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 .
REMARKS
Response filed October 10, 2025
On page 8, Applicant’s summary of the interview on October 08, 2025, is acknowledged.
On pages 8-9, Applicant’s amendment to the title is acknowledged. The objection to the title is withdrawn.
On pages 9-28, Applicant argued by claim amendment to overcome the 35 USC § 101 rejection is persuasive. The 35 USC § 101 rejection is withdrawn.
On pages 28-32, Applicant argued by claim amendment to overcome the 35 USC § 103 rejection as applied to claims 1, 2, 4-7, 9, and 10 is persuasive. The 35 USC § 103 rejection is withdrawn. Further, the new limitations have been addressed by the addition of Hozoji et al. (Hozoji hereafter, JP 2013142933 A) as necessitated by claim amendments.
PENDING MATTERS
Claims 1-10, filed October 10, 2025, are examined on the merits.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4-7, 9, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishikado et al. (Nishikado hereafter, US 2019/0231625 A1) in view of Tufty et al. (Tufty hereafter, US 6697879 B1) and Hozoji et al. (Hozoji hereafter, JP 2013142933 A).
Claim 1, Nishikado discloses an engineering device comprising:
a storage unit configured to store a virtual data format which is commonly used by a first type of module in which definition data for defining a module installed in a control system is provided as data of a predetermined common format ([0055]), e.g. sensor information is stored in a table format in the SV sensor information storage unit 233. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the server-side sensor information table (SV sensor information table) ST-SV that registers the sensor information includes: a sensor ID field 2331 that registers the sensor IDs; an installation location field 2332 that registers the installation locations of the sensor device SU having the sensor IDs registered in the sensor ID field 2331, and [0056], e.g. the record format includes more than one formats that are prepared beforehand as predetermined forms (formats or input forms)). However, Nishikado does not disclose an object data generating unit configured to secure a storage area in which details of the virtual data format are reflected in the storage unit on the basis of the virtual data format when an installed module is the first type of module, to write entries indicated by the definition data according to the data format indicated by the definition data of the installed module to the secured storage area, and to write a module name of the installed module to the secured storage area to generate object data
Tufty discloses an object data generating unit configured to secure a storage area in which details of the virtual data format are reflected in the storage unit on the basis of the virtual data format when an installed module is the first type of module, to write entries indicated by the definition data according to the data format indicated by the definition data of the installed module to the secured storage area, and to write a module name of the installed module to the secured storage area to generate object data (column 4, line 66, to column 15, line 12, e.g. the om_.class Object 2-4 in FIG. 2, allocates and specifies the format and content of the digital information, whether it represents textual, numeric, graphic, caloric, auditory, etc. information. Thus, the Or_.class, Object 3-9 or 3-12 of the Sensor.class Object 2411 is in fact created by the om class Object 2-4 during the construction. In other words, when a Sensor.class Object 2-1 is being constructed, it is only necessary to create an om_.class Object 2-4, as depicted by the line from the omObject declaration 2-2 to the Object instance thereof 2-4, whereas an appropriate or_.class Object will be automatically created, based on the requirements of the om_.class Object, as depicted by the line from the om_( ) Constructor Method 2-6 to the Readings declaration 2-2.)).
Tufty discloses an improvement to efficiently distinguish and organize the Form and Substance of a Virtual Sensor relating to the autonomous processing of the Virtual Sensor (column 5, lines 53-56). One of ordinary skill in the art at the time prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention would have been motivated by Tufty to improve the system of Nishikado. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use with the object data generating unit of Tufty. The benefit would be to efficiently distinguish and organize the Form and Substance of a Virtual Sensor relating to the autonomous processing of the Virtual Sensor.
However, Nishikado as modified does not disclose an output unit configured to output system configuration data which is updated using the object data, wherein the control system is caused to control the plant by controlling the installed module based on the system configuration data.
Hozoji discloses an output unit configured to output system configuration data which is updated using the object data (page 3, e.g. The design change support unit 110 is configured to display a movement / change screen 112 and to perform a movement process and a change process to be described later. The design change support unit 110 acquires various variable information stored in the database DB from the database management unit 120. The design change support unit 110 supplies the changed information when the movement process and the change process are performed. The database management unit 120updates the information stored in the database DB according to the information supplied from the design change support unit 110), wherein the control system is caused to control the plant by controlling the installed module based on the system configuration data (page 3, e.g. The engineering device 100 includes a plurality of tables, generates a database DB having a hierarchical structure in which a plurality of tables are associated with a common ID based on the structure of the plant control system, and a screen to be presented to the user based on the information of the database DB. And a design change support unit 110 that changes data stored in the database DB based on a user operation).
