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 .
This is a Final rejection is in response to Applicant’s amendment of 01 August 2025. Claims 1-10 are currently pending, as discussed below.
Examiner Notes that the fundamentals of the rejections are based on the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim language. Applicant is kindly invited to consider the reference as a whole. References are to be interpreted as by one of ordinary skill in the art rather than as by a novice. See MPEP 2141. Therefore, the relevant inquiry when interpreting a reference is not what the reference expressly discloses on its face but what the reference would teach or suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/1/2025 have been fully considered and are not persuasive. Regarding 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) rejections, amendments to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9 have been fully considered and are persuasive so 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) rejection to claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9 has been withdrawn. Amendment to claim 3 is not persuasive and 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) rejection to claim 3 is sustained. Amendments and arguments Regarding 35 U.S.C. § 101 rejections to claims 1-8 and 10 have been fully considered and is persuasive. Examiner withdraws the 35 U.S.C. 103 rejection for claims 1-10 set forth in office action of 1 May 2025 but is moot in view of new obviousness rejection necessitated by the amendments.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jalali; Ahmad et al. (US 20120202418) in view of Miller; Arthur et al. (US 20190043369 A1), Deng et al. (D. J. Deng, K.C. Chen, R.S. Cheng, "IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks," 2014 10th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness (QSHINE), 2014) and Tu; Haofeng (US 9836049 B1).
Regarding claim 1, Jalali teaches, A communication method based on air to ground wireless communication (see at least [¶27, Jalali]), comprising:
broadcasting signaling messages by a base station (Fig. 7 depicts process block 706, broadcasting a sector wide pilot signal see at least [¶55, Fig. 7, Jalali]:” At process block 706, a sector wide pilot signal is sequentially transmitted on a wide beam by each antenna element of a base station antenna array. In one aspect, the antenna 500 (FIGS. 5) may transmit a Sector Wide Pilot (SWP) on each element of the ground station antenna arrays 520 and 540. In the configuration illustrated in FIG. 6, the ground station antenna system 600 may transmit the sector wide pilot on one of the adjacent antenna panels 610 and 650, 620 and 660, 630 and 670, or 640 and 680 depending on an elevation of the aircraft” );
obtaining a feedback message transmitted from the aircraft (Fig. 7 depicts process block 708, depicts receiving a feedback message from an aircraft, see at least [¶56, Fig. 7, Jalali]:” Referring again to FIG. 7, at process block 708 forward link calibration coefficients of the antenna array may be received from an aircraft in response to the sector wide pilot signals during the calibration periods” );
determining an antenna array unit, of a plurality of antenna array units, required to communicate with the target aircraft based on the feedback message (Fig. 7 depicts process block 710, depicts determining and antenna array unit of the plurality of antenna array elements in the calibration of an antenna array based on feedback message, see at least [¶56, Fig. 7, Jalali]:” At process block 710, real-time calibration of an antenna array of the ground station antenna array system is performed according to the received calibration coefficients” );
transmitting communication information to the target aircraft by the antenna array unit (Fig. 4 depicts a ground base station 102 transmitting signals to an aircraft transceiver 120, see at least [¶37, Fig. 4, Jalali]: ”Downlink signals from modulators 432a through 432t may be transmitted via the antennas 434a through 434t, respectively” );
receiving the communication information by the aircraft (Fig. 4 depicts a ground base station 102 transmitting signals to an aircraft transceiver 120, see at least [¶38, Fig. 4, Jalali]: ” At the aircraft transceiver 120, the antennas 452a through 452r may receive the downlink/forward link signals from the ground base station 102”);
Jalili does not explicitly teach A communication method based on 5G and Wi-Fi 6, comprising: broadcasting signaling messages comprising a physical device identification of a target aircraft by a 5G signal base station; obtaining a feedback message of the target aircraft; determining an antenna array unit, of a plurality of antenna array units, required to communicate with the target aircraft based on the feedback message; transmitting communication information to the target aircraft by the antenna array unit; wherein the communication information comprises control information of a plurality of aircraft in a target aircraft group; receiving the communication information by the target aircraft; and respectively transmitting the control information in the communication information to a corresponding aircraft in the target aircraft group by Wi-Fi 6; and controlling a flight speed, a flight altitude, or a flight direction, by each aircraft in the target aircraft group in response to the control information; wherein each aircraft in the target aircraft group is a low altitude electric drone.
