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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-15 are present in this application. Claims 1-15 are pending in this office
action.
This office action is NON-FINAL.
Drawings
The Drawings filed on 05/16/25 are acceptable for examination purposes.
Specification
The Specification filed on 05/16/25 is acceptable for examination purposes.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) filed on 05/16/25 has been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Examiner’s Note - 35 U.S.C. § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. § 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination
may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without
the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall
be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in
the specification and equivalents thereof.
Use of the word “means” (or “step for”) in a claim with functional language
creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim element is to be treated in accordance
with 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). The presumption that 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) is invoked is rebutted
on when the function is recited with sufficient structure, material, or acts within the claim
itself to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step for”) in a claim creates a rebuttable
presumption that the claim element is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. §
112(f). The presumption that 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) is not invoked is rebutted when the
claim element recites function but fails to recite sufficiently definite structure, material or
acts to perform that function.
Claim elements in this application that use the word “means” (or “step for”) are
presumed to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office
action. Similarly, claim elements that do not use the word “means” (or “step for”) are
presumed not to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) except as otherwise indicated in an Office
action.
Claims 1-12 limitations “sensing section is configured to sense,” “processing section is configured to update”, “processing section is configured to determine,” and “processing section is configured to increase,” “processing section is configured to reduce”, “setting section is configured to set”, “processing section is configured to identify”, “updating section is configured to include”, “processing section is configured to hinder”, “accepting section is configured to accept”, “accepting section is configured to inform”, “requesting section is configured to acquire”, “providing section is configured to provide”, “section is configured to perform”, “generating section is configured to request”, “the device search section is configured to issue”, have been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) because they use generic placeholders “processing section is configured to,” “setting section is configured to,” and “updating section is configured to,” “accepting section is configured to”, “requesting section is configured to”, “providing section is configured to”, “generating section is configured to”, and “the device search section is configured to,” coupled with functional language “sense,” “update,” “determine,” “increase,” “reduce,” “set,” “identify,” “include,” “hinder,”
“accept,” “inform,”, “acquire,“ “provide,” “perform,“ “request”, without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the functions. Furthermore, the generic placeholders are not preceded by structural modifiers.
Since the claim limitations invokes 35 U.S.C. § 112(f), the specification was
reviewed to find a description of the corresponding structure to achieve the claimed
functions. Examiner found that the specification does not explicitly show a specific
corresponding structure.
If Applicants wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s
interpretation of the corresponding structure, Applicants must identify the corresponding
structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the
drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action.
If Applicants does not intend to have the claim limitations treated under 35 U.S.C.
§ 112(f) Applicants may amend the claims so that they will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C.
§ 112(f) or present a sufficient showing that the claims recites sufficient structure,
material, or acts for performing the claimed functions to preclude application of 35
U.S.C. § 112(f).
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination
Guidelines for Determining Compliance With 35 U.S.C. § 112 and for Treatment of
Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is
directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as directed to non-statutory subject matter of software, per se. The claim(s) lack(s) the necessary physical articles or objects to constitute a machine or manufacture within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. 101. In this case, applicant has claimed “A correlation analysis system comprising: a correlation event sensing section" in the preamble to these claims without
reciting any hardware element in the bodies of these claims; this implies that Applicant
is claiming a device of software, per se, lacking the hardware necessary to realize any
of the underlying functionality. Therefore, claims 1-15 are directed to non-statutory subject matter as computer programs, per se. Examiner suggests adding a recitation of a processor or memory.
Conclusions/Points of Contacts
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant’s disclosure. See form PTO-892.
Muranaka et al. (US 2020/0393807 A1), a method for detecting changes in a manufacturing field system that involves a first network processing data regarding one or more manufacturing machines, and a second network managing a plurality of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) connected to the one or more manufacturing machines, the method including monitoring the plurality of PLCs through the second network.
Narayanan et al. (US 2024/0231322 A1) determining event data based on the industrial data, and generating a knowledge graph based on the industrial data and the event data. When executed, the instructions also cause the processing system to performing operations including identifying an event based on the event data, determining one or more causes of the event based on the knowledge graph, determining one or more remedies based on the one or more causes, and providing for display via a graphical user interface (GUI) the one or more remedies for the event based on the knowledge graph.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MULUEMEBET GURMU whose telephone number is (571)270-7095. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm.
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, Tony Mahmoudi can be reached at 5712724078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MULUEMEBET GURMU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2163
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