DETAILED ACTION
This action is in reply to the amendments and arguments filed December 23rd, 2025. Claims 21-40 are currently pending.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 21, 27-29, 31, 37, 38, and 40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over previously cited of record Wadhwat; Sachit (US Pub. No. 20180137440 A1), herein after Wadhwat, in further view of over previously cited of record Jamjoom et al. (US Patent No. 9792576 B1), herein after Jamjoom, and further in view of Kimchi et al. (US Pub. No. 20150120094 A1), herein after Kimchi.
Regarding claim 21, Wadhwat teaches [a] computer-implemented method for determining an aircraft and route to transport a quantity of passengers within a transportation network, comprising (Wadhwat: Para. 0029 and 0022, teaching a charter system for aircraft to carry multiple passengers): accessing a set of available routes in the transportation network based on historical demand information and capability information, wherein each available route in the set of available routes comprises a departure vertiport and an arrival vertiport (Wadhwat: Para. 0044, teaching generating routes for the aircraft based on the historic demand of the route and the ability of the aircraft); accessing predicted vehicle characteristics for a plurality of aircraft (Wadhwat: Para. 0011, teaching collecting data regarding the predicted characteristics of multiple vehicles and their availabilities), accessing an itinerary request comprising payload characteristics that include the quantity of the passengers for aerial transport (Wadhwat: Para. 0024, teaching that an itinerary includes the number of passengers); computing, based on the set of available routes, the predicted vehicle characteristics, and the payload characteristics, an assigned route from the set of available routes and a first assigned aircraft from the plurality of aircraft for providing the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers (Wadhwat: Para. 0036, teaching determining the route of the vehicle based on the number of passengers, the capabilities of the vehicles, and the route that is chosen).
Wadhwat is silent to wherein the predicted vehicle characteristics comprise at least one of: a state of charge of the aircraft, a state of power of the aircraft, or a state of health of the aircraft; wherein the first assigned aircraft is computed based on a determination that the first assigned aircraft will maintain an energy budget above a threshold upon arrival at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route; and transmitting instructions to position the first assigned aircraft to provide the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route.
In a similar field, Jamjoom teaches wherein the predicted vehicle characteristics comprise at least one of: a state of charge of the aircraft, a state of power of the aircraft, or a state of health of the aircraft (Jamjoom: Page 7 col 4 lines 5-16, teaching determining the state of charge of an aircraft before and after a delivery); wherein the first assigned aircraft is computed based on a determination that the first assigned aircraft will maintain an energy budget above a threshold upon arrival at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 7 col 4 lines 5-16, teaching that the aircraft is assigned to a route if it is able to complete its delivery and return without exceeding its battery life); and transmitting instructions to position the first assigned aircraft to provide the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 8 col 6 lines 4-10, teaching that the aircraft is deployed to transport the delivery) for the benefit of for the benefit of utilizing multiple aerial vehicles for the sake of optimizing flight routing while ensuring that each assigned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing all of their assigned routes.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the filing of the application to modify aircraft charter system from Wadhwat with optimizing the flight plans of the aircraft based on their predicted and actual energy after a flight, as taught by Jamjoom, for the benefit of for the benefit of utilizing multiple aerial vehicles for the sake of optimizing flight routing while ensuring that each assigned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing all of their assigned routes.
Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom are silent to wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route.
In a similar field, Kimchi teaches wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route (Kimchi: Para. 0119, teaching determining a relay station for a UAV to route to based on the time to recharge the UAV to reach its destination) for the benefit of for the benefit of optimizing the time it takes for the UAV to complete its route when a single charge is insufficient.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the filing of the application to modify aircraft charter route optimization system from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom to add relay stations to the route based on how long it takes for a UAV to reach a charge level that would allow it to reach its destination, as taught by Kimchi, for the benefit of for the benefit of optimizing the time it takes for the UAV to complete its route when a single charge is insufficient.
