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 statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 11/27/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following features must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Cable (Claim 1, 8, 10)
Turbine Control Unit (Claim 1, 8, 10)
Generator Control Unit (Claim 1, 8, 10)
Battery powered aircraft (Claim 1, 8, 10)
Multiple cables (Claim 3)
Cooling system (Claim 5)
Battery within the pod (Claim 6)
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the in-flight electrical charging system configured to be located in a charging aircraft” and also recites “a pod configured to be applied to the charging aircraft, wherein the electrical generation module and the deployable power supply module are located within the pod.”
It is unclear if the electrical charging system (turbine, electrical generator, power supply module and control units) is located in a charging aircraft or in a pod.
For the purposes of examination, it will be assumed that the electrical charging system can be located in a pod or aircraft that is connectable to a charging aircraft.
Claims 2-7 and 9 are rejected because they depend on claim 1.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al. (US 20230399115 A1) in view of Yates (US 20160031564 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Anderson teaches an in-flight electrical charging system for a battery-powered aircraft, the in-flight electrical charging system being configured to be located in a charging aircraft (10105), the in-flight electrical charging system comprising:
an electrical generation module comprising:
a turbine (¶[103] “The engine 105 may further specifically be one of a piston internal combustion engine, a rotary engine, or a turbine engine”),
an electric generator (235, ¶[92] “the REEP may include an engine and an electric generator”) in electrical connection to the turbine for generating electricity ,
a turbine control unit (205) in connection with the turbine (engine 230) and configured to control the turbine (see Fig. 10A and ¶[116] “The aircraft control system 200 may include one or more processors or controllers 205 (hereinafter referred to as the controller 205) … The connections in FIG. 10A indicate control signal related connections between components of the aircraft control system 200”), and
an electric generator control unit (205) in connection with the electric generator (235) and configured to control the electric generator (see Fig. 10A and ¶[116] quoted above),
a pod (REEP 10115) configured to be applied to the charging aircraft,
wherein the electrical generation module is located within the pod (Fig. 5).
Anderson does not teach a deployable power supply module, in electrical connection to the electrical generation module and comprising at least a cable configured to electrically connect the electrical generation module to the battery-powered aircraft to be charged,
and wherein the deployable power supply module is located within the pod. Yates teaches a deployable power supply module (¶[92] “In one embodiment the recharging source may be a DC-DC battery charge. In an embodiment where the charging aircraft is provided with an energy storage medium such as a battery, capacitor, or other device that can store energy”), in electrical connection to the electrical generation module (¶[92] “In one embodiment the recharging source may be a DC-DC battery charge. In an embodiment where the charging aircraft is provided with an energy storage medium such as a battery, capacitor, or other device that can store energy … In another embodiment the recharging source may include a ram air turbine … It should also be understood that combinations of two or more recharging sources and/or in combination with regenerative energy as described earlier may also be employed”; ¶[Claim 20] “a second aircraft having at least one Ram Air Turbine (“RAT”) and an energy storage medium”) and comprising at least a cable (60) configured to electrically connect the electrical generation module to the battery-powered aircraft to be charged (¶[88] “deployable cable 60 may be attached to an aircraft, such as the mothership, at an upstream end “A”, and includes a recharging connection mechanism 90 at the downstream end”)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Anderson to incorporate the teachings of Yates to provide a deployable power supply module, in electrical connection to the electrical generation module and comprising at least a cable configured to electrically connect the electrical generation module to the battery-powered aircraft to be charged,
in order to provide the extra energy from the pod to a second aircraft to let it travel a farther distance. Anderson in view of Yates further teaches that the power supply module is located in the pod.
Regarding Claim 2, Anderson in view of Yates teaches the in-flight electrical charging system for a battery-powered aircraft, according to claim 1.
Anderson further teaches wherein the in-flight electrical charging system comprises an interface with the charging aircraft, the interface comprising an input/output signals bus data configured to control the deployable power supply module and an electrical output to the charging aircraft (¶[79] “Various embodiments may also have electrical or electronic communication between the REEP and a control system of the aircraft, thereby allowing the aircraft systems to influence and/or control the startup or shutdown of the REEP and/or the flow of energy and power from the REEP. This same communication interface may provide system health and stability information of the REEP for aircraft and pilot use. As such, additional wiring may be used to connect the REEP and the aircraft for communication and control”).
Regarding Claim 3, Anderson in view of Yates teaches the in-flight electrical charging system for a battery-powered aircraft, according to claim 1.
