DETAILED ACTION
1. This office action is a response to communication submitted on 05/03/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
3. Claims 16-32 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
4. 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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 16-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more, and extra post solution without integrating it into a practical application Claims 16-32 are ineligible. The claim(s) recite(s) “an interface module adapted to connect the device to an interface of the elevator system; a processing module, wherein when the interface module is connected to the interface of the elevator system, the processing module receives through the interface module status information from the elevator system; wherein the status information includes health indicators indicative of a health of components of the elevator system and communication indicators indicative of a communication quality between communicatively connected ones of the components of the elevator system; wherein the processing module calculates, from the status information, a tree-type health status graph of the elevator system; wherein the graph includes nodes representing the components of the elevator system, each of the nodes having a health indicator attribute based on the health indicator of the components associated with the node, and links between nodes, the links representing a connection between communicatively connected ones of the components of the elevator system, each of the links having a communication indicator attribute based on the communication indicator of the communicatively connected components associated with the link”. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because these data gathering is an extra post solution without integrating it into a practical application. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because:
Claims 16-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea (organizing human activity and mental processes) without significantly more.
Regarding claims 16-32 claim(s) recite(s) “a processing module, wherein when the interface module is connected to the interface of the elevator system, the processing module receives through the interface module status information from the elevator system; wherein the status information includes health indicators indicative of a health of components of the elevator system and communication indicators indicative of a communication quality between communicatively connected ones of the components of the elevator system; wherein the processing module calculates, from the status information, a tree-type health status graph of the elevator system; wherein the graph includes nodes representing the components of the elevator system, each of the nodes having a health indicator attribute based on the health indicator of the components associated with the node, and links between nodes, the links representing a connection between communicatively connected ones of the components of the elevator system, each of the links having a communication indicator attribute based on the communication indicator of the communicatively connected components associated with the link”. The acquire of the data information as to receives through the interface module status information, to calculate from the status information and to further having a communication indicator attribute based on the communication indicator of the communicatively connected components associated with the link could be performed by mental processes and is merely organizing human activity. However, these limitations constitute mental processes, which are recognized judicial exceptions. See Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208 (2014); MPEP 2106.04.
The claim further recites additional elements, such as “a processing module” ; wherein the processing module calculates, from the status information the links representing a connection between communicatively connected ones of the components”, however, these additional elements are not sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because although said interface module, processing module, visual output module are not abstract, everything they execute is abstract or can be executed mentally.
The “a processing module” is recited at a high level of generality and serves as a generic computing device for implementing the abstract idea. The “processor” is a well-known device for collecting image data, therefore, it is no more than using well-known generic hardware as a tool to collect data. The courts have held that utilizing well-known and conventional tool to perform abstract tasks do not supply “significantly more”.
Moreover, said displaying a visual representation of the graph of the elevator system is an insignificant extra post solution activity that does not integrate the abstract idea of receiving information and calculating information into a practical application.
These all are all mental steps as evident from the disclosure. The grouping of "mathematical concepts" in the 2019 PEG is not limited to formulas or equations, and in fact specifically includes "mathematical calculations" as an exemplary of a mathematical concept. 2019 PEG Section I, 84 Fed. Reg. at 52. Thus, limitation recites a concept that falls into the "mathematical concept"
Accordingly, the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. See Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp., 822 F. 3d 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (improvement to computer architecture); Diehr, 450 U.S. 175 (1981) (transformation); MPEP 2106.05.
Therefore, claims 16-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
For purposes of office action, these limitations will be interpreted as a sensor or radar taking measurements or data to further remove or filter unwanted signals, interference or ambiguous reading from the measurement data from the sensor or radar.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 16-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated/unpatentable by Baldi et al. (US 20180282118 A1) in view of SHERRILL et al. (US 20070240071 A1).
In regards to claim 16 and its corresponding method claim 29, (Given the interpretation after 101 rejection “abstract/mental activity”) Baldi shows and discloses a device and method (i.e. 208) for detecting faults in an elevator system (i.e. 204, par. 43), the device comprising:
an interface module (i.e. see pars. 2-3, pars. 39-41, 44, 47) adapted to connect the device to an interface of the elevator system;
a visual output module (i.e. 300);
a processing module (i.e. 250), wherein when the interface module is connected to the interface of the elevator system, the processing module (250) receives through the interface module status information (i.e. 205) from the elevator system;
wherein the status information includes health indicators indicative of a health of components of the elevator system and communication indicators indicative of a communication quality between communicatively connected ones of the components of the elevator system (i.e. Abnormalities in the performance data 325 may indicate a need for maintenance and issue reports 302 from users of the elevator system 204 may confirm the need for maintenance … the sensor system 205 collects performance data 325 continuously. … the sensor system 205 collects performance data 325 at predefined intervals and/or when an issue report 302 is received, pars. 43);
wherein the processing module (250) calculates, from the status information (i.e. elevator alerts), a graph of the elevator system wherein the graph includes nodes (i.e. 205) representing the components of the elevator system (204, i.e. see pars. 34-35, 38-40, 43, 46-47).
