DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This is the first office action regarding application number 18/745,890, filed on 17 June 2024.
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 .
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 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2, 12 and 18 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.
Regarding Claim 2
Claim 2 recites "wherein the at least one object comprises at least one of a ground station and at least one of a satellite". It is unclear whether the claim requires at least one of a ground station or a satellite or if the claim requires at least one ground station and at least one satellite. As such, claim 2 is indefinite because the metes and bounds of the claim is unclear. For the purpose of examination, the claim will be read as " wherein the at least one object comprises at least one of a ground station and
Regarding Claim 12
Claim 12 recites "wherein the command is executed faster than in real-time.", while its independent claim 11 recites "sending a command to execute the action in real-life…". Claim 12 is confusing because it states that the command is executed faster than in real-time, but claim 11 already states that the command is executed in real-life. Therefore, it is unclear what type of command is executed faster than in real-time. As such, claim 12 is indefinite because the metes and bounds of the claim is unclear.
Regarding Claim 18
Claim 18 recites “…to provide a white cell". It is unclear what is meant by a "white cell" because a white cell is not a term of art and the meaning of it is not apparent from the specification or drawings. As such, claim 18 is indefinite because the metes and bounds of the claim is unclear. See MPEP 2173.05(a). For the purpose of examination, "wherein a state estimation library is used in the battlespace mode to provide a white cell." will be read as "wherein a state estimation library is used in the battlespace mode
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 7-8, 13-15 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NPL_Weber et al. - "End-to-End Simulation…" (Weber hereinafter), in view of NPL_Wolff et al. "A Modular Architecture..." (Wolff hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 1
Weber teaches a method for viewing on-orbit operations (see Pg. 1, Para. 1, The aim of the On-Orbit-Servicing End-to-End Simulation project is to connect the different simulation facilities of these institutes and integrate them into a single end-to-end simulation of on-orbit servicing.), the method comprising:
requesting, the on-orbit operations (see Figure 8, all; Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated; Pg. 4, Para. 1-3, As shown in fig. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; The rendezvous console (RECO) is installed on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi server ... The console interacts with the on-board guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system of the satellite. In order to receive the telemetry and to send telecommands it shares its bandwidth with SACO and uses an external interface (EXIF) of SCOS [pilot vehicle interface]; Pg. 5, Para. 1, As shown in fig. 6, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite [object]; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.);
receiving, from a simulation engine executing on a virtual machine, scenario data describing a status of the on-orbit operations (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 4, Para. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.);
receiving object information about how the at least one object interacts with the on-orbit operations (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOS-Sim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite [object information]. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.);
integrating the scenario data with the object information to obtain the on-orbit operations (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOS-Sim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite [object information]. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.); and
providing, via the pilot vehicle interface, the view of the on-orbit operations (see Figure 8, all; Pg. 2, Para. 7, The Endto-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated; Pg. 4, Para. 1-3, As shown in fig. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; The rendezvous console (RECO) is installed on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi server ... The console interacts with the on-board guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system of the satellite. In order to receive the telemetry and to send telecommands it shares its bandwidth with SACO and uses an external interface (EXIF) of SCOS [pilot vehicle interface]; Pg. 5, Para. 1, As shown in fig. 6, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.).
Although it may be inherent, Weber does not explicitly teach requesting, using a pilot vehicle interface, a view of the on-orbit operations, wherein the view comprises at least one object.
