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 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 1-2, 4-7, 9-12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. (US 7478251 and Diab hereinafter) in view of EIFERT et al. (DE 102014221549 A1 and EIFERT).
Regarding claim 1, Diab discloses a method of operating a power-sourcing network [figs. 1-5] device during a loss of utility power [cl. 3, ln. 6-26], the method comprising: providing a network switch [110] having a plurality of individually controllable Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports [155-1, 155-2, …, 155-Z] configured to supply power to a plurality of powered network devices [170-1, 170-2, …, 170-N]; supplying operating power to the network switch from a primary power source [125] connected to a battery backup unit [120] during normal operation; supplying backup power to the network switch from the battery backup unit; storing [controller 112 that stores backup power priority information 118, cl. 6, ln. 54-67], in a memory [inherent] of the network switch, a respective shutdown threshold [power sourcing equipment 130 selectively discontinues providing power to the network devices 170 depending on the amount of energy available from the backup power supply 130, cl. 13, ln. 21-24] associated with each of the plurality of PoE ports, each shutdown threshold corresponding to a battery state of the battery backup unit [cl. 13, ln. 11-67]; monitoring [cl. 9, ln. 30-35], by processing circuitry [110] of the network switch upon a loss of power from the primary power source, a battery state [Available Backup Power, cl. 13, ln. 11-67] telemetry [message transmitted through communication interface 345] received from the battery backup unit while the battery backup unit is supplying backup power to the network switch; the battery state telemetry including the at least one battery-state metric [cl. 4, ln. 1-40]; and selectively disabling [depowering, cl. 10, ln. 11-25], by the processing circuitry [see fig. 6], one or more of the plurality of PoE ports when the monitored battery state metric reaches the shutdown threshold associated with the one or more PoE ports so as to reduce electrical load on the battery backup unit while maintaining power to remaining PoE ports [cl. 13, ln. 11-67]. Diab does not explicitly disclose wherein the battery state comprises at least one battery-state metric that includes a state of charge (SOC), remaining capacity [the amount of energy available], battery voltage, battery temperature, and estimated remaining runtime.
However, EIFERT discloses [abstract] wherein the threshold value for the shutdown comprises at least one battery-state metric that includes a state of charge (SOC) [page 1-2 and 6], remaining capacity, battery voltage [the battery charging voltage], battery temperature, and estimated remaining runtime. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab by incorporating shutdown threshold of battery state technique as taught in EIFERT in order to ensure that the battery is always sufficiently charged to ensure its functionality.
Regarding claim 2, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses wherein each shutdown threshold is associated with a priority level assigned to a corresponding powered network device [cl. 3, ln. 14-22], and wherein selectively disabling the one or more PoE ports comprises disabling PoE ports associated with lower priority levels before PoE ports associated with higher priority levels [cl. 11, 64-67; cl. 12, ln. 1-8 and 15-40].
Regarding claim 4, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses [fig. 6] wherein monitoring the battery state comprises receiving, via a communication interface [161] of the network switch, telemetry data from a network-connected management card of the battery backup unit [network interface card in power source 120, cl. 12, ln. 50-55], the telemetry data including at least one of: state of charge, remaining runtime, battery voltage, battery current, or output load [cl. 11, ln. 24-67].
Regarding claim 5, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses further comprising automatically re-enabling the disabled PoE ports when power from the primary power source is restored [implicit/ continuous monitoring a priority-based redistribution requires the system to restore power to previously disabled ports when sufficient power becomes available. The circuit cannot function without this feature].
Regarding claim 6, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses further comprising: [cl. 13, ln 11-67] executing a battery runtime calculation engine that estimates remaining runtime of the battery backup unit based on at least the monitored battery state and a current load of the network switch; and adjusting at least one of the shutdown thresholds based on the estimated remaining runtime.
Regarding claim 7, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses [cl. 11, ln. 24-64] wherein storing the shutdown thresholds comprises receiving, via a user interface [network devices 170 (or a user)], configuration data specifying the shutdown thresholds and priority levels for the plurality of PoE ports, and storing the configuration data in the memory.
