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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/26/2024 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
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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 7 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Vossler (US 2016/0188765).
Regarding claim 7, Vossler teaches a test station (Fig. 1, Test station 10) comprising: a networking emulator (Fig. 1, Communication node 14 is a virtual network; Paragraph 0012, embodiments of the invention may include networks 14 that may include more than one node, network switch, and/or virtualized network components) coupled to receive performance check data (Fig. 1, Communication node 14 receives debugging/logging data (i.e. performance check data) from development node 16 to perform debugging on other nodes 12 or LRU 20; Paragraph 0026, functions and operations of the error node may be incorporated into the at least one development node 16… for recording, identifying and/or debugging the development application software… Paragraph 0022, utilizing test development application software 46 code in a development node 16 interacting with a plurality of other nodes 12) and to receive aircraft data (Fig. 1, Development node 16 sends simulated aircraft data inputs to LRU 20 via communication node 14 (i.e. networking emulator); Paragraph 0022, a developer may actively and rapidly develop auto-land software in the simulation system 10, 110 by utilizing test development application software 46 code in a development node 16 interacting with a plurality of other nodes 12, or non-virtual and/or non-development nodes, which for instance may be providing simulated inputs for the auto-land software, an aircraft-specific communication network 14, and a real PFD 20 coupled with an intermediate node 18); and at least one line replacement unit coupled to the networking emulator (Fig. 1, Real aircraft component 20 is a line replacement unit (LRU) coupled to communication node 14 in test station 10; Paragraph 0013, aircraft component 20 may include a real PFD… to the system 10… Paragraph 0011, a “real” primary flight display (PFD) is a line-replaceable unit (LRU)).
Regarding claim 11, Vossler teaches the test station of claim 7. Vossler teaches the test station comprising wherein the first selected line replacement unit is avionics equipment (Fig. 1, Real aircraft component 20 is used in avionics for aircraft; Paragraph 0013, aircraft component 20 may include a real PFD… Paragraph 0011, a “real” primary flight display (PFD) is a line-replaceable unit (LRU)).
Regarding claim 12, Vossler teaches the test station of claim 7. Vossler teaches the test station comprising wherein the first selected line replacement unit is a model stored in a multi-function processor (Fig. 1, LRU 20 is a aircraft model that is part of a processor system that performs multiple functions such as PFD, GPS, environmental sensing; Paragraph 0023, aircraft components made by many different component manufacturers, for many different aircraft types and/or models… Paragraph 0013, aircraft component 20 may include one or more real components used on an aircraft to provide optional or necessary functionality and/or operation for the aircraft simulation system 10. For example, the aircraft component 20 may include a real PFD, real global positioning signal (GPS) unit, and/or real environmental sensors).
Regarding claim 13, Vossler teaches the test station of claim 12. Vossler teaches the test station comprising: comprising: a second selected line replacement unit coupled to the network emulator, wherein the second selected line replacement unit is avionics equipment (Fig. 1, I/O gateway 24 is connected to a second LRU 20; Paragraph 0013, one or more input/output gateways 24 may be configured to provide additional coupling mechanisms (real or virtual) for communicatively coupling additional real or simulated components), and wherein the networking emulator is coupled to receive performance check data and to receive aircraft data for the first and the second selected replacement unit (Fig. 1, Communication node 14 receives debugging from development node 16 and aircraft landing input from node 16; Paragraph 0022, utilizing test development application software 46 code in a development node 16 interacting with a plurality of other nodes 12).
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.
Claims 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vossler (US 2016/0188765) in view of White (US 2003/0023740).
Regarding claim 14, Vossler teaches the test station of claim 12. Vossler does not teach the test station further comprising a smart card containing the network emulator.