Miller, directed to establishing an ad hoc aircraft-to-aircraft mesh network to provide a redundant backup of critical flight information for an aircraft teaches, A communication method based on 5G and Wi-Fi (see at least [¶71, ¶114, ¶358, Miller]), comprising: broadcasting signaling messages comprising an identification of a target aircraft (Fig. 5 depicts a communication scheme where a server 515 that is coupled to a base station, sends flight data 535, associated with the identification of a discovery aircraft 505 and the target aircraft 510, see at least [¶144, Fig. 5, Miller]:” The terrestrial server 515 may also transmit data associated with the one or more parameters of the mesh network procedure to the aircraft 505, 510”) by a 5G signal base station (The terrestrial server 515 may be networked to a base station, and it is understood that the base station could use NR or 5G wireless technology, see at least [¶358, Miller]); transmitting communication information to the target aircraft by the antenna array unit (Fig. 5 depicts the server 515 sending flight data 535-a, to the discovery aircraft 505, see at least [¶144, Fig. 5, Miller]); wherein the communication information comprises control information of a plurality of aircraft in a target aircraft group (Fig. 5 depicts flight data 535 which contains control instructions for the plurality of aircraft 505, 510 to create a mesh network , see at least [¶144, Fig. 5, Miller]);
receiving the communication information by the target aircraft (Fig. 5 depicts flight data 535-a being received by the discovery aircraft 505, see at least [¶144, Fig. 5, Miller]); and respectively transmitting the control information in the communication information to a corresponding aircraft in the target aircraft group (Fig. 5 depicts transmission beam 560 transmitted from the discovery aircraft to the target aircraft which contains identifying information and flight data from the discovery aircraft, see at least [¶149-151, Fig. 5, Miller]) by Wi-Fi (connection between aircraft may be implemented with IEEE 802.11(Wi-fi), see at least [¶357-358]:, Fig. 5, Miller]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have combined Jalali’s method of a establishing an air-ground communication link between a base station and an aircraft, with the multi-aircraft mesh communication method of Miller which teaches A communication method based on 5G and Wi-Fi, comprising: broadcasting signaling messages comprising an identification of a target aircraft by a 5G signal base station; transmitting communication information to the target aircraft by the antenna array unit; wherein the communication information comprises control information of a plurality of aircraft in a target aircraft group; receiving the communication information by the target aircraft; and respectively transmitting the control information in the communication information to a corresponding aircraft in the target aircraft group by Wi-Fi since they are both related to methods of aircraft communication and incorporation of the teachings of Miller would increase the networked reliability of the overall system by ensuring communication redundancy of a meshed network.
Deng, directed to, IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks, teaches Wi-fi 6 (Wifi-6 standard, IEEE 802.11ax deployment schedule, see at least [Page 79, Col 1, ¶2, Fig. 3, Deng]:” Fig. 3 illustrates the possible timeline and progress toward the 802.11ax standard. The study group was initiated in 2013. Submission of draft to the IEEE-SA for initial sponsor ballot is expected in July, 2017. It is anticipated that actual deployment of the standard will take place at the earliest in late 2019 [3]) and a physical device identification (It is known in the art that MAC addresses identify mobile stations in a Wi-Fi network, see at least [Page 81, Col 1, ¶3, Deng]:” The AP will maintain a list of registered mobile stations and poll them according to the MAC address).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have modified the invention of Jalali and Miller to implement the wireless standard of Deng which teaches Wi-Fi 6 and physical device identification since they are both related to using Wi-Fi networks and incorporation of the teachings of Deng would increase the networked reliability of the overall system by utilizing the latest Wi-fi standard in the industry.
Tu, directed to, a network of relay drones utilized as a set of relays or linkages between a base station and a working drone controlled by the base station, teaches and controlling a flight speed, a flight altitude, or a flight direction, by each aircraft in the target aircraft group in response to the control information (Fig .12 depicts block 1204 where the relay drone executes a task which includes performing navigational task such as remain a certain distance or flight pattern within line of sight of the base station, see at least [Col 22, Line 32-43, Tu] and working drone control signal may be controlled by the base station such as maintain an old pattern over an object, see at least [Col 9, Line 25-45, Tu]) ; wherein each aircraft in the target aircraft group is a low altitude electric drone (drones operating in low-altitude airspace, see at least [Col 12, Line 14, Tu]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have modified the invention of Jalali, Miller and Deng to implement the wireless standard of Tu which teaches and controlling a flight speed, a flight altitude, or a flight direction, by each aircraft in the target aircraft group in response to the control information; wherein each aircraft in the target aircraft group is a low altitude electric drone since they are both related to extending base station communication using aircraft mesh networks and incorporation of the teachings of Tu would increase the reliability of the network to ensure the aircraft remain within line of sight of the controlling base station.