Regarding claim 27, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 21, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: generating an itinerary comprising information associated with the assigned route and the first assigned aircraft (Wadhwat: Para. 0024, teaching generating an itinerary which includes information on the route and the vehicle).
Regarding claim 28, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 27, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 27, further comprising: generating a display comprising the itinerary for presentation to a user (Wadhwat: Para. 0042, teaching that when an itinerary is selected and valid the itinerary and all relevant information is displayed to a user for final confirmation).
Regarding claim 29, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 21, and Jamjoom goes on to further teach [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 8 col 6 lines 8-10 and page 9 col 7 lines 14-16, teaching optimizing the flight plans of the vehicles based on how long it will take to recharge them).
Regarding claim 31, Wadhwat teaches [a] computing system comprising: at least one processor; and memory, operatively connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to perform a set of operations comprising (Wadhwat: Para. 0027 and 0028, teaching a non-transitory computer readable memory programmed to control a processor to perform the steps of the invention): accessing a set of available routes in a transportation network based on historical demand information and capability information, wherein each available route in the set of available routes comprises a departure vertiport and an arrival vertiport (Wadhwat: Para. 0044, teaching generating routes for the aircraft based on the historic demand of the route and the ability of the aircraft); accessing predicted vehicle characteristics for a plurality of aircraft (Wadhwat: Para. 0011, teaching collecting data regarding the predicted characteristics of multiple vehicles and their availabilities), accessing an itinerary request comprising payload characteristics that include a quantity of passengers for aerial transport (Wadhwat: Para. 0024, teaching that an itinerary includes the number of passengers); computing, based on the set of available routes, the predicted vehicle characteristics, and the payload characteristics, an assigned route from the set of available routes and a first assigned aircraft from the plurality of aircraft for providing the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers (Wadhwat: Para. 0036, teaching determining the route of the vehicle based on the number of passengers, the capabilities of the vehicles, and the route that is chosen).
Wadhwat is silent to wherein the predicted vehicle characteristics comprise at least one of: a state of charge of the aircraft, a state of power of the aircraft, or a state of health of the aircraft; wherein the first assigned aircraft is computed based on a determination that the first assigned aircraft will maintain an energy budget above a threshold upon arrival at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route; and transmitting instructions to position the first assigned aircraft to provide the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route.
In a similar field, Jamjoom teaches wherein the predicted vehicle characteristics comprise at least one of: a state of charge of the aircraft, a state of power of the aircraft, or a state of health of the aircraft (Jamjoom: Page 7 col 4 lines 5-16, teaching determining the state of charge of an aircraft before and after a delivery); wherein the first assigned aircraft is computed based on a determination that the first assigned aircraft will maintain an energy budget above a threshold upon arrival at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 7 col 4 lines 5-16, teaching that the aircraft is assigned to a route if it is able to complete its delivery and return without exceeding its battery life); and transmitting instructions to position the first assigned aircraft to provide the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 8 col 6 lines 4-10, teaching that the aircraft is deployed to transport the delivery) for the benefit of for the benefit of utilizing multiple aerial vehicles for the sake of optimizing flight routing while ensuring that each assigned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing all of their assigned routes.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the filing of the application to modify aircraft charter system from Wadhwat with optimizing the flight plans of the aircraft based on their predicted and actual energy after a flight, as taught by Jamjoom, for the benefit of for the benefit of utilizing multiple aerial vehicles for the sake of optimizing flight routing while ensuring that each assigned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing all of their assigned routes.
Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom are silent to wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route.
In a similar field, Kimchi teaches wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route (Kimchi: Para. 0119, teaching determining a relay station for a UAV to route to based on the time to recharge the UAV to reach its destination) for the benefit of for the benefit of optimizing the time it takes for the UAV to complete its route when a single charge is insufficient.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the filing of the application to modify aircraft charter route optimization system from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom to add relay stations to the route based on how long it takes for a UAV to reach a charge level that would allow it to reach its destination, as taught by Kimchi, for the benefit of for the benefit of optimizing the time it takes for the UAV to complete its route when a single charge is insufficient.
