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 § 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)(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.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102[a][1] as being anticipated by Alegria (US 20170291704 A1).
In regards to claim 1, Alegria teaches, A control system for a second unmanned aerial vehicle configured to fly while holding a first cable connected to a first unmanned aerial vehicle configured to perform work and a second cable extending from a cable reeling machine, the control system comprising: (See fig. 9-10, abstract, A system is provided for maneuvering a payload in an air space constrained by one or more obstacles, and may include first and second aerial vehicles coupled by a tether to a ground station. Sensor systems and processors in the ground station and aerial vehicles may track obstacles and the tether's and the vehicles' positions and attitude to maneuver the payload and the tether to carry out a mission…paragraph 98, The cable structure for tether 104 may include a reinforcing thread 180 and an optical fiber 182)
a sensor configured to sense a surrounding environment and output sensor data; and a controller configured or programmed to: (See paragraph 66, the system may include sensing capabilities for object avoidance. Such sensing capabilities may include one or more cameras, e.g., wide angle cameras 154 …paragraph 113, A sensor system 234 of a UAS may include camera system 154. More generally, sensor system 234 may include an obstacle sensor and/or a position sensor and/or an attitude sensor. An obstacle sensor may include camera-based sensor 154, and cameras 154 may alternatively or in combination include a laser-based sensor, a radar-based sensor, a LIDAR-based sensor, an acoustic-based sensor, or any sensor suitable for the particular obstacles to be sensed…paragraph 61, Flight control sensors in each UAS may include GPS units, magnetometers, accelerometers, barometers, sun sensors, tether orientation transducers, and optical cameras.)
control operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle; (See paragraph 174, Local navigation and flight command may also perform direct control of motors to follow the flight plan coordinates.)
detect the first cable and the second cable based on the sensor data during flight of the second unmanned aerial vehicle; and (See figs. 9-10, paragraph 67, Camera(s) 154 … may permit tracking of tether position and orientation by optical marker flags 158 (FIG. 29) along tether 104…paragraph 124, cost function…calculates…the positions of the tethers based on the UAS positions)
upon predicting that at least one of the first cable and the second cable will contact the ground or an obstacle, change a trajectory of the second unmanned aerial vehicle to avoid the contact. (See paragraph 124, a high cost to the expected tether position falling below the ground plane, a high cost to the tether approaching obstacles…paragraph 126, as computed by the cost function described above, becomes higher than a certain threshold, at which point the constrained optimization algorithm may execute and the intermediate UAS's may be relocated…paragraph 87, First intermediate UAS 106a holds tether 104 on one side of tree TR in a manner allowing second intermediate UAS 106b to hold tether 104 on the other side of tree TR,)
In regards to claim 2, Alegria teaches the control system according to claim 1,
wherein the sensor includes an imager configured to output time-series image data as the sensor data through capturing images; and the controller is configured or programmed to predict whether contact will occur based on the time-series image data. (See paragraph 75, optical flow scene reconstruction, which produces 3D color point cloud data from image time-series…paragraph 74, the UAS's may transmit substantially all of their video to the ground station…paragraph 67, 124, camera tether tracking with cost based on tether position vs ground/obstacles)
In regards to claim 3, Alegria teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor includes a LiDAR sensor configured to output time-series point cloud data as the sensor data; and the controller is configured or programmed to predict whether contact will occur based on the time-series point cloud data. (See paragraph 113, cameras 154 may alternatively or in combination include a laser-based sensor, a radar-based sensor, a LIDAR-based sensor…paragraph 75, An extended Kalman filter may be used to process successive point clouds…paragraph 124, cost from tether position vs. ground/obstacles)
In regards to claim 4, Alegria teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured or programmed to: further detect the first unmanned aerial vehicle based on the sensor data; and upon detecting the first unmanned aerial vehicle, cause the second unmanned aerial vehicle to follow the first unmanned aerial vehicle. (See paragraph 72, such mapping may be applied to… moving obstacles, such as another aerial vehicle (e.g., other UAS's in FIGS. 9-11)…paragraph 123, compute the optimal pose(s) of the intermediate UAS's…paragraph 122, deciding optimal position(s) of intermediate UAS's depending on the desired location or flight plan…see fig. 9 and associated paragraphs. Lastly see paragraph 174, follow flight plan coordinates (e.g. coordinate preceding UAS has already passed))
In regards to claim 5, Alegria teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein each of the first cable and the second cable includes a power line; and one end of the power line in the second cable is connected to a power supply device through the cable reeling machine. (See paragraph 56, ground station 102, such as a base station, which may include a computer, a transmitter, and a power supply…Tether 104 may include a power line 112…paragraph 80, Tether segments 104a, 104b may provide a path for power from ground station 102 to the aerial vehicles…paragraph 108, ground unit 230 may provide power…to supply UAS’s along the tether…paragraph 58, spool 118 at ground station)
In regards to claim 6, Alegria teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein each of the first cable and the second cable includes a communication line; and one end of the communication line in the second cable is connected to a communication device through the cable reeling machine. (See paragraph 98, The cable structure for tether 104 may include a reinforcing thread 180 and an optical fiber 182…paragraph 60, The data collection module may write to the primary UAS computer which may send the data to the base station wirelessly or by a linear fiber optic network, which may run along the tether segments and encompass all the UAS units…paragraph 58, Ground control station 102 typically includes…one or more data transceivers…spool 118)
In regards to claim 7, Alegria teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein each of the first cable and the second cable is a different portion of a single cable; the first cable is a portion of the single cable between one end connected to the first unmanned aerial vehicle and a position held by the second unmanned aerial vehicle, and the second cable is a portion of the single cable between a position stored in the cable reeling machine and the position held by the second unmanned aerial vehicle. (See paragraph 99, Tether 104 may span entirely from a tether attachment point 186 at ground station 102 to attachment points on the UAS's. Also see figs. 9-11)
In regards to claim 8, Alegria teaches the control system according to claim 1, wherein the second unmanned aerial vehicle includes a housing including a first connector to connect the first cable and a second connector to connect the second cable, and the first connector and the second connector are electrically connected inside the housing. (See paragraph 62, the electronics may be located in an enclosure 124…paragraph 104, wires extend from tether 104…into airframe 122 for connection to electronics…paragraph 99, Tether 104 may span entirely from a tether attachment point 186 at ground station 102 to attachment points on the UAS's or may be interrupted to reduce overall tether mass. As an example of an interrupted tether, tether 104 may split into two paths adjacent the attachment point of an intermediate UAS: one going directly to the intermediate UAS and another which takes a more direct path along the next leg of the tether.)
In regards to claim 9, Alegria teaches the control system according to claim 8, wherein the second unmanned aerial vehicle is configured to be powered through the second cable from a power supply device that is connected to the second cable; and the first unmanned aerial vehicle is configured to be powered through the first cable and the second cable from the power supply device. (See paragraph 84, one or both of UAS 106 and 108 may receive power from ground station 102…paragraph 57, a power source at the ground station, which power is reduced and regulated at each UAS…paragraph 80, Tether segments 104a, 104b may provide a path for power from ground station 102 to the aerial vehicles…paragraph 12-14, each tether segment provides a path for power)
Claims 10-11 are similar in scope to claim 1, therefore, they are rejected under similar rationale as set forth above. Alegria discloses a plurality of rotors configured to be controlled by the control system (See fig. 3, paragraph 103, rotors 134)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN S LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-2674. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8-5.
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/JUSTIN S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3668
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