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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed on 2/10/2025 and 9/8/2025 have been considered.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 11/13/2023 are accepted for examination.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 2/23/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 11-30 are withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by De Rosa et al. (US-2019/0379445 hereinafter, De Rosa).
Regarding claim 1, De Rosa discloses an apparatus configured for wireless communication (Abstract), comprising:
one or more memories comprising processor-executable instructions; (Page 23 Claim 1 “non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions” and Fig. 9 [910-920]) and
one or more processors (Fig. 9 [905] and Page 23 Claim 1 “one or more processors”) configured to execute the processor-executable instructions (Page 23 Claim 1 “non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions”) and cause the apparatus to:
transmit flight path information regarding a flight path of the apparatus; (Fig. 4 [415] and Pages 13-14 [0109])
receive a modification to the flight path (Fig. 4 [440]), wherein the modification is associated with a radio condition (Page 15 [0118] “ the UAV 105 transmits measurement reports to a serving base station of the UAV 105 during flight over the flight route. Such measurement reports may be transmitted periodically or aperiodically. For example, with reference to FIG. 1, the UAV 105 may select a different base station for different portions of the flight route (e.g., based on respective signal strength of different base stations)” and Fig. 4 [435]), wherein the radio condition is associated with the flight path; (Page 15 [0118-0119] “the measurement reports and/or information derived from the measurement reports (e.g., by the serving base station that receives the measurement reports) may be transmitted by the serving base station to the core network 135 and/or aerial traffic management system 130. The measurement reports and/or information derived therefrom may be analyzed and utilized to update the geographic information, adjust the existing flight route of the UAV 105 and/or existing flight routes of other UAVs as appropriate based on the updated geographic information, and generate new flight routes based on the updated geographic information” and “at least a portion of the flight route provided to the UAV 105 at block 420 is adjusted”) and
trigger movement of the apparatus in association with the modification to the flight path information. (Fig. 4 [445] and Page 15 [0120])
Regarding claim 2, De Rosa teaches wherein the flight path information indicates a first point of the flight path and a second waypoint of the flight path (Pages 2-3 [0024] “the flight route may be defined using a set of points” and Page 15 [0118] “initiates flight from the starting point to the destination point”), and wherein the modification to the flight path information indicates at least one of:
a modification to one or more of the first waypoint or the second waypoint (Page 15 [0119] “In some cases, the detected event may be associated with an air corridor currently being navigated by the UAV 105. In some cases, the UAV 105 may be within an air corridor associated with the detected event, in which case the UAV 105 may need to maneuver out of the air corridor and into an air corridor identified in the adjusted flight route. In other cases, the adjustment may be for an air corridor not yet reached by the UAV 105.”), or
an additional waypoint for the flight path.
Regarding claim 3, De Rosa teaches wherein the modification to the flight path information indicates a change to an altitude of operation of the apparatus. (Fig. 2 [150C to 150B] and Page 11 [0092] note: changing flight corridors involves changing altitudes)
Regarding claim 4, De Rosa teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the apparatus to trigger movement in association with the modification to the flight path information, are configured to cause the apparatus to provide the modification to the flight path information to an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) motion tracker. (Page 19 [0149] “In some cases, the mobility controller 610 may receive commands from the user device 115, base stations 120A-C, aerial traffic management system 130, and/or core network 135, to, for example, configure a flight route (e.g., program a flight route), adjust a programmed flight route, deploy the UAV 105, land the UAV 105, navigate the UAV 105, and/or other commands that facilitate navigating the UAV 105 and utilizing the UAV 105 to perform an action”)
Regarding claim 5, De Rosa teaches wherein the radio condition is a cellular coverage level of the flight path. (Page 5 [0040] and Page 15 [0118])
Regarding claim 6, De Rosa teaches wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive a first modification to the flight path; (Fig. 4 [420 or 440])
transmit a negotiation message indicating a change associated with the first modification; (Fig. 4 [435], Page 15 [0118] and Page 16 [0126] i.e. more than one feedback report of measurements and resulting change in flight path is considered by De Rosa) and
receive a second modification to the flight path after transmitting the negotiation message, (Page 15 [0119] and Page 16 [0126])
wherein the modification to the flight path is the second modification to the flight path information. (Page 16 [0126] “The ellipses between block 450 and 455 may indicate additional or no adjustments to the flight route and/or assigned communication channel prior to the UAV 105 reaching the destination point 145B”)
Regarding claim 7, De Rosa teaches wherein the change associated with the first modification is associated with at least one of a battery of the apparatus or a remaining flight time of the apparatus. (Page 18 [0140] “An alternative flight route may be selected from among candidate flight routes based on the flight plan (e.g., mission) of the UAV 105 and characteristics (e.g., battery life, desired arrival time, etc.) for example.”)
Regarding claim 8, De Rosa teaches wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to:
transmit information indicating a requested radio condition (Pages 13-14 [0109] “At block 415, the UAV 105 transmits a flight plan to the aerial traffic management system 130.” and “the UAV 105 may indicate frequency, bandwidth, bit rate, communication protocol, and/or other communication-related characteristics requested by the UAV 105 from the cellular network”),
wherein the requested radio condition includes at least one of a quality-of-service parameter or a cell parameter, (Page 3 [0029] “The flight routes can be coordinated to reduce the possibility of collisions (e.g., between different UEs or between a UE and an obstacle), maintain wireless connection of the UEs to a network during flight of the UEs, and/or meet quality of service (QoS) parameters for various applications (e.g., ground-based and/or aerial-based missions)”) and
wherein the one or more processors, to cause the apparatus to receive the modification to the flight path information, are configured to cause the apparatus to receive the modification in accordance with the requested radio condition. (Page 15 [0119-0120])
Regarding claim 9, De Rosa teaches wherein the quality-of-service parameter indicates at least one of a throughput, a block error rate, or a latency. (Page 3 [0026] “a UAV may be migrated to a communication channel (e.g., also referred to as a radio channel) of a different frequency band, lower bit rate (e.g., video compression for video streaming applications), different type/category associated with a communication technology (e.g., 4G), and/or different communication technology (e.g., Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS))” and [0029] “meet quality of service (QoS) parameters for various applications”)
Regarding claim 10, De Rosa teaches wherein the cell parameter indicates at least one of a frequency range, a subcarrier spacing, or a power headroom. (Page 3 [0026])
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US-2014/0142787 to Tillotson et al. which discloses determining modifications to flight paths for unmanned aircrafts during in-flight loss of signals or other contingencies
US-9,927,808 to Wänstedt et al. which discloses adjusting planned movement for a UAV based on radio network conditions
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW C SAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-8099. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5 EST.
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/Matthew C Sams/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646