Anderson in view of Yates does not explicitly teach wherein the deployable power supply module comprises several cables configured to electrically connect several battery-powered aircraft; however, duplicating the cables would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in order to charge multiple aircrafts, and it would not produce an unexpected result.
Regarding Claim 4, Anderson in view of Yates teaches the in-flight electrical charging system for a battery-powered aircraft, according to claim 1.
Anderson further teaches wherein the electric generator is a direct shaft driven generator (see Fig. 9, ¶[103] “The flexible architecture 101 of FIG. 9A is a hybrid generator that includes an engine 105, a clutch 115, a generator/motor 121, and a power shaft 111”).
Regarding Claim 5, Anderson in view of Yates teaches the in-flight electrical charging system for a battery-powered aircraft, according to claim 1.
Anderson further teaches wherein the in-flight electrical charging system further comprises a cooling system located within the pod (¶[75] “Example embodiments of a REEP may include an integrated hybrid-electric genset (e.g., any of the flexible architectures described herein, such as under the Flexible Architecture Elements heading below) … The hybrid-electric genset may further include one or more integrated cooling systems (e.g., any of the cooling systems or elements described herein, such as under the Air Cooling Elements heading below)”).
Regarding Claim 7, Anderson in view of Yates teaches the in-flight electrical charging system for a battery-powered aircraft, according to claim 1.
Anderson as modified does not explicitly teach wherein the turbine is configured to generate power from an airstream surrounding the charging aircraft based on a speed of the charging aircraft.
Yates teaches that the turbine may be a Ram Air Turbine (RAT) (¶[90] “In an exemplary embodiment the energy regeneration is achieved using a Ram Air Turbine (“RAT”) 129”) (a Ram Air Turbine inherently generates power from an airstream surrounding the aircraft based on a speed of the aircraft).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Anderson in view of Yates to further incorporate the teachings of Yates to provide a Ram Air Turbine because the RAT does not require further energy sources and only relies on the airstream from the moving plane, giving it a high efficiency.
Regarding Claim 8, Anderson teaches a pod of an aircraft (REEP 10115), configured to be applied to a charging aircraft, comprising an in-flight electrical charging system comprising:
an electrical generation module comprising:
a turbine (¶[103] “The engine 105 may further specifically be one of a piston internal combustion engine, a rotary engine, or a turbine engine”),
an electric generator (235, ¶[92] “the REEP may include an engine and an electric generator”) in electrical connection to the turbine configured to generate electricity,
a turbine control unit (205) in connection with the turbine and configured to control the turbine (see Fig. 10A and ¶[116] “The aircraft control system 200 may include one or more processors or controllers 205 (hereinafter referred to as the controller 205) … The connections in FIG. 10A indicate control signal related connections between components of the aircraft control system 200”), and
an electric generator control unit (205) in connection with the electric generator (235) and configured to control the electric generator (see Fig. 10A and ¶[116] quoted above).
Anderson does not teach a deployable power supply module, in electrical connection to the electrical generation module and comprising at least a cable configured for the electrical connection of the electrical generation module to a battery-powered aircraft to be charged,
wherein the electrical generation module and the deployable power supply module are located within the pod.
Yates teaches a deployable power supply module (¶[92] “In one embodiment the recharging source may be a DC-DC battery charge. In an embodiment where the charging aircraft is provided with an energy storage medium such as a battery, capacitor, or other device that can store energy”), in electrical connection to the electrical generation module (¶[92] “In one embodiment the recharging source may be a DC-DC battery charge. In an embodiment where the charging aircraft is provided with an energy storage medium such as a battery, capacitor, or other device that can store energy … In another embodiment the recharging source may include a ram air turbine … It should also be understood that combinations of two or more recharging sources and/or in combination with regenerative energy as described earlier may also be employed”; ¶[Claim 20] “a second aircraft having at least one Ram Air Turbine (“RAT”) and an energy storage medium”) and comprising at least a cable (60) configured to electrically connect the electrical generation module to the battery-powered aircraft to be charged (¶[88] “deployable cable 60 may be attached to an aircraft, such as the mothership, at an upstream end “A”, and includes a recharging connection mechanism 90 at the downstream end”)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Anderson to incorporate the teachings of Yates to provide a deployable power supply module, in electrical connection to the electrical generation module and comprising at least a cable configured to electrically connect the electrical generation module to the battery-powered aircraft to be charged,
in order to provide the extra energy from the pod to a second aircraft to let it travel a farther distance. Anderson in view of Yates further teaches that the power supply module is located in the pod.