White teaches the test station (Fig. 2, Simulator 200 includes a network of devices and thus is a network emulator; Paragraph 0040, Simulator 200 contains some of the same components as simulator 100, including a controller 210 and a display 212. As discussed above, controller 212 may be a joystick, yoke, throttle control, foot pedals, or other suitable device or combination of devices used for accepting pilot input. Both a display 210 and a controller 212 are coupled to a simulator computer 220 that controls display 210 based on the inputs to controller 212) further comprising a smart card containing the network emulator (Fig. 5, Simulator environment runs on smart cards 504 and 506; Paragraph 0044, PCI cards 504 and 506 serve to operate the FMS software on the workstation: as the FMS software on an aircraft does not run on a Windows NT workstation, PCI cards 504 and 506 simulate the hardware that is used to run the FMS software on an aircraft. Each PCI card represents a single FMS LRU).
Vossler and White are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of simulating aviation data and controls.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vossler’s device to incorporate the teachings of White and include the network emulator on a smart PCI card.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to yield the obvious result of implementing the simulator in a compact, mass manufacturable form factor using the high-speed PCI protocol.
Regarding claim 15, Vossler in view of White teaches the test station of claim 14.
White teaches the test station further comprising wherein the smart card includes the first selected line replacement unit (Fig. 5, Simulator environment runs on smart cards 504 and 506 and simulates a line replacement unit (LRU); Paragraph 0044, PCI cards 504 and 506 simulate the hardware that is used to run the FMS software on an aircraft. Each PCI card represents a single FMS LRU).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vossler’s device to incorporate the teachings of White and include the network emulator on a smart PCI card.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to yield the obvious result of implementing the simulator in a compact, mass manufacturable form factor using the high-speed PCI protocol.
Claims 16-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vossler (US 2016/0188765) in view of Boldenow (US 2020/0258414).
Regarding claim 16, Vossler teaches a method for testing avionics of an aircraft (Fig. 1, Test station 10 is for testing avionics; Paragraph 0012, FIG. 1 illustrates an aircraft simulation system 10 for development of aircraft-specific application software) comprising: receiving performance check data corresponding to a selected line replacement units (LRU) of the aircraft (Fig. 1, Communication node 14 receives debugging/logging data (i.e. performance check data) from development node 16 to perform debugging on other nodes 12 or LRU 20; Paragraph 0026, functions and operations of the error node may be incorporated into the at least one development node 16, for example, as a sub-routine computer program, or within another virtual machine 38, for recording, identifying and/or debugging the development application software… Paragraph 0022, utilizing test development application software 46 code in a development node 16 interacting with a plurality of other nodes 12); receiving external aircraft data (Fig. 1, Development node 16 sends simulated aircraft data inputs to LRU 20 via communication node 14 (i.e. networking emulator); Paragraph 0022, a developer may actively and rapidly develop auto-land software in the simulation system 10, 110 by utilizing test development application software 46 code in a development node 16 interacting with a plurality of other nodes 12, or non-virtual and/or non-development nodes, which for instance may be providing simulated inputs for the auto-land software, an aircraft-specific communication network 14, and a real PFD 20 coupled with an intermediate node 18).
Vossler does not teach the method comprising for the performance check data, determining memory commands to apply to an I/O buffer of the selected LRU; for the external aircraft data, determining aircraft commands to apply to the I/O buffer of the selected LRU; and applying one of the memory commands and aircraft commands to the selected LRU.
Boldenow teaches the method (Figs. 1C and 2, Method runs on simulation 100C which is the same embodiment in Figure 2; Paragraph 0027, FIG. 1C diagrammatically illustrates an exemplary Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) Gateway System 100C) comprising for the performance check data, determining memory commands to apply to an I/O buffer of the selected LRU (Fig. 2, LRU command data 122 requests for a status (i.e. performance check) and is input as a command to retrieve stored data from LRU 142 (i.e. memory command) via data queue 240 (i.e. I/O buffer) of the LRU 142; Paragraph 0028, operator system 120 could be configured to transmit command data to, and receive status and target data from, a radar system, which could be a live tactical LRU radar system or a simulated tactical LRU radar system… Paragraph 0039, command is preferably provided to a data queue for the appropriate tactical LRU… Paragraph 0064, simulated tactical LRU device may receive live tactical LRU data and record that data in its own storage, similar to the historical database 342. In such embodiments, the simulated tactical LRU may then transmit pre-recorded live tactical LRU data to the LVC gateway… Paragraph 0024, LRU data could be configured to transmit pre-recorded captured data from a live tactical LRU device upon receipt of an appropriate command); for the external aircraft data, determining aircraft commands to apply to the I/O buffer of the selected LRU (Fig. 2, LRU command data 122 also includes aircraft commands to apply to data queue 240 (i.e. the I/O buffer); Paragraph 0030, commands include commands for an LRU, such as the live tactical LRU 110 or the simulated tactical LRU 130, to perform a task, for example turning on/off, changing power, steering left/right, initializing, firing (for weapons), and locking on target for tracking systems); and applying one of the memory commands and aircraft commands to the selected LRU (Fig. 2, Commands are applied one at a time from data queue 240; Paragraph 0039, selected data queue 240, 280 would then transmit the command to its associated tactical LRU (live LRU 142 or simulated LRU 144) via a live LRU outbound connection transmitter 242 or a simulated LRU outbound connection transmitter 282).