Regarding claim 10, A communication device based on 5G and Wi-Fi 6, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory communicated with the at least one processor (Fig.4 processor 440, Memory 442, see at least [¶69, Fig. 4, Jalali]); wherein the memory stores instructions executed by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to execute the communication method in claim 1 (See rejection for Claim 1, see at least [¶69, Fig. 4, Jalali]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the Memory and Processor of Jalali to implement the method of Jalali, Miller, Deng and Tu which teaches the communication method in claim 1 since they are both related to a wireless aircraft communications and incorporation of the teachings of Feng would improve the robustness and redundancy of the system to by implementing a meshed network between a plurality of aircraft.
Claim 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jalali; Ahmad et al. (US 20120202418) in view of Miller; Arthur et al. (US 20190043369 A1), Deng et al. (D. J. Deng, K.C. Chen, R.S. Cheng, "IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks," 2014 10th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness (QSHINE), 2014) and Tu; Haofeng (US 9836049 B1) as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of GAO; Bo et al. (US 20200120528 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Jalali, in view of Miller Deng and Tu teach, the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the communication method further comprises: wherein a step of broadcasting the signaling messages by the 5G signal base station (Fig. 7 depicts process block 706, broadcasting a sector wide pilot signal see at least [¶55, Fig. 7, Jalali] ) comprises: broadcasting the signaling messages in various directions by the 5G signal base station by via the plurality of antenna array units in 360 degrees azimuth (Fig. 7 depicts process block 706, broadcasting a sector wide pilot signal on each antenna element which spans sector or various directions and Fig .2 depicts antenna array spanning 360 degrees azimuth, see at least [¶55, Fig. 7, ¶28, Fig. 2Jalali] );
Miller, directed to establishing an ad hoc aircraft-to-aircraft mesh network to provide a redundant backup of critical flight information for an aircraft teaches determining an aircraft located within a signal range of the 5G signal base station as the target aircraft (Fig. 1 depicts base stations having a geographic coverage area 110, see at least [¶79, Fig. 1, Miller]:” One or more of a group of UEs 115 utilizing D2D communications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 105, or be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station 105”) according to location information of each of the plurality of aircraft by a server (Fig. 5 depicts 520a and 520b which is information about the location from the plurality of aircraft 505 and 510, see at least [¶140, Fig. 5, Miller]:” The terrestrial server 515 may receive air traffic information 520 from one or both of the aircraft 505, 510. The air traffic information 520 may include may include flight data such as position information, vector information, environment information, flight path information, or a combination thereof. The air traffic information 520 may also include other types of data relevant to air traffic control systems. For example, air traffic information may also include voice communication exchanges between a pilot and a controller, aircraft operation data, or other types of data.”); and transmitting the physical device identification of the target aircraft to the 5G signal base station (Fig. 5 depicts block 525 where the terrestrial server 515 identifies the discovery aircraft and must transmit the identification information to the base station in order to proceed with the method, see at least [¶141, Fig. 3, Miller]:”At block 525, the terrestrial server 515 may identify an aircraft from a plurality of aircraft to perform a discovery procedure and establish directional communication links with some of the other aircraft using an aircraft-to-aircraft mesh network (e.g., mesh network 245)”);
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng and Tu’s method of a establishing an air-ground communication with the teachings of Miller which teaches determining the target aircraft located within a signal range of the 5G signal base station according to location information of each of the plurality of aircraft by a server; and transmitting the physical device identification of the target aircraft to the 5G signal base station since they are both related to methods of aircraft communication and incorporation of the teachings of Miller would ensure that the target aircraft is within a communication range of the base station and the methods of Miller would increase the networked reliability of the overall system by ensuring communication redundancy of a meshed network.
Deng, directed to IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks, teaches a physical device identification (It is known in the art that MAC addresses identify mobile stations in a Wi-Fi network, see at least [Page 81, Col 1, ¶3, Deng]:” The AP will maintain a list of registered mobile stations and poll them according to the MAC address).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng and Tu to implement the teachings of Deng which teaches a physical device identification since they are both related to using Wi-Fi networks and incorporation of the teachings of Deng would increase the networked reliability of the overall system by identifying the MAC address of the target access point node of the mesh networked aircraft.
