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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant Arguments/Remarks pages 5-7, filed on 10/15/2025, with respect to claims 1-18 under 35 U.S.C. 102/103 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to argued, amended, claim elements “"ranking the potential LZs for the VTOL aircraft based on the category and the severity of the emergency condition"”; B. et al., Pub. No.: US 20210264798 A1 teaches all argued claim elements. See para. [0015] “type of failure”, “off-airfield landing zones”, [0021] “ emergency landing zone module 52 to find potential off-airfield landing zones. , & [0025] “fault conditions identified … different urgency levels … may input an emergency level directly by selecting an urgency level or selecting an emergency type (passenger cardiac arrest, passenger panic attack, engine failure) and … determine a distance based … to serve as a feasible emergency landing zone. … to determine a list of suitable candidate emergency landing zones”, as cited on the Office Action.
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 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over B. et al., Pub. No.: US 20210264798 A1 in view of Groden et al., Pub. No.: US 20190033862 A1.
Regarding claims 1 & 10, B. et al. discloses a method & a system for emergency landing routing and prioritization for a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft ([0014] With reference to FIG. 1, the herein disclosed emergency landing guidance system 10 is configured to analyze terrain (based on terrain data from a terrain database 36) and situational parameters (based on aircraft data 62 from a sensor system 18 and environmental data from weather information sources 22) of the VTOL vehicle 34 like ground effects and rotor speed and compute an optimal target emergency landing zone in the nearest region where the aircraft can land safely.) comprising:
(claim 10 : a computing device located onboard the VTOL aircraft comprising a processor and a non-transitory system memory ([0020] Processing system 12 includes one or more processors 36 that are configured to execute computer programming instructions stored on non-transitory memory (not shown) and embodied in computer programs 38.”), where the computing device, comprising):
detecting an emergency condition onboard the VTOL aircraft that requires a landing; categorizing the emergency condition onboard the VTOL aircraft based on severity ([0025] “the search radius used by candidate landing zone determination module 48 is dynamically determined depending on the nature of the emergency and/or remaining fuel/charge. For example, fault conditions identified in aircraft data 62 may be associated with different urgency levels by processing system 12. A user may input an emergency level directly by selecting an urgency level or selecting an emergency type (passenger cardiac arrest, passenger panic attack, engine failure) and processing system 12 may assign the urgency level using predetermined mappings. The greater the urgency level, the smaller the search radius. Lesser amounts of fuel will correspond to smaller search radii.”);
identifying all potential landing zones (LZs) for the VTOL aircraft ([0025] “candidate landing zone determination module 48 is configured to determine a distance based on current or projected fuel/charge consumption rate (from aircraft data 62), amount of remaining fuel/charge and current or projected speed (from aircraft data 62) to determine how far VTOL vehicle 34 can feasibly travel before the remaining fuel/charge is wholly consumed and to use that distance in determining the search radius. In other embodiments, a conservative fixed search radius is selected. In some embodiments, search area is defined by both a maximum radius (as described) and a minimum radius.”);
categorizing the potential LZs for the VTOL aircraft based on suitability for landing ([0025] “Minimum radius may take into account current energy and altitude of VTOL vehicle 34 (based on aircraft data 62) to determine an area or radius that is too close to VTOL vehicle location to serve as a feasible emergency landing zone. Candidate landing zone determination module 48 is thus configured to determine a list of suitable candidate emergency landing zones that are sufficiently nearby with respect to a determined search radius (or area). The list of suitable candidate emergency landing zones is embodied in candidate landing zone data 76.);
ranking the potential LZs for the VTOL aircraft based on the category and the severity of the emergency condition onboard the VTOL aircraft in view of the suitability of the LZs (. [0015] “type of failure”, “off-airfield landing zones”, [0021] “ emergency landing zone module 52 to find potential off-airfield landing zones., & [0025] “the search radius used by candidate landing zone determination module 48 is dynamically determined depending on the nature of the emergency and/or remaining fuel/charge. For example, fault conditions identified in aircraft data 62 may be associated with different urgency levels by processing system 12. A user may input an emergency level directly by selecting an urgency level or selecting an emergency type (passenger cardiac arrest, passenger panic attack, engine failure) … to determine a distance based on current or projected fuel/charge consumption rate (from aircraft data 62), amount of remaining fuel/charge and current or projected speed (from aircraft data 62) to determine how far VTOL vehicle 34 can feasibly travel before the remaining fuel/charge is wholly consumed and to use that distance in determining the search radius. … to determine an area or radius that is too close to VTOL vehicle location to serve as a feasible emergency landing zone. Candidate landing zone determination module 48 is thus configured to determine a list of suitable candidate emergency landing zones … The list of suitable candidate emergency landing zones is