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 .
Claim Status
This Office Action is in response to communications filed on 11/07/2024. Claims 1-19 are pending for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 12/23/2024 and 5/14/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 19 is 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.
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 § 101
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.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 18 recites in part, “outputting a storage control signal to store first data associated with the first presentation and second data associated with the second presentation in a storage medium” The specification including the relevant paragraphs [0042]-[0043], [0050]-[0051], [0053] etc., respectively, along with the mentioning of “storage medium 20” in [0042] with reference to Fig 1, and [0077] recites computer-readable media is any medium that stores computer readable instructions, or other information non-transitorily and is directly or indirectly accessible by a computing device, such as processor circuitry, etc., or other circuity disclosed herein etc. In other words, a computer-readable medium is a non-transitory memory at which one or more computing devices can access instructions, codes, data, or other information per [0077], does not explicitly limit the claimed “storage medium”. Likewise, the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim also covers carrier waves, which does not fall within one of the four categories of invention. Examiner suggests amending the claim to include the descriptive term “non-transitory” for the claimed “storage medium” which would exclude transitory media such as signals, carrier waves, etc. Any amendment to the claim should be commensurate with the corresponding disclosure. Accordingly, appropriate action is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5, 7-9, 11, 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Forsberg et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. U.S. 2023/0333148A1).
Regarding claim 1, Forsberg teaches a test and/or measurement system (Figs 1-3, 5-7; ¶013), comprising:
a processing circuit (Fig 7, Processor(s) 716 &/or 720; ¶037 and ¶038-¶044 etc.) configured to process a signal (processors 716 to process the signals and/or waveforms received at the ports 702 from one or more devices under test (DUTs) 790; ¶037),
wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine at least a first presentation based on a first parameter (a first search portion and/or first threshold) and a second presentation based on a second parameter (a second search portion and/or second threshold) when processing the signal (a user performs a search on a first channel, by selecting a portion of the first sampled waveform to be searched. Then the user performs a search on a second channel, which includes a different sampled waveform, such as a second waveform; ¶033)
wherein the second parameter is different to the first parameter, (user may select different search portions for each individual waveform… different thresholds may be applied to the two different searches; ¶033)
wherein the test and/or measurement system comprises a display (Fig 7, display 712) connected with the processing circuit (Fig 7, display 712 connected to processor(s); results matching the individual searches are visually indicated on the output device of each respective waveform display. Further, a second visual indication may appear on a waveform display that indicates where matches occurred on the other waveform; ¶033),
wherein the display is configured to display either the first presentation or the second presentation at the same time (Fig 6; output display of test and measurement device shows how an acquired waveform may be ‘folded’ on to one another and displayed simultaneously; ¶034), and
wherein the test and/or measurement system comprises a storage medium (memory 710) configured to store first data associated with the first presentation and second data associated with the second presentation (resulting waveform can then be stored in a memory 710, as well as displayed on a display 712; ¶038, processors 716 may be configured to execute instructions from memory 710 and perform any methods and/or associated steps indicated by such instructions, such as displaying and modifying input signals received by instrument... memory 710 may be implemented as processor cache, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), solid state memory, hard disk drive(s), or any other memory type. The memory 710 acts as a medium for storing data, such as acquired sample waveforms, computer program products, and other instructions; ¶039 & also memory per ¶041, ¶043-¶044).
Regarding claim 2, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches further comprising an interactive screenshot functionality which, when activated, causes the processing circuit to store the first data associated with the first presentation and the second data associated with the second presentation (match display processor 724 may generate the matches based on the generated correlations and show them to the user on the display 712. The match display processor 724 may control updating the match display in real time or near-real time as elements of the display are manipulated by the user, such as the threshold control slider; ¶041; Examiner interprets elements of display being manipulated by user / threshold control slider as interactive screenshot functionality).
Regarding claim 3, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate an interactive screenshot comprising the first presentation that is displayed on the display (match display processor 724 generates matches based on generated correlations and shows them to user on display 712 and also may control updating the match display in real time or near-real time as elements of the display are manipulated by user, such as the threshold control slider; ¶041; Again Examiner interprets elements of display being manipulated by user / threshold control slider as interactive screenshot functionality), and
wherein the test and/or measurement system comprises an interaction item which, when used, causes the processing circuit to display the second presentation within the interactive screenshot, wherein the second presentation is obtained based on the second data stored (waveform search processor 720 may be on a separate device from an instrument that acquired the input signal for testing. In such an embodiment the separate device may retrieve the acquired waveform from a remote device, or retrieve it from a remote storage device, and perform the searching functions described above on the separate device. Then the results may be displayed on the separate device, or, as described above, may be exported from the separate device to be shown on a different device. In yet other embodiments, the separate device may locally store the search results and make them available for use by a user of a remote device; ¶042; also second waveforms stored; ¶057-¶058).