Tu, directed to, a network of relay drones utilized as a set of relays or linkages between a base station and a working drone controlled by the base station, teaches broadcasting the signaling messages in various directions by the base station by via the plurality of antenna array units in various directions 360 degrees azimuth and elevation (omnidirectional antennas can be utilized by the base station, see at least [Col 7, Line 66 – Col 88, Line 60, Tu]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng and Tu to further implement the method of Tu which teaches broadcasting the signaling messages in various directions by the base station by via the plurality of antenna array units in various directions 360 degrees azimuth and elevation since they are both related to extending base station communication using aircraft mesh networks and incorporation of the teachings of Tu would increase the reliability of the network.
Jalali, Miller, Deng and Tu do not explicitly teach wherein each of the signaling messages comprises an antenna array unit identification of a corresponding antenna array unit broadcasting a corresponding signaling message.
Gao, directed at a system and method for performing robust beam reporting teaches wherein each of the signaling messages comprises an antenna array unit identification of a corresponding antenna array unit broadcasting a corresponding signaling message (A base station sends a reference signal (RS) encoded in a beam, on a per antenna port basis, which is received by the User Equipment. The UE may receive this RS associated with an antenna port and calculate the reference signal received power (RSRP) corresponding to the antenna port ID of the Base Station , see at least [¶5,6, 35, 75, Gao]” Systems and methods in accordance with various embodiments may implement robust beam reporting. Robust beam reporting may include a feedback loop between BSs and UEs that provides sufficient communications details concerning a BS to a UE or, vice versa, concerning a UE to a BS. These communication details may inform, or instruct, the BS or UE to perform highly efficient, calibrated communications that take into consideration all relevant communication details of the BS or UE (when compared to systems that do not implement robust beam reporting)”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng and Tu to implement the teachings of Gao which teaches wherein each of the signaling messages comprises an antenna array unit identification of a corresponding antenna array unit broadcasting a corresponding signaling message since they are both related to calibrating communication networks between a base station and a User Equipment and incorporation of the teachings of Gao would increase the networked reliability of the overall system by providing accurate reference signal reporting between a base station in order to calibrate the antennas for reliable communications.
Regarding claim 3, Jalali, in view of Miller, Deng, Tu and Gao teach the communication method according to claim 2,
Gao, directed at a system and method for performing robust beam reporting further teaches wherein the communication method further comprises: identifying a specific antenna array unit identification in a received signaling message by the target aircraft (The UE determines RSRP associated with the Base Station Port Groups from the Reference Signal, see at least [¶75, Gao]: ” The port group indicator may indicate a predetermined grouping of BS ports (e.g., a BS port group) that may be referenced by the UE when determining RSRP” ); and generating the feedback message comprising the specific antenna array unit identification by the target aircraft (The UE determines RSRP report associated with the Base Station Port Groups from the Reference Signal, see at least [¶75, Gao]: ”upon being instructed for which BS port group may be associated with which reference signals or beams, the UE may produce a report structured in a manner that indicates a correspondence between the RSRP value and the identified BS port groups”);
wherein a step of determining the antenna array unit , of the plurality of antenna array units, required to communicate with the target aircraft based on the feedback message comprises: determining the antenna array unit corresponding to the specific antenna array unit identification as the antenna array unit required to communicate with the target aircraft (the beam report, which contains BS port group IDs is used to calibrate future beams sent from the BS to the UE, see at least [¶34, Gao]: ” beam reporting may be a process in wireless communications where the BS may send a beam to a UE and receive feedback, from the UE, concerning the beam. This feedback may be utilized for calibration of future beams sent from the BS to the UE. These future beams may be calibrated to include user information for receipt by the UE”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tue and Gao to further implement the teachings of Gao which teaches wherein the communication method further comprises: determining a specific antenna array unit identification in a received signaling message by the target aircraft; and generating the feedback message comprising the specific antenna array unit identification; wherein a step of determining the antenna array unit , of the plurality of antenna array units, required to communicate with the target aircraft based on the feedback message comprises: determining the antenna array unit corresponding to the specific antenna array unit identification as the antenna array unit required to communicate with the target aircraft since they are both related to calibrating communication networks between a base station and a User Equipment and incorporation of the teachings of Gao would increase the networked reliability of the overall system by providing accurate reference signal reporting between a base station in order to calibrate the antennas for reliable communications.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jalali; Ahmad et al. (US 20120202418) in view of Miller; Arthur et al. (US 20190043369 A1) in view of Deng et al. (D. J. Deng, K.C. Chen, R.S. Cheng, "IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks," 2014 10th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness (QSHINE), 2014) and Tu; Haofeng (US 9836049 B1) as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Sawai; Ryo (US 20150230168 A1) and GUO; Zhuo et al. (US 20190220042 A1).
