Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/895,172

Methods And Systems For Monitoring Of Infrastructure

Non-Final OA §101§103
Filed
Sep 24, 2024
Priority
Sep 27, 2023 — EU 23199979.8
Examiner
DISTEFANO, GREGORY A
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
69%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 9m
Est. Remaining
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 69% — above average
69%
Career Allowance Rate
370 granted / 534 resolved
+9.3% vs TC avg
Strong +23% interview lift
Without
With
+22.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 7m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
559
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.8%
-39.2% vs TC avg
§103
93.8%
+53.8% vs TC avg
§102
3.4%
-36.6% vs TC avg
§112
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 534 resolved cases

Office Action

§101 §103
CTNF 18/895,172 CTNF 83017 DETAILED ACTION This action is in response to the application filed 9/24/2024. Claims 1-14 have been submitted for examination. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 101 07-04-01 AIA 07-04 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. Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims are directed to a system comprising an “interface” and a “widget configurator” which may be interpreted as being purely software per se. Software per se fails to meet the 35 U.S.C. 101 requirement that the invention be a “process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter”. The examiner would like to recommend language directed to the system comprising a processor and/or non-transitory computer readable medium to alleviate this issue. Claims 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims are directed to a “widget configurator” which may be interpreted as being purely software per se. Software per se fails to meet the 35 U.S.C. 101 requirement that the invention be a “process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter”. The examiner would like to recommend language directed to the configurator comprising a processor and/or non-transitory computer readable medium to alleviate this issue. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trivedi et al. (US 2023/0246901), hereinafter Trivedi, in view of Nixon et al. (US 2018/0109955), hereinafter Nixon . As per claim 1 , Trivedi teaches the following: a monitoring system for visualizing one or more key performance indicators of an infrastructure associated with an automation system comprising a plurality of subsystems adapted to monitor a set of parameters of the infrastructure and/or the automation system . As Trivedi teaches in the abstract a user interface is taught which includes key performance indicators along with one or more parameter fields, the monitoring system comprising: an interface , (see abstract, “user interface”); and a widget configurator to receive a selection of locators identifying locations of components of the infrastructure, a selection of values for the set of parameters, and at least one threshold condition for each value . As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0058], and corresponding Fig. 2, the interface enables the user to select KPI values. As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0102], and corresponding Fig. 6, the user interface enables the user to select a geography value to associate a node (locators identifying locations of components). Trivedi further teaches in paragraph [0112], and corresponding Fig. 9, of enabling a user to configure anomaly conditions (threshold conditions for values); wherein the interface receives time-related data points of the set of parameters originating from a plurality of sensors of the plurality of subsystems . As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0136], and corresponding Fig. 11, a graphical representation based upon user selected time periods may be displayed; wherein the widget configurator configures an overview widget to display, key performance indicators of the selected parameters for each one of the locations depending on the threshold conditions and the received data points . As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0143], and corresponding Fig. 13, a dashboard for selecting multiple KPIs is presented. Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0145] that the user may select which KPIs to view in graphical representation such as shown in Fig. 16. Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0155] that the data of the KPI’s are monitored in real time. However, Trivedi does not explicitly teach of the KPI’s being for an automation system or that the multiple KPI’s depend upon the threshold condition. In a similar field of endeavor, Nixon teaches of a method of displaying lists of user selected KPI’s (see paragraph [0085]). Nixon further teaches in the abstract that the KPI’s may be utilized for presenting data from a process plant (automation system). Nixon further teaches in paragraph [0083] that the real time data displayed may include process variables and alarms (threshold conditions). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the KPI displays of Trivedi with the process plant KPI’s and alarm displays of Nixon. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because as Nixon teaches in paragraph [0061], utilizing KPI views in processing plants benefit users in continuity of data and Nixon teaches in paragraph [0004] that viewing alarms of devices benefit users in plant management. Regarding claim 2 , modified Trivedi teaches the system of claim 1 as described above. Trivedi further teaches the following: the overview widget comprises a time range selector allowing a user to select a time range; and the overview widget then indicates the key performance indicators across the selected time range . As Trivedi shows in Fig. 11, and corresponding paragraph [0133], the user interface allows a user to select a time interval of data to view of KPI’s. Regarding claim 3 , modified Trivedi teaches the system of claim 1 as described above. Trivedi further teaches the following: the overview widget provides a real-time alert or notification any time a threshold condition is breached . As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [026], upon a KPI rising equal to or a above a threshold, a network operator may be alerted. Further see paragraph [0045] for “real-time” and paragraph [0067] for graphical output of the alert. Regarding claim 4 , modified Trivedi teaches the system of claim 1 as described above. Trivedi further teaches the following: configured to access a backend to calculate the key performance indicators of the selected parameters for each one of the selected locations depending on the threshold conditions and the received data points. As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0039], and corresponding Fig. 1, KPI data is gathered via network service provider monitoring system 109 and sent to database 103. As these systems are separate from a viewing user device, they are interpreted as encompassing a “backend”. Regarding claim 5 , modified Trivedi teaches the system of claim 1 as described above. However, as described above, Trivedi does not explicitly teach of t an automation system or that the multiple KPI’s. Nixon further teaches the following: the automation system comprises a building automation system. As Nixon teaches in the abstract that the KPI’s may be utilized for presenting data from a process plant (building automation system). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the KPI displays of Trivedi with the process plant KPI’s and alarm displays of Nixon. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because as Nixon teaches in paragraph [0061], utilizing KPI views in processing plants benefit users in continuity of data and Nixon teaches in paragraph [0004] that viewing alarms of devices benefit users in plant management. As per claim 6 , Trivedi teaches the following: a method for configuring an overview widget for visualizing one or more key performance indicators associated with an infrastructure associated with an automation system comprising a plurality of subsystems adapted to monitor a set of parameters of the infrastructure and/or the automation system . As Trivedi teaches in the abstract a user interface is taught which includes key performance indicators along with one or more parameter fields, the method comprising: receiving a selection of locations within the infrastructure. As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0102], and corresponding Fig. 6, nodes may be filtered and selected based upon geography, i.e., location; receiving a selection of the set of parameters . As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0058], and corresponding Fig. 2, the interface enables the user to select KPI values. ; receiving at least one threshold condition for each one of the selected parameters. Trivedi further teaches in paragraph [0112], and corresponding Fig. 9, of enabling a user to configure anomaly conditions (threshold conditions for values); receiving time-related data points of the parameters for the selected locations and the selected parameters. As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0136], and corresponding Fig. 11, a graphical representation based upon user selected time periods may be displayed; automatically calculating key performance indicators based on t he threshold condition and the received data points for each one of the selected locations . See Fig. 11; and generating the overview widget comprising the key performance indicators for each one of the selected parameters for each of the selected locations . As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0143], and corresponding Fig. 13, a dashboard for selecting multiple KPIs is presented. Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0145] that the user may select which KPIs to view in graphical representation such as shown in Fig. 16. Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0155] that the data of the KPI’s are monitored in real time. However, Trivedi does not explicitly teach of the KPI’s being for an automation system or that the multiple KPI’s depend upon the threshold condition. In a similar field of endeavor, Nixon teaches of a method of displaying lists of user selected KPI’s (see paragraph [0085]). Nixon further teaches in the abstract that the KPI’s may be utilized for presenting data from a process plant (automation system). Nixon further teaches in paragraph [0083] that the real time data displayed may include process variables and alarms (threshold conditions). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant’s claimed invention to have modified the KPI displays of Trivedi with the process plant KPI’s and alarm displays of Nixon. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to have made such modification because as Nixon teaches in paragraph [0061], utilizing KPI views in processing plants benefit users in continuity of data and Nixon teaches in paragraph [0004] that viewing alarms of devices benefit users in plant management. Regarding claims 7-10 , modified Trivedi teaches the method of claim 6 as described above. The remaining limitations of claims 7-10 are substantially similar to those of claims 2-5 respectively, and are rejected using the same reasoning. As per claim 11 , Trivedi teaches the following: a widget configurator for configuring an overview widget (see abstract). The remaining limitations of claim 11 are substantially similar to those of claim 6 and are rejected using the same reasoning. Regarding claims 12 and 13 , modified Trivedi teaches the configurator of claim 11 as described above. The remaining limitations of claims 12 and 13 are substantially similar to those of claims 2 and 3 respectively, and are rejected using the same reasoning. Regarding claim 14 , modified Trivedi teaches the configurator of claim 11 as described above. Trivedi further teaches the following: the widget configurator and/or the overview widget is configured to cause a monitoring system or a backend associated with the automation system to calculate key performance indicators of the selected parameters based on their threshold conditions and the received data points for each one of the selected locations . As Trivedi teaches in paragraph [0039], and corresponding Fig. 1, monitoring system 109 collects KPI data and stores said data in database 103. As these systems are separate from a viewing device, they are interpreted as encompassing a “backend” system . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. -Rizzi et al. (US 2015/0128056), see entire reference. -Pantaleano et al. (US 2015/0317591), moving KPI widgets from a dashboard to a home screen. -Ishino et al. (US 2021/0089991), see Figs. 8 and 9. -Granholm et al. (US 2022/0101237), system for building KPI widgets. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY A DISTEFANO whose telephone number is (571)270-1644. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 9 am - 5 pm. 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, William Bashore can be reached at 5712424088. 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. /GREGORY A. DISTEFANO/ Examiner Art Unit 2174 /WILLIAM L BASHORE/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2174 Application/Control Number: 18/895,172 Page 2 Art Unit: 2174 Application/Control Number: 18/895,172 Page 4 Art Unit: 2174
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 24, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 18, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §101, §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
69%
Grant Probability
92%
With Interview (+22.8%)
3y 7m (~1y 9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 534 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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