DETAILED ACTION
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 § 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 1 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.
The term “flight order pattern” in claims 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “flight order pattern” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The term need to be defined in spec and/or in the claim.
The term “traveling in a circuit” in claims 1 & is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “traveling in a circuit” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The term need to be defined in spec and/or in the claim.
The term “optimization index” in claims 1-6 & 9-10 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “optimization index” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The term need to be defined in spec and/or in the claim.
The term “danger level” in claims 4-5 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “danger level” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The term need to be defined in spec and/or in the claim.
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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) "analyze future wind states on the basis of at least one of the collected wind states and weather information, and generate wind state information including time information, position information, and future wind states"; "optimize the flight plan … according to an optimization index" does not add a meaningful limitation and can be performed mentally. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because generically recited computer elements do not add a meaningful limitation to the abstract idea because they amount to simply implementing the abstract idea & mathematical optimization that can be performed by a generic computer. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because using wind state collection unit/wind state detection device when considered separately and in combination, they do not add significantly more (also known as an “inventive concept”) to the exception, and are well-understood, routine, conventional computer functions as recognized by the court decisions listed in MPEP § 2106.05(d).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-3, 6 & 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Cline et al.. Patent No.: US 4642775 A in view of Barr et al., Patent No.: US 10803758 B1.
Regarding claims 1 & 9-10; Cline et al. discloses a flight assistance system & a flight assistance device & a flight assistance method (col.4 lines 10-40 (2) “FIG. 1 … “a flight planning and information system” … to operate in conjunction with the aircraft navigation (or flight management) system”); comprising:
Cline et al., is not explicit on “wind state collection unit”, however, Barr et al., US 10803758 B1, teaches Wind Prediction Systems And Methods and discloses;
a wind state collection unit configured to collect wind states including a wind direction and a wind speed detected by a wind state detection device, analyze future wind states on the basis of at least one of the collected wind states and weather information, and generate wind state information including time information, position information, and future wind states corresponding to the position information (col.4-5 lines 40-10 (8) “The wind prediction system collects measured wind vectors for various parcels of air in a volume and propagates the sampled vectors forward in time, using an advection model, to generate a predicted prevailing wind vector in a region of interest (ROI) within or near the volume of air.” & (9) “The wind prediction system applies forecasts of wind speed and direction in the near future (e.g., from the present to 30 minutes or 60 minutes in the future in one to five minute increments) to identify an optimal or convenient time” & (10) “FIG. 1, a wind prediction system 100 includes one or more wind sensors such as Lidar sensor 102 and radar sensor 104, coupled to computing equipment 120 (e.g., via wired or wireless connections) to form a wind forecast system. ... A position, speed and/or a direction of several parcels 107 of wind 106 in a volume 130 can be determined based on sensor data from sensors 102, 104, 102R, 104R, 110, and/or 112. Wind data 122 may include raw data from the sensors and/or processed data generated at the sensor. Processed data may include a position, speed and/or a direction of several sampled parcels 107.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use these above mentioned features disclosed by Barr et al. with the system disclosed by Cline et al. in order to provide a wind prediction system that can be implemented in an air-traffic decision tool or a wind turbine system to generate prevailing wind direction predictions (see Abstract and col.2 lines 10-40 (8)-(9)).
Further Cline et al. discloses;
a flight route storage unit configured to store route information in which departure point information indicating a location of a departure point, arrival point information indicating a location of an arrival point, and a flight route preset when a flying object flies from the location of the departure point to the location of the arrival point are associated (FIG. 8 “a flight plan that is stored in the onboard components of the flight planning system” & FIG. 9 depicts operation of the invention relative to display significant meteorological weather reports (SIGMENT's) that are pertinent to a flight plan established in accordance with the invention & col.6-7 lines 50-20 (11) Operation of the flight planning system to store one or more flight plans on the disk 54 begins with the activation of the portable computer 40 by the pilot. ... The pilot can input, via the keyboard 44, certain information relating to a flight plan into the computer 40 including: … (21) (10) Departure Airport, (22) (11) Departure Time (23) (12) Destination Airport, (24) (13) Route Preference (Navaids and jet routes, jet routes only, pilot selected routes or FAA preferred routes) … (27) (16) Performance Bias, (28) (17) Weather Requests” & (30) “after a disk 54 has been initially used for storing a flight plan, the values of these information items will appear on the display 42 for pilot review and verification each time and flight planning process is initiated.”); and
