DETAILED ACTION
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 .
This action is in response to the applicant’s communication filed on 09/09/2024
Claims 1-11 are cancelled
Claims 12-20 are pending
Claim Objections
Claim 12 objected to because of the following informalities: “the at least operator” in line 23 should be corrected to “the at least one operator”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 (b)
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.
Claims 12 and 16 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 12 recites the limitations "the application" in line 16, and “the operator station server” in lines 3 and 17. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "the achievement of a specific quality criterion" in line 6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 17 recites the limitation "the operator station client” in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 19 recites the limitations "the operator station client" in lines 3-4, and 9, and “the operator station server” in line 13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
The dependent claims are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112 as they inherit all of the characteristics of the claim from which they depend and none of the dependent claims provide a cure for the indefiniteness of the parent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 (d)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 20 recites “The method as claimed in claim 12”, whereas claim 12 is directed to a control system rather than a method. Claim 20 would be in proper dependent form if amended to depend from claim 19. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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.
Claim(s) 12, 14, and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawson et al. USPGPUB 2013/0211559 A1 (hereinafter Lawson) in view of Karaffa et al. USPGPUB 2012/0310381 A1 (hereinafter Karaffa).
Regarding claim 12, Lawson teaches a control system for a technical installation (Par. [0002], “cloud-based operator interface system for remote monitoring and control of industrial systems”; Par. [0030], “The enterprise comprises one or more industrial facilities 104, each having a number of industrial devices 108 and 110 in use. The industrial devices 108 and 110 can make up one or more automation systems operating within the respective facilities 104” – the cloud-based operator interface system for monitoring and control corresponds to the control system, and the industrial facility 104 in which the automation system operates corresponds to the technical installation.), the control system comprising:
at least one operator station server (Par. [0033], “the services 112 (such as the operator interface system described herein) can reside and execute on the cloud platform 102 as a cloud-based service … An exemplary private cloud can comprise a set of servers hosting the cloud services 112” – the servers hosting the cloud-based operator interface system correspond to the operator station server.); and
at least one operator station client connected to the operator station server (Par. [0040], “Embodiments of the cloud-based operator interface system described herein can interact with suitable client devices to implement substantially any type of industrial operator interface system, including but not limited to human-machine interfaces (HMis), graphic terminal systems, industrial monitors, message display systems, or other such operator interface applications”; Par. [0043], “The client devices 3021 -302N access the cloud-based operator interface system 306 through a generic Internet level” – the client device implementing the industrial operator interface corresponds to the operator station client and accesses the server-hosted operator interface system.);
wherein the at least one operator station server is configured to transmit visualization information to the at least one operator station client (Par. [0043], “To facilitate viewing of the industrial data, cloud-based operator interface system 306 can serve display screens to the client devices 3021 -302N that 21 can be viewed using the devices' native display capabilities.” – the display screens and industrial data correspond to the visualization information transmitted from the operator station server to the operator station client.);
wherein the at least one operator station client is configured to generate a graphical display for an operator of the technical installation via the visualization information (Par. [0043], “To facilitate viewing of the industrial data, cloud-based operator interface system 306 can serve display screens to the client devices 3021 -302N that 21 can be viewed using the devices' native display capabilities.”; Par. [0043], “Client devices 3021 -302N may also be industrial display devices such as HMI display terminals, graphic terminals, industrial monitors, message displays, television monitors, or the like” – the client device uses its display capabilities to present the received display screen corresponding to generating the graphical display via the visualization information.); and
wherein the at least one operator station server is further configured to automatically check whether the condition is fulfilled (Par. [0037], “Cloud-based operator interface system 202 can include a gateway interface component 204, a client interface component 206, a context component 208, an analytics component 210, a notification component 212, one or more processors 214, and memory 216”; Par. [0037], “components 204, 206, 208, 210, and 212 can comprise software instructions stored on memory 216 and executed by processor(s) 214.”; Par. [0039], “Analytics component 210 can be configured to analyze the received industrial data according to predefined criteria. For example, the analytics component 210 can analyzed incoming industrial data substantially in real-time to determine whether a predefined event relating to an industrial system (or an aggregation of disparate industrial systems) has been met” – analytics component 210 is a component of the cloud-based operator interface system corresponding to the operator station server and is executed by processor 214. Its substantially real-time analysis of incoming industrial data to determine whether a predefined event has been met corresponds to the operator station server automatically checking whether the condition is fulfilled.) and, in an event the condition is fulfilled (Par. [0039], “determine whether a predefined event has been met corresponds to the operator station server automatically checking whether the condition is fulfilled” – predefined event corresponds to the condition, and determining that the predefined event has been met corresponds to the event that the condition is fulfilled.), to notify the at least operator station client that the condition is fulfilled (Par. [0039], “for the purpose of generating and delivering alarm indications or notifications to selected devices. Notification component 212 can be configured to deliver such notifications to the selected devices according to predefined user preferences”; Par. [0066], “When the analytics component 516 determines that the production goal has been met, it can instruct the client interface component 512 to deliver an indication (e.g., a message or graphical animation on a display screen, a text message, etc.) to one or more client devices associated with the relevant personnel” – upon determining that the condition has been fulfilled, the cloud-based operator interface system corresponding to the operator station server delivers an indication to a client device corresponding to the operator station client, thereby notifying the operator station client that the condition is fulfilled.).
