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 .
Claims 1-13 have been presented and pending in the application.
Examiner notes that the EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE, Extended European Search Report in European Patent Application No. 24166219.6, 10 pp. (Sept. 17, 2024) teaches the claimed invention; therefore, the examiner relies on such teachings as well-known teachings of the claimed invention for this rejection. The examiner also notes that teachings of the Search Report can be used in a subsequent office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-13 are 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.
In claim 1;
In line 2, it is unclear and unstated as to how the “network device” & “industrial automation system” are operationally, functionally, and structurally interconnected.
In line 3, it is unclear as to who or what performs and supports “obtaining fieldbus connectivity requirements” step/function (e.g., who or what decides which protocol type will be used to communicate?).
In line 5, it is unclear as to who or what performs and supports “loading a field connectivity service” step/function.
In line 9, it is unclear as to who or what performs and supports “using” & “carryout partial configuration” step/function.
In line 13, it is unclear as to who or what performs and supports “binding” step/function.
In line 15, it is unclear as to who or what performs and supports “using” step/function.
In claims 12-13;
The above unclarities of the claim 1 are similarly applied.
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.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krivoshein et al. (US 6,446,202 b1).
The examiner relies on the entire teachings of the Krivoshein reference for this rejection; hence, the examiner advises the applicant to carefully consider the entire teachings of the Krivoshein reference to better understand the examiner’s position and interpretations applied to the claimed invention.
The Krivoshein reference teaches, when the examiner applies the Broadest Reasonable Interpretation, functionally equivalent limitations of the claimed invention as follows:
CLAIMS 1-13
Krivoshein REF. TEACHINGS (emphasis underlined)
1.A method of providing fieldbus connectivity, the method comprising, by a network device for an industrial automation system:
Figs 1 & 2 with accompanying description
Obtaining fieldbus connectivity requirements specifying a required fieldbus protocol type using which the network device is to communicate;
Col 11, line 61, “after a user physically connected the devices within the system 10 as illustrated in FIG. 1…configure each of the…”
loading, from a library, a fieldbus connectivity service,
Col 15, line 60, “configurator 76…when the user wishes to download a control scheme to a controller, when a user wishes to establish a communication link to a device on a device network…enable communication between the controller 12 and one or more devices…using information stored in the configuration database 72”
wherein the fieldbus connectivity service comprises fieldbus stack software and a fieldbus stack hardware configuration for implementing a protocol stack which conforms to the required fieldbus protocol type;
Col 11, line 34, “configured to implement a control strategy using…function blocks…part of…overall control routine and operates in conjunction with other function blocks…to implement input function…control routine that performs PID, fuzzy logic, etc. control, or an output function which controls the operation of some devices…configure the controller 12 to communicate with the master devices…” (function blocks teaches both softer and hardware configurations)
using the fieldbus stack hardware configuration to carry out partial reconfiguration of a flexible fieldbus communications interface, wherein the flexible fieldbus communications interface comprises a portion which remains unaltered during the partial reconfiguration;
Col 11, line 34, “configured to implement a control strategy using…function blocks…part of…overall control routine and operates in conjunction with other function blocks…to implement input function…control routine that performs PID, fuzzy logic, etc. control, or an output function which controls the operation of some devices…configure the controller 12 to communicate with the master devices…” (part of overall control routine obviously teaches the partial configuration)
binding the fieldbus stack software to a portion of the flexible fieldbus communications interface that was partially reconfigured using the fieldbus stack hardware configuration; and using the protocol stack which conforms to the required fieldbus protocol type to provide fieldbus connectivity at the network device.
Col 16, line 7, “configurator 76 may store and use a different configuration for each of the different types of device networks to be configured…After configuring, enable communication between the controller 12 and…devices”
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fieldbus connectivity service is a first fieldbus connectivity service, the method further comprising reconfiguring a second portion of the flexible fieldbus communications interface to provide a second service independently of the first fieldbus connectivity service.
Obvious from the teachings of Col 13, “configuration system 70 includes multiple components, such as software routines that operate together to perform configuration …includes a user input section …pertaining to any or all of the devices…configurator 76 configures different master I/O devices…also enables a user to manipulate and change the configuration of the process control system 10…routine 78 is used to make a change to the configuration of the process control system 10” (partial configuration is performed by the configuration system 70)
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second service comprises a second fieldbus connectivity service, whereby the network device provides multiple independent fieldbus connectivity services.
Obvious from figure 1, (44, 48, 55, 60) with accompanying description; this is also well-known in the art of art
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the multiple fieldbus connectivity services conform to the same fieldbus protocol type.
Obvious from figure 1, (44, 48, 55, 60) with accompanying description; this is also well-known in the art of art
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the multiple fieldbus connectivity services conform to different fieldbus protocol types.
Obvious from figure 1, (44, 48, 55, 60) with accompanying description; this is also well-known in the art of art
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the fieldbus stack hardware configuration comprises a programming stream for programming the one of the dynamic areas of the flexible fieldbus communications interface.
Obvious from the teachings of Col 13, “configuration system 70 includes multiple components, such as software routines that operate together to perform configuration …includes a user input section …pertaining to any or all of the devices…configurator 76 configures different master I/O devices…also enables a user to manipulate and change the configuration of the process control system 10…routine 78 is used to make a change to the configuration of the process control system 10” (partial configuration is performed by the configuration system 70)
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second service executes one or more compute tasks.