Vossler and Boldenow are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of simulating aviation controls and inputs.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vossler’s method to incorporate the teachings of Boldenow and enable the network emulator of Vossler to use performance and aircraft commands to a data queue to each LRU.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to train complex commands on simulated aircraft which reduces the costs of testing (See Boldenow: Paragraphs 0004 and 0006-0007).
Regarding claim 17, Vossler in view of Boldenow teaches the method of claim 16.
Boldenow teaches the method comprising determining the memory commands comprising: accessing a specific memory address (Fig. 2, LRU command data 122 access an IP address to a LRU with memory; Paragraph 0029, operator system 120 could transmit a command to the LVC Gateway 140 for a GPS device to retrieve location data by transmitting OS->LRU command data 122 to an IP address that is bound to the LVC gateway 140); and setting a specific memory address (Fig. 2, LVC gateway sets up IP addresses for each LRU module; Paragraph 0026, an admin system could set up an LVC gateway to have a first series of IP addresses that each acts as a separate LRU to communicate with one or more operator systems).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vossler’s method to incorporate the teachings of Boldenow and enable the network emulator of Vossler to use performance and aircraft commands to a data queue to each LRU via IP addresses.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to train complex commands on simulated aircraft which reduces the costs of testing (See Boldenow: Paragraphs 0004 and 0006-0007) and to yield the obvious result of using the well-known and commonly used IP protocol for efficient network communications.
Regarding claim 19, Vossler in view of Boldenow teaches the method of claim 16. Vossler teaches the method comprising wherein the first selected line replacement unit is avionics equipment (Fig. 1, Real aircraft component 20 is used in avionics for aircraft; Paragraph 0013, aircraft component 20 may include a real PFD, real global positioning signal (GPS) unit, and/or real environmental sensors to provide optional and/or necessary inputs to the system 10… Paragraph 0011, a “real” primary flight display (PFD) is a line-replaceable unit (LRU)).
Regarding claim 20, Vossler in view of Boldenow teaches the method of claim 16. Vossler teaches the method comprising wherein the first selected line replacement unit is a model stored in a multi-function processor (Fig. 1, LRU 20 is a aircraft model that is part of a processor system that performs multiple functions such as PFD, GPS, environmental sensing; Paragraph 0023, aircraft components made by many different component manufacturers, for many different aircraft types and/or models… Paragraph 0013, aircraft component 20 may include one or more real components used on an aircraft to provide optional or necessary functionality and/or operation for the aircraft simulation system 10. For example, the aircraft component 20 may include a real PFD, real global positioning signal (GPS) unit, and/or real environmental sensors).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vossler (US 2016/0188765) in view of Boldenow (US 2020/0258414) and further in view of Letsu-Dake (US 2019/0130767).
