items from the data, thereby making it smaller. Data adaptor 1026 can then update the shadow with security service 1312 (step 1528) to remove the property that is not present.)
Claim 8, 17: Duraisingh discloses the BMS of claim 1, comprising: the first set of data comprising a first number of bits; and the dataset comprising a second number of bits less than the first number of bits (par. 227, removing items from the data, thereby making it smaller. Data adaptor 1026 can then update the shadow with security service 1312 (step 1528) to remove the property that is not present.)
Claim 9, 18: Duraisingh discloses the BMS of claim 1, wherein the computing device is an edge device located at the building (par. 103, Client device 304 can be a stationary terminal or a mobile device. For example, client device 304 can be a desktop computer, a computer server with a user interface, a laptop computer, a tablet, a smartphone, a PDA, or any other type of mobile or non-mobile device), and wherein at least a portion of the BMS is stored via a server bank remote to the building (par. 122, web server 416 uses Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts to perform some or all of the functions described herein. The CGI scripts may be stored within the memory of system manager 302 and provided to client device 304.)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 4, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duraisingh in view of Boicey (2017/0123393.)
Claim 4, 13: Duraisingh discloses the BMS of claim 1. However, Duraisingh does not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more graphical representations of the one or more aspects of the building include a heatmap of the building.
Boicey discloses a similar system including: wherein the one or more graphical representations of the one or more aspects of the building include a heatmap of the building (par. 60, The user interface may also include several tabs for different information screens including a portfolio of all of the buildings under a user's care, a building monitor, a building heatmap, a temperature history, and an energy consumption history.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Duraisingh and Boicey so as to provide users with information (heatmap) so they can use it to reduce energy consumption (Boicey par. 8.)
Claim(s) 6, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duraisingh in view of Kumar (2023/0419333.)
Claim 6, 15: Duraisingh discloses the BMS of claim 1. However, Duraisingh does not explicitly disclose wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to: receive, from a user device, an indication of a predetermined range to define a difference between the one or more first values and one or more second values; and provide, via a connection with the computing device, the indication of the predetermined range to cause the computing device to detect subsequent COVs based on given values that exceed the predetermined range.
Kumar discloses a similar system for a monitoring dashboard, including: the instructions cause the one or more processors to: receive, from a user device, an indication of a predetermined range to define a difference between the one or more first values and one or more second values; and provide, via a connection with the computing device, the indication of the predetermined range to cause the computing device to detect subsequent COVs based on given values that exceed the predetermined range (Fig. 9: alarm thresholds; par. 41, Each of these sections 136, 138 and 140 may be user-selectable and user-editable.)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Duraisingh and Kumar so as to alert the user not just when there are changes in devices, but only those that exceed alarming thresholds.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Boettcher (2017/0212482) Building energy management system.
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/Andrey Belousov/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2172
4/3/26
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