Lawson does not explicitly teach wherein the at least one operator station client is further configured to accept a request for a modification of the graphical display from the operator and to transmit the request to the at least one operator station server;
wherein the at least one operator station server is further configured to store the request received by the at least one operator station client in a memory of the at least one operator station server;
wherein the at least one operator station client is further configured to accept a condition for the application of the modification of the graphical display which is specifiable by the operator and to transmit the condition to the operator station server;
wherein the at least one operator station server is further configured to store the condition in the memory of the at least one operator station server; and
wherein the at least one operator station client is further configured to automatically perform the modification of the graphical display in the event that the condition is fulfilled.
However, Karaffa teaches wherein the at least one operator station client is further configured to accept a request for a modification of the graphical display from the operator and to transmit the request to the at least one operator station server (Par. [0032], “These alarm class attributes may be subsequently assigned values by the operator to define how an alarm belonging to the alarm class is to be presented.”; Par. [0034], “the user interface receives (block 106) one or more values for the attributes of the custom alarm class”; Par. [0035], “Once the user interface has received the one or more values for the attributes of the alarm class, the user interface sends (block 108) the alarm class information to the alarm server 70 … The user interface may also send one or more attributes of the custom alarm class that were assigned values by the operator” – the operator-assigned alarm-class attribute values define how the graphical alarm will be presented and therefore correspond tot eh request for a modification of the graphical display. The user interface corresponding to the operator station client receives those operator-assigned values and thereafter sends those same values to alarm server 70 corresponding to the operator station server.).
wherein the at least one operator station server is further configured to store the request received by the at least one operator station client in a memory of the at least one operator station server (Par. [0035], “The user interface may also send one or more attributes of the custom alarm class that were assigned values by the operator.”; Par. [0036], “the alarm server 70 receives (block 110) and stores the alarm class information sent by the user interface”; Par. [0022], “The computer 28 may include a memory 72, such as non-volatile memory and volatile memory, and a processor 74, to facilitate execution of the alarm server 70” – the operator-assigned attribute values corresponding to the request are part of the alarm-class information sent by the user interface corresponding to the operator station client. Alarm server 70 corresponding to the operator station server receives and stores that same alarm-class information, and alarm server 70 is executed on computer 28 having memory 72. Thus, the same request received from the operator station client is stored in memory of the operator station server.);
wherein the at least one operator station client is further configured to accept a condition for the application of the modification of the graphical display which is specifiable by the operator and to transmit the condition to the operator station server (Par. [0029], “The process 100 begins with a user interface … receiving (block 102) a selection of a Fieldbus Foundation alert to be wrapped by a new or existing custom alarm class”; Par. [0031], “when the operator selects a particular alert for a Fieldbus Foundation device, the operator may be presented with an option to create a custom alarm class or to associate the alert with an existing custom alarm class”; Par. [0035], “the user interface may send the alarm server 70 a unique identifier for the device (e.g., a device ID) and/or a particular alert for the device (e.g., an alert ID) with which the custom alarm class may be associated.”; Par. [0037], “when the "High Limit Alarm Alert" 124 reaches the alarm server 70, the alarm server 70 may rely upon the operator-defined attributes in the "High Pressure Alarm" class when determining how the alarm will be presented to the operator” – the user interface receives the operator-selected alert, thereby accepting a condition specifiable by the operator. The selected alert serves as the condition for applying the operator-defined presentation attributes, and the user interface sends identification of that alert to the alarm server.);
wherein the at least one operator station server is further configured to store the condition in the memory of the at least one operator station server (Par. [0035], “the user interface may send the alarm server 70 a unique identifier for the device (e.g., a device ID) and/or a particular alert for the device (e.g., an alert ID) with which the custom alarm class may be associated”; Par. [0036], “the alarm server 70 receives (block 110) and stores the alarm class information sent by the user interface … Additionally, the alarm server may associate the custom alarm class with the specified device and/or alert” – the information transmitted to alarm server 70 includes the particular alert corresponding to the condition, and the alarm server stores the received information and its association with that specified alert.); and