embodied in candidate landing zone data 76. [0027] Processing system 12 includes a target emergency landing zone selection module 50, ... to assess each approach path in the approach path data 78 with respect to ground effect issues, … to receive metrics indicating a degree of severity of these VTOL vehicle related issues ... Based on minimizing the severity metrics, … to invoke one or more other modules for determining severity metrics for VTOL vehicle related issues …, the one or more other modules utilize wind parameters as an input in determining the severity metrics. & [0031] Ground effect … Aircraft parameters … degraded performance that is currently available due to emergency, ... Environmental parameters … weather parameters” & [0032] “to determine a modified trend vector based on environmental conditions like wind and fault conditions causing changed performance of the VTOL vehicle 34 (e.g. a reduced power affecting speed or maneuvering). In other embodiments, a module for determining an updraft/downdraft metric is provided. Processing system 12 is configured to analyze terrain data 60 to determine conditions … target emergency landing zone selection module 50 to select a target emergency landing zone from the list of candidate landing zones.” & [0033] In some embodiments, processing system includes traffic module 54, which is configured to receive traffic data 72 from traffic information sources 24 and to determine a traffic metric 82 representative of amount (severity) of traffic along each approach path and in proximity to each candidate landing zone.” & ([0034] In embodiments, target emergency landing zone selection module 50 is configured to also take into account traffic metric (or generally traffic data 72) in selecting a target emergency landing zone from a list of candidate landing zones so as to reduce risk of traffic interference. In some embodiments, target emergency landing zone selection module 50 takes into account further factors like preferring landing zones with less surrounding building density (which can be determined from analyzing terrain data 60).”);
displaying a ranked listing of the potential LZs to an aircrew member of the VTOL aircraft ([0012] FIG. 3 is an exemplary display generated by emergency landing guidance system of FIG. 1” & [0035] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, processing system 12 includes a display generation module 56 configured to generate a display 100 (FIG. 3) graphically highlighting a location of the target emergency landing zone based on target emergency landing zone data. … to accurately locate target emergency landing zone graphic 102. … graphical display of aircraft parameters from aircraft data 62 (like aircraft speed in speed tape 112, aircraft altitude in altitude tape 110 and aircraft location 114). Although display 100 of FIG. 3 is a 3D perspective, synthetic vision display, other display formats are suitable for graphically displaying location of VTOL vehicle 34, approach path to a target emergency landing zone and a location of target emergency landing zone. Display generation module 56 is configured to generate display data 86 representing a display 100 to be rendered by display device 20.” & [0036] Display device 20 is configured to output display 100 based on display data 86.”).
B. et al. is not explicit on “prompting the aircrew member of the VTOL aircraft to select an LZ from the ranked listing of the potential LZs”, however, Groden et al., US 20190033862 A1, teaches SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, VEHICLE CONTROL, AND/OR CONTINGENCY PLANNING and discloses,
prompting the aircrew member of the VTOL aircraft to select an LZ from the ranked listing of the potential LZs ([0018] “prompting the operator for specific decisions and/or other information, cross-checking (and/or helping the operator to cross-check) various inputs, and/or any other suitable situational awareness enhancements. … segmenting responsibilities between the operator and autopilot modules (e.g., according to a training program that progressively assigns greater responsibility to the human operator), prompting the operator to act based on the aircraft conditions and/or instructing the operator on the correct or suggested action” & [0066] “S340 can include generating an alert output (e.g., auditory output such as a klaxon, ‘ding’, and/or spoken alert; visual output such as a flashing alarm, indicator light, and/or display screen message; tactile output such as a stick shaker; etc.) in response to determining the existence of a potential issue, which may prompt the operator to take corrective action. The alert output can be indicative of the aircraft conditions (e.g., “altitude below flight plan” or “altitude is 3200 feet”) and/or the suggested corrective actions (e.g., “pull up” or “climb and maintain 5000 feet”), but can additionally or alternatively be indicative of any other suitable information. One variation of this embodiment includes, in response to detecting an undesired aircraft condition: determining a set of corrective actions (e.g., to correct the undesired condition); presenting an alert to an operator, informing the operator of the undesired condition and/or the corrective actions; receiving confirmation (e.g., approval of the corrective actions, absence of denial of the corrective actions for a threshold period of time, etc.) from the operator” & [0078] The issue is preferably noted and/or communicated to other entities (e.g., ground station network), and can prompt further investigation and/or repair (e.g., the issue is ‘flagged’ for further attention during post-flight inspection and/or maintenance” & [0096] “in response to determining the pilot control input is unreliable, which may prompt the pilot to correct the input.”) : and
automatically landing the VTOL aircraft at a top ranked LZ from the ranked listing of the potential LZs if the aircrew member fails to respond to the prompting to select an LZ.