Regarding claim 9, Diab discloses a power-management system [figs. 1-6] for network port shedding, comprising: Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) [110, figs. 1 and 3-4] that includes a plurality of Power over Ethernet (PoE)-capable ports [155-1, … 155-Z, figs. 1 and 3-4] each configured to supply electrical power and data connectivity to a respective powered network device [170-1, 170-2,…, 170-N, fig. 1] , processing circuitry, and a memory [inherent] for storing port-priority data [controller 112 that stores backup power priority information 118, cl. 6, ln. 54-67] and associated shutdown thresholds [power sourcing equipment 130 selectively discontinues providing power to the network devices 170 depending on the amount of energy available from the backup power supply 130, cl. 13, ln. 21-24] for the plurality of PoE-capable ports (cl. 13, ln. 11-67); and a battery backup unit [120] configured to supply backup power to the PSE upon loss of power from a primary power source [125] coupled to the battery backup unit and to communicate battery-state information to the processing circuitry [using 161] wherein the processing circuitry wherein the battery-state information comprises the at least one battery state metric [energy available from the backup power supply 130, cl. 13, ln. 21-24; wherein the processing circuitry is configured to monitor the battery-state information from the battery backup unit while the PSE is operating on backup power [cl. 13, ln. 11-67], and in response to the at least one battery-state metric [energy available from the backup power supply 130, cl. 13, ln. 21-24] reaching the shutdown threshold associated with a first subset of the PoE-capable ports, disable the first subset of the PoE-capable ports while maintaining power to a second subset of the PoE-capable ports having higher priority [cl. 13, ln. 11-67]. Diab does not explicitly disclose wherein the battery state comprises at least one battery-state metric that includes a state of charge (SOC), remaining capacity, battery voltage, battery temperature, and estimated remaining runtime.
However, EIFERT discloses [abstract] wherein the threshold value for the shutdown comprises at least one battery-state metric that includes a state of charge (SOC) [page 1-2 and 6], remaining capacity, battery voltage [the battery charging voltage], battery temperature, and estimated remaining runtime. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab by incorporating shutdown threshold of battery state technique as taught in EIFERT in order to ensure that the battery is always sufficiently charged to ensure its functionality.
Regarding claim 10, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses [figs. 1 and 3-4] wherein the battery backup unit comprises an uninterruptible power supply [120, fig. 1] including a network management card [network interface card in power source 120, cl. 12, ln. 50-55] configured to communicate the battery-state information to the PSE using at least one of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), HTTP/HTTPS, SSH, or a cloud-based application programming interface [cl. 9, ln 1-10].
Regarding claim 11, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to automatically restore power to the disabled PoE-capable ports when the battery backup unit returns to utility-power operation [implicit/ continuous monitoring a priority-based redistribution requires the system to restore power to previously disabled ports when sufficient power becomes available. The circuit cannot function without this feature].
Regarding claim 12, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses further comprising [cl. 13, ln 11-67] a battery runtime calculation engine implemented by at least one of the processing circuitry of the PSE or external processing circuitry, the battery runtime calculation engine being configured to compute an estimated runtime of the battery backup unit for a given power load and to provide runtime data used by the processing circuitry to set or adjust the shutdown thresholds.
Regarding claim 14, Diab in view of EIFERT discloses wherein the PSE comprises one of: a network switch [switching 110], a network router, a PoE injector, a PoE extender, or a wireless access point with PoE pass-through, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control powering of at least one PoE-capable port through a control interface [112] of the PSE.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. in view of EIFERT et al. further in view Goergen et al. (US 20230107008 and Goergen hereinafter).
Regarding claim 17, Diab discloses processing circuitry [figs. 1-6] of a power-sourcing network device [110, figs. 1 and 3-4] having a plurality of Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports [155-1, 155-2, …, 155-Z, figs. 1 and 3-4] and coupled to a battery backup unit [120, figs. 1 and 3-4], cause the processing circuitry to perform operations comprising: receiving configuration data defining port-priority levels and associated battery-state shutdown thresholds [power sourcing equipment 130 selectively discontinues providing power to the network devices 170 depending on the amount of energy available from the backup power supply 130, cl. 13, ln. 21-24] for respective ones of the plurality of PoE ports [cl. 13, ln. 11-67]; monitoring [cl. 9, ln. 30-35], during a loss of utility power [Occurrence of a Power Failure], telemetry data from the battery backup unit indicative of to be disabled at a given time [depowering, cl. 10, ln. 11-25]; and issuing port-control commands to disable at least one PoE port and maintain power to at least one other PoE port so as to extend available runtime of the battery backup unit for powered devices connected to higher-priority PoE ports [cl. 13, ln. 11-67]. Diab does not explicitly disclose a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry and wherein battery state comprises at least one battery state metric that includes a state of charge (SOC), remaining capacity, battery voltage, battery temperature, and estimated remaining runtime.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Goergen discloses [see fig. 12 and par. 0071] a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry [122]. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab by incorporating a processor executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium in order to provide well known software-based implementation of control logic. Diab in view of EIFERT does not explicitly disclose wherein battery state comprises at least one battery state metric that includes a state of charge (SOC), remaining capacity, battery voltage, battery temperature, and estimated remaining runtime.