wherein the at least one operator station client is further configured to automatically perform the modification of the graphical display in the event that the condition is fulfilled (Par. [0039], “the customized "High Pressure Alarm" class 120 may include attributes such as active sound 133, active background color 135, active background blink color 137, active text color 139, active text blink color 141, and active blink rate 143, all of which define the appearance and behavior for an alarm when it is in an active (i.e., unhealthy or alarmed) state”; Par. [0037], “when the "High Limit Alarm Alert" 124 reaches the alarm server 70, the alarm server 70 may rely upon the operator-defined attributes in the "High Pressure Alarm" class when determining how the alarm will be presented to the operator”; Par. [0040], “FIG. 5 illustrates a process 150 for presenting an alarm to an operator using custom alarm class attributes in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Some or all of the process 150 may be implemented as executable code instructions stored on non-transitory tangible machine-readable media and executed by a processor”; Par. [0043], “If an associated custom alarm class is located for the received alert, the alarm server 70 uses (block 158) the values of the alarm class attributes when instructing a graphical user interface, such as the alarm viewers 80, how to present the alert to the operator”; Claim 1, “the graphical user interface is configured to present the alarm for the alert based on the plurality of alarm attributes and the respective plurality of values” – the processor-executed process automatically presents the alarm using the operator-defined graphical presentation attributes upon receipt of the selected alert corresponding to the condition, without requiring further operator input, thereby automatically performing the modification of the graphical display when the condition is fulfilled.).
Lawson and Karaffa are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor and contain functional similarities. They both relate to graphical operator interfaces for monitoring and controlling industrial systems.
Therefore, at the time of effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above cloud-based operator interface system, as taught by Lawson, so that the operator station client receives operator-defined graphical presentation values and an operator-selected alert associated with the graphical presentation values and sends the graphical presentation values and alert information to the operator station server for storage, with the operator-selected alert serving as the condition monitored by the operator station server, and the operator station client automatically presents the alert using the operator-defined graphical presentation values when the selected alert occurs, as taught by Karaffa.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve the presentation of critical alerts so that the alerts are quickly noted and reduce operator error and delay in responding to the alerts, as suggested by Karaffa (Par. [0044]).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Lawson and Karaffa teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Karaffa further teaches wherein the condition represents an event; and wherein the at least one operator station client is further configured to perform the modification of the graphical display when the event occurs (Par. [0040], “The process begins with the Fieldbus Foundation device providing (block 152) a Fieldbus Foundation alert to the controller 26 containing an alarm condition. For example, device 40 may have a "High Limit Alarm Alert" (i.e., "HI_ALM") set with a particular threshold value (i.e., "HI_LIM") beyond which the alert is triggered and sent to the controller 26”; Claim 5, “the graphical user interface is disposed on a human-machine interface (HMI) system, a manufacturing execution system (MES), a distributed control system (DCS), a supervisor control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, or an alarm viewer”; Par. [0043], “If an associated custom alarm class is located for the received alert, the alarm server 70 uses (block 158) the values of the alarm class attributes when instructing a graphical user interface, such as the alarm viewers 80, how to present the alert to the operator”; Claim 1, “the graphical user interface is configured to present the alarm for the alert based on the plurality of alarm attributes and the respective plurality of values” - The occurrence of the selected alert corresponding to the condition represents an event. The graphical user interface disposed on alarm viewer 80 corresponds to the operator station client, and when the selected alert event occurs, the graphical user interface presents the alert using the operator-defined presentation attributes corresponding to the modification of the graphical display.).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Lawson and Karaffa teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Karaffa further teaches wherein the event represents one of an opening of an installation image, an opening of a faceplate of a technical object of the technical installation, an occurrence of an alarm, a parameter change of a technical object of the technical installation, an operating state of a technical object of the technical installation, an achievement of a specific state of a sequence of steps to be worked through by the technical installation or the achievement of a specific quality criterion during operation of the technical installation (Par. [0015], “The Fieldbus Foundation standard includes the concept of Fieldbus Foundation alerts, which are used by Fieldbus Foundation devices to inform a controller or other component of an industrial control system of events or alarms that devices may experience”; Par. [0040], “The process begins with the Fieldbus Foundation device providing (block 152) a Fieldbus Foundation alert to the controller 26 containing an alarm condition. For example, device 40 may have a "High Limit Alarm Alert" (i.e., "HI_ALM") set with a particular threshold value (i.e., "HI_LIM") beyond which the alert is triggered and sent to the controller 26” – the High Limit Alarm Alert corresponds to an event, and its triggering corresponds to an occurrence of an alarm.).