CTNF 18/592,852 CTNF 82276 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Election/Restrictions 08-25-01 AIA Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-18 in the reply filed on 3/18/2026 is acknowledged. Information Disclosure Statement The IDS documents submitted 3/1/2024(2) and 3/27/2025 are acknowledged and have been considered. Drawings The drawings submitted 3/1/2024 are acknowledged and acceptable. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1, 2, 15 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 a1 as being anticipated by Tranquilli, Jr. et al. (U.S. Patent 11,476,969) . In regards to claim 1, Tranquilli, Jr. (henceforth referred to as Tranquilli) disclose a system, comprising: one or more drones comprising one or more sources of one or more signals. Tranquilli teaches a deception system that includes a swarm of drones each producing or transmitting signals (items 110 and 115 of figure 1); and a computer coupled to the one or more drones. Tranquilli teaches a controller including a processor or computer that controls the platforms (drones) indicated as item 305 of figure 3, the computer configurable for coordinating: a positioning of the one or more drones. Tranquilli teaches that the controller controls the swarm of drones including their position; or a transmission of the one or more signals from each drone of the one or more drones. The drones of the Tranquilli system transmit signals; wherein at least one of the positioning or the transmission is configured to at least: camouflage one or more features of a target from detection, simulate an appearance of the one or more features, simulate an appearance of a decoy or provide a shield protecting the target from an incoming threat. Tranquilli teaches that the system provides a deceptive wavefront that shows a false location. In regards to claim 2, Tranquilli discloses that the computer is configured for coordinating the positioning and/or the transmission for camouflaging or simulating the features comprising one or more features comprise static features or dynamic features. Tranquilli teaches that the swarm of drones coordinates via the controller to produce signals indicating a nonexistent target (col. 4, lines 33-57). In regards to claim 15, Tranquilli discloses that the computer is configured for coordinating at least one of the positioning or the transmission so that the one or more signals simulate the appearance of, or create, the decoy. The processor of Tranquilli coordinates the drones and/or transmission to allow for a decoy . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-103 AIA The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. 07-23-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tranquilli, Jr. et al. (U.S. Patent 11,476,969) in view of Guo et al. (Chinese Patent Document CN 109178312) . In regards to claim 22, Tranquilli does not disclose that each drone of the one or more drones includes a respective photovoltaic device. However, Guo et al (henceforth referred to as Guo) teaches providing drones with photovoltaic cells and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of Applicant’s invention to provide photovoltaic cells in/on the Tranquilli drones as taught by Guo, to provide power . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 3-14, 16-18 and 21 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. 13-03-01 AIA The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: With respect to claim 3, the closest prior art fails to teach or make obvious, including all the limitations of claim 3 and the base claim, that the detection of the one or more features comprises a measurement of at least one of one or more emissions or one or more reflections. With respect to claim 16, the closest prior art fails to teach or make obvious, including all the limitations of claim 16 and the base claim, that the computer is configured for coordinating at least one of the positioning or the transmission to match the one or more signals to emissions or reflections from an object or living thing so as to create the decoy. With respect to claim 18, the closest prior art fails to teach or make obvious, including all the limitations of claim 18 and the base claim, that the computer is configured for coordinating at least one of the positioning or the transmissions transmission to camouflage or simulate the appearance of movement of the target or the decoy or an environment around the target. With respect to claim 21, the closest prior art fails to teach or make obvious, including all the limitations of claim 21 and the base claim, that the decoy comprises rotation of helicopter blades . Summary/Conclusion Claims 1, 2, 15 and 22 are rejected and claims 3-14 and 16-21 are objected to. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN P LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-8968. The examiner can normally be reached between the hours of 8:30am and 5:00pm on Monday through Friday. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Troy Chambers can be reached on 571-272-6874. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). /BENJAMIN P LEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3641 Application/Control Number: 18/592,852 Page 2 Art Unit: 3641 Application/Control Number: 18/592,852 Page 3 Art Unit: 3641 Application/Control Number: 18/592,852 Page 4 Art Unit: 3641 Application/Control Number: 18/592,852 Page 5 Art Unit: 3641 Application/Control Number: 18/592,852 Page 6 Art Unit: 3641 Application/Control Number: 18/592,852 Page 7 Art Unit: 3641
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