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 Objections
Claims 23 is objected to because of the following informalities: there are two claim 23, claim number 23 that follows claim 21 should be claim 22. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-5, 10-11, 13, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eberhard (DE 102,005,016,209) in view of Maharaja et al (US 2016/0,344,685; hereinafter Maharaja).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Eberhard disclose a link system and method performed by a link system (1) for a spacecraft (9), and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for implementing the method according to claim 13, when executed on a device having processing capabilities, the spacecraft comprising:
a plurality of subsystems (3, 4) interconnected with each other (Fig. 1; paras. [0013]),
an on-board computer (2) configured to communicate with the subsystems (3, 4) and to at least convey data between the subsystems (3, 4) and the link system (1) (Fig. 5),
and a wireless communication system (5) configured to communicate data between the spacecraft (9) and at least one external entity (7, 8) (para. [0017]), wherein the link system (1) comprises control and communication circuitry (12-16; Fig. 2) and configured to:
communicate with the subsystems (3, 4) and configured to manage communication between the subsystems (3, 4) and the external entity (6, 11), determine that an anomaly has occurred in functionality of the on-board computer (2) and/or in functionality of at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems (3, 4), and as a consequence of the determination that an anomaly has occurred (if a critical component of one of the subsystems (3, 4) fails or another serious malfunction occurs, this is registered by the satellite on-board computer (2), which then autonomously and in real time transmits an emergency message to the link system (1) for emergency signals; para. [0014]), initiating a recovery procedure that comprises enabling the external entity (150, 152) to perform recovery actions in relation to the on-board computer (2) and/or in relation to at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems (3, 4) (emergency signals are sent to the external entity (11) for suitable rescue and countermeasures from the ground station (11); paras. [0003]-[0004], [0019]-[0020]). Eberhard do not explicitly disclose a link system configured to communicate with the subsystems independent of the on-board computer and configured to manage communication between the subsystems and the external entity via the wireless communication system. In the same field of endeavor, Maharaja disclose a link system (22; Fig. 4) configured to communicate with the subsystems (12-17) independent of the on-board computer (CPU) and configured to manage communication between the subsystems (12-17) and the external entity (relay satellite or ground station) via the wireless communication system (para. [0064]; Fig. 4), and a wireless communication system (20) configured to communicate (via transceiver and antenna) data between the spacecraft (10) and at least one external entity (relay satellite or ground station; Fig. 5; para. [0067]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to do so in order to provide a connection link that can connect with all the subsystems and the wireless system via a connection bus system for more efficient and fast communication and emergency messaging with the ground terminals and other relay satellites.
Regarding claim 2 and 16, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system and method of claim 1 and 13 respectively, configured such that: the determination that an anomaly has occurred comprises receiving, from the external entity, information that the anomaly has occurred (the ground control center detects serious system error on board a satellite, such as the failure of payload, sensors actuators of the satellite and communicate information with satellite; Eberhard, para. [0002]).
Regarding claim 3 and 17, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system and method of claim 1 and 13 respectively, configured such that: the determination that an anomaly has occurred comprises detecting that the anomaly has occurred (an emergency signal is generated by a communication unit on board a satellite when serious system errors are detected, Eberhard, ¶ [0005]).
Regarding claim 4 and 18, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system and method of claim 1 and 13 respectively, configured such that the determination that an anomaly has occurred comprises determining that a limitation of the on-board computer to communicate with at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems has occurred (the link system (22) is unable to route commands to the subsystems (12-17) by detecting that the on-board computer (CPU) of the COMM system (20) has faults or limit violations and is unable to communicate with the subsystems (12-17); Maharaja; paras. [0064]-[0066], [0089]-[0091]).
Regarding claim 5 and 19, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system and method of claim 1 and 13 respectively, configured such that: the determination that an anomaly has occurred comprises determining that a limitation of the on-board computer to execute a scheduled management task associated with at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems has occurred (a critical component of one of the subsystems fails or another serious malfunction occurs causing a blockage for the on-board computer to send commands effectively to one of the subsystems, Eberhard; ¶ [0014]; fault detection system of the on-board CPU of system 20 detects a fault or violation has occurred causing a limit in the data flow and commands to the subsystems; Maharaja, paras. [0066], [0089]).