Wolff teaches a method for viewing on-orbit operations (see Abstract, all; Pg. 79, all; see the corresponding page numbers in the attached reference), the method comprising:
requesting, using a pilot vehicle interface, a view of the on-orbit operations, wherein the view comprises at least one object (see Abstract, This paper outlines the development of a real-time interactive application for the analysis, training and programming of on-orbit servicing tasks within a virtual reality environment. ; Pg. 74, Para. 3-5, A key element of the application is the real-time simulation of the kinematic and dynamic behavior of the satellite components when manipulated by the user … The haptic control component generates the necessary data for providing haptic feedback to the user via a haptic device ... In case the user grasps a virtual object, the complexity of resolving the chain of forces between the interacting objects (virtual scene, grasped object, HIP) can be reduced by attaching the grasped objects with a constant offset to the HIP and apply the resulting transformation based on the HIP's transformation.; Pg. 75, Para. 6, In the proposed simulation and training system, the user interacts through a VR display, and optionally the haptic device ... Additionally, the user's head is tracked. This is used to render the view in the correct perspective based on the user's current viewpoint.; Pg. 76, Para. 4, Finally, being an interactive simulation, any responses to actions made by the user within the virtual environment should be displayed with minimum delay.; Pg. 78, Para. 2-3, Additionally, the manager module provides an interface to the user to control the whole simulation system, such as starting, stopping and resetting the simulation, as well as to record simulation and training sessions for analysis and evaluation ... In order to provide a flexible and accessible platform, we need a mechanism for the user to be able to make changes to the scene, load other 3D models and adjust parameters easily, as well as to exchange data with other sites.);
receiving, from a simulation engine executing on a machine, scenario data describing a status of the on-orbit operations (see Figs. 6-7, all; Pg. 73, Para. 5, The goal of the proposed simulation environment is to train the procedure and correct sequence of actions within various on-orbit servicing tasks. In order to support the training of a wide range of possible servicing scenarios, the system must provide a set of basic tasks that often occur and can be combined to various servicing scenarios.; Pg. 76, Para. 8-9, Each module manages its own internal representation of the scene. A scene consists of a hierarchy of objects, also called nodes, each with a given state. Common state parameters include at minimum a unique identification string and a transformation matrix to describe the location of the object within the scene. Other information, such as mass, friction, or shading effects, that is specific to a particular module implementation is added to the internal node's state. ... All modules implement the same functional structure. Within each processing cycle, a module … first reads state updates received from other modules …; Pg. 77, Para. 9, The manager module hosts the central logic of the system. While the physics module handles the dynamics and kinematics of the individual parts in the simulation, the manager handles the semantics. This includes, for example, monitoring the on/off state of a switch, but also the management of dynamic constraints.... As the physics engine is expected to implement measures for increasing stability, such as through spring and dampers, the manager is responsible for the recognition and management of inter-part geometric constraints between colliding objects. It monitors the result of the physics engine for allowable rigid body motion and intervenes if geometric constraints or semantic states were detected.; Pg. 78, Para. 3, Besides of importing geometric models from CAD tools, the user needs to specify physics and haptics properties of the virtual objects, as well as their location within the scene and relationships to other objects. Ideally, all this information would go into one central description of the scene.;);
receiving object information about how the at least one object interacts with the on-orbit operations (see Pg. 74, Para. 3-5, A key element of the application is the real-time simulation of the kinematic and dynamic behavior of the satellite components when manipulated by the user ... For the moment, we only concentrate on the simulation of rigid bodies that make up most of the virtual satellite and robot components ... This includes the detection of collisions between the haptic interaction point (HIP) and any objects within the virtual scene, as well as the computation of the resulting force and torque affecting the HIP.; Pg. 76, Para. 9, Other information, such as mass, friction, or shading effects, that is specific to a particular module implementation is added to the internal node's state ... All modules implement