Regarding Claim 9, Anderson in view of Yates teaches an aircraft (10105) comprising an in-flight electrical charging system according to claim 1.
Regarding Claim 10, Anderson teaches a method for in-flight electrical charging for battery-powered aircraft, comprising the following steps:
generating electricity in an electrical generation module located within a pod (REEP 10115) of a charging aircraft, the electrical generation module comprising:
a turbine (¶[103] “The engine 105 may further specifically be one of a piston internal combustion engine, a rotary engine, or a turbine engine”),
an electric generator (235, ¶[92] “the REEP may include an engine and an electric generator”) in electrical connection with the turbine to generate electricity,
a turbine control unit (205) in connection with the turbine and configured to control the turbine (see Fig. 10A and ¶[116] “The aircraft control system 200 may include one or more processors or controllers 205 (hereinafter referred to as the controller 205) … The connections in FIG. 10A indicate control signal related connections between components of the aircraft control system 200”), and
a generator control unit (205) in connection with the electric generator (235) and configured for controlling the electric generator (see Fig. 10A and ¶[116] quoted above).
Anderson does not explicitly teach approaching the battery-powered aircraft to the charging aircraft,
deploying a cable from a deployable power supply module located within the pod of the charging aircraft,
the deployable power supply module being in electrical connection with the electrical generation module,
the cable electrically connecting the electrical generation module with the battery-powered aircraft, bringing the deployed cable into contact with the battery-powered aircraft and
charging the battery-powered aircraft.Yates teaches approaching the battery-powered aircraft to the charging aircraft (¶[89] “cable 60 can include a mechanism for connecting to the approaching or second aircraft”),
deploying a cable (¶[88] “Alternatively, cable 60 may be deployed using a reeling device such as a winch”) from a deployable power supply module (¶[92] “In one embodiment the recharging source may be a DC-DC battery charge. In an embodiment where the charging aircraft is provided with an energy storage medium such as a battery, capacitor, or other device that can store energy”).
the deployable power supply module being in electrical connection with the electrical generation module (¶[92] “In one embodiment the recharging source may be a DC-DC battery charge. In an embodiment where the charging aircraft is provided with an energy storage medium such as a battery, capacitor, or other device that can store energy … In another embodiment the recharging source may include a ram air turbine … It should also be understood that combinations of two or more recharging sources and/or in combination with regenerative energy as described earlier may also be employed”; ¶[Claim 20] “a second aircraft having at least one Ram Air Turbine (“RAT”) and an energy storage medium”),
the cable electrically connecting the electrical generation module with the battery-powered aircraft (¶[92] “The energy storage medium can be the source of the electrical energy to recharge the battery, or other similar energy storage medium, of the mothership”), bringing the deployed cable into contact with the battery-powered aircraft (see ¶[88] quoted above) and
charging the battery-powered aircraft (¶[93] “In exemplary embodiments, the charging aircraft may also become the battery or fuel pack of the mothership. In such embodiments, cable 60 may be used to connect the mothership to the charging aircraft as discussed above”)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Anderson to incorporate the teachings of Yates to provide approaching the battery-powered aircraft to the charging aircraft,
deploying a cable from a deployable power supply module located within the charging aircraft,
the deployable power supply module being in electrical connection with the electrical generation module,
the cable electrically connecting the electrical generation module with the battery-powered aircraft, bringing the deployed cable into contact with the battery-powered aircraft and
charging the battery-powered aircraft,
in order to provide extra energy from the pod to a separate aircraft to increase the range.
Anderson in view of Yates further teaches the power supply module is located within the pod of the charging aircraft.
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al. (US 20230399115 A1) in view of Yates (US 20160031564 A1) further in view of Langford et al. (US 20130234506 A1).
Regarding Claim 6, Anderson in view of Yates teaches the in-flight electrical charging system for a battery-powered aircraft, according to claim 1.
Anderson in view of Yates does not explicitly teach a battery within the pod for actuation of the turbine.
Langford teaches a battery for actuation of the turbine (¶[5] “In the phase for starting the turboshaft engine, a reversible electric source--also called starter-generator, in an abbreviated form SG, which is fed by a battery--works, in starter mode, as a motor for driving the compressor into rotation until the gas generator works autonomously”).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Anderson in view of Yates to incorporate the teachings of Langford to provide a battery for actuation of the turbine in order to initially start the turbine without relying on the charging aircraft.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AIMAN BICKIYA whose telephone number is (571)270-0555. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 - 6 PM EST.
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/A.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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