Regarding claim 18, Vossler teaches the method comprising wherein the selected line replacement unit is selected from a group consisting of flight management system (Auto-land manages flying; Paragraph 0022, a developer may actively and rapidly develop auto-land software in the simulation system 10), automatic flight control system (Auto-land is automatic; Paragraph 0022, a developer may actively and rapidly develop auto-land software in the simulation system 10), flight display system application (Aircraft cockpit display system includes flight display; Paragraph 0011, a “real” primary flight display (PFD) is a line-replaceable unit (LRU) that may be physically installed and/or removed from an aircraft cockpit), automatic flight control system (Paragraph 0022, a developer may actively and rapidly develop auto-land software in the simulation system 10), on board maintenance system (Paragraph 0026, development node 16, for example, as a sub-routine computer program, or within another virtual machine 38, for recording, identifying and/or debugging the development application software. Additional embodiments of error and/or debugging may be included), and integrated flight information system (Multiple sensors are integrated for flight data; Paragraph 0013, aircraft component 20 may include a real PFD, real global positioning signal (GPS) unit, and/or real environmental sensors).
Boldenow teaches the method comprising wherein the selected line replacement unit is selected from a group consisting of radio tuning software application (Paragraph 0024, “LRU” comprises a line replaceable unit device, for example an interface for a radar, a camera, a sensor, a radio), data link communication application (Paragraph 0024, “LRU” comprises a line replaceable unit device, for example… a COMINT (communications intelligence) system), engine indicating and crew system, synthetic vision system (Paragraph 0024, “LRU” comprises a line replaceable unit device, for example an interface for a radar, a camera… IMINT (imagery intelligence) system), head up display system (Paragraph 0024, a targeting system).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vossler’s method to incorporate the teachings of Boldenow and enable the network emulator of Vossler to use performance and aircraft commands to a data queue to each LRU via IP addresses and a plurality of LRU types.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to train complex commands on simulated aircraft which reduces the costs of testing (See Boldenow: Paragraphs 0004 and 0006-0007) and to yield the obvious result of using the well-known and commonly used IP protocol for efficient network communications.
Neither Vossler nor Boldenow teaches the method comprising wherein the selected line replacement unit is selected from a group consisting of engine indicating and crew system.
Letsu-Dake teaches the method comprising wherein the selected line replacement unit is selected from a group consisting of engine indicating and crew system (Fig. 1, LRU in aircraft system 100 includes engine indication and crew systems; Paragraph 0002, Avionics systems also include other onboard electronic systems that control, monitor and display critical operational and air safety parameters, such as, for example, flight and engine performance… Paragraph 0020, automatic inputs can include, for example, a crew alerting system (CAS) message).
Vossler, Boldenow, and Letsu-Dake are analogous arts because they are in the same field of endeavor of aircraft control and data simulation.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Vossler/Boldenow’s method to incorporate the teachings of Letsu-Dake and include LRUs that indicate engine performance and crew systems.
One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make the modifications in order to testing and troubleshoot issues with avionics and flight crews (See Letsu-Dake: Paragraphs 0004-0005).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 1-6 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claim 1, none of the cited references either alone or in combination teaches a networking emulator for an aircraft comprising: an Ethernet I/O buffer coupled to receive performance check data corresponding to a selected line replacement units (LRU) of the aircraft; a Peek/Poke Block coupled to the Ethernet I/O buffer, operative to receive the performance check data, the Peek/Poke Block including, a Peek/Poke I/O buffer coupled to the Ethernet I/O buffer, and a Peek/Poke processor coupled to the Peek/Poke I/O buffer, operative to apply memory commands to an I/O buffer of the selected LRU; an Aircraft Flows I/O buffer operative to receive external aircraft data; and a Switch I/O Buffer coupled to the Peek/Poke Block and to the Aircraft Flows I/O Buffer; and a Switch processor, coupled to the switch I/O buffer, operative to determine when performance check data and external aircraft data should be applied to the selected LRU.
US PGPUB 2019/0303188 to Shelton discloses a virtualization system with virtualized networks that can emulate avionics LRUs. No mention of Peek/Poke I/O buffers, Ethernet I/O buffers, Switch I/O buffers, nor Aircraft Flows I/O buffers are present.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US Patent 6,319,008 to Mickelson teaches a flight simulation system with an I/O command buffer and an I/O data buffer that transmits commands to a flight simulator.
US PGPUB 2022/0083714 to Shelton discloses an emulated environment server that couples between physical LRUs and mock LRUs in a virtualized network.
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/H.Z.W./Examiner, Art Unit 2184
/HENRY TSAI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2184
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