Regarding claim 37, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 31, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach [t]he computing system of claim 31, the operations further comprising: generating an itinerary comprising information associated with the assigned route and the first assigned aircraft (Wadhwat: Para. 0024, teaching generating an itinerary which includes information on the route and the vehicle); and generating a display comprising the itinerary for presentation to a user (Wadhwat: Para. 0042, teaching that when an itinerary is selected and valid the itinerary and all relevant information is displayed to a user for final confirmation).
Regarding claim 38, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 31, and Jamjoom goes on to further teach [t]he computing system of claim 31, wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 8 col 6 lines 8-10 and page 9 col 7 lines 14-16, teaching optimizing the flight plans of the vehicles based on how long it will take to recharge them).
Regarding claim 40, Wadhwat teaches [a] non-transitory, computer-readable medium configured to store instructions for execution by at least one processor to perform operations, the operations comprising (Wadhwat: Para. 0027 and 0028, teaching a non-transitory computer readable memory programmed to control a processor to perform the steps of the invention): accessing a set of available routes in a transportation network based on historical demand information and capability information, wherein each available route in the set of available routes comprises a departure vertiport and an arrival vertiport (Wadhwat: Para. 0044, teaching generating routes for the aircraft based on the historic demand of the route and the ability of the aircraft); accessing predicted vehicle characteristics for a plurality of aircraft (Wadhwat: Para. 0011, teaching collecting data regarding the predicted characteristics of multiple vehicles and their availabilities), accessing an itinerary request comprising payload characteristics that include a quantity of passengers for aerial transport (Wadhwat: Para. 0024, teaching that an itinerary includes the number of passengers); computing, based on the set of available routes, the predicted vehicle characteristics, and the payload characteristics, an assigned route from the set of available routes and a first assigned aircraft from the plurality of aircraft for providing the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers (Wadhwat: Para. 0036, teaching determining the route of the vehicle based on the number of passengers, the capabilities of the vehicles, and the route that is chosen).
Wadhwat is silent to wherein the predicted vehicle characteristics comprise at least one of: a state of charge of the aircraft, a state of power of the aircraft, or a state of health of the aircraft; wherein the first assigned aircraft is computed based on a determination that the first assigned aircraft will maintain an energy budget above a threshold upon arrival at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route; and transmitting instructions to position the first assigned aircraft to provide the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route.
In a similar field, Jamjoom teaches wherein the predicted vehicle characteristics comprise at least one of: a state of charge of the aircraft, a state of power of the aircraft, or a state of health of the aircraft (Jamjoom: Page 7 col 4 lines 5-16, teaching determining the state of charge of an aircraft before and after a delivery); wherein the first assigned aircraft is computed based on a determination that the first assigned aircraft will maintain an energy budget above a threshold upon arrival at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 7 col 4 lines 5-16, teaching that the aircraft is assigned to a route if it is able to complete its delivery and return without exceeding its battery life); and transmitting instructions to position the first assigned aircraft to provide the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 8 col 6 lines 4-10, teaching that the aircraft is deployed to transport the delivery) for the benefit of for the benefit of utilizing multiple aerial vehicles for the sake of optimizing flight routing while ensuring that each assigned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing all of their assigned routes.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the filing of the application to modify aircraft charter system from Wadhwat with optimizing the flight plans of the aircraft based on their predicted and actual energy after a flight, as taught by Jamjoom, for the benefit of for the benefit of utilizing multiple aerial vehicles for the sake of optimizing flight routing while ensuring that each assigned aerial vehicle is capable of traversing all of their assigned routes.
Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom are silent to wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route.
