Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/650,771

DYNAMIC AND CONTEXTUAL LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT OF MANAGED NODES

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Apr 30, 2024
Examiner
NAHAR, QAMRUN
Art Unit
2199
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
DELL PRODUCTS, L.P.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 1m
To Grant
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
612 granted / 696 resolved
+32.9% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+9.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
711
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
18.6%
-21.4% vs TC avg
§103
33.0%
-7.0% vs TC avg
§102
28.3%
-11.7% vs TC avg
§112
14.1%
-25.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 696 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
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 . Claims 1-20 have been examined. 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 20 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 20 recites the limitation “code” on line 3 of the claim, which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the code refers to the code on line 2 of the claim or to another. Appropriate correction is required. 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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Charfi (US 2013/0268911). Per Claim 1: Charfi teaches: - a memory to store machine-executable code; and a processor to execute the code (par. 0018), the processor configured to create a listing of a plurality of management functions, to receive a subset of the management functions ([0003] Implementations of the present disclosure include computer-implemented methods for generating a lifecycle model. In some examples, methods include actions of receiving a lifecycle model, the lifecycle model including a representation of a lifecycle of an entity, the lifecycle including a plurality of states and transitions between states, storing the lifecycle model in computer-readable memory, the computer-readable memory, receiving one or more artifacts, the entity including the one or more artifacts, each artifact of the one or more artifacts being associated with at least one state of the plurality of states, storing the one or more artifacts in the computer-readable memory, receiving a generic lifecycle management toolset from the computer-readable memory, processing the lifecycle model and the one or more artifacts to configure the generic lifecycle management toolset and define an adapted lifecycle management toolset that is specific to the entity, the adapted lifecycle management toolset including a lifecycle management interface, storing the adapted lifecycle management toolset in the computer-readable memory, and providing the lifecycle management interface for display on a display device, the lifecycle management interface displaying representations of states of the plurality of states and a status of each state. [0014] In some implementations, actions include: receiving one or more update semantic definitions, each update semantic defining a subset of the one or more artifacts that are updated during a state transition and one or more user roles that perform updating of the subset of the one or more artifacts, wherein the generic lifecycle management toolset is configured further based on the one or more update semantics definitions. In some implementations, the update semantics definitions can be provided in a spreadsheet or in another form.), and to create an execution script based on the subset of the management functions ([0063] … In some examples, the testing artifacts category 522 can include artifacts related to the process of analyzing and ensuring the quality of the service. In some implementations, the testing artifacts category 522 can include documents describing a high-level test strategy, a detailed test plan, test cases, test scripts, and/or reports that document any errors found during the tests.). Per Claim 2: Charfi teaches: - wherein the processor is further configured to publish the listing of the management functions to a managed system (par. 0003). Per Claim 3: Charfi teaches: - wherein the subset of the management functions are received from the managed system (par. 0003). Per Claim 4: Charfi teaches: - wherein the processor is further configured to receive an update schedule from the managed system (par. 0069). Per Claim 5: Charfi teaches: - wherein the processor is further configured to determine that a time associated with the update schedule has elapsed (par. 0069). Per Claim 6: Charfi teaches: - wherein the processor is further configured to provide the execution script to the managed system in response to determining that the time associated with the update schedule has elapsed (par. 0063, 0069, 0071). Per Claim 7: Charfi teaches: - wherein the processor is further configured to provide an indication to the managed system that the execution script is available in response to determining that the time associated with the update schedule has elapsed (par. 0063 and 0071). Per Claim 8: Charfi teaches: - wherein the processor is further configured to receive a request for the execution script in response to providing the indication that the execution script is available, and to provide the execution script to the managed system in response to the request (par. 0063 and 0071). Per Claim 9: Charfi teaches: - wherein creating the execution script is in response to determining that the time associated with the update schedule has elapsed (par. 0063 and 0071). Per Claim 10: Charfi teaches: - wherein the execution script includes at least one of a hardware update, a firmware update, and a software update (par. 0014 and 0063). Per Claims 11-19: These are method versions of the claimed system discussed above (claims 1-9, respectively), wherein all claim limitations also have been addressed and/or covered in cited areas as set forth above. Thus, accordingly, these claims are also anticipated by Charfi. Per Claim 20: This is another version of the claimed system discussed above (claims 1, 2 and 10), wherein all claim limitations also have been addressed and/or covered in cited areas as set forth above. Thus, accordingly, this claim is also anticipated by Charfi. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yaros (US 10,282,177) teaches a method for selecting elements in a user interface from a plurality of application lifecycle management data. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QAMRUN NAHAR whose telephone number is (571)272-3730. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8-4pm. 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, Lewis Bullock can be reached on (571)272-3759. 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. /QAMRUN NAHAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2199
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 30, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 05, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+9.9%)
3y 1m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 696 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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