the same functional structure. Within each processing cycle, a module …steps the simulation or processes object behavior …; Pg. 77, Para. 1-5, The algorithm utilizes two data structures, voxel map and point shell, to represent the solid parts of static objects by volume-based pixels (voxels) and the surface of moving objects by a net of contact points each with a normal pointing inwards, see Fig. 8, left image ... The haptic module receives the transformations of moving objects and updates the nodes in the internal representation, before starting the collision detection and force calculation in the simulation process ... For accelerated collision detection, simple objects are approximated through basic collision shapes, such as box, sphere, or cylinder, which allow for optimized collision detection.;);
integrating the scenario data with the object information to obtain the on-orbit operations (see Pg. 76, Para. 9, All modules implement the same functional structure. Within each processing cycle, a module first reads state updates received from other modules; interprets the messages and updates the internal scene representation; steps the simulation or processes object behavior; gathers any state changes and communicates these and any other necessary status messages to the other modules; Pg. 78, Para. 1, As the physics engine is expected to implement measures for increasing stability, such as through spring and dampers, the manager is responsible for the recognition and management of inter-part geometric constraints between colliding objects. It monitors the result of the physics engine for allowable rigid body motion and intervenes if geometric constraints or semantic states were detected.; Pg. 79, Para. 6, The architecture divides the physics simulation, visualization and haptic rendering into separate modules that run in parallel on dedicated machines. A central manager mediates the communication of state updates, while managing the global semantics of object behaviors. Preliminary results have shown that our system is able to provide an end-to-end latency across the modules of 28ms for sending updates from moving the haptic device to displaying the visual response.;); and
providing, via the pilot vehicle interface, the view of the on-orbit operations (see Figs. 2 and 9, all; Pg. 74, Para. 5, The haptic control component generates the necessary data for providing haptic feedback to the user via a haptic device ... In case the user grasps a virtual object, the complexity of resolving the chain of forces between the interacting objects (virtual scene, grasped object, HIP) can be reduced by attaching the grasped objects with a constant offset to the HIP and apply the resulting transformation based on the HIP's transformation.; Pg. 75, Para. 4, Besides, from training the correct sequence of sub-tasks, a goal of the simulation environment is to allow the user to get an awareness of the appearance and arrangement of parts and tools. Hence, the realistic and high-quality visualization of the satellite components and the environment are important factors for the success of a training simulation.; Pg. 75, Para. 6, Additionally, the user's head is tracked. This is used to render the view in the correct perspective based on the user's current viewpoint.; Pg. 77, Para. 8, It is currently implemented using the VR toolkit ViSTA [20], which offers support for a wide range of VR interfaces and scalable to multi -display technology. The scene is organized in a scenegraph (viaOpenSG) that is continuously synchronized with state updates from the physics module and rendered during the simulation process of the module.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the process of Weber to request a view of the on-orbit operations by using a pilot vehicle interface, as taught by Wolff, in order to provide a user with an interactive simulation of the on-orbit operations to facilitate analysis, training and programming of the on-orbit operations.
Regarding Claim 2
Modified Weber teaches the method of claim 1 (as discussed above in claim 1),
Weber further teaches wherein the at least one object comprises at least one of a ground station and (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The Endto-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite.).
Wolff additionally teaches wherein the at least one object comprises at least one of a ground station and (see Figs. 2 and 9, all; Abstract, The main challenges put on the system are the real-time simulation of the realistic dynamic and kinematic behavior of satellite components and additionally integrate interaction through a bimanual haptic interface, as well as enable tele-operation of a robot.; Pg. 75, Para. 4, Besides, from training the correct sequence of sub-tasks, a goal of the simulation environment is to allow the user to get an awareness of the appearance and arrangement of parts and tools. Hence, the realistic and high-quality visualization of the satellite components and the environment are important factors for the success of a training simulation.;).