an optimization processing unit configured to optimize a flight plan of the flying object on the basis of flight information including the arrival point information, the wind state information
generated by the wind state collection unit, and the route information stored in the flight route storage unit, wherein the optimization processing unit decides a flight order pattern indicating a flight order for traveling in a circuit to the location of the arrival point corresponding to the flight information on the basis of the wind state information and the route information (col.8-9 lines 65-17 (40) “data entry for producing the flight plan and accessing weather information. Flight plans that provide full optimization of the climb, cruise and descent phases of flight through integration of aircraft performance, wind and navigation data are provided by the flight planning system utilizing the data in the data center 30. … custom flight plan selection based on a menu offering of 9 possible flight plan variations is provided by the currently preferred embodiments of the system. Another important feature of the system is allowing complete integration of all necessary flight plan and weather data into the onboard flight management computer 14 by the automatic loading of flight plans via the data transfer unit 18. Progress monitoring of the actual aircraft performance in comparison to the flight plan is an additional feature of the system.), and
changes a flight start time of the flight order pattern to optimize the flight plan including the start time and the flight order pattern according to an optimization index based on the flight order pattern, the wind state information, and the route information ( (22) (11) “Departure Time” & col.16 lines 1-25 (83) After an entry of any necessary changes in the flight planning input information …entry of the departure airport, the planned departure time, and the destination airport (indicated at block 124 of FIG. 5A). …flight planning options available.” & col.8 lines 1-15 (34) “flight level, distance, estimated time enroute (ETE), magnetic course, predicted fuel burn, predicted fuel flow, predicted ground speed, predicted true airspeed (TAS), forecasted wind, forecasted outside air temperature, predicted remaining fuel, predicted remaining flight distance and predicted remaining flight time.” & col.8 lines 40-50 (38) “parameters include: fuel remaining, fuel flow per engine, estimated time of arrival, ground speed, true air speed, wind direction and velocity.” & col.8-9 lines 40-25 (39) “updates to the existing data center 30 generated flight plan such as route changes, flight level changes and fuel status changes. … data are transmitted through the VHF transmitter 36 to the data management unit 20” & (40) “Flight plans that provide full optimization of the climb, cruise and descent phases of flight through integration of aircraft performance, wind and navigation data are provided by the flight planning system utilizing the data in the data center 30.” & Col.10 lines 27-42 (47) “the predicted fuel consumption and flight time for each of the legs of the flight plan and the third page displays the route of the flight plan utilizing conventional waypoint and navigation aid identifiers” & (48) “inflight monitoring of the flight plan progress”).
Regarding claim 2; Cline et al. discloses the flight assistance system according to according to claim 1, wherein the optimization index includes power consumption, and wherein the optimization processing unit optimizes the flight plan so that the power consumption is minimized (col.5 lines 30-55 (8) “predicted fuel consumption” & col.10 lines 25-40 (47) “displays the predicted fuel consumption and flight time” & col.8-9 lines 65-17 (40) “minimizes operating costs while providing easily utilized menu driven inquiries and data entry for producing the flight plan and accessing weather information. Flight plans that provide full optimization of the climb, cruise and descent phases of flight through integration of aircraft performance, wind and navigation data are provided by the flight planning system utilizing the data in the data center 30.” & col.20-21 lines 5-45 (102)-(104) “determine a set of flight plans that are optimized in the selected manner for a number of aircraft cruise modes. es (i.e., take maximum advantage of forecasted tail winds and/or minimize the effect of forecasted headwinds). … to determine the "minimum fuel altitude" (i.e., the flight level that minimizes the fuel required to climb from the departure airport, cruise, and descend at the destination airport), for each of the three above-mentioned aircraft cruise modes. … the computers of flight data center 30 provide the calculated minimum fuel altitude, true airspeed at the beginning and end of the cruise portion of the planned flight, the estimated time required to navigate the planned route, the forecasted fuel burn, and the estimated cost. …The estimated costs can be calculated based on the direct operating costs of the aircraft and fuel price per gallon in view of the estimated time required to navigate the planned route and the fuel price per gallon.”).
Regarding claim 3; Cline et al. discloses the flight assistance system according to the claim 1, wherein the optimization index includes a flight period of time, and wherein the optimization processing unit optimizes the flight plan so that the flight period of time is minimized (col.7 lines 35-55 (32) “data center 30 computes three flight plans based on three different cruise mode. ... Flight plan summary information including total time, fuel and cost for each of the three cruise modes are generated and displayed on the display unit 42.” & col.8 lines 1-15 (34) “The data available for review includes: the pilot inputs, route description, flight levels, aircraft weights, fuel parameters. A leg by leg display of the flight plan is also provided that includes for each leg: flight level, distance, estimated time enroute (ETE), magnetic course, predicted fuel burn, predicted fuel flow, predicted ground speed, predicted true airspeed (TAS), forecasted wind, forecasted outside air temperature, predicted remaining fuel, predicted remaining flight distance and predicted remaining flight time.).