Regarding claim 10, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system of claim 1, configured such that the recovery procedure initiated by the link system comprises: receiving, from the external entity, a request for telemetry data from at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems, obtaining, from the at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems, telemetry data, and transmitting, to the external entity, the obtained telemetry data (requesting transmission of telemetry data from the user or CMD center on the ground, obtaining the telemetry data (TLM) from the at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems (12-20), and transmits the telemetry data to the user or CMD center on the ground; Maharaja, paras. [0074], [0078], [0090]; Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 11, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system of claim 1, wherein: the wireless communication system (1, 5) is configured to communicate with at least one external entity in the form of a ground station (10, 11) in a fixed-satellite service system, FSS, or in the form of another spacecraft (6, 7, 8) in an inter-satellite service system, ISS (Eberhard; para. [0015], Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 23, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (computer readable non-transitory storage medium) having stored thereon instructions for implementing the method according to claim 13, when executed on a device having processing capabilities (para. [0067]).
Claims 6 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eberhard (DE 102,005,016,209) in view of Maharaja et al (US 2016/0,344,685) further in view of Granier (EP 2,629,201).
Regarding claim 6 and 20, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system and method of claim 1 and 13 respectively, configured such that the recovery procedure initiated by the link system comprise transmitting the anomaly information to the external entity (the emergency or anomaly message is sent from the on-board computer 2 of the satellite 9, an emergency message is first generated autonomously and in real time at block 12, which, in addition to an identification number that identifies the satellite, contains other parameters, such as the type of fault that has occurred or the time of the fault, and is transmitted to the receiving station 11 and the satellite control center 10; paras. [0015]-[0016]). Eberhard and Maharaja do not disclose storing anomaly information pertaining to the anomaly in functionality of the on-board computer. In the same field of endeavor, Granier disclose storing anomaly information pertaining to the anomaly in functionality of the on-board computer (paras. [0004], [0034]-[0036]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to record the anomaly in an event history or log file to identify a particular anomaly so that it can be retrieved and sent to the external entities to solve the anomaly issues (Granier; paras. [[0037]-0038]).
Claims 7-9 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eberhard (DE 102,005,016,209) in view of Maharaja et al (US 2016/0,344,685; hereinafter Maharaja) further in view of Telespazio et al (EP 3,493,428; hereinafter Telespazio).
Regarding claim 7 and 21, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system and method of claim 1 and 13 respectively, wherein they do not disclose the system and method is configured such that the recovery procedure initiated by the link system comprises: receiving, from the external entity, at least one command to execute a restart procedure of the on-board computer, and executing a restart procedure of the on-board computer according to the received at least one command. In the same field of endeavor, Telespazio disclose a system is configured such that the recovery procedure initiated by the link system comprises: receiving, from the external entity, at least one command to execute a restart procedure of the on-board computer, and executing a restart procedure of the on-board computer according to the received at least one command (after transmitting the telemetry data, the CPU of the satellite wait for commands from the ground station 11 related the detected failures, and then the operating logic restarts; paras. [0043], [0050], [0062]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to have the external entity provide countermeasures in a short reaction time to put the satellite in a safe mode and recovering it from the failure (Telespazio;
¶ [0062]).
Regarding claim 8 and 22, Eberhard and Maharaja disclose the link system and method of claim 1 and 13 respectively, configured such that the recovery procedure initiated by the link system comprises: enabling direct communication between the external entity and at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems (Maharaja; subsystem 20 has transceiver that is able to directly communicate telemetry to the ground station and directly receives commands from the ground station and ground users that sends commands to the satellites specifically to subsystems 12-17 and 19; paras. [0052], [0067], [0071]; Figs. 4-5). Eberhard and Maharaja do not disclose the other subsystems communicate directly with the external entity. In the same field of endeavor, Telespazio disclose the ground stations 11 might be conveniently configured to directly transmit to the respective on-board TT&C units or subsystems of the satellite acknowledgements of the received telemetry packets (para. [0052]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to do so in order to provide communication directly to the specific subsystem that failed for speedy recovery of that subsystem.
Regarding claim 9, Eberhard, Maharaja, and Telespazio disclose the link system of claim 8, configured such that the enabling of direct communication between the external entity and at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems comprises: establishing a communication channel between the link system and the at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems, transmitting, to the external entity, information configured to enable the external entity to obtain access to the established channel and thereby enabling the external entity to communicate with the at least one subsystem among the plurality of subsystems via the channel (link system 22 communicate with the subsystems 13-19 via the satellite system bus channel, transmit and route to the external entity via the satellite to ground station antenna telemetry data packets to enable the ground station to send recovery commands or procedures to the subsystems; Maharaja, paras. [0069]-[0071], Figs. 4, 5).
Conclusion
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/LANA N LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648