Regarding Claim 7
Modified Weber teaches the method of claim 1 (as discussed above in claim 1),
Weber further teaches wherein the view of the on-orbit operations is a view of simulated operations (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOS-Sim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.”), and further comprising:
requesting a second view of the on-orbit operations, wherein the second view comprises real-time operations of the at least one object (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver; Pg. 3, Para. 2, The aim of the communication setup is to implement the communication to the satellite in a single simulated space link supporting soft realtime deli very [ second view] while maintaining the possibility to carry out standard satellite operations with guaranteed delivery in parallel; Pg. 10, Para. 2, A simulation setup for a HIL-OOS Simulation has been implemented and the setup meets the delay requirements of the simulation scenario ... It has been shown that the communication parameters can be changed for other scenarios using the WAN-Simulator; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOSSim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.); and
providing the second view of the real-time operations (see Pg. 3, Para. 2, The aim of the communication setup is to implement the communication to the satellite in a single simulated space link supporting soft realtime delivery [ second view] while maintaining the possibility to carry out standard satellite operations with guaranteed delivery in parallel; Pg. 10, Para. 2, A simulation setup for a HIL-OOS Simulation has been implemented and the setup meets the delay requirements of the simulation scenario ... It has been shown that the communication parameters can be changed for other scenarios using the WAN-Simulator; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOS-Sim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.).
Wolff additionally teaches wherein the view of the on-orbit operations is a view of simulated operations (see Figs. 2 and 9, all; Abstract, This paper outlines the development of a real-time interactive application for the analysis, training and programming of on-orbit servicing tasks within a virtual reality environment.; Pg. 74, Para. 5, The haptic control component generates the necessary data for providing haptic feedback to the user via a haptic device ... In case the user grasps a virtual object, the complexity of resolving the chain of forces between the interacting objects (virtual scene, grasped object, HIP) can be reduced by attaching the grasped objects with a constant offset to the HIP and apply the resulting transformation based on the HIP's transformation.; Pg. 75, Para. 4, Besides, from training the correct sequence of sub-tasks, a goal of the simulation environment is to allow the user to get an awareness of the appearance and arrangement of parts and tools. Hence, the realistic and high-quality visualization of the satellite components and the environment are important factors for the success of a training simulation.; Pg. 75, Para. 6, Additionally, the user's head is tracked. This is used to render the view in the correct perspective based on the user's current viewpoint.; Pg. 77, Para. 8, It is currently implemented using the VR toolkit ViSTA [20], which offers support for a wide range of VR interfaces and scalable to multi -display technology. The scene is organized in a scenegraph (viaOpenSG) that is continuously synchronized with state updates from the physics module and rendered during the simulation process of the module.), and further comprising:
requesting a second view of the on-orbit operations, wherein the second view comprises real-time operations of the at least one object; and providing the second view of the real-time operations (see Abstract, This paper outlines the development of a real-time interactive application for the analysis, training and programming of on-orbit servicing tasks within a virtual reality environment.; Pg. 73, Para. 5-12, especially, The goal of the proposed simulation environment is to train the procedure and correct sequence of actions within various on-orbit servicing tasks. In order to support the training of a wide range of possible servicing scenarios, the system must provide a set of basic tasks that often occur and can be combined to various servicing scenarios. We selected a number of tasks that would occur in most servicing scenarios based on common EVAs. These will be used as benchmark for the future evaluation of our system.; Pg. 79, Para. 3, Work is currently in progress for implementing the system architecture described above. So far, we have implemented the mechanisms of three scenarios: flick a switch, loosening and tightening screws, and removing a module using a bayonet handle. First tests in a desktop setting interacting with a Phantom Omni®haptic device have been conducted to evaluate the proposed system architecture, Fig. 9.).
Regarding Claim 8
Modified Weber teaches the method of claim 7 (as discussed above in claim 7),
Weber further teaches further comprising:
requesting an on-orbit maneuver of the at least one object (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-OrbitServicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOS-Sim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.); and
sending, via a scenario manager, a command to execute the on-orbit maneuver to the at least one object (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 4, Para. 1-3, As shown in fig. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; The rendezvous console (RECO) is installed on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi server. To read telemetry and to create telecommands it uses the same TM/TC C++ 11 library. The console interacts with the on-board guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system of the satellite. In order to receive the telemetry and to send telecommands it shares its bandwidth with SACO and uses an external interface (EXIF) of SCOS; Pg. 9, Para. 3, The communication chain is regularly being used to transfer the telemetry and telecommands of the consoles. Science data like the camera images of the GNC system and the robotic telepresence data is regularly being transferred with the setup; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOS-Sim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.).
