DETAILED ACTION
Remarks
This final office action is in response to the amendments filled on 04/15/2026. Claims 1-3, 5, 7-12, 14 and 16-18 are amended. Claims 4, 6, 13 and 15 are canceled. Claims 1-3, 5, 7-12, 14 and 16-18 are pending and examined below.
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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7-12, 14 and 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2012/0215387 (“Yadav”), and in view of US 2022/0358696 (“Holder”), and further in view of US 2022/0139233 (“Schwindt”).
Regarding claim 10 (and similarly claim 1), Yadav discloses a system for updating a flight plan for an aircraft (see at least fig 1 and [0026]), comprising:
a flight management system (FMS) (see at least [0025] and [0041], where pilot is using FMS), where the FMS includes a processing system to:
receive a flight plan (see at least [0004], where “method of providing multiple undo and redo operations for a flight plan in a flight management system”; undo and redo operations are conducted for a flight plan. The flight plan is given/received for performing undo and redo operations);
wherein, at the FMS, the flight plan is a reference flight plan, generate a clone of the reference flight plan (see at least [0025], where “At step 102, an active flight plan (e.g., the active flight plan 202 of FIGS. 2 through 13) is either created by a pilot or uses a default active flight plan. At step 104, a temporary flight plan (e.g., the temporary flight plan 206 of FIGS. 2 through 13) and a reference flight plan are created…The temporary flight plan includes a copy of the active flight plan and the initiated first revision. Further, the reference flight plan is a copy of the active flight plan (e.g., the copy of active flight plan 204 of FIGS. 2 through 13).”),
create a mutated clone (mutated clone is interpreted as variant or modified. see at least [0028], where “the pilot modifies the active flight plan 202 by performing a lateral revision”; see also [0003]);
visualize the mutated clone on a display (see at least [0028], where “FIG. 2 illustrates a display unit 200 displaying a flight plan, according to one embodiment. As shown, the display unit 200 displays an active flight plan 202, a copy of the active flight plan 204, a temporary flight plan 206, a list of pilot actions or a list of action plans 208 and an action pointer 210.”); and
update the mutated clone with any changes to the reference flight plan that occurred subsequent to creating the clone of the reference flight plan (see at least [0028], where “when the pilot modifies the active flight plan 202 by performing a lateral revision "insert WOLF after TOE", the copy of the active flight plan 204 and the temporary flight plan 206 are created.”; see also fig 1, block 106, [0036] and [0005], where “multiple revisions”); and
a control display unit (CDU) coupled to the FMS (see at least [0029], where “FIG. 3 illustrates a display unit 300 displaying the copy of the active flight plan 204 and the temporary flight plan 206.”), the CDU to:
receive a data from a pilot of the aircraft, where the data modifies the clone of the reference flight plan (see at least fig 3- fig 13; see also [0005], where “The display unit includes one or more action buttons for performing multiple undo and redo operations”; see also [0032]); and
update the reference flight plan (see at least [0027]).
Yadav does not disclose the following limitations:
a flight management system (FMS) located onboard the aircraft;
create a mutated clone by changing a mission parameter;
receive a down path change to the clone; and
update the reference flight plan with the down path change plan.
However, Holder discloses a system wherein a flight management system (FMS) located onboard the aircraft (see at least [0016], where “FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a system 100 which may be located onboard a vehicle, such as an aircraft 102…The system 100 includes…a flight management system (FMS) 116,”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Yadav to incorporate the teachings of Holder by including the above feature for providing flight path adjustment quicker by having FMS onboard the aircraft.
Yadav in view of Holder does not disclose the following limitations:
create a mutated clone by changing a mission parameter;
receive a down path change to the clone; and
update the reference flight plan with the down path change plan.
However, Schwindt discloses a system wherein create a mutated clone by changing a mission parameter (see at least fig 3, where flight plan is updated by changing the parameters. Yadav discloses a system that creates clone of flight. Mutated clone is interpreted as changing parameter of a flight plan. Schwindt discloses a system that update parameters of a flight plan).
receive a down path change to the clone (see at least fig 3, where update of flight plan is received. See also [0011] and [0047]. Yadav discloses a system that creates clone of flight. Schwindt discloses a system that update parameters of a flight plan by receiving a path change); and
update the reference flight plan with the down path change plan (see at least fig 3, where original flight plan is updated by changing/updating the flight parameters.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified Yadav in view of Holder to incorporate the teachings of Schwindt by including the above feature for providing updated flight path by adjusting flight parameters.
Regarding claim 11 (and similarly claim 2), Yadav further discloses a system comprising:
receiving a pilot activation of the mutated clone (see at least [0003-4], where pilot is initiating the process); and
adopting the mutated clone as a modified reference flight plan (see at least [0003-4], where the reference flight plan is a copy of the active flight plan and revision is made on the copy of the active flight plan. modify existing route by doing revisions. See also [0028]).
Regarding claim 12 (and similarly claim 3), Yadav further discloses a system comprising:
receiving a pilot activation of the mutated clone (see at least [0003-4], where pilot is initiating the process); and
adopting the mutated clone as a secondary flight plan ([0037] of PGPub of submitted specification describes a secondary flight plan is a reference plan. see at least Yadav [0025]).
Regarding claim 14 (and similarly claim 5), Schwindt further discloses a system comprising receiving a down path or in flight change to the secondary flight plan and updating the reference flight plan based thereon (see at least fig 3 and fig 4).
Regarding claim 16 (and similarly claim 7), Holder further discloses a system where the clone of the reference flight plan is modified to reflect changes in a flight altitude of the aircraft (see at least [0046]).
Regarding claim 17 (and similarly claim 8), Holder further discloses a system where the reference flight plan is modified to reflect changes in an element in a navigation database including a standard terminal arrival (STAR) for the arrival plan of the aircraft (see at least [0022]). Rejection relied on Yadav for clone of the reference flight plan, see citation above.
Regarding claim 18 (and similarly claim 9), Yadav discloses a system where the clone of the reference flight plan is modified to reflect changes (see at least [0003], where pilot is modifying the route to new destination e.g., new runway).
Holder further discloses a system where reflect changes in an element in a navigation database including a runway used by the aircraft (see at least [0022]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1-3, 5, 7-12, 14 and 16-18 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the new combination used in the current rejection that is due to the newly added claim amendments.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SOHANA TANJU KHAYER whose telephone number is (408)918-7597. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday, 7 am-5.30 pm, PT.
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/SOHANA TANJU KHAYER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3657
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