Baldi does not explicitly disclose wherein the processing module calculates, from the status information, a tree-type health status graph of the elevator system; each of the nodes having a health indicator attribute based on the health indicator of the components associated with the node, and links between nodes, the links representing a connection between communicatively connected ones of the components of the elevator system, each of the links having a communication indicator attribute based on the communication indicator of the communicatively connected components associated with the link; and wherein the processing module displays, by the visual output module, a visual representation of the graph, the visual representation including icons representing the nodes, icon modifiers representing the health indicator attributes of the nodes and lines representing the links.
However, Sherrill shows (Figs. 1-8) and discloses from the status information, a tree-type health status graph of the elevator system; each of the nodes having a health indicator attribute based on the health indicator of the components associated with the node, and links between nodes, the links representing a connection between communicatively connected ones of the components of the elevator system, each of the links having a communication indicator attribute based on the communication indicator of the communicatively connected components associated with the link; and wherein the processing module displays, by the visual output module, a visual representation of the graph, the visual representation including icons representing the nodes, icon modifiers representing the health indicator attributes of the nodes and lines representing the links (see pars. 29-39, 51-56, 84, 87, 99, i.e. wherein processing module 102 is further configured for calculating, from the status information 108, a tree-type health status graph (as shown in Figs. 3-8 ), the graph comprising nodes (i.e. nodes AWSM03,FCP701) representing the components 114/116, each node comprising a health indicator attribute based on the health indicator of the components associated with the node (as shown in figure 8) , links (dashed lines in Figs. 3 and 7) between nodes, the links representing a connection between communicatively connected components of the elevator system (see also page 10), each link comprising a communication indicator attribute based on the communication indicator of the communicatively connected components associated with the link (wherein the relevant part reads as following: " .... equipment/device is set (i.e. a fieldbus module or field device is in a "fault state''), the particular node in the management tree associated with that process control equipment is set to an alarm state, resulting in a display state change of at least one displayed node on the tree as a result of an alarm propagation function carried out by the HMI application 200 that is described further herein below. Thus, if the node associated with a particular piece of equipment in alarm is presently not displayed, then one of its displayed ancestors changes to an alarm display state. Thereafter, the user 201 drills down to one or more hierarchical tree levels until the source of the alarm is exposed for selection by the user 201 ... ", the processing module is further configured for displaying, by the visual output module 200, a visual representation of the graph (Figs. 3-8) of the computerized control systems, wherein the visual representation of the graph comprises icons representing the nodes, icon modifiers representing the health indicator attribute of the nodes , lines representing the links (see also page 11, whereby the relevant part reads as following: " ... turning to Fig. 3, an exemplary user interface is depicted that shows the various user interface elements/functions supported by a graphical user interface providing enhanced data access and navigation capabilities for use in the system management HM/ application 200. The exemplary GUI comprises a navigation pane 300 that presents a hierarchical tree view to browse process control system equipment information and indicate status through combined use of icons, text, colors, and visual effects (i.e., flashing). An enlarged view of a similar tree is provided in Fig.7 to more clearly depict status icons that are presented alongside component nodes to identify present status ...)".
Hence, given the teaching of Sherrill , it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the circuit/system of Baldi in order to employ as a normal design option to include a tree-type health status graph of the elevator system comprising nodes having a health indicator for detecting faults in an computerized control systems, consequently improving the system accuracy, performance and reliability.
In regards to claim 17, Sherrill further shows and discloses wherein the visual representation of the graph includes a line modifier representing the communication indicator attribute of one of the links and/or an icon modifier representing the communication indicator attribute of one of the links associated with one of the nodes (see Figs. 3-8, pars. 54, 79-80).
In regards to claim 18, Baldi discloses wherein the device is a tool adapted for use by a service technician (pars. 37-46, implicit as receiving an issue report from a user mobile device; determining a maintenance issue of the elevator system in response to at least one of the issue report and the performance data; and transmitting the maintenance issue to a maintenance device).