Regarding Claim 13
Modified Weber teaches the method of claim 1 (as discussed above in claim 1),
Weber further teaches further comprising sending, by a scenario manager, a command to the at least one object that is on-orbit that causes the at least one object to execute a maneuver (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 4, Para. 1-3, As shown in fig. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; The rendezvous console (RECO) is installed on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi server. To read telemetry and to create telecommands it uses the same TM/TC C++ 11 library. The console interacts with the on-board guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system of the satellite. In order to receive the telemetry and to send telecommands it shares its bandwidth with SACO and uses an external interface (EXIF) of SCOS; Pg. 5, Para. 1, As shown in fig. 6, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOSSim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 9, Para. 3, The communication chain is regularly being used to transfer the telemetry and telecommands of the consoles. Science data like the camera images of the GNC system and the robotic telepresence data is regularly being transferred with the setup; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.).
Regarding Claim 14
Modified Weber teaches the method of claim 13 (as discussed above in claim 13),
Weber further teaches further comprising: receiving, by the scenario manager, telemetry data from the at least one object, wherein the telemetry data is based on the command (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 4, Para. 1-3, As shown in fig. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; The rendezvous console (RECO) is installed on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi server. To read telemetry and to create telecommands it uses the same TM/TC C++ 11 library. The console interacts with the on-board guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system of the satellite. In order to receive the telemetry and to send telecommands it shares its bandwidth with SACO and uses an external interface (EXIF) of SCOS; As shown in fig. 9, A GUI is used to visualize the parameters and to trigger commands; Pg. 6, Para. 3, The main function in the FPGA has a command interpreter for sending commands and reading out telemetry such as IP and MAC addresses, port numbers, packet counters etc; Pg. 9, Para. 3, The communication chain is regularly being used to transfer the telemetry and telecommands of the consoles. Science data like the camera images of the GNC system and the robotic telepresence data is regularly being transferred with the setup; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.).
Regarding Claim 15
Weber teaches a system for viewing on-orbit operations (see Pg. 1, Para. 1, The aim of the On-Orbit-Servicing End-to-End Simulation project is to connect the different simulation facilities of these institutes and integrate them into a single end-to-end simulation of on-orbit servicing.), the system comprising:
a simulation engine executing on a virtual machine, the simulation engine providing scenario data describing a status of the on-orbit operations (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 4, Para. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.); and
requesting on-orbit operations, receiving the scenario data from the simulation engine (see Figure 8, all; Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated; Pg. 4, Para. 1-3, As shown in fig. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; The rendezvous console (RECO) is installed on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi server ... The console interacts with the on-board guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system of the satellite. In order to receive the telemetry and to send telecommands it shares its bandwidth with SACO and uses an external interface (EXIF) of SCOS [pilot vehicle interface]; Pg. 5, Para. 1, As shown in fig. 6, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite [object]; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.), receiving object information about how an at least one object interacts with the on-orbit operations (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOS-Sim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite [object information]. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.), integrating the scenario data with the object information to obtain the on-orbit operations (see Pg. 2, Para. 7, The End-to-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated. Also a control room environment must be provided for the operators of the simulated scenario; Pg. 5, Para. 1, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser, while the OOS-Sim simulates the robotic interaction between the two satellites ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite [object information]. The forces acting between the two satellites during the operations are sent by EPOS and OOS-Sim to SASI at a frequency of 200 Hz; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.); and providing the view of the on-orbit operations (see Figure 8, all; Pg. 2, Para. 7, The Endto-End On-Orbit-Servicing Simulation project copes with that by providing means for a HIL supported simulation of the complete servicing procedure. The components of the simulation environment are: The European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOS) which simulates the rendezvous maneuver ... Furthermore the space link and ground station must be simulated; Pg. 4, Para. 1-3, As shown in fig. 1, The satellite console (SACO) is a Linux workstation that is used in multi-mission satellite operations. To communicate with a spacecraft, it uses the Spacecraft Operating System (SCOS) which itself runs on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server; The rendezvous console (RECO) is installed on a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi server ... The console interacts with the on-board guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system of the satellite. In order to receive the telemetry and to send telecommands it shares its bandwidth with SACO and uses an external interface (EXIF) of SCOS [pilot vehicle interface]; Pg. 5, Para. 1, As shown in fig. 6, The space segment consists of three simulation facilities, the OOS-Sim and EPOS as well as SASI. EPOS simulates the rendezvous maneuver between the client and the chaser ... The second is a Microsoft Windows workstation which performs numerical calculations in real-time in order to determine the orbit dynamics and the relative position between the chaser and the client satellite; Pg. 2, Para. 2, A demonstration video of a full end to end simulation is also presented.).