Regarding claim 4. Jalali, in view of Miller, Deng and Tu teach the communication method according to claim 1.
Jalali, in view of Miller, Deng and Tu do not explicitly teach, wherein the target aircraft is further determined by: obtaining remaining battery information of each of the plurality of aircraft in the target aircraft group; obtaining remaining flight route information of each of the plurality of aircraft in the target aircraft group; calculating information of battery energy to be consumed by each of the plurality of aircraft based on the remaining flight route information of each of the plurality of aircraft; and determining the target aircraft according to the remaining battery information and the information of the battery energy to be consumed by each of the plurality of aircraft.
Guo, directed to a flight control method teaches, wherein the target aircraft is further determined by: obtaining remaining battery information of each of the plurality of aircraft in the target aircraft group; obtaining remaining flight route information of each of the plurality of aircraft in the target aircraft group; calculating information of battery energy to be consumed by each of the plurality of aircraft based on the remaining flight route information of each of the plurality of aircraft (the method calculates the length of a route that can be executed using the remaining battery which is a measure of the battery energy to be consumed, see at least [¶50, Guo]: ” the process S402 may include acquiring the remaining battery capacity of each of aircrafts; and according to the length of the route that can be executed by the remaining battery capacity of each aircraft”);
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu and Gao to implement the teachings of Guo which teaches wherein the communication method further comprises: obtaining remaining battery information of each of the plurality of aircraft in the target aircraft group; obtaining remaining flight route information of each of the plurality of aircraft in the target aircraft group; calculating information of battery energy to be consumed by each of the plurality of aircraft based on the remaining flight route information of each of the plurality of aircraft since they are both related to controlling a plurality of aircraft and incorporation of the teachings of Guo would optimize the routes flown by a plurality of aircraft based on remaining battery capacity.
Sawai, directed to a communication control apparatus teaches, and determining the target Access point aircraft according to the remaining battery information and the information of the battery energy to be consumed by each of the plurality of access points (An Access Point is determined based on the remaining battery level of the plurality of access points, see at least [¶52, Sawai]: ” When the plurality of dynamic APs suitable to be selected exist, the AP selection unit 134 can select the one dynamic AP on the basis of at least one parameter of performance, mobility, a remaining battery level and availability of a communication link of each dynamic AP”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu and Gao, and Guo to implement the teachings of Sawai which teaches and determining the target access point aircraft according to the remaining battery information and the information of the battery energy to be consumed by each of the plurality of access points and assign the target aircraft as a target access point since the Target Aircraft relays information to the other aircraft like an access point, and incorporation of the teachings of Sawai would increase the networked reliability of the overall system by selecting the target aircraft as an access point since it will be the most reliable node based on having the most battery remaining after accounting for future battery use.
Claims 5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jalali; Ahmad et al. (US 20120202418) in view of Miller; Arthur et al. (US 20190043369 A1), Deng et al. (D. J. Deng, K.C. Chen, R.S. Cheng, "IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks," 2014 10th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness (QSHINE), 2014), Tu; Haofeng (US 9836049 B1), Sawai; Ryo (US 20150230168 A1) and GUO; Zhuo et al. (US 20190220042 A1) as applied to claim 4 above and further in view of DE OLIVEIRA RAFAEL FERNANDES et al. (EP3101642A1) (Machine translation attached).
Regarding claim 5, Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo, and Sawai teach the communication method according to claim 4,
Guo, directed to a flight control method teaches, wherein a step of calculating the information of the battery energy to be consumed by each of the plurality of aircraft based on the remaining flight route information comprises (the method calculates the length of a route that can be executed using the remaining battery which is a measure of the battery energy to be consumed, see at least [¶50, Guo]: ” the process S402 may include acquiring the remaining battery capacity of each of aircrafts; and according to the length of the route that can be executed by the remaining battery capacity of each aircraft”):
Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo, and Sawai do not explicitly teach determining a flight direction and a flight speed of each of the plurality of aircraft; determining a windage pressure of each of the plurality of aircraft in the flight direction; calculating energy required by each of the plurality of aircraft to complete the remaining flight route, according to the windage pressure and the flight speed; and obtaining the information of the battery energy to be consumed based on the energy required by each of the plurality of aircraft.