Regarding claim 4, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 3, and Forsberg teaches wherein the interaction item (Figs 2-3; threshold slider), when used, switches from the first presentation to the second presentation within the interactive screenshot (transitions/switching visible in Fig 3 on leftward three sections), wherein the second presentation is obtained based on the second data stored (see Fig 3; ¶018-¶020, also ¶057-¶058).
Regarding claim 5, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 3, and Forsberg teaches wherein the interaction item is an active area displayed on the display (Figs 2-3; “threshold slider” shown in far right section).
Regarding claim 7, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the processing circuit is configured to serially display the first presentation and the second presentation on the display (see Figs 1-2) and to obtain successive screenshots of the first presentation and the second presentation while the first presentation and the second presentation are displayed on the display (see Fig 3).
Regarding claim 8, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the processing circuit is configured to store the first data associated with the first presentation and the second data associated with the second presentation (see claim 1) without displaying the respective presentations on the display (When the search portion 536 is closely correlated with the portion of the sample waveform 505 in the present window, a higher correlation value is generated for that portion of the sample waveform 505. A correlation 545 for each window in the sample waveform is generated. Although the correlation values are not typically graphed or shown to the user, FIG. 5 illustrates the correlation values for explanation. In FIG. 5, note that the correlation values 545 are bound between −1 and +1, as described above; ¶058).
Regarding claim 9, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the first data associated with the first presentation and/or the second data associated with the second presentation comprise additional data not currently displayed when a screenshot of the corresponding presentation is obtained (correlation 545 for each window in the sample waveform is generated. Although the correlation values are not typically graphed or shown to the user, FIG. 5 illustrates the correlation values for explanation. In FIG. 5, note that the correlation values 545 are bound between −1 and +1, as described above; ¶058).
Regarding claim 11, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the first data associated with the first presentation and/or the second data associated with the second presentation comprise a temporal sequence of at least two time frames (see Figs 1-2, strip atop of each; also see provides user a tool to find elements of interest in serial data; ¶031).
Regarding claim 14, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine the first presentation and the second presentation automatically in a temporally overlapping manner
(may visually indicate on one or both of the waveform displays only those search results that overlapped in time, or were in a controllable threshold of time difference. Still further, these independent searches are not limited to only two channels, but may used with any number of channels that can be independently searched; ¶033).
Regarding claim 15, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the signal processed by the processing circuit is a measured signal (ports 702 can also be connected to a measurement unit 708 in the test instrument 700. The measurement unit 708 can include any component capable of measuring aspects (e.g., voltage, amperage, amplitude, power, energy, etc.) of a signal received via ports 702; ¶038) or a simulated signal (option not selected by Examiner).
Regarding claim 16, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the test and/or measurement system is capable of performing a test and/or a measurement on the signal (ports 702 can be connected to measurement unit 708 in test instrument 700 and measurement unit 708 can include any component capable of measuring aspects (e.g., voltage, amperage, amplitude, power, energy, etc.) of a signal received via ports 702; ¶038).
Regarding claim 17, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg suggests further comprising an oscilloscope/ test device / measurement device (oscilloscope accepts such input signals at an input port, samples the waveform, converts the samples to a series of digital signals, and stores the sampled input waveform as an acquisition sample waveform; ¶003).
Regarding claim 18, Forsberg teaches a computer-implemented method of gathering data of a signal (Figs 1-3, 5-7; ¶013), the method comprising:
processing a signal received (processors 716 to process the signals and/or waveforms received at the ports 702 from one or more devices under test (DUTs) 790; ¶037);
determining, by a processing circuit (Fig 7, Processor(s) 716 &/or 720; ¶037 and ¶038-¶044 etc.), at least a first presentation based on a first parameter (a first search portion and/or first threshold) and a second presentation based on a second parameter (a second search portion and/or second threshold) when processing the signal received (a user performs a search on a first channel, by selecting a portion of the first sampled waveform to be searched. Then the user performs a search on a second channel, which includes a different sampled waveform, such as a second waveform; ¶033), wherein the second parameter is different to the first parameter (user may select different search portions for each individual waveform… different thresholds may be applied to the two different searches; ¶033);
outputting a display control signal to display either the first presentation or the second presentation (Fig 7, display 712 connected to processor(s); results matching the individual searches are visually indicated on the output device of each respective waveform display. Further, a second visual indication may appear on a waveform display that indicates where matches occurred on the other waveform; ¶033) at the same time on a display (Fig 6; output display of test and measurement device shows how an acquired waveform may be ‘folded’ on to one another and displayed simultaneously; ¶034); and
outputting a storage control signal to store first data associated with the first presentation and second data associated with the second presentation (resulting waveform can then be stored in a memory 710, as well as displayed on a display 712; ¶038, processors 716 may be configured to execute instructions from memory 710 and perform any methods and/or associated steps indicated by such instructions, such as displaying and modifying input signals received by instrument... memory 710 may be implemented as processor cache, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), solid state memory, hard disk drive(s), or any other memory type. The memory 710 acts as a medium for storing data, such as acquired sample waveforms, computer program products, and other instructions; ¶039 & also memory per ¶041, ¶043-¶044). in a storage medium (memory 710).