Although it may be inherent, Weber does not explicitly teach a pilot vehicle interface requesting a view of the on-orbit operations.
Wolff teaches a system for viewing on-orbit operations (see Abstract, all; Pg. 79, all), the system comprising:
a simulation engine executing on a machine, the simulation engine providing scenario data describing a status of the on-orbit operations (see Figs. 6-7, all; Pg. 73, Para. 5, The goal of the proposed simulation environment is to train the procedure and correct sequence of actions within various on-orbit servicing tasks. In order to support the training of a wide range of possible servicing scenarios, the system must provide a set of basic tasks that often occur and can be combined to various servicing scenarios.; Pg. 76, Para. 8-9, Each module manages its own internal representation of the scene. A scene consists of a hierarchy of objects, also called nodes, each with a given state. Common state parameters include at minimum a unique identification string and a transformation matrix to describe the location of the object within the scene. Other information, such as mass, friction, or shading effects, that is specific to a particular module implementation is added to the internal node's state. ... All modules implement the same functional structure. Within each processing cycle, a module … first reads state updates received from other modules …; Pg. 77, Para. 9, The manager module hosts the central logic of the system. While the physics module handles the dynamics and kinematics of the individual parts in the simulation, the manager handles the semantics. This includes, for example, monitoring the on/off state of a switch, but also the management of dynamic constraints.... As the physics engine is expected to implement measures for increasing stability, such as through spring and dampers, the manager is responsible for the recognition and management of inter-part geometric constraints between colliding objects. It monitors the result of the physics engine for allowable rigid body motion and intervenes if geometric constraints or semantic states were detected.; Pg. 78, Para. 3, Besides of importing geometric models from CAD tools, the user needs to specify physics and haptics properties of the virtual objects, as well as their location within the scene and relationships to other objects. Ideally, all this information would go into one central description of the scene.;); and
a pilot vehicle interface requesting a view of the on-orbit operations, receiving the scenario data from the simulation engine (see Abstract, This paper outlines the development of a real-time interactive application for the analysis, training and programming of on-orbit servicing tasks within a virtual reality environment. ; Pg. 74, Para. 3-5, A key element of the application is the real-time simulation of the kinematic and dynamic behavior of the satellite components when manipulated by the user … The haptic control component generates the necessary data for providing haptic feedback to the user via a haptic device ... In case the user grasps a virtual object, the complexity of resolving the chain of forces between the interacting objects (virtual scene, grasped object, HIP) can be reduced by attaching the grasped objects with a constant offset to the HIP and apply the resulting transformation based on the HIP's transformation.; Pg. 75, Para. 6, In the proposed simulation and training system, the user interacts through a VR display, and optionally the haptic device ... Additionally, the user's head is tracked. This is used to render the view in the correct perspective based on the user's current viewpoint.; Pg. 76, Para. 4, Finally, being an interactive simulation, any responses to actions made b