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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Acknowledgement is made of the Response to Election/Restriction filed on 03/27/2026, in which:
Claims 1-17 and 22-30 are Original, and
Claims 18-21 are Withdrawn.
Claims 1-30 are currently pending and an Office action on the merits follows.
Response to Arguments
On pages 7-8 the applicant argues that the Original Restriction Requirement was Improperly Withdrawn. The applicant requests that the examiner reinstate the original restriction requirement and proceed with examination of the elected claims 1-17 and 22-30. The examiner agrees to withdraw the Requirement for Restriction/Election mailed on 03/13/2026 and re-instate the Requirement for Restriction/Election mailed 12/02/2025 as requested by the applicant. In response to the Requirement for Restriction/Election mailed 12/02/2025, the applicant filed Applicant’s Response to Election/Restriction on 01/30/2026. In the Applicant’s Response to Election/Restriction filed on 01/30/2026 the applicant elected claims 1-17 and 22-30 without traverse and withdrew claims 18-21.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-9, 11-15, 22-14, 26-28, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pub No.: US-20200057133-A1 (herein “Arteaga”).
Consider claim 1, Arteaga teaches a system comprising at least one processor communicatively coupled with at least one non-transitory computer readable medium, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to:
receive a wireless communication signal from an unmanned aircraft (UA) (see Arteaga Fig. 4, [0062] note regional hub 110 receive data transmitted by drones);
parse the wireless communication signal to obtain an identifier corresponding to the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 4, [0063] note data transmitted by the drones to the regional hubs includes an identifier of the drone that is transmitting the data);
use the identifier to determine an operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0081] note the operator of each drone registers their drone with the registry including contact information for the operator of the drone);
obtain contact information for the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0081] note the operator of each drone registers their drone with the registry including contact information for the operator of the drone); and
send a message to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area).
Consider claim 2, Arteaga teaches wherein the message is sent directly to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0070], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area via SMS, email, MMS, etc, where the regional hub may communicate directly with their respective associated drone as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 5).
Consider claim 3, Arteaga teaches wherein the message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0071], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area, where the regional hub may communicate with the drone via the network 135).
Consider claim 4, Arteaga teaches wherein the message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA via a server (see Arteaga, Fig. 4, Fig. 5, [0072] note via the central server 145 via network 135).
Consider claim 6, Arteaga teaches wherein the at least one processor is programmed to perform further steps comprising:
calculate a distance to the UA based on the received wireless signal (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0074], [0079] note determine drone(s) within a predefined radius of the GPS location of the user device);
determine whether the calculated distance exceeds a predetermined threshold (see Arteaga [0074], [0079] note determine drone(s) within a predefined radius of the GPS location of the user device); and
when the calculated distance exceeds the predetermined threshold, send a proximity warning message to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0074], [0079], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area).
Consider claim 7, Arteaga teaches wherein the proximity warning message is sent directly to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0070], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area via SMS, email, MMS, etc, where the regional hub may communicate directly with their respective associated drone as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 5).
Consider claim 8, Arteaga teaches wherein the proximity warning message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0071], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area, where the regional hub may communicate with the drone via the network 135).
Consider claim 9, Arteaga teaches wherein the message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA via a server (see Arteaga, Fig. 4, Fig. 5, [0072] note via the central server 145 via network 135).
Consider claim 11, Arteaga teaches a method where one or more processors are programmed to perform steps comprising:
receive a wireless communication signal from an unmanned aircraft (UA) (see Arteaga Fig. 4, [0062] note regional hub 110 receive data transmitted by drones);
calculate a distance to the UA based on the received wireless communication signal see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0074], [0079] note determine drone(s) within a predefined radius of the GPS location of the user device);
determine that the calculated distance exceeds a predetermined threshold (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0074], [0079] note determine drone(s) within a predefined radius of the GPS location of the user device); and;
parse the wireless communication signal to identify a wireless communication channel corresponding to the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 4, [0063], [0081] note data transmitted by the drones to the regional hubs includes an identifier of the drone that is transmitting the data, where the operator of each drone registers their drone with the registry including contact information for the operator of the drone. Also see Arteaga [0061], [0072] where the regional hub receives the data via LoRa receiver 115); and
send a proximity warning message to the UA via the wireless communication channel (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0074], [0079], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area).
Consider claim 12, Arteaga teaches wherein the UA relays the proximity warning message to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0070], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area via SMS, email, MMS, etc, where the regional hub may communicate directly with their respective associated drone as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 5).
Consider claim 13, Arteaga teaches wherein the proximity warning message is sent directly to the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0070], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area via SMS, email, MMS, etc, where the regional hub may communicate directly with their respective associated drone as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 5).
Consider claim 14, Arteaga teaches wherein the proximity warning message is sent indirectly to the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0071], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area, where the regional hub may communicate with the drone via the network 135).
Consider claim 15, Arteaga teaches wherein the proximity warning message is sent indirectly to the UA via a server (see Arteaga, Fig. 4, Fig. 5, [0072] note via the central server 145 via network 135).