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Cline et al.. Patent No.: US 4642775 A in view of Barr et al., Patent No.: US 10803758 B1, further in view of Tran`055, Pub. No.: US 20210089055 A1.
Regarding claims 4-5; Cline et al. discloses the flight assistance system according to the claim 1.
Cline et al., is not explicit on “danger level”, however, Tran`055, US 20210089055 A1, teaches AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS and discloses;
(claim 4) wherein the optimization index includes a danger level that is a level of danger, and wherein the optimization processing unit optimizes the flight plan so that the danger level is less than or equal to a threshold level,
(claim 5) wherein the optimization index includes power consumption, a flight period of time, and a danger level that is a level of danger, and wherein the optimization processing unit changes an optimization priority order of the power consumption, the flight period of time, and the danger level in response to a request of a user ([0072] “the flying lane assignment is selected from a plurality of flying lane assignments to maximize collision-free trajectories based on the static or dynamic obstruction. … The changes can include instructions to change direction, instructions to change flying lane(s), instruction to land and where the vehicle should target for landing, full route modification with an emphasis on route optimization while avoiding the negative impact of the conflicting vehicles, instructions to speed up or slow down, instructions to change altitude, instructions to hold position for a specific or indefinite time period, instructions to move to a safe position away from the potential collision and either hold in the air or on the ground for a specific or indefinite time period, instructions to land very quickly, instructions to land very slowly, instructions to circle, and the like. When the obstacle is safely behind the vehicle 10, then the vehicle resumes its planned path.” & [0235] “capture flight data for the flight route and compare the flight data with reference data” from other vehicles flying substantially along the flight route or from a math simulation of expected flight parameters” & [0236] determine unexpected changes as prioritized by danger level and if an emergency exists, instructing the vehicle to go to a safe location.).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use these above mentioned features disclosed by Tran`055 with the system disclosed by Cline et al. in order to provide systems and methods for controlling an air vehicle by generating a multi-dimensional model of a vehicle operating in a 3D environment and controlling the vehicle to operate based on the model and the 3D environment (see Abstract and para. [0004]).
Regarding claims 6; Cline et al. discloses the flight assistance system according to the claim 1, wherein the optimization processing unit decides the flight order pattern on the basis of the optimization index (As in claim 1, see (col.8-9 lines 65-17 (40) “data entry for producing the flight plan and accessing weather information. Flight plans that provide full optimization of the climb, cruise and descent phases of flight through integration of aircraft performance, wind and navigation data are provided by the flight planning system utilizing the data in the data center 30. … complete integration of all necessary flight plan and weather data into the onboard flight management computer 14 by the automatic loading of flight plans via the data transfer unit 18.).
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Cline et al.. Patent No.: US 4642775 A in view of Barr et al., Patent No.: US 10803758 B1, further in view of MCCANN et al., Pub. No.: US 20160055752 A1.
Regarding claims 7-8; Cline et al. discloses the flight assistance system according to the claim 1.
Cline et al., is not explicit on “2/3 dimensional position information”, however, MCCANN et al., US 20160055752 A1, teaches DYNAMIC TURBULENCE ENGINE CONTROLLER APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS and discloses;
(claim 7) wherein the position information is three-dimensional position information of latitude, longitude, and altitude, and wherein the wind state collection unit generates the wind state information in which the time information, the three-dimensional position information, and the wind states are associated,
(claim 8) wherein the flight route includes two-dimensional position information of latitude and longitude, and wherein the optimization processing unit changes flight altitude to optimize the flight plan
([0033] FIG. 6, “two dimensional grid space may be considered for initial path planning purposes. In some embodiments of the disclosure, three dimensional grid space may be considered for path planning purposes. In some embodiments of the disclosure, two dimensional grid space may be considered for initial path planning purposes, which may then be integrated with additional dimensional information as necessary to accurately determine available grid space inside which the flight path may still meet flight path parameters.).).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use these above mentioned features disclosed by MCCANN et al. with the system disclosed by Cline et al. in order to provide a dynamic turbulence engine controller (DTEC) flight planning apparatus to turbulence avoidance optimized flight plans. the DTEC determine a plurality of four-dimensional grid points based on the flight plan parameter data. The DTEC may then determine a non-dimensional mountain wave amplitude and mountain top wave drag, an upper level non-dimensional gravity wave amplitude, and a buoyant turbulent kinetic energy (see Abstract and para. [0003]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jalal C CODUROGLU whose telephone number is (408)918-7527. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 8-6 PT.
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/Jalal C CODUROGLU/Examiner, Art Unit 3665