However, EIFERT discloses [abstract] wherein the threshold value for the shutdown comprises at least one battery-state metric that includes a state of charge (SOC) [page 1], remaining capacity, battery voltage [the battery charging voltage], battery temperature, and estimated remaining runtime. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab by incorporating shutdown threshold of battery state technique as taught in EIFERT/ Goergen in order to ensure that the battery is always sufficiently charged to ensure its functionality.
6. Claims 3 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. in view of EIFERT et al. further in view Bhattacharyya et al. (US 20240118734 and Bhattacharyya hereinafter).
Regarding claim 3, Diab in view of EIFERT teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above. Diab in view of EIFERT further teaches wherein the priority levels comprise at least a highest-priority level and a second highest priority [cl. 10, ln 12-44]. Diab in view of EIFERT does not explicitly disclose a medium-priority level, and a critical-priority level, the method further comprising: disabling PoE ports having the low-priority level when the battery state falls below a first percentage of remaining charge, disabling PoE ports having the medium-priority level when the battery state falls below a second percentage of remaining charge less than the first percentage; and disabling PoE ports having the critical-priority level when the battery state falls below a third percentage of remaining charge less than the second percentage.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Bhattacharyya discloses determine power priority based on battery charge state threshold (e.g., exceeds the threshold in some examples, or equals/exceeds the threshold) [par. 0077]. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab in view of EIFERT by incorporating a battery charge state threshold technique into priority-based power allocation system as taught in Bhattacharyya in order to improve backup power operation. Furthermore, because the claim does not require any specific numerical percentage values, merely the threshold expressed as percentage, the use of percentage-based threshold would have been an obvious design choice or routine parameter selection.
Regarding claim 13, Diab in view of EIFERT teaches all the features with respect to claim 9 as outlined above. Diab in view of EIFERT does not explicitly disclose wherein the memory further stores a multi-stage shedding configuration defining a plurality of battery-state stages and a corresponding set of PoE-capable ports to be disabled at each stage, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to progress through the multi-stage shedding configuration as the battery-state information indicates decreasing remaining capacity.
However, Bhattacharyya discloses a multi-stage shedding configuration defining a plurality of battery-state stages (e.g., exceeds the threshold in some examples, or equals/exceeds the threshold) [par. 0077] and a corresponding set of PoE-capable ports to be disabled at each stage [par. 0072], and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to progress through the multi-stage shedding configuration as the battery-state information indicates decreasing remaining capacity. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab in view of EIFERT by incorporating plurality of battery-state stages as taught in Bhattacharyya in order to in order to improve backup power operation.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. in view of EIFERT et al. further in view GIAT et al. (WO 2006077570 A1 and GIAT hereinafter).
Regarding claim 15, Diab in view of EIFERT teaches all the features with respect to claim 9 as outlined above. Diab in view of EIFERT does not explicitly disclose wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: receive environmental or security inputs from one or more external systems including at least one of access-control systems, occupancy sensors, or building-management systems; and modify at least one port priority or shutdown threshold responsive to the environmental or security inputs.
However, in the same field of endeavor, GIAT discloses processing circuitry external sensors [par. 0052]. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab in view of EIFERT by incorporating external sensors as taught in GIAT in order to provide modify at least one port priority or shutdown threshold responsive to the environmental inputs.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. in view of EIFERT et al. further in view Goergen et al. and Bhattacharyya et al. further in view of XU et al. (US 2020/0044874 and XU hereinafter).
Regarding claim 18, Diab in view of EIFERT further in view of Goergen teaches all the features with respect to claim 17 as outlined above. Diab in view of EIFERT further in view of Goergen does not explicitly disclose wherein the instructions further cause the processing circuitry to: compute, using an energy-based runtime model, an estimated duration of operation for each of a plurality of staged shedding levels, each stage corresponding to a different subset of enabled PoE ports; and present, via a graphical user interface, a visual representation of the plurality of staged shedding levels and the estimated duration associated with each level.