Consider claim 22, Arteaga teaches a system (see Arteaga Fig. 4) comprising:
a user device (see Arteaga Fig. 1, note computer system/server 12) comprising:
a wireless receiver (see Arteaga Fig. 1, note network adapter 20) configured to receive wireless communication signals from an unmanned aircraft (UA) in proximity to the user device (see Arteaga Fig. 4, [0062] note regional hub 110 receive data transmitted by drones);
a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store executable programmed modules (see Arteaga [0050] note system memory 28); and
a processor communicatively coupled with the wireless receiver and the non-transitory computer readable medium (see Arteaga [0047] note processing unit 16), the processor configured to execute one or more programmed modules stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium to:
process a signal from the UA received by the wireless receiver to identify the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 4, [0062] note regional hub 110 receive data transmitted by drones);
identify an operator corresponding to the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0081] note the operator of each drone registers their drone with the registry including contact information for the operator of the drone); and
send a message to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area); and
a server device (see Arteaga Fig. 1, note computer system/server 12) comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store executable programmed modules (see Arteaga [0050] note system memory 28); and
a processor communicatively coupled with the non-transitory computer readable medium (see Arteaga [0047] note processing unit 16), the processor configured to execute one or more programmed modules stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium to:
process a signal received from the user device (see Arteaga Fig. 4, [0062] note regional hub 110 receive data transmitted by drones);
identify an operator corresponding to the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0081] note the operator of each drone registers their drone with the registry including contact information for the operator of the drone); and
send a message to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area).
Consider claim 23, Arteaga teaches wherein the user device processor is further configured to send the message directly to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0070], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area via SMS, email, MMS, etc, where the regional hub may communicate directly with their respective associated drone as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 5).
Consider claim 24, Arteaga teaches wherein user device processor is further configured to send the message indirectly to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0071], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area, where the regional hub may communicate with the drone via the network 135).
Consider claim 26, Arteaga teaches wherein the message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA via the server (see Arteaga, Fig. 4, Fig. 5, [0072] note via the central server 145 via network 135).
Consider claim 27, Arteaga teaches wherein the user device processor is further configured to: calculate a distance to the UA based on the received wireless signal (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0074], [0079] note determine drone(s) within a predefined radius of the GPS location of the user device);
determine whether the calculated distance exceeds a predetermined threshold (see Arteaga [0074], [0079] note determine drone(s) within a predefined radius of the GPS location of the user device); and
when the calculated distance exceeds the predetermined threshold, send a proximity warning message to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0074], [0079], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area).
Consider claim 28, Arteaga teaches wherein the proximity warning message is sent directly or indirectly to the operator of the UA (see Arteaga Fig. 5, [0070], [0071], [0081] note determining that a particular drone is currently within the access control area 200 and transmitting a message to the operator of the particular drone using the contact information instructing the operator to keep the drone out of the access control area, where the regional hub may communicate with the drone via the network 135).
Consider claim 30, Arteaga teaches wherein the proximity warning message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA via the server (see Arteaga, Fig. 4, Fig. 5, [0072] note via the central server 145 via network 135).
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) 5, 10, 16, 17, 25, and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arteaga, and further in view of Pub No.: US-20170092138-A1 (herein “Trundle”).
Consider claim 5, Arteaga fail to teaches wherein the message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA via a satellite. Trundle explains a drone detection system for monitoring personal airspace surrounding a property where the network is configured to enable exchange of electronic communications between devices connected to the network where the network may include satellite (see Trundle Fig. 2, Fig. 4, [0052]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Arteaga to include the recited teaching of Trundle. Such a modification would improve Arteaga by providing flexibility in monitoring the predetermined geographic area (see Trundle [0030]).
Consider claim 10, Arteaga fails to teach wherein the message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA via a satellite. Trundle explains a drone detection system for monitoring personal airspace surrounding a property where the network is configured to enable exchange of electronic communications between devices connected to the network where the network may include satellite (see Trundle Fig. 2, Fig. 4, [0052]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Arteaga to include the recited teaching of Trundle. Such a modification would improve Arteaga by providing flexibility in monitoring the predetermined geographic area (see Trundle [0030]).
Consider claim 16, Arteaga fails to teach wherein the proximity warning message is sent indirectly to the UA via a satellite. Trundle explains a drone detection system for monitoring personal airspace surrounding a property where the network is configured to enable exchange of electronic communications between devices connected to the network where the network may include satellite (see Trundle Fig. 2, Fig. 4, [0052]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Arteaga to include the recited teaching of Trundle. Such a modification would improve Arteaga by providing flexibility in monitoring the predetermined geographic area (see Trundle [0030]).
Consider claim 17, Arteaga teaches wherein the satellite broadcasts the proximity warning message to the UA (see Trundle Fig. 2, Fig. 4, [0052], [0110] note when an unauthorized drone device is detected within the personal airspace transmitting a signal to one or more of the user devices 340, 350, monitoring control unit, monitoring application server, or the central alarm station server).
Consider claim 25, Arteaga fails to teach wherein the message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA via a satellite. Trundle explains a drone detection system for monitoring personal airspace surrounding a property where the network is configured to enable exchange of electronic communications between devices connected to the network where the network may include satellite (see Trundle Fig. 2, Fig. 4, [0052]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Arteaga to include the recited teaching of Trundle. Such a modification would improve Arteaga by providing flexibility in monitoring the predetermined geographic area (see Trundle [0030]).
Consider claim 29, Arteaga fails to teach wherein the proximity warning message is sent indirectly to the operator of the UA via a satellite. Trundle explains a drone detection system for monitoring personal airspace surrounding a property where the network is configured to enable exchange of electronic communications between devices connected to the network where the network may include satellite (see Trundle Fig. 2, Fig. 4, [0052]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Arteaga to include the recited teaching of Trundle. Such a modification would improve Arteaga by providing flexibility in monitoring the predetermined geographic area (see Trundle [0030]).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS C HAMMONDS whose telephone number is (571)270-3193. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00AM-6:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ALISON T. SLATER can be reached at (571)270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MARCUS HAMMONDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
Prosecution Insights