De Oliveira, directed to a method for determining airports in an available range of an aircraft, teaches, determining a flight direction and a flight speed of an aircraft (the energy calculation includes determining a current speed and current route which includes a direction, see at least [¶27 and ¶31, De Oliveira]: ”determining the current speed of the aircraft … determining the energy consumption with regard to planned flight path”) ; determining a windage pressure of an aircraft in the flight direction (see at least [¶31, De Oliveira]: ”determining the energy consumption based on the weather data, in particular the wind regime”);
calculating energy required by an aircraft to complete the remaining flight route, according to the windage pressure and the flight speed (see at least [¶38, De Oliveira]: ” Flying with the wind direction or against the wind direction significantly changes the energy consumption of the aircraft. Hence, it is preferred that in the step of calculating the energy consumption the wind regime that is expected along the first flight route and/or along the second direction is included in determining the energy consumption”); and obtaining the information of the battery energy to be consumed based on the energy required (Fig. 2 depicts a visualization of the amount of energy that will be used based on the energy required by the mission, see at least [¶109, Fig.2, De Oliveira]: ” Fig. 2 shows a simplified indication bar 26 that shows the battery state. Several sections of the bar 26 indicate the energy that is used, the energy that will be used by the mission, the non-allocated energy and reserve energy of 10%. In”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo and Sawai to implement the teachings of De Oliveira which teaches determining a flight direction and a flight speed of an aircraft; determining a windage pressure of an aircraft in the flight direction; calculating energy required by an aircraft to complete the remaining flight route, according to the windage pressure and the flight speed; and obtaining the information of the battery energy to be consumed based on the energy required and apply the method the energy consumption calculation for the plurality of aircraft taught by Guo, since they are both directed to calculating the energy consumption to surrounding airports and incorporation of the teachings of De Oliveira would increase the calculated accuracy of battery consumption.
Regarding claim 8, Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo, and Sawai teach the communication method according to claim 4, wherein a step of determining the target aircraft according to the remaining battery information and the information of the battery energy to be consumed by each of the plurality of aircraft comprises:
Sawai, directed to a communication control apparatus teaches determining one of the plurality of aircraft who has the greatest remaining battery as the target aircraft (see at least [¶52, Sawai]: ” AP selection unit 134 may select the dynamic AP having the highest remaining battery level (or being connected to a fixed power supply)”).
Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo, and Sawai do not explicitly teach determining one of the plurality of aircraft whose remaining battery is greater than the battery energy to be consumed as the target aircraft.
De Oliveira, directed to a method for determining airports in an available range of an aircraft teaches determining whether the remaining battery is greater than the battery energy to be consumed (the maximum range is the remaining battery and the distance between the travel distance is a measure of the battery to be consumed, see at least [¶21,De Oliveira]: ” In step e), it may be checked whether the maximum range is greater than the distance between the current position of the aircraft and the second airport and/or the waypoint”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo and Sawai which teaches determining one of the plurality of aircraft whose remaining battery is greater than the battery energy to be consumed as the target aircraft to incorporate the teachings of De Oliveira, which teaches determining whether the remaining battery is greater than the battery energy to be consumed and determine the target aircraft to be one where the battery remaining is greater than the batter to be consumed since they are both directed to aircraft control methods and incorporation of the teachings of De Oliveira would improve the reliability of the overall network to ensure that the target aircraft does not run out of battery before the mission is complete.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jalali; Ahmad et al. (US 20120202418) in view of Miller; Arthur et al. (US 20190043369 A1), Deng et al. (D. J. Deng, K.C. Chen, R.S. Cheng, "IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks," 2014 10th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness (QSHINE), 2014), Tu; Haofeng (US 9836049 B1), Sawai; Ryo (US 20150230168 A1), GUO; Zhuo et al. (US 20190220042 A1) and DE OLIVEIRA RAFAEL FERNANDES et al. (EP3101642A1) (Machine translation attached) as applied to claims 5 and 8 and further in view of Andrew Zimmerman Jones (Jones, A. Z. (2019, July 15). What is power in physics? ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/power-2699001#:~:text=If%20work%20is%20done%20faster%2C%20power%20is%20higher.,:%20P%20=%20F*v).