Hozoji discloses when moving the input / output board (input board / output board / fieldbus board), changing the input / output board model, or changing the interface between the programmable controllers. The cost can be greatly reduced by shortening the design time, and the quality of the control system can be greatly improved by eliminating design errors (page 36). One of ordinary skill in the art at the time prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention would have been motivated by Hozoji to improve the system of Nishikado as modified. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the system of Nishikado as modified with the teachings of Hozoji. The benefit would be to greatly reduce cost and improve quality.
Claim 2, Nishikado as modified discloses wherein the virtual data format is predetermined to include at least a data format indicated by the definition data of the first type of arbitrary module (Nishikado, [0056], e.g. the record format includes more than one formats that are prepared beforehand as predetermined forms (formats or input forms)).
Claim 4, Nishikado as modified discloses wherein the first type of module is an IO module (Nishikado, [0067], e.g. the management server device SV may further include: a server-side input unit (an SV input unit) 24 that is connected to the SV control processing unit 22 and inputs various kinds of commands and various kinds of data, for example; a server-side output unit (a SV output unit) 25 that outputs the various kinds of commands and the various kinds of data input through the SV input unit 24, and the monitoring information concerning the monitoring of the monitored persons Ob and the like) or a CPU module.
Claim 5, Nishikado as modified discloses wherein the definition data of the first type of module is provided as text data in the common format (Nishikado, [0057], e.g. an example of the record format for food care is shown on a screen displayed on a mobile terminal device TA. In FIG. 17, an example of the record format for morning care is shown on a screen displayed on a mobile terminal device TA. In FIG. 18, an example of the record format for toilet support is shown on a screen displayed on a mobile terminal device TA. In this embodiment, the format information is an electronic file in a record format that forms a record format screen to be displayed on such a terminal device SP or TA. The electronic file in the record format is written in a markup language such as the hyper text markup language (HTML) or the extensible markup language (XML), for example, so that record formats compliant with the predetermined form (format or input form) can be displayed on the predetermined record format screen of the terminal device SP or TA, and is stored in the format information storage unit 234).
Claim 6, Nishikado as modified discloses wherein the object data generating unit writes setting data ([0124], e.g. an instruction for a setting that allows the other terminal devices SP and TA to refer to the details input to the record format screen 64 (the food care record format screen 64a in the example shown in FIG. 16) is input), which is provided through an input operation performed by an operator of the engineering device or provided to be included in the definition data of the first type of module and which includes property data for determining an operation state of the module and installation location data indicating a location at which the module is installed in the control system, to the object data (Nishikado, [0055]), e.g. sensor information is stored in a table format in the SV sensor information storage unit 233. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the server-side sensor information table (SV sensor information table) ST-SV that registers the sensor information includes: a sensor ID field 2331 that registers the sensor IDs; an installation location field 2332 that registers the installation locations of the sensor device SU having the sensor IDs registered in the sensor ID field 2331).
Claim 7, Nishikado as modified discloses wherein the definition data of the first type of module is generated to include property data for determining an operation state of the module and installation location data indicating a location at which the module is installed in the control system from module configuration data generated by another engineering device (Nishikado, [0055]), e.g. sensor information is stored in a table format in the SV sensor information storage unit 233. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the server-side sensor information table (SV sensor information table) ST-SV that registers the sensor information includes: a sensor ID field 2331 that registers the sensor IDs; an installation location field 2332 that registers the installation locations of the sensor device SU having the sensor IDs registered in the sensor ID field 2331).
Claims 9 and 10 comprising the same steps as claim 1. Claims 9 and 10 are rejected for the same rationale and citation as claim 1, supra.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
CONCLUSION
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to C. Dune Ly, whose telephone number is (571) 272-0716. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 A.M. to 4 PM ET.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Neveen Abel-Jalil, can be reached on 571-270-0474.
/Cheyne D Ly/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2152
1/27/2026