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Lawson and Karaffa teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Lawson further teaches wherein the condition represents one of presence of a specific identity, a specific role or a specific location of an operator operating the operator station client (Par. [0057], “The cloud-based operator interface system 502 can support conditional display of industrial data based on defined user roles having different levels of access privileges. Accordingly, the operator interface system 502 can allow multiple user roles to be defined (e.g., operator, plant manager, finance, accounting, administrator, etc.), and customize the presentation of industrial data for the respective user roles.”; Par. [0057], “In another example, selected data displays on the display screens 508 can be configured with visibility links that render the selected data visible only to users associated with certain authorized user roles.”; Par. [0058], “An exemplary user profile can include such information as a user identifier, one or more user roles to which the user belongs, and any user-defined preferences configured by the user”; Par. [0058], “some user roles may be given permission to customize certain presentation aspects of the display screens 508 from their client device (e.g., alter an arrangement of data items on the screen, customize colors, render selected data valves invisible, etc.)” – the defined user role corresponds to the specific role, the user associated with the defined user role and using the client device corresponds to an operator operating the operator station client, and conditional display based on whether the user is associated with the defined user role teaches configuring the condition of the combined system to represent presence of the specific role.).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Lawson and Karaffa teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Lawson further teaches wherein the technical installation comprises a production or process installation (Par. [0041], “Industrial systems 3121-312N may be, for example, automation systems located at respective manufacturing or processing facilities.” – the automation system located at a manufacturing facility corresponds to a production installation, and the automation system located at a processing facility corresponds to a process installation.).
Regarding claim 19, Lawson teaches a method for operating a control system of a technical installation including at least one operator station server and at least one operator station client (Par. [0002], “cloud-based operator interface system for remote monitoring and control of industrial systems”; Par. [0041], “Industrial systems 3121-312N may be, for example, automation systems located at respective manufacturing or processing facilities.” - the cloud-based operator interface system corresponds to the control system, the industrial system located at a manufacturing or processing facility corresponds to the technical installation, the cloud-based operator interface system corresponds to the operator station server, and the client device corresponds to the operator station client.), the at least one operator station server being configured to transmit visualization information to the operator station client (Par. [0043], “To facilitate viewing of the industrial data, cloud-based operator interface system 306 can serve display screens to the client devices 3021 -302N that 21 can be viewed using the devices' native display capabilities.” – the display screens and industrial data correspond to the visualization information transmitted from the operator station server to the operator station client.), and the operator station client being configured to generate a graphical display for an operator of the technical installation via the visualization information (Par. [0043], “To facilitate viewing of the industrial data, cloud-based operator interface system 306 can serve display screens to the client devices 3021 -302N that 21 can be viewed using the devices' native display capabilities.”; Par. [0043], “Client devices 3021 -302N may also be industrial display devices such as HMI display terminals, graphic terminals, industrial monitors, message displays, television monitors, or the like” – the client device uses its display capabilities to present the received display screen corresponding to generating the graphical display via the visualization information.), the method comprising:
d) automatically checking (Par. [0066], “analytics component 516 can aggregate the indicated production statistics substantially in real-time as the industrial data is received by the respective cloud gateways 504, and monitor these aggregated statistics to determine when the aggregate numbers meet the defined trigger event” – monitoring the statistics to determine when the defined trigger event is met corresponds to automatically checking.), via the operator station server (Par. [0037], “Cloud-based operator interface system 202 can include a gateway interface component 204, a client interface component 206, a context component 208, an analytics component 210, a notification component 212, one or more processors 214, and memory 216” – the analytics component performing the checking is part of the cloud-based operator interface system corresponding to the operator station server), whether the condition is fulfilled (Par. [0066], “monitor these aggregated statistics to determine when the aggregate numbers meet the defined trigger event” – determining whether the defined trigger event is met corresponds to determining whether the condition is fulfilled.), and in an event the condition is fulfilled (Par. [0066], “When the analytics component 516 determines that the production goal has been met” – determining that the production goal has been met corresponds to the event that the condition is fulfilled.), notifying the operator station client via the operator station server that the condition is fulfilled (Par. [0066], “When the analytics component 516 determines that the production goal has been met, it can instruct the client interface component 512 to deliver an indication (e.g., a message or graphical animation on a display screen, a text message, etc.) to one or more client devices associated with the relevant personnel” – the cloud-based operator interface system corresponding to the operator station server causes an indication that the condition has been met to be delivered to the client device corresponding to the operator station client.).