Regarding claim 6, Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo, Sawai and De Oliveira teach The communication method according to claim 5, wherein a step of calculating the energy required by each of the plurality of aircraft to complete the remaining flight route, according to the windage pressure and the flight speed comprises:
Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo, Sawai and De Oliveira does not explicitly teach calculating power required by each of the plurality of aircraft to complete the remaining flight route by a formula of Po=F1*v1+F2*sinα*v2+P;
obtaining the energy required by each of the plurality of aircraft according to a time t required for each of the plurality of aircraft to complete the remaining flight route of each of the plurality of aircraft;
wherein Po is the power required by each of the plurality of aircraft to complete the remaining route, v1 is the flight speed of each of the plurality of aircraft, and F1 is a forward direction resistance of each of the plurality of aircraft; v2 is a wind speed, and F2 is a lateral windward resistance of each of the plurality of aircraft; α is an angle between an opposite direction of forward motion of each of the plurality of aircraft and a wind direction, and P is hovering power of each of the plurality of aircraft.
Jones, directed to calculating power, teaches calculating power P0 formula of P = F*v (see at least [Jones]: ”power equals force times velocity: P = F*v”); obtaining the energy W required by each of the plurality of aircraft according to a time t (see at least [Jones]: ” The equation for power is P = W/t”);
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo and Sawai and De Oliveira to incorporate the teachings of Jones which teaches calculating power P0 formula of P = F*v; and obtaining the energy W required by each of the plurality of aircraft according to a time t and apply the Power formula to sum together the power required in the X, Y and Z direction corresponding to the Forward, Lateral and Hovering directions of the plurality of aircraft, since this method of calculating coordinates in 3-dementional space is well-known in the art and incorporation of the teachings of Jones would enable calculation of work expected to complete the remaining flights each aircraft in order to anticipate future battery consumption.]
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jalali; Ahmad et al. (US 20120202418) in view of Miller; Arthur et al. (US 20190043369 A1), Deng et al. (D. J. Deng, K.C. Chen, R.S. Cheng, "IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks," 2014 10th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness (QSHINE), 2014), Tu; Haofeng (US 9836049 B1), Sawai; Ryo (US 20150230168 A1), GUO; Zhuo et al. (US 20190220042 A1) and DE OLIVEIRA RAFAEL FERNANDES et al. (EP3101642A1) (Machine translation attached) as applied to claims 5 and 8 and further in view of Heo; Sang Jin et al. (US 20140095060 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo and Sawai and De Oliveira teach the communication method according to claim 5, wherein a step of obtaining the information of the battery energy to be consumed based on the energy required by each of the plurality of aircraft comprises:
Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo and Sawai and De Oliveira do not explicitly teach calculating the battery energy to be consumed by a formula of W/ε, wherein W is the energy required by each of the plurality of aircraft to complete the remaining flight route, and ε is a battery energy conversion coefficient of each of the plurality of aircraft.
Heo, directed to method for calculating distance to empty (DTE) of a green vehicle teaches calculating the available battery energy by a formula of W/ε, wherein W is the energy when the state of charge is 100%, and ε is a battery energy conversion coefficient (the energy efficiency is obtained from tables of Figure 6 and the current available energy is calculated by the Energy when the state of charge is 100% divided by the efficiency , see at least [¶47-51, fig. 6, Heo]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo and Sawai and De Oliveira to incorporate the teachings of Heo which teaches calculating the available battery energy by a formula of W/ε, wherein W is the energy when the state of charge is 100%, and ε is a battery energy conversion coefficient and divide the Battery energy to be consumed by the energy conversion coefficient taught by Heo, since they are both directed to methods of predicting the distance based on remaining battery levels in battery powered vehicles and incorporation of the teachings of Heo would take into account environmental factors impacting battery efficiency, improving remaining battery projections for the plurality of aircraft.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jalali; Ahmad et al. (US 20120202418) in view of Miller; Arthur et al. (US 20190043369 A1), Deng et al. (D. J. Deng, K.C. Chen, R.S. Cheng, "IEEE 802.11ax: Next Generation Wireless Local Area Networks," 2014 10th International Conference on Heterogeneous Networking for Quality, Reliability, Security and Robustness (QSHINE), 2014), Tu; Haofeng (US 9836049 B1), Sawai; Ryo (US 20150230168 A1) and GUO; Zhuo et al. (US 20190220042 A1) as applied to claim 4 above and further in view of SINDLINGER ANDREAS et al. (EP 3487039 A1) (Machine translation attached) and FENG, Shi-fen et al. (CN 103105157 A) (Machine translation attached).