However, Bhattacharyya discloses a multi-stage shedding configuration defining an energy-based runtime model, an estimated duration of operation for each of a plurality of staged shedding levels, each stage corresponding to a different subset of enabled PoE ports (e.g., exceeds the threshold in some examples, or equals/exceeds the threshold) [par. 0077]. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab/ EIFERT /Goergen by incorporating plurality of battery-state stages as taught in Bhattacharyya in order to in order to improve backup power operation. Diab in view of EIFERT further in view of Goergen and Bhattacharyya does not disclose a graphical user interface [par. 0015, 0020 and 0022], a visual representation of the plurality of staged shedding levels and the estimated duration associated with each level.
However, XU discloses a graphical user interface [par. 0015, 0020 and 0022]. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab // EIFERT/Goergen /Bhattacharyya by incorporating a graphical user interface as taught in XU in order to provide visual representation of the plurality of staged shedding levels and the estimated duration associated with each level.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. in view of EIFERT et al. further in view ZEIGHAMI et al. (WO 2024102181A1 and ZEIGHAMI hereinafter).
Regarding claim 8, Diab in view of EIFERT teaches all the features with respect to claim 17 as outlined above. Diab in view of EIFERT does not explicitly disclose further comprising analyzing historical power-event data and network-device usage patterns to automatically determine at least one of: the shutdown thresholds, a priority level of individual PoE ports, or a schedule at which port shedding is initiated during battery operation.
However, in the same field of endeavor, ZEIGHAMI discloses comprising analyzing historical power-event data and network-device usage patterns [par. 0080 and 0169]. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab in view of EIFERT by incorporating historical power-event data as taught in ZEIGHAMI in order to the shutdown thresholds and a priority level of individual PoE ports.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. in view of EIFERT et al. and Goergen et al. further in view of XU et al.
Regarding claim 19, Diab in view of EIFERT further in view of Goergen teaches all the features with respect to claim 17 as outlined above. Diab in view of EIFERT further in view of Goergen does not explicitly disclose wherein the instructions further cause the processing circuitry to obtain the configuration data from a web-based configurator that enables a user to graphically select individual ports of a virtual representation of a network switch, assign a device type and priority level to each selected port, and transmit resulting configuration data to the power-sourcing network device.
However, XU discloses a graphical user interface [par. 0015, 0020 and 0022]. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab / EIFERT/Goergen by incorporating a graphical user interface as taught in XU in order to provide a user to select individual ports of a virtual representation of a network switch, assign a device type and priority level to each selected port, and transmit resulting configuration data to the power-sourcing network device
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. in view of EIFERT et al.
Regarding claim 16, Diab in view of EIFERT teaches all the features with respect to claim 9 as outlined above. Diab in view of EIFERT does not explicitly disclose wherein the battery backup unit comprises a lithium-ion battery pack or a valve-regulated lead-acid battery pack, and wherein a battery runtime calculation engine applies different discharge models for different battery chemistries when determining an estimated runtime and corresponding shutdown thresholds. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab in view of EIFERT by choosing lithium-ion battery pack or a valve-regulated lead-acid battery pack in order to utilize well known battery and would have been an obvious substitution of one known element to another to obtain predictable results.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Diab et al. in view Goergen et al. further in view ZEIGHAMI et al.
Regarding claim 20, Diab in view of EIFERT further in view of Goergen teaches all the features with respect to claim 17 as outlined above. Diab in view of EIFERT further in view of Goergen does not explicitly disclose wherein the instructions further cause the processing circuitry to: learn, over time, device-usage patterns, historical power-event information, or UPS-runtime outcomes; and automatically recommend or implement modifications to at least one of the port-priority levels, the shutdown thresholds, or a shedding schedule to increase expected runtime of critical loads during future utility-power outages.
However, in the same field of endeavor, ZEIGHAMI discloses comprising learn, over time, device-usage patterns, historical power-event information [par. 0080, 0112 and 0169]. It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Diab/EIFERT/ Goergen by incorporating historical power-event data as taught in ZEIGHAMI in order to the shutdown thresholds and a priority level of individual PoE ports.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 06/17/2026 with respect to claims 1, 9 and 17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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/METASEBIA T RETEBO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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