Obvious from figures 1-2 operations with accompanying description; this is also well-known in the art
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the compute tasks are related to the fieldbus stack software of the fieldbus connectivity service.
Obvious from figures 1-2 operations with accompanying description; this is also well-known in the art
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion which remains unaltered during the partial reconfiguration is a static portion, the method further comprising programming the static portion of the flexible fieldbus communications interface.
Obvious from the teachings of Col 13, “configuration system 70 includes multiple components, such as software routines that operate together to perform configuration …includes a user input section …pertaining to any or all of the devices…configurator 76 configures different master I/O devices…also enables a user to manipulate and change the configuration of the process control system 10…routine 78 is used to make a change to the configuration of the process control system 10” (partial configuration is performed by the configuration system 70)
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining updated fieldbus connectivity requirements specifying a replacement fieldbus protocol type which is different to the previously required fieldbus protocol type;
Obvious from the teachings of Col 13, “user input routine 70 may be invoked to get configuration data pertaining to any element within the process control system 10 whenever, for example, a device is added to the system, a device is moved within the system, or is changed in some manner…”
loading, from the library, a replacement fieldbus connectivity service which conforms to the replacement fieldbus protocol type; using a hardware configuration of the replacement fieldbus connectivity service to carry out partial reconfiguration of the flexible fieldbus communications interface; binding fieldbus stack software of the replacement fieldbus connectivity service to a portion of the dynamic areas of the flexible fieldbus communications interface that was partially reconfigured using the replacement fieldbus stack hardware configuration; and using the protocol stack which conforms to the replacement fieldbus protocol type to provide fieldbus connectivity at the network device.
The teachings of the claim 1 are similarly applied.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein partial reconfiguration of the flexible fieldbus communications interface performed in relation to at least one reconfigurable portion thereof does not impact the function of a static portion thereof or any other reconfigurable portion thereof.
Obvious from the teachings of Col 13, “configuration system 70 includes multiple components, such as software routines that operate together to perform configuration …includes a user input section …pertaining to any or all of the devices…configurator 76 configures different master I/O devices…also enables a user to manipulate and change the configuration of the process control system 10…routine 78 is used to make a change to the configuration of the process control system 10” (partial configuration is performed by the configuration system 70)
12. A network device for an industrial automation system, the network device being configured to perform a method of providing fieldbus connectivity, the method comprising, by the network device for the industrial automation system: obtaining fieldbus connectivity requirements specifying a required fieldbus protocol type using which the network device is to communicate; loading, from a library, a fieldbus connectivity service, wherein the fieldbus connectivity service comprises fieldbus stack software and a fieldbus stack hardware configuration for implementing a protocol stack which conforms to the required fieldbus protocol type; using the fieldbus stack hardware configuration to carry out partial reconfiguration of a flexible fieldbus communications interface, wherein the flexible fieldbus communications interface comprises a portion which remains unaltered during the partial reconfiguration; binding the fieldbus stack software to a portion of the flexible fieldbus communications interface that was partially reconfigured using the fieldbus stack hardware configuration; and using the protocol stack which conforms to the required fieldbus protocol type to provide fieldbus connectivity at the network device.
The teachings of the claim 1 are similarly applied.
13. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a method of providing fieldbus connectivity, the method comprising, by a network device for an industrial automation system: obtaining fieldbus connectivity requirements specifying a required fieldbus protocol type using which the network device is to communicate; loading, from a library, a fieldbus connectivity service, wherein the fieldbus connectivity service comprises fieldbus stack software and a fieldbus stack hardware configuration for implementing a protocol stack which conforms to the required fieldbus protocol type; using the fieldbus stack hardware configuration to carry out partial reconfiguration of a flexible fieldbus communications interface, wherein the flexible fieldbus communications interface comprises a portion which remains unaltered during the partial reconfiguration; binding the fieldbus stack software to a portion of the flexible fieldbus communications interface that was partially reconfigured using the fieldbus stack hardware configuration; and using the protocol stack which conforms to the required fieldbus protocol type to provide fieldbus connectivity at the network device.
The teachings of the claim 1 are similarly applied.
Examiner notes that the Krivoshein reference does not expressly or identically teaches the claimed limitation regarding the separate labeling of the “field bus software and a fieldbus stack hardware configuration”; however, the Krivoshein reference does teach functionally equivalent teachings of the above not expressly labeled limitation of the claimed invention, as can be seen in column 11, line 36, the Krivoshein reference teaches “function blocks, wherein each function block is a part (e.g., a subroutine) of an overall control routine and operates in conjunction with other function blocks via communications called links to implement process control loops with the process control system 10…”. In addition, the examiner notes that the having functional blocks that controls software and hardware configuration are well-known in the art of configuration.
Since the above teachings of the Krivoshein reference (i.e., combinations of function blocks, other function blocks, communication links, overall control routine &control loops) teaches the functionally equivalent limitations of the claimed invention & such not expressly disclosed limitations are well-known in the art, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one having ordinary skill in the art to come up with the claimed invention from the functionally equivalent teachings of the Krivoshein reference for the above detailed teachings and reasons discussed above.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER B SHIN whose telephone number is (571)272-4159. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-4:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, IDRISS N ALROBAYE can be reached at 571-270-1023. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER B SHIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2181
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