In regards to claim 19, Sherrill further discloses wherein one of the icon modifiers is a color of the icon, the color being indicative of the health indicator attribute (pars. 21, 37, 53, 67, 70).
In regards to claim 20, Sherrill further discloses wherein the visual representation of the graph includes a line modifier representing the communication indicator attribute of one of the links (i.e. 105, the line modifier being a line thickness and/or a line markup, the line thickness and/or line markup being indicative of the communication indicator attribute (see Figs. 3-8, pars. 37, 53-54, 66, 69-70, 76-102).
In regards to claim 21, Sherrill further discloses wherein the visual representation of the graph includes, for each of the nodes, an identifier, the identifier identifying the component of the elevator system (i.e. see Fig. 5 and see Legend, Fig. 8) associated with the node (Figs. 3-8, pars. 22, 27, 33, 35, 37, 52-58, 69-70).
In regards to claim 22, Sherrill further discloses wherein the status information includes the identifiers of the components of the elevator system, and wherein each node has an identifier attribute based on the identifier of the component of the elevator system represented by the node (Figs. 3-8, pars. 22, 27, 33, 35, 37, 52-58, 69-70).
In regards to claim 23, Sherrill further discloses wherein the graph includes a root node (i.e. domain node) indicative of an overall health of the elevator system, the overall health of the elevator system being based upon a lowest health of the nodes of the graph (see pars. 35, 51-54, 59).
In regards to claim 24, Baldi further discloses wherein the graph includes a group of the nodes directly connected to the root node, one of the nodes of the group of nodes representing a group of landing doors, a car door, a car, an environment monitoring device, a power node or a safety controller (pars. 32, 35-38, 43).
In regards to claim 25, Baldi discloses wherein the processing module calculates, from the status information, a motion indicator being indicative of whether the elevator system is in a state allowing a movement of moveable parts in the elevator system, and wherein the visual representation includes a motion icon representative of the motion indicator, the motion icon having a motion icon modifier being representative of whether the elevator system is in a state allowing a movement of the moveable parts in the elevator system (pars. 14-15, 34, 38, 43-46, i.e. detecting a location of the user mobile device; and determining an elevator car that triggered the issue report in response to at least one of the issue report and the location of the user mobile device… The sensor system 205 may include a variety of different types of sensors (e.g., 205-1, 205-2, . . . 205-n). The sensor system 205 captures performance and/or other operational data 325 of the elevator system 204. The performance data 325 indicates performance parameters of the elevator system 204, such as for example, location, speed, voltage, vibration, acceleration, noise, jerk, and any other performance parameter of any component of the elevator system 204 known to one of skill in the art.).
In regards to claim 26, Sherrill further discloses wherein the device records a user input representing a user selection of a subset of the nodes and wherein the visual representation of the graph includes only the icons and the lines of the subset of the nodes according to the user selection (see Figs. 3-8, pars. 51-69).
In regards to claim 27, Baldi discloses wherein the interface module is a networking module connecting the device to a network of the elevator system, the network communicatively connecting the components of the elevator system (see Figs. 1-4, pars. 32-36, 43, 51).
In regards to claim 28, Baldi discloses elevator system comprising an interface and the device according to Claim 16, wherein the interface module (i.e. 300) of the device is connected to the interface (see Figs. 1-4, pars. 32-36, 43, 47, 51).
In regards to claims 30-31, claims 30-31 does not set further limitations other than claims 16-17, 20 and 22.
Related Prior Arts
8. The following related prior arts made of record are considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure to further show the general state of the art and may be applied alone or in combination for rejection of the claims.
Tegtmeter et al. (US 20220380173 A1) discloses the safety controller is configured to receive the individual status of each of the plurality of safety contacts. By receive it is meant that the safety controller might receive information which already indicates the status information of each safety contact individually, e.g. information received from a node, or might receive information from which said status information is then derived by the safety controller itself. In one particularly simple arrangement, at least one subset of the plurality of safety contacts are wired in parallel to each other, then connected to a bus node, such that the bus node knows, for each received status information signal, which safety contact sent that status information signal.
Conclusion
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE L CARRASQUILLO whose telephone number is (571)270-7879. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday (9am to 5pm).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Colon-Santana can be reached on (571) 272-2060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JORGE L CARRASQUILLO/Primary Examiner Engineer, Art Unit 2837
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