(([0018] “assuming control when issues arise beyond the operator's skill (e.g., acting as a ‘safety net’ for the human operator), monitoring and/or assessing the operator's abilities, and/or performing any other suitable training aspects.” & [0056] “a course tracking issue can be determined based on a discrepancy between aircraft heading data (e.g., determined based on magnetometer readings, controlled by an autopilot system, etc.)” & [0064] “S340 can include directly controlling aircraft components and/or providing higher-level aircraft control guidance, and can additionally or alternatively include controlling the aircraft in any other suitable manner. … Providing higher-level guidance can include, for example, altering the planned aircraft route (e.g., providing new tracks and/or waypoints to an aircraft autopilot system), commanding the aircraft to land (e.g., perform an emergency landing; reroute to a dedicated landing site, such as the closest site or the site that can be reached at the lowest risk; etc.), updating the aircraft decision-making algorithms, and/or providing any other suitable guidance. … at any suitable time. S340 can additionally or alternatively include determining and/or implementing (e.g., controlling the aircraft based on) one or more modified flight plans (e.g., different than a flight plan in use prior to determining the aircraft conditions S330), such as selecting, flying to, and/or landing at a new aircraft destination, and/or aborting or changing a mission associated with the aircraft. S340 can additionally or alternatively include controlling the aircraft in an alternate state” & [0066] “in response to detecting an undesired aircraft condition: determining a set of corrective actions (e.g., to correct the undesired condition); … in response to receiving the confirmation, controlling the aircraft according to the corrective actions.” & [0068] “S340 can include … controlling the aircraft to correct the issue (e.g., activating an autopilot module to correct the issue).” & [0077] “evaluating the aircraft conditions in light of the inability and determining appropriate corrective actions … rerouting (e.g., to reduce the magnitude and/or probability of operational challenges during flight), performing an expedited landing (e.g., at the nearest dedicated landing location or the dedicated landing location the aircraft can reach most easily or at the lowest risk) or an emergency landing (e.g., in a non-standard landing location, such as the nearest or most easily reached acceptable landing location), deploying one or more safety systems (e.g., retro-rockets, ballistic parachutes, etc.), and/or any other suitable corrective actions.” & [0096] In a fifth variant, a pilot control input is determined to be unreliable. … if the system determines that the pilot's decision-making abilities may be compromised … in response to determining the pilot control input is unreliable, which may prompt the pilot to correct the input.” & [0109] Determining guidance S440 can optionally be based on which inputs are unreliable (and/or the extents of their unreliability, such as confidence metrics, duration of unreliability, etc.). … in the alternate state(s), the guidance can correspond to controlling the aircraft to fly more conservatively, to abort its current mission and proceed to a landing area, to perform an emergency landing, to deploy emergency safety systems, and/or to operate in any other suitable manner. Additionally or alternatively, human pilot input (e.g., on-board pilot, remote pilot) can be requested and/or required (e.g., wherein other conservative actions, such as emergency landing and/or safety system deployment, are performed if human pilot input is not received).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use these above mentioned features disclosed by Groden et al. with the system disclosed by B. et al., in order to provide a method determining; aircraft conditions, and/or acting based on the aircraft conditions; determining input reliability, determining guidance, and/or controlling aircraft operation; operating the vehicle, planning for contingencies, detecting undesired flight conditions, and/or reacting to undesired flight conditions (see Abstract & para. [0002]).