In a similar field, Kimchi teaches wherein the first assigned aircraft is further computed based on a predicted amount of time for the first assigned aircraft to reach a particular state of charge at the arrival vertiport associated with the assigned route, wherein the particular state of charge is selected such that the first assigned aircraft will maintain the energy budget above an updated threshold upon arrival at a subsequent vertiport associated with a subsequent assigned route (Kimchi: Para. 0119, teaching determining a relay station for a UAV to route to based on the time to recharge the UAV to reach its destination) for the benefit of for the benefit of optimizing the time it takes for the UAV to complete its route when a single charge is insufficient.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the filing of the application to modify aircraft charter route optimization system from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom to add relay stations to the route based on how long it takes for a UAV to reach a charge level that would allow it to reach its destination, as taught by Kimchi, for the benefit of for the benefit of optimizing the time it takes for the UAV to complete its route when a single charge is insufficient.
Claims 22-26 and 32-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom in further view of Kimchi as applied to claims 21 and 31 above, and further in view of over previously cited of record Venkatraman et al. (US Pub. No. 20180061251 A1), herein after Venkatraman.
Regarding claim 22, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 21, and Jamjoom goes on to further teach [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: accessing… data from… the first assigned aircraft, wherein the… data is indicative of actual vehicle characteristics being different than the predicted vehicle characteristics (Jamjoom: Page 7 col. 4 lines 43-54 and 61-64, teaching that the characteristics of the vehicle such as the battery life is determined before its flight; and page 8 col 6 lines 4-10, teaching that the characteristics of the vehicle are iteratively inspected before and after a flight to determine if the flight plans of the vehicle should be changed based on the updated characteristics); and activating the second assigned aircraft instead of the first assigned aircraft to provide the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 8 col 6 lines 4-10, teaching that the aircraft is deployed to transport the delivery based on updated information on the aircraft) and Wadhwat goes on to further teach based on the… data, computing a second assigned aircraft for providing the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route (Wadhwat: Para. 0043, teaching determining that a vehicle cannot perform a route so another vehicle is selected).
They are silent to the data is based on sensor data.
In a similar field, Venkatraman teaches [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: accessing sensor data from a sensor of the first assigned aircraft (Venkatraman: Para. 0013, teaching the use of a sensor to determine in real-time the condition of a vehicle mid-flight) for the benefit of enhanced monitoring of the conditions of the aircraft.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to modify the monitoring of the condition of the aircrafts from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom in further view of Kimchi to utilize sensors that determine the actual vehicle characteristics, as taught by Venkatraman, for the benefit of enhanced monitoring of the conditions of the aircraft.
Regarding claim 23, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 21, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach computing a validation indicative of whether the first assigned aircraft is capable of performing an itinerary indicative of the assigned route and the payload characteristics based on the sensor data indicative of the actual vehicle characteristics (Wadhwat: Para. 0036, teaching that the selection of the vehicle and the route is validated based on the characteristics of the vehicle, the payload, and the route).
They are silent to [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: accessing sensor data from a sensor of the first assigned aircraft, wherein the sensor data is indicative of actual vehicle characteristics.
In a similar field, Venkatraman teaches [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: accessing sensor data from a sensor of the first assigned aircraft, wherein the sensor data is indicative of actual vehicle characteristics (Venkatraman: Para. 0013, teaching the use of a sensor to determine in real-time the condition of a vehicle mid-flight) for the benefit of enhanced monitoring of the conditions of the aircraft.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to modify the monitoring of the condition of the aircrafts from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom in further view of Kimchi to utilize sensors that determine the actual vehicle characteristics, as taught by Venkatraman, for the benefit of enhanced monitoring of the conditions of the aircraft.
Regarding claim 24, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, Kimchi, and Venkatraman remain as applied as in claim 23, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 23, further comprising: transmitting, to a transportation system associated with the transportation network, an indication to either accept the itinerary or reject the itinerary based on the validation (Wadhwat: Para. 0043, teaching accepting or rejecting an itinerary based on whether the route can be completed with the selected vehicle).
