PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15948999
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-04
Publication Date: 2018-08
Patent Classification: ["114", "312000"]

Abstract:
A submersible remotely operated vehicle with a streamlined shape, which uses an internal support lattice to provide pressure resistance. By using a lattice frame to distribute the water pressure load on the vehicle, the vehicle may be constructed of thin-walled, injection molded plastic, yet may be capable of diving to significant depths. The vehicle may provide pitch control using a single vertical thrust actuator that is horizontally fore or aft of the center of vertical drag; this efficient pitch control improves hydrodynamic efficiency by pointing the vehicle towards the direction of travel to minimize the coefficient of drag. The vehicle may communicate wirelessly with a remote operator via a communications buoy tethered to the vehicle, thereby eliminating cabling constraints on the vehicle's range from the operator. The tether may be connected to the buoy using a waterproof connector that presses three terminals surrounded by a compliant seal onto mating contacts.

Claim (Index 16):
The waterproof connector of  claim 13 , wherein said submersible remotely operated vehicle comprises\n a pressure hull having a noncircular cross section along all cutting planes that bisect an interior of said pressure hull; an internal support frame inside said pressure hull comprising a lattice of inner support walls, inner support columns, or both inner support walls and inner support columns, wherein\n said internal support frame is in contact with an inner surface of said pressure hull at a plurality of support points on both sides of any plane that bisects said interior of said pressure hull; \n said lattice comprises a dense lattice of a selected density with a plurality of repeated polygons; \n a cross-section of said lattice with some plane comprises at least 20 vertices, wherein said vertices comprise corners of the inner support columns or the inner support walls or both the inner support columns and the inner support walls that are inside an outer edge of the pressure hull; \n said density is selected to provide a desired rigidity of the pressure hull; and, \n said internal support frame provides a resistive force against compression of said pressure hull when said pressure hull is submerged; \n one or more actuators coupled to said pressure hull that provide propulsion to move said pressure hull when said pressure hull is submerged; wherein\n said one or more actuators comprise a single vertical thruster located horizontally fore of or aft of a center of vertical drag of said submersible remotely operated vehicle including its payload; and \n said single vertical thruster provides both a vertical force to move said submersible remotely operated vehicle vertically when said submersible remotely operated vehicle is submerged, and a torque around said center of vertical drag to change a pitch of said submersible remotely operated vehicle when said submersible remotely operated vehicle is submerged; \n one or more sensors coupled to said pressure hull that generate observations of a surrounding environment when said pressure hull is submerged; and, communications electronics coupled to said one or more actuators, to said one or more sensors, and to said remote operator, and configured to\n receive signals from said remote operator containing control commands for said one or more actuators; and, \n transmit signals to said remote operator containing said observations of said surrounding environment.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 50.0
- Percentile: 91.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.65306
- Patent Class: 114.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15621787', '15285255', '15621873', '13096721', '12090547']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7633755503235178
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5839743359132249
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7454354288824885
- Mean Citation Score: 369.067746
- Max Citation Score: 494.43787
- Similarity Product: 413.9253122359896

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

Dataset: test