DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wiegman (US Pat Pub No. 2023/0023907).
Regarding claim 1, Wiegman shwos an evtol aircraft flight control system (See at least Para 0109 for flight control system 900 for evtol 800 shown on figure 8) comprising:
input circuitry that receives a first input signal from a first manipulable control device and a second input signal from a second manipulatable control device (See at least Para 0031 and 0064 for pilot input including leveler, inceptor stick, steering wheel, joystick, pedal or touch screen display as first and second manipulable control device along with sensor circuitry 104 for detect and capture input datum on Para 0027; also on Para 0064 with touch screen as pilot input circuitry for mode switch and pilot control);
conditioning circuitry that processes each of the first input signal and the second input signal (See at least figure 1 and Para 0040 for higher level flight controller 124 with operational amplifier as the conditioning circuity for analog signal processing received sensor signal; also on at least Para 0049 for diode and transistor electronic components process signal input along with MOSFET for signal rectification and gain adjusting) to enable either the first input signal or the second input signal to generate evtol aircraft commands (See at least figure 1 for processed signal further provided to central flight controller 140 for flight command to actuator),
a selector circuit that selects between the first input signal and the second input signal for controlling an evtol aircraft (See at least Para 0049 and 0050 for central flight controller 140 with multiplexer logic circuit for receiving plurality binary input including user input as incoming signal and produce only one single binary output as selector; also on at least Para 0032 for pilot control with remote communicatively connection as the selector circuit for selecting between switch and lever for aircraft control; Para 0035 and 0064 for 4 way hat switch stick and touch screen selecting user input).
Regarding claims 10 and 19, Wiegman shows an evtol aircraft comprising at least one processor (See at least Para 0024 for processor) configured to execute instructions from non-transitory memory that control the at least one processor to perform operations (See at least Para 0112 for non-volatile memory with machine readable instruction for processor) comprising:
receiving a first input signal from a first manipulable control device (See at least Para 0035 for 4 way hat switch stick for aircraft control as first manipulable control device with pilot control as first pilot input signal);
receiving a second input signal from a second manipulatable control device (See at least Para 0064 for touch screen display 156 receives pilot control input as second manipulatable control device receiving mode switch, pilot control with button and switch as second input signal);
processing each of the first input signal and the second input signal to enable either the first input signal or the second input signal to generate evtol aircraft commands (See at least figure 1 and Para 0040 for higher level flight controller 124 with operational amplifier as the conditioning circuity for analog signal processing received sensor signal; also on at least Para 0049 for diode and transistor electronic components process signal input along with MOSFET for signal rectification and gain adjusting; also on at least figure 1 for processed signal further provided to central flight controller 140 for flight command to actuator);
selecting between the first input signal and the second input signal for controlling the evtol aircraft (See at least Para 0049 and 0050 for central flight controller 140 with multiplexer logic circuit for receiving plurality binary input including user input as incoming signal and produce only one single binary output as selector; See also on at least Para 0032 for pilot control with remote communicatively connection as the selector circuit selecting between switch and lever for aircraft control; Para 0035 and 0064 for 4 way hat switch stick and touch screen as user input selector circuit).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Wiegman shows the selector circuit selects only one of the first input signal and the second input signal at a time (See at least Para 0064 for touch screen boot button selected as the only one to power up the system at a time and kill switch as the only one selected to disable power to all actuator at a time).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Wiegman shows the conditioning circuitry comprises a normalizing circuit (See at least Para 0049 for MOSFET along with diode provide signal rectification and gain adjusting as signal conditioning).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Wiegman as shows the conditioning circuitry comprises a dead zone and gain adjusting circuit (See at least Para 0049 for MOSFET provides saturation region as dead zone along with gain adjusting as signal conditioning).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Wiegman shows the first manipulable control device is graspable (See at least Para 0035 for 4 way hat switch stick for aircraft control as first manipulable control device with pilot control as graspable),
the second manipulable control device is hand-operable but not graspable (See at least Para 0064 for touch screen display 156 receives pilot control input using hand yet not graspable).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Wiegman shows the generated evtol aircraft commands comprise a set of commands essential to second-to-second piloting of the evtol aircraft (See at least Para 0051 for generated priority command optimization for a set of actuator to be commanded for aircraft piloting).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Wiegman shows the selector circuit is configured to apply a pilot-specified priority on selecting between the first input signal and the second input signal (See at least Para 0021 for pilot input to choose priority for flight assembly).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Wiegman shows the selector circuit is configured to automatically detect control device failure and deselect an input signal of a failed control device (See at least Para 0022 for flight control assembly with redundancy against failure).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, Wiegman shows the first or the second manipulable control device is not on board the evtol aircraft (See at least Para 0032 for pilot control remotely located outside of aircraft).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Shue, US Pat Pub No. 2017/0036753.
Starr et al, US Pat Pub No. 2022/0266983.
Ptovin et al, US Pat Pub No. 2023/0168692.
Auerbach, US Pat Pub No. 2023/0023926.
Horn et al, US Pat Pub No. 2021/0229797.
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/Ian Jen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3657