Regarding claim 25, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, Kimchi, and Venkatraman remain as applied as in claim 24, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 24, wherein an indication to reject the itinerary is provided to the transportation system, and further comprising: accessing a second itinerary from the transportation system; and computing a validation of the second itinerary based on the sensor data indicative of the actual vehicle characteristics of the first assigned aircraft (Wadhwat: Para. 0043, teaching determining that a vehicle cannot perform a route so another vehicle is selected).
Regarding claim 26, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, Kimchi, and Venkatraman remain as applied as in claim 24, and Jamjoom goes on to further teach [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 24, wherein computing the validation indicative of whether the first assigned aircraft is capable of performing the itinerary comprises: generating a display comprising a vehicle status indication based on the sensor data indicative of the actual vehicle characteristics; and receiving input via the display accepting or rejecting the itinerary (Wadhwat: Para. 0042, teaching that when an itinerary is selected and valid the itinerary and all relevant information is displayed to a user for final confirmation).
Regarding claim 32, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 31, and Jamjoom goes on to further teach [t]he computing system of claim 31, the operations further comprising: accessing… data from… the first assigned aircraft, wherein the… data is indicative of actual vehicle characteristics being different than the predicted vehicle characteristics (Jamjoom: Page 7 col. 4 lines 43-54 and 61-64, teaching that the characteristics of the vehicle such as the battery life is determined before its flight; and page 8 col 6 lines 4-10, teaching that the characteristics of the vehicle are iteratively inspected before and after a flight to determine if the flight plans of the vehicle should be changed based on the updated characteristics); and activating the second assigned aircraft instead of the first assigned aircraft to provide the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route (Jamjoom: Page 8 col 6 lines 4-10, teaching that the aircraft is deployed to transport the delivery based on updated information on the aircraft) and Wadhwat goes on to further teach based on the… data, computing a second assigned aircraft for providing the aerial transport of the quantity of passengers via the assigned route (Wadhwat: Para. 0043, teaching determining that a vehicle cannot perform a route so another vehicle is selected).
They are silent to the data is based on sensor data.
In a similar field, Venkatraman teaches [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: accessing sensor data from a sensor of the first assigned aircraft (Venkatraman: Para. 0013, teaching the use of a sensor to determine in real-time the condition of a vehicle mid-flight) for the benefit of enhanced monitoring of the conditions of the aircraft.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to modify the monitoring of the condition of the aircrafts from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom in further view of Kimchi to utilize sensors that determine the actual vehicle characteristics, as taught by Venkatraman, for the benefit of enhanced monitoring of the conditions of the aircraft.
Regarding claim 33, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 31, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach computing a validation indicative of whether the first assigned aircraft is capable of performing an itinerary indicative of the assigned route and the payload characteristics based on the sensor data indicative of the actual vehicle characteristics (Wadhwat: Para. 0036, teaching that the selection of the vehicle and the route is validated based on the characteristics of the vehicle, the payload, and the route).
They are silent to [t]he computing system of claim 31, the operations further comprising: accessing sensor data from a sensor of the first assigned aircraft, wherein the sensor data is indicative of actual vehicle characteristics.
In a similar field, Venkatraman teaches [t]he computing system of claim 31, the operations further comprising: accessing sensor data from a sensor of the first assigned aircraft, wherein the sensor data is indicative of actual vehicle characteristics (Venkatraman: Para. 0013, teaching the use of a sensor to determine in real-time the condition of a vehicle mid-flight) for the benefit of enhanced monitoring of the conditions of the aircraft.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to modify the monitoring of the condition of the aircrafts from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom in further view of Kimchi to utilize sensors that determine the actual vehicle characteristics, as taught by Venkatraman, for the benefit of enhanced monitoring of the conditions of the aircraft.
Regarding claim 34, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, Kimchi, and Venkatraman remain as applied as in claim 33, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach [t]he computing system of claim 33, the operations further comprising: transmitting, to a transportation system associated with the transportation network, an indication to either accept the itinerary or reject the itinerary based on the validation (Wadhwat: Para. 0043, teaching accepting or rejecting an itinerary based on whether the route can be completed with the selected vehicle).