Lawson does not explicitly teach the method comprising:
a) accepting a request for a modification of the graphical display and a condition for an application of the modification from an operator of the technical installation via the at least one operator station client;
b) transmitting the request and the condition from the operator station client to the at least one operator station server;
c) storing the request and the condition in a memory of the at least one operator station server; and
e) in the event the condition is fulfilled, automatically performing the modification of the graphical display via the at least one operator station client.
However, Karaffa teaches the method comprising:
a) accepting a request for a modification of the graphical display and a condition for an application of the modification from an operator of the technical installation via the at least one operator station client (Par. [0029], “The process 100 begins with a user interface … receiving (block 102) a selection of a Fieldbus Foundation alert to be wrapped by a new or existing custom alarm class”; Par. [0032], “These alarm class attributes may be subsequently assigned values by the operator to define how an alarm belonging to the alarm class is to be presented.”; Par. [0034], “the user interface receives (block 106) one or more values for the attributes of the custom alarm class” – The operator-assigned presentation attribute values correspond to the request for a modification of the graphical display, the selected Fieldbus Foundation alert corresponds to the condition for an application of the modification, and the user interface receiving both from the operator corresponds to accepting them via the operator station client.);
b) transmitting the request and the condition from the operator station client to the at least one operator station server (Par. [0035], “Once the user interface has received the one or more values for the attributes of the alarm class, the user interface sends (block 108) the alarm class information to the alarm server 70. For example, the user interface may send the alarm server 70 a unique identifier for the device (e.g., a device ID) and/or a particular alert for the device (e.g., an alert ID) with which the custom alarm class may be associated. The user interface may also send one or more attributes of the custom alarm class that were assigned values by the operator” – the user interface corresponding to the operator station client transmits the operator-assigned presentation attributes corresponding to the request and the particular alert corresponding to the condition to alarm server 70 corresponding to the operator station server.);
c) storing the request and the condition in a memory of the at least one operator station server (Par. [0036], “the alarm server 70 receives (block 110) and stores the alarm class information sent by the user interface … Additionally, the alarm server may associate the custom alarm class with the specified device and/or alert”; Par. [0022], “alarm server 70, executed on the computer 28 … The computer 28 may include a memory 72, such as non-volatile memory and volatile memory, and a processor 74, to facilitate execution of the alarm server 70” - alarm server 70 stores the operator-assigned alarm class information corresponding to the request together with its association with the specified alert corresponding to the condition.); and
e) in the event the condition is fulfilled (Par. [0037], “when the "High Limit Alarm Alert" 124 reaches the alarm server 70, the alarm server 70 may rely upon the operator-defined attributes in the "High Pressure Alarm" class when determining how the alarm will be presented to the operator” – receipt of the selected High Limit Alarm Alert corresponds to the event that the condition is fulfilled), automatically performing the modification of the graphical display via the at least one operator station client (Par. [0039], “the customized "High Pressure Alarm" class 120 may include attributes such as active sound 133, active background color 135, active background blink color 137, active text color 139, active text blink color 141, and active blink rate 143, all of which define the appearance and behavior for an alarm when it is in an active (i.e., unhealthy or alarmed) state”; Par. [0040], “FIG. 5 illustrates a process 150 for presenting an alarm to an operator using custom alarm class attributes in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Some or all of the process 150 may be implemented as executable code instructions stored on non-transitory tangible machine-readable media and executed by a processor”; Par. [0043], “the alarm server 70 uses (block 158) the values of the alarm class attributes when instructing a graphical user interface, such as the alarm viewers 80, how to present the alert to the operator.” – the graphical user interface on alarm viewer 80 corresponding to the operator station client automatically presents the alert using the operator-defined presentation attributes corresponding to the modification.).