Regarding claims 2 & 11, B. et al. discloses the method of claim 1 & system of claim 10, where all available LZs are downloaded from a database prior to aircraft departure and stored onboard the aircraft ([0014] With reference to FIG. 1, the herein disclosed emergency landing guidance system 10 is configured to analyze terrain (based on terrain data from a terrain database 36) and situational parameters (based on aircraft data 62 from a sensor system 18 and environmental data from weather information sources 22) of the VTOL vehicle 34 like ground effects and rotor speed and compute an optimal target emergency landing zone in the nearest region where the aircraft can land safely.” & [0015] “algorithmically selecting a target emergency landing zone. … an emergency landing zone database 16 is maintained by comprehensively recording potential emergency landing zones. Emergency landing zone database 16 is updated with historical data of off-airfield landing zones. Further, terrain data 60 from terrain database 26 can be analyzed to select landing zones based on geographical conditions of an area, which can be used to update emergency landing zone database 16. Using data from emergency landing zone database 16, a list of candidate landing zones near the VTOL vehicle 34 is considered.).
Regarding claims 3-5 & 12-14, B. et al. discloses the method of claim 1 & system of claim 10, ( claims 3 & 12) where VTOL aircraft is a helicopter
( claims 4 & 13) where VTOL aircraft is a tilt rotary aircraft
( claims 5 & 14) where VTOL aircraft is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft
([0019] VTOL vehicle 34 is one that can hover, take off, and land vertically. VTOL vehicles can include a variety of types of aircraft including fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors. VTOL vehicle 34 may be an electric or hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft eVTOL or may be otherwise powered. VTOL vehicle 34 can be a human piloted (ground based or cockpit based) aircraft (usually with assistance of an autopilot module 44) or an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone). VTOL vehicle 34 is, in embodiments, a passenger air vehicle (PAV) or does not carry passengers (e.g. a cargo aircraft). In embodiments, VTOL vehicle 34 is a rotorcraft.).
Regarding claims 6-9 & 15-18, B. et al. discloses the method of claim 1 & system of claim 10,
( claims 6 & 15) where the suitability for landing of LZs is categorized based on capabilities of the VTOL aircraft ([0026] “an approach path determination module 46 configured to determine an approach path for each candidate landing zone listed in candidate landing zone data 76. … to run a navigation finding algorithm that takes into account … constraints of the VTOL vehicle 34 such as maximum and minimum performance capabilities to generate a sequence of three-dimensional way points (latitude, longitude and latitude) forming an approach path. In embodiments, navigation finding algorithm is configured to minimize distance in determining the approach path.),
( claims 7 & 16) where the suitability for landing of LZs is categorized based on obstacles on the ground ([0016] “From the reduced list of candidate landing zones, one or more target emergency landing zones is selected additionally by determining whether the approach path is clear of buildings and traffic based on traffic data 72 (ground and air traffic) from traffic information sources 24 and building descriptions in terrain data 60.),
( claims 8 & 17) where the suitability for landing of LZs is categorized based on weather conditions ([0016] “Processing system 12 is configured to consider wind, temperature and other weather conditions (based on weather data 66 from weather information sources 22) in checking each approach path.),
(claims 9 & 18) where the suitability for landing of LZs is categorized based on the time of day ([0021] Processing system 12 includes an emergency landing module 52 configured to maintain emergency landing zone database 16. … to receive input data representing landing zones from sources of candidate landing zones 14… to receive historical landing zone data 68 from landing zone database 28. Historical landing zone data 68 includes information on off-airfield landing zones “ & [0024] “Suitability of landing zones may be determined based on search radius and additional parameters such as landing zone requirements specific to the VTOL vehicle 34. … may include corresponding fields defining each parameter of the landing zone to allow such interrogation.” & [0025] “the search radius used by candidate landing zone determination module 48 is dynamically determined depending on the nature of the emergency and/or remaining fuel/charge.” & [0035] “Display generation module 56 is configured to transform real world coordinates of target emergency landing zone in target emergency landing zone data 84 into image space in order to accurately locate target emergency landing zone graphic 102. ).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See Notice of References Cited.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jalal C CODUROGLU whose telephone number is (408)918-7527. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 8-6 PT.
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/Jalal C CODUROGLU/Examiner, Art Unit 3665
/DONALD J WALLACE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3665