DETAILED ACTION
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 submitted for examination and are pending further prosecution by the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
Allowable Subject Matter
With respect to independent claim 1, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest, either solely or in combination, the limitations "identifying, by the device management system, based on the advanced details, one or more available containers with which to host the one or more new applications; instructing, by the device management system, the one or more available containers to port the one or more new applications in a specific container of the containerized IED; monitoring, by the device management system, a successful porting and running of the one or more new applications without any errors in the specific container of the containerized IED; instructing by the device management system, to establish communication links of the specific container with required other containers and network interfaces of the containerized IED; and monitoring continuously, by the device management system, new upgrades and applications available for each containerized IED present in the network." when considered in combination with the other limitations of claim 1.
Independent claims 9 and 17 are allowable for the forgoing reasons (with respect to the prior art of record).
Note, however, that claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite (see below).
Claim Objections
The following claims are objected to because of informalities and antecedence issues. It is suggested Applicants amend these claims as follows:
Claim 1
-- instructing, by the device management system, a backup virtual machine or container of the one or more applications already running to run an application during the [[an]] upgrade; --
-- instructing by the device management system, to establish communication links of the specific container with required other containers and network interfaces of the containerized IED; and --
Claim 9
-- instruct a backup virtual machine or container of the one or more applications already running to run an application during the [[an]] upgrade; --
-- instruct to establish communication links of the specific container with required other containers and network interfaces of the containerized IED; and --
Claim 17
-- instruct a backup virtual machine or container of the one or more applications already running to run an application during the [[an]] upgrade; --
-- instruct to establish communication links of the specific container with required other containers and network interfaces of the containerized IED; and --
Claims 2-8, 10-16 and 18-20 are additionally objected to due to their dependence on objected parent claim(s).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
Independent claim 1 recites the limitation "monitoring, by the device management system, a successful upgradation and running of the upgraded application in the containerized IED;" followed by the limitation "instructing, by the device management system, the primary container to start running the upgraded application and to upgrade the backup virtual machine or container with a new application version simultaneously in the containerized IED;". In the monitoring limitation, a successful running of the upgraded application is monitored. However, in the following instructing limitation, the upgraded application is instructed to start running which appears erroneous as, in the preceding monitoring limitation, the upgraded application is already running. Thus, the claim is indefinite.
Dependent claims 2-8 are also rejected for inheriting the deficiency of claim 1.
Analogous independent claims 9 and 17 are rejected for the forgoing reasons.
Dependent claims 10-16 and 18-20 are rejected for inheriting the deficiencies of claims 9 and 17, respectively.
Claims 9-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which applicant regards as the invention.
Independent claim 9 recites "An asset management system for a grid network, the asset management system comprising memory coupled to at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:" perform the identify, determine, etc. operations recited by the claim. However, in order for the processor to perform said operations, the processor must be configured to execute instructions stored in a memory. It is suggested Applicants amend the claim to incorporate such instructions as disclosed in paragraph [0043] of the originally filed specification:
[0043] According to one embodiment, the above techniques may be performed by computer system 400 in response to processor 404 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 416. These instructions may be read into main memory 416 from another machine-readable medium, such as a storage device. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 416 may cause processors 402-406 to perform the process steps described herein.
Dependent claims 10-16 are rejected for inheriting the deficiency of claim 9.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20090070447 A1 discloses a system and method for integrating an intelligent electronic device (IED) in a network management system whereby, in one embodiment, a network management station issues an auto-discovery getRequest command to determine the locations and/or status of active IED's on the network. US 20140371941 A1 discloses systems and methods for software-defined approaches to energy communication networks (ECNs) hosting Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), whereby functionality of some or all IEDs in the network are implemented as software running in a virtual machine. KR 102458674 B1 discloses a method and device for pre-diagnosing a new IED before installing the new IED in a substation by generating a virtual model of the substation, updating the virtual model of the substation with a virtual model of the new IED, and diagnosing a communication state between the virtual models. US 20170039372 A1 discloses devices, systems and methods for upgrading firmware in intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). The NPL document "A Container-Driven Service Architecture to Minimize the Upgrading Requirements of User-Side Smart Meters in Distribution Grids" describes a container-driven service architecture, in which containers are used to create a virtual dedicated agent for user-side smart meters, the agent capable of being upgraded to support emerging smart grid applications. The NPL document "Digital Twin Framework and its Application for Protection Functions Testing of Relays" describes efforts to set up a typical relay module inside the Azure cloud environment in the form of a virtual machine for testing relay protection functions in the cloud instead of performing actual hardware testing. The document also describes using the virtual relay to perform firmware updates.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GEOFFREY R ST LEGER whose telephone number is (571)270-7720. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (IFP) ~9:00-5:00 pm.
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/GEOFFREY R ST LEGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2192
