How to know if a patch requires downtime?

1. Download the particular patch file
2. Check the file ..\\etc\config\inventory
3. If the following entry is present
(instance_shutdown) true (/instance_shutdown)

then it requires downtime.

Note: OPatch means rdbms patch.
For rdbms patch go to OPatch dorectory and select /etc/config/inventory

Copy files using ssh

you can't copy using the 'ssh' program specifically, but you can with it's associated programs: sftp or scp

sftp is (and works) similar to ftp

scp is a neat little program:

copy from a remote machine to my machine:
scp asami@192.168.1.100:/home/remote_user/Desktop/file.txt /home/me/Desktop/file.txt

copy from my machine to a remote machine:
scp /home/me/Desktop/file.txt asami@192.168.1.100:/home/remote_user/Desktop/file.txt

copy all file*.txt from a remote machine to my machine (file01.txt, file02.txt, etc.; note the quotation marks:
scp "asami@192.168.1.100:/home/remote_user/Desktop/file*.txt" /home/me/Desktop/file.txt

copy a directory from a remote machien to my machine:
scp -r asami@192.168.1.100:/home/remote_user/Desktop/files /home/me/Desktop/.

see 'man scp' or 'man sftp' for more ...