Obviousness

To analyze the obviousness of US patent 9482632 under 35 U.S.C. § 103, we must identify combinations of prior art that would render the patent's claims obvious and explain the motivation for combining them. The core invention of US9482632 addresses the problem of inaccurate cooling function abnormality detection in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment when its operational status (e.g., CPU load) is not constant.

Summary of US9482632's Core Invention

US9482632 provides an abnormality detection device, ICT equipment, and method that estimate an upper limit of possible temperatures in a predetermined position of ICT equipment. This estimation is based on both the detected operational status of the ICT equipment and the detected intake-air temperature. An abnormality is determined if the actual temperature in that position exceeds this estimated upper limit. The patent emphasizes that this approach allows for accurate abnormality detection even when the operational status of the ICT equipment is variable, which was a limitation of prior art. The operational status can be, for example, the CPU load or power consumption.

Prior Art References and Their Teachings

The patent itself identifies Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. JP-A 2006-127283 (referred to as Patent Document 1) as relevant background art.

1. JP-A 2006-127283 (Patent Document 1):
   • Teaching: This reference discloses a technique where the temperature of intake air and a CPU temperature are detected. An allowable temperature for the CPU is obtained based on the intake-air temperature, and an abnormality is detected if the CPU temperature exceeds this allowable temperature. It further distinguishes between clogged filters and cooling fan failures based on the fan's rotation speed.
   • Limitation (as described by US9482632): The primary limitation identified by US9482632 is that JP-A 2006-127283 only considers the intake-air temperature to define the allowable CPU temperature. It does not account for variations in the ICT equipment's operational status (e.g., CPU load), which significantly impacts heat generation. Consequently, it may fail to accurately detect abnormalities when the operational status is not constant.

Obviousness Analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103

The claims of US9482632 introduce the crucial step of estimating the upper limit of possible temperatures based on both the operational status and the intake-air temperature.

Combination of Prior Art: JP-A 2006-127283 in view of general knowledge or other cited art related to operational status-based thermal management.

A person having ordinary skill in the art (PHOSITA) in the field of ICT equipment thermal management would have been aware of the need to manage heat dissipation in electronic devices, especially CPUs, whose heat output varies significantly with their workload or operational status.

The problem identified by US9482632—that "the amount of heat generated by the CPU substantially triples depending on the operational status and this fact is not considered in the technique described in Patent Document 1, so that it is impossible to accurately detect an abnormality such as clogging of the filter"—is a well-known characteristic of modern computing equipment.

A PHOSITA, seeking to improve the accuracy of the abnormality detection system described in JP-A 2006-127283, would recognize that relying solely on intake-air temperature for a fixed allowable CPU temperature is insufficient for equipment with variable workloads. It would be a logical step to integrate information about the equipment's operational status into the thermal monitoring and abnormality detection process.

Motivation for Combination:

The motivation to combine the teachings of JP-A 2006-127283 with the consideration of operational status would be to improve the accuracy and reliability of cooling abnormality detection in ICT equipment with dynamically changing workloads. If a PHOSITA wanted to make the abnormality detection system of JP-A 2006-127283 more robust and accurate for contemporary ICT equipment, they would naturally look for ways to account for the variable heat generation. Using CPU load or power consumption as an indicator of operational status to adjust expected temperature ranges is a common and logical engineering practice in thermal management for electronic devices.

For instance, consider Claim 1 of US9482632:
"1. An abnormality detection device for detecting an abnormality in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment having a cooling fan, the abnormality detection device comprising: a hardware processor comprising: an estimating unit configured to estimate an upper limit of possible temperatures in a predetermined position of ICT equipment when a quantity of intake air into the ICT equipment is appropriate, based on a result of detection by an operational status detecting unit that detects an operational status of the ICT equipment and a result of detection by an intake-air temperature sensor that detects an intake air temperature of intake air of the ICT equipment, wherein the operational status of the ICT equipment and the intake air temperature of the ICT equipment determines a rotation speed of the cooling fan; and a determining unit configured to determine that an abnormality is occurring when a result of detection by a temperature sensor that detects a detected equipment temperature in the predetermined position is beyond the upper limit estimated by the estimating unit."

JP-A 2006-127283 teaches detecting intake air temperature and CPU temperature, determining an allowable temperature based on intake air temperature, and detecting an abnormality when the CPU temperature exceeds this allowable temperature. The missing element is the "operational status detecting unit" and using its result to estimate the upper limit of possible temperatures.

A PHOSITA addressing the deficiency of JP-A 2006-127283, which US9482632 explicitly highlights, would readily recognize that the "allowable temperature" should not be solely dependent on intake-air temperature but also on the heat generated by the components. Since heat generation is directly tied to operational status (e.g., CPU load or power consumption), it would be an obvious design choice to incorporate operational status detection into the allowable temperature calculation.

Many other prior art documents, although not explicitly detailing the combination, suggest that dynamic fan control and thermal management based on workload or power consumption were known. For example, US20060231639A1 discusses "Thermal modeling and error detection in a data processing configuration," and US20110057803A1 describes a "Temperature predicting apparatus and method." While specific details for an obviousness combination would require a deeper dive into these, the core motivation for using operational status to refine thermal thresholds in systems like JP-A 2006-127283 is rooted in basic engineering principles for improving system accuracy and efficiency.

Therefore, the combination of JP-A 2006-127283 (for the fundamental abnormality detection mechanism based on temperature) with the general knowledge in the art regarding variable heat generation in ICT equipment based on operational status and the corresponding need to adjust thermal thresholds or cooling parameters accordingly, would render the claims of US9482632 obvious. The motivation would be to overcome the acknowledged shortcoming of static temperature thresholds in dynamically loaded ICT equipment, as recognized by US9482632 itself.

This applies to independent claims 1 (device), 8 (equipment), and 9 (method) because they all incorporate the same fundamental inventive concept of using operational status alongside intake-air temperature to determine temperature limits for abnormality detection.