DETAILED ACTION
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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim(s) 8-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claim(s) are directed towards “A computer-readable medium…”.
The claim(s) should be amended to read
‘A non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: …’.
Allowable Subject Matter (over prior art)
Claim(s) 1-7, 15-20 is/are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter over prior art:
Examiner’s closest prior art to the claimed subject matter:
SHI ET AL. (US 20230050794 A1) teaches ‘a cone-rod dual-modality neuromorphic vision sensor, including: a first preset quantity of voltage-mode active pixel sensor (APS) circuits and a second preset quantity of current-mode APS circuits, where each of the voltage-mode APS circuits includes a first-type photosensitive device, and each of the current-mode APS circuits includes a second-type photosensitive device. The voltage-mode APS can output a target voltage signal representing light intensity information in a target light signal. The obtained target voltage signal represents the light intensity information with a higher precision, and therefore an image with higher quality can be obtained, that is, the image has a higher signal-noise ratio. The voltage-mode APS can output a specified digital signal representing light intensity gradient information in the target light signal, to ensure performance indicators such as an image dynamic range and a shooting speed of the neuromorphic vision sensor, thereby making the neuromorphic vision sensor more stable and robust’;
NICHOLAS ET AL. (US 20220291139 A1) teaches ‘foreign object debris monitoring in an environment with a dynamic debris field, such as an environment for operating an aircraft. The debris monitoring technique includes generating a light beam and dispersing it to create a virtual witness plate, which is a two-dimensional sheet of light that covers a detection area. The technique also include detecting scattered light from the virtual witness plate caused by debris passing through it. A debris event may be generated based on the scattered light, indicating the presence of debris in the detection area’.
None of the cited prior art alone or in combination provides motivation to explicitly teach:
receive first data from the neuromorphic sensor,
the first data including a visual data characteristic associated with an image of an inlet of the aircraft engine;
receive second data from the neuromorphic sensor subsequent to receiving the first data,
wherein
the second data indicates a change in the visual data characteristic;
identify, based on the change in the visual data characteristic, an event associated with debris in the inlet of the aircraft engine;
and
in response to identifying the event associated with debris in the aircraft engine,
activate at least one other neuromorphic sensor coupled to the aircraft engine and in communication with the FADEC system
of claim(s) 1, 8, 15 (including dependent claim(s)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAYMOND NIMOX whose telephone number is (469)295-9226. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 10am-8pm CT.
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RAYMOND NIMOX
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2857
/RAYMOND L NIMOX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit
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