PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15895304
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-02
Publication Date: 2019-08
Patent Classification: ["114", "330000"]

Abstract:
Disclosed are an improved nozzle for an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), and a method for operating the same. The nozzle includes a first rigid member operatively coupled to a UUV steering mechanism. The nozzle also has a second rigid member, coupled to the first rigid member by a flexible bellows according to a configurable operating angle. The nozzle does not extend beyond a bounding surface when stored but does when deployed. Water traversing the first rigid member and contacting the second rigid member produces a reactive force according to the configurable operating angle. Simultaneous and independent control of the volume of fluid traversing several such nozzles in the UUV, and their respective orientations and operating angles, permits automatic station-keeping or navigation according to another guidance objective.

Claim (Index 19):
A method of operating an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), the method comprising:\n containing the UUV within a housing, the UUV comprising a steering mechanism and an expandable, steerable nozzle having (a) a first rigid member operatively coupled to the steering mechanism, (b) a second rigid member, and (c) a flexible bellows coupling the first rigid member to the second rigid member according to a configurable operating angle; wherein containing the UUV includes compressing, by an interior surface of the housing, the flexible bellows into a first configuration; ejecting the UUV from the housing, thereby causing the flexible bellows to expand into a second configuration having a different operating angle than the first configuration; and causing water to traverse the first rigid member and contact the second rigid member to produce a reactive force according to the operating angle of the second configuration.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 11.0
- Percentile: 88.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.79221
- Patent Class: 114.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['13923104', '12511704', '13589321', '13179947', '10684143']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7488155013849431
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4857645219197901
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7225104034384279
- Mean Citation Score: 131.380708
- Max Citation Score: 133.8611
- Similarity Product: 81.20341274475454

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test