Lawson and Karaffa are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor and contain functional similarities. They both relate to graphical operator interfaces for monitoring and controlling industrial systems.
Therefore, at the time of effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method for operating the above cloud-based operator interface system, as taught by Lawson, so that the operator station client receives operator-defined graphical presentation values and an operator-selected alert associated with the graphical presentation values and sends the graphical presentation values and alert information to the operator station server for storage, with the operator-selected alert serving as the condition monitored by the operator station server, and the operator station client automatically presents the alert using the operator-defined graphical presentation values when the selected alert occurs, as taught by Karaffa.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve the presentation of critical alerts so that the alerts are quickly noted and reduce operator error and delay in responding to the alerts, as suggested by Karaffa (Par. [0044]).
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Lawson and Karaffa teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Lawson further teaches wherein the technical installation comprises a production or process installation (Par. [0041], “Industrial systems 3121-312N may be, for example, automation systems located at respective manufacturing or processing facilities.” – the automation system located at a manufacturing facility corresponds to a production installation, and the automation system located at a processing facility corresponds to a process installation. For purposes of examination under 35 U.S.C. 103, claim 20 is treated as depending from claim 19, consistent with its recitation of “The method”.).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawson et al. USPGPUB 2013/0211559 A1 (hereinafter Lawson) in view of Karaffa et al. USPGPUB 2012/0310381 A1 (hereinafter Karaffa), and further in view of Scott et al. USPGPUB 2014/0108985 A1 (hereinafter Scott).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Lawson and Karaffa teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Lawson and Karaffa do not explicitly teach wherein the graphical display represents an installation image of the technical installation.
However, Scott teaches wherein the graphical display represents an installation image of the technical installation (Par. [0087], “display that illustrates a piping and instrument diagram (P&ID) for a particular portion of the plant 10”; Par. [0111], “A role-dependent operator view may generate a graphical representation of a process plant (the "process graphic") and display additional information for a selected portion of the process plant according to the operator's role.” – the displayed P&ID and process graphic correspond to the graphical display, and the graphical representation of process plant 10 corresponds to an installation image of the technical installation.).
Lawson, Karaffa, and Scott are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor and contain functional similarities. They all relate to graphical operator interfaces for monitoring or controlling industrial systems or process plants.
Therefore, at the time of effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above cloud-based operator interface system, as taught by Lawson and Karaffa, so that the graphical display represents a process plant using a process graphic including a piping and instrument diagram (P&ID), as taught by Scott.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve the ability of an operator to view the inner workings of the process plant, as suggested by Scott (Par. [0015]).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lawson et al. USPGPUB 2013/0211559 A1 (hereinafter Lawson) in view of Karaffa et al. USPGPUB 2012/0310381 A1 (hereinafter Karaffa), and further in view of Spriggs et al. USPGPUB 2003/0023518 A1 (hereinafter Spriggs).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Lawson and Karaffa teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Lawson and Karaffa do not explicitly teach wherein the condition is produced from a logical link of a plurality of events.
However, Spriggs teaches wherein the condition is produced from a logical link of a plurality of events (Par. [0215], “Parametric events allow the user to group different individual events including alarms using Boolean logic. When the conditions of the Boolean equation are met, module 214 can be used to drive a specific action. This allows the user to configure an action based on one or more events occurring” – the parametric event corresponding to the condition is produced by grouping different individual events corresponding to the plurality of events using Boolean logic corresponding to the logical link.).
Lawson, Karaffa, and Spriggs are analogous art because they contain functional similarities. They all relate to monitoring industrial systems and providing information concerning industrial conditions or events to a user.
Therefore, at the time of effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above operator interface system, as taught by Lawson and Karaffa, so that the condition is produced from a logical link of a plurality of events using Boolean logic, as taught by Spriggs.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve the ability to configure conditions for performing an action by allowing multiple events to be logically combined, as suggested by Spriggs (Par. [0215]).
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Schleiss et al. [US 2010/0123594 A1] teaches modifying an electronic process plant display based on process plant conditions and customized graphs containing views of a process plant.
Kretschmann [US 6,167,464 A] teaches a mobile human-machine interface for an industrial control system in which information presented to the interface is selected based on the location and identity of the user.
Conclusion
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/PETER XU/ Examiner, Art Unit 2119
/MOHAMMAD ALI/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2119
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