Regarding claim 19, Forsberg teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing circuit, cause the processing circuit to carry out the method of claim 18 (see claim 18).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 6 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Forsberg et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. U.S. 2023/0333148A1).
Regarding claim 6, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 3, and in Figs 2-3, for example, teaches a threshold control, which in this embodiment is a slider control (¶016).
In addition, per an alternate embodiment, Forsberg teaches wherein the interaction item is a button that is separately formed with respect to the display (The threshold control need not be a slider, and, in fact, need not be graphically illustrated. In other embodiments the user could enter a percentage match using a keyboard. Other forms of a control for receiving an indication of the desired level of match are also possible, such as a controllable mechanical or computer-generated knob in the user interface 130; ¶016). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to modify the slider control with the alternate embodiment so that the interaction item is a button that is separately formed with respect to the display, as taught in the alternate embodiment above by Forsberg in order to not be graphically illustrated and done via a user input device / knob or keyboard etc. instead (¶016).
Regarding claim 10, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 9, but Forsberg is silent on metadata. However, a person of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading the reference, would also have recognized the desirability of improved methods to display waveforms, measurements, and other data types to a user, as mentioned by Forsberg in ¶040. It would require no more than "ordinary skill" to include other data. Thus, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to try utilizing additional data, such as metadata, as a person with ordinary skill has good reason to pursue known options within his or her technical grasp.
Regarding claim 12, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 1, and Forsberg teaches wherein the first presentation is associated with a first window and the second presentation is associated with a second window (see claim 1), but Forsberg is silent on wherein the processing circuit is configured to toggle, upon an input signal, between the first window and the second window for displaying either the first window or the second window. However, a person of ordinary skill in the art, upon reading the reference, would also have recognized the desirability of improved methods to toggle upon the input signals, because Forsberg teaches that results matching individual searches are visually indicated on the output device of each respective waveform display and a second visual indication may appear on a waveform display that indicates where matches occurred on the other waveform making it possible to visually indicate to the user whether searches, for the same time period, occur in both the searches for the first waveform and the second waveform. For example, visually indicating on one or both of the waveform displays only those search results that overlapped in time, or were in a controllable threshold of time difference. These independent searches may be used with any number of channels that can be independently searched. ¶033). It would require no more than "ordinary skill" to include toggling, upon input signals, between the first window and the second window, i.e., or whatever number of channels being independently searched for displaying the corresponding window thereto. Thus, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing the invention to try toggling, upon input signals, between the first window and the second window for displaying the corresponding window thereto, as a person with ordinary skill has good reason to pursue known options within his or her technical grasp.
Regarding claim 13, Forsberg teaches the test and/or measurement system according to claim 12, and Forsberg teaches further comprising an input interface (port) via which the input signal is provided (ports 702 are coupled with one or more processors 716 to process the signals and/or waveforms received at the ports 702 from one or more devices under test (DUTs) 790. In some embodiments the ports accept multiple signals from the DUT 790, or from one or more DUTs; ¶037).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure.
Davies et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. US 2018/0292978 A1), teaches a medical data presentation apparatus comprises processing circuitry and at least one display device.
Waldo et al. (U.S. Patent 11,231,444), teaches test and measurement instruments such as oscilloscopes typically include a display screen for displaying waveform data of input signals acquired by the instrument. A portion of the display screen generally includes a waveform viewing area.
Santori et al. (U.S. Patent Application Pub. US 2012/0089935), teaches a non-transitory computer readable memory medium for use in a signal analysis system for implementing an integrated interface for multiple instruments to perform signal analysis functions, which are utilized in signal analysis applications such as test and measurement, control, simulation and equipment design.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANCIL H LITTLEJOHN JR whose telephone number is (571)270-3718. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5 (CST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Quan-Zhen Wang can be reached at (571) 272-3114. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANCIL LITTLEJOHN JR/Examiner, Art Unit 2685
/QUAN ZHEN WANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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