Regarding claim 35, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, Kimchi, and Venkatraman remain as applied as in claim 34, and Wadhwat goes on to further teach [t]he computing system of claim 34, wherein an indication to reject the itinerary is provided to the transportation system, and the operations further comprising: accessing a second itinerary from the transportation system; and computing a validation of the second itinerary based on the sensor data indicative of the actual vehicle characteristics of the first assigned aircraft (Wadhwat: Para. 0043, teaching determining that a vehicle cannot perform a route so another vehicle is selected).
Regarding claim 36, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, Kimchi, and Venkatraman remain as applied as in claim 34, and Jamjoom goes on to further teach [t]he computing system of claim 34, wherein computing the validation indicative of whether the first assigned aircraft is capable of performing the itinerary comprises: generating a display comprising a vehicle status indication based on the sensor data indicative of the actual vehicle characteristics; and receiving input via the display accepting or rejecting the itinerary (Wadhwat: Para. 0042, teaching that when an itinerary is selected and valid the itinerary and all relevant information is displayed to a user for final confirmation).
Claims 30 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom in further view of Kimchi as applied to claims 21 and 31 above, and further in view of over previously cited of record Downey et al. (US Pub. No. 20150325064 A1), herein after Downey.
Regarding claim 30, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 21, however they are silent to [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: generating at least one of the predicted vehicle characteristics using a machine-learned model trained for a type of the first assigned aircraft.
In a similar field, Downey teaches [t]he computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising: generating at least one of the predicted vehicle characteristics using a machine-learned model trained for a type of the first assigned aircraft (Downey: Para. 0030, 0036, and 0040, teaching using a machine learning model to predict characteristics about a vehicle such as the estimated charge) for the benefit of creating an accurate assessment of whether an aerial vehicle should perform a flight based on the state of charge.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to modify models used to generate a predicted state of charge from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom in further view of Kimchi to be models made via machine-learning, as taught by Downey, for the benefit of creating an accurate assessment of whether an aerial vehicle should perform a flight based on the state of charge.
Regarding claim 39, Wadhwat, Jamjoom, and Kimchi remain as applied as in claim 31, however they are silent to [t]he computing system of claim 31, the operations further comprising: generating at least one of the predicted vehicle characteristics using a machine-learned model trained for a type of the first assigned aircraft.
In a similar field, Downey teaches [t]he computing system of claim 31, the operations further comprising: generating at least one of the predicted vehicle characteristics using a machine-learned model trained for a type of the first assigned aircraft (Downey: Para. 0030, 0036, and 0040, teaching using a machine learning model to predict characteristics about a vehicle such as the estimated charge) for the benefit of creating an accurate assessment of whether an aerial vehicle should perform a flight based on the state of charge.
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the applicant’s claimed invention to modify models used to generate a predicted state of charge from Wadhwat in view of Jamjoom in further view of Kimchi to be models made via machine-learning, as taught by Downey, for the benefit of creating an accurate assessment of whether an aerial vehicle should perform a flight based on the state of charge.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed December 23rd, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s amendments filed December 23rd, 2025 with respect to the 112(a) and 112(b) rejections of claims 21-40 have been fully considered and have rendered the 112(a) and 112(b) rejections moot. The 112(a) and 112(b) rejections of claims 21-40 have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed December 23rd, 2025, with respect to the rejections of independent claims 21, 31, and 40 under 103 in view of Wadhwat in further view of Jamjoom in light of the amendments filed have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Wadhwat in further view of Jamjoom and further in view of Kimchi.
Conclusion
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 Aaron K McCullers whose telephone number is (571)272-3523. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, Roughly 9 AM - 6 PM ET.
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/A.K.M./Examiner, Art Unit 3663
/ANGELA Y ORTIZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3663