Regarding claim 9, Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo, and Sawai teach the communication method according to claim 4, wherein a step of determining the target aircraft according to the remaining battery information of each of the plurality of aircraft and the information as to the battery energy to be consumed comprises:
Sawai, directed to a communication control apparatus further teaches determining the aircraft with a highest remaining battery as the target aircraft(see at least [¶52, Sawai]: ” AP selection unit 134 may select the dynamic AP having the highest remaining battery level (or being connected to a fixed power supply)”);
Jalali further teaches, the communication method further comprises: obtaining a location coordinate of the target aircraft (see at least [¶58, Jalali]: ”aircraft sends its position to the ground base station based on a current position location, which may be determined with, for example, a position location system such as a global positioning system (GPS))”);
Jalali, Miller, Deng, Tu, Gao, Guo, and Sawai teach do not explicitly teach, when the remaining battery of each of the plurality of aircraft is greater than the battery energy to be consumed, determining the aircraft with a highest remaining battery as the target aircraft; wherein the target aircraft comprises a solar panel; the communication method further comprises: obtaining a standard time of a time zone corresponding to the location coordinate of the target aircraft; determining an optimal energy absorption azimuth angle of the target aircraft according to the standard time and the location coordinate of the target aircraft; wherein when an angle between a light energy absorption surface of the solar panel and a horizontal plane is compared to be equal to the optimal energy absorption azimuth angle, the light energy absorption efficiency of the solar panel is highest; determining a target azimuth angle based on the optimal energy-absorbing azimuth angle of the target aircraft; and adjusting the angle between the light energy absorption surface of the solar panel and the horizontal plane to the target azimuth angle.
De Oliveira, directed to a method for determining airports in an available range of an aircraft teaches when the remaining battery of each of the plurality of aircraft is greater than the battery energy to be consumed (the maximum range is the remaining battery and the distance between the travel distance is a measure of the battery to be consumed, see at least [¶21,De Oliveira]: ” In step e), it may be checked whether the maximum range is greater than the distance between the current position of the aircraft and the second airport and/or the waypoint”),
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, with a reasonable expectation of success, to have further modified the invention of Jalali, Miller, Deng , Tu, Gao, Guo and Sawai which teaches determining the aircraft with a highest remaining battery as the target aircraft to incorporate the teachings of De Oliveira, which teaches when the remaining battery of each of the plurality of aircraft is greater than the battery energy to be consumed and determine the target aircraft to be one with the highest remaining battery and containing battery remaining that is greater than the battery to be consumed since they are both directed to aircraft control methods and incorporation of the teachings of De Oliveira would improve the reliability of the overall network to ensure that the system only considers aircraft with sufficient battery supply to complete its mission.
Sindlinger, directed at recharging an aircraft within a region teaches, wherein the target aircraft comprises a solar panel (see at least [¶4, Sindlinger]: ” The solar panel is physically connected to the aerial vehicle and operably connected to the rechargeable battery”); the communication method further comprises: obtaining a standard time of a time zone corresponding to the location coordinate of the target aircraft (Measurements 118 like location are associated with first time 136 in region 104 , see at least [¶34, ¶40, Sindlinger]); determining an optimal energy absorption location of the target aircraft according to the standard time and the location coordinate of the target aircraft (real-time sunlight analysis apparatus 134 is configured to identify areas of increased sunlight 122 within region 104 which correlate to optimal energy absorption locations which change due to time of day, see at least [¶19, ¶24,¶35 , ¶64, Sindlinger]) ; wherein when a flight plan of the target aircraft flies over a path covering areas of increase sunlight, the light energy absorption efficiency of the solar panel is highest (see at least [¶19, Sindlinger]: “Flight plan 116 is created or adjusted to take into account locations of sunlight, such as areas of increased sunlight 122, and characteristics of sunlight, such as intensity, within region 104“); determining a target location based on the optimal energy-absorbing location of the target aircraft; and adjusting the location of the solar panel to the target location (see at least [¶19, Sindlinger]: “Flight plan 116 is created or adjusted to take into account locations of sunlight, such as areas of increased sunlight