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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/12/2026 has been entered.
Claims 6-9 and 16-19 are canceled.
Pending claims 1-5, 10-15 are addressed below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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.
Claims 1-5, 10-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Winkel (US 20210153419) in view of Shimizu (US 20220364337).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Winkel discloses an agricultural sprayer (10; fig. 4), comprising:
a frame (15, 80);
a plurality of wheels (50) coupled to the frame;
an engine (40) configured to rotationally drive at least some of the plurality of wheels (par. 16);
a cab (35) supported on the frame (see figs. 1-2);
a boom assembly (75) supported on the frame, the boom assembly extending in a lateral direction between a first end and a second end (one end adjacent section 85, another end at 110; see fig. 4); the boom assembly comprising a center section (85), a first wing section (100) coupled to the center section, and a second wing section (105) coupled to the first wing section (see fig. 4);
a plurality of nozzles (par. 17: “nozzle bodies”) supported on the boom assembly and spaced apart from each other along the lateral direction (par. 17), the plurality of nozzles configured to dispense an agricultural fluid (“agricultural liquid products”) onto underlying plants or soil (par. 17);
a first actuator (one of the actuators 216 associated with moving wing section 100, i.e. actuator 216 that is controlled by sliders 232c/232d shown in fig. 6; par. 29: “The sliders 232 a-I can be arranged in pairs for controlling folding and unfolding speeds with respect to each segment of the boom 75 by corresponding actuators of the set of actuators 216 controlling the segments”; “the slider 232 c could control a speed for folding (“In”) the first boom arm segment 100 via an actuator at the hinge 140, whereas the slider 232 d could control a speed for unfolding (“Out”) the first boom arm segment 100 via the actuator at the hinge 140”) configured to move the first wing section (100) and the second wing section (105) relative to the center section (85);
a second actuator (another one of the actuators 216 associated with moving wing section 100, i.e. actuator 216 that is controlled by sliders 232a/232b shown in fig. 6; par. 29: “the slider 232 a could control a speed for folding (“In”) the second boom arm segment 105 via an actuator at the hinge 150”) configured to move the second wing section relative to the first wing section (100);
an operator control panel (230; par. 26: “configured to receive user selectable input from a user in the operator cab 35”);
a first lever (graphical slider 232c/232d can move up or down the screen 230; fig. 6; par. 29 and 30) moveable relative to the operator control panel (230) along a range of motion such that a position of the first lever relative to the operator control panel along the range of motion (par. 29: “multiple graphical sliders 232 a-I, which can be touched and dragged on the screen for adjustment by the user”; fig. 6) is indicative of a selected speed at which the first actuator (216) is to move the first wing section (100) and second wing section (105) relative to the center section (par. 29: “the slider 232 c could control a speed for folding (“In”) the first boom arm segment 100 via an actuator at the hinge 140, whereas the slider 232 d could control a speed for unfolding (“Out”) the first boom arm segment 100 via the actuator at the hinge 140”); and
a second lever (graphical slider 232a/232b can move up or down on screen 230; fig. 6; par. 29 and 30) movable relative to the operator control panel (230) along a range of motion such that a position of the second lever relative to the operator control panel (230) along the range of motion (par. 29: “multiple graphical sliders 232 a-I, which can be touched and dragged on the screen for adjustment by the user”; fig. 6) is indicative of a selected speed at which the second actuator (another one of the actuators 216 controlled by sliders 232a/232b; par. 29) is to move the second wing section (105) relative to the first wing section (100; see figs. 4 and 6).
Winkel does not teach each slider being physical or non-graphical lever (sliders 232 are graphic/graphical sliders).
Shimizu discloses a construction machine with a boom controller 50 including an operation device 51 having a physical lever (see figs. 3-4) disposed in the cab 104 (par. 24) to give instruction for direction and speed of each boom cylinder 1 and arm cylinder 3 (par. 28; see also par. 67: “The lever 51 is operated by an operator, and inputs the operation amount for each actuator to the controller 50.”)
Given the known options of control input structure described above in both references, including graphical slider/lever and physically movable lever, one of ordinary skill in the art would have had the technical capability utilize one or the other. Therefore, the substitution of one known element (touch screen, graphical slider for speed control) as taught by Winkel with another (physical lever for speed control) as taught by Shimizu would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the filing date of the invention since the substitution of selector lever would have yielded predictable results, namely, providing speed control of the targeted implement.
Note: all references made in parenthesis hereafter are referencing the primary reference, unless otherwise stated.
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Examiner's Annotated Figure 1 (Winkel)
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Examiner's Annotated Figure 2 (Shimizu)
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Winkel, as modified above, discloses the agricultural sprayer of claim 1, wherein a first position of the first lever relative to the operator control panel (230) along the range of motion corresponds to a first selected speed and a second position of the first lever relative to the operator control panel (230) along the range of motion corresponds to a second selected speed, the second position being different than the first position, the second selected speed being different than the first selected speed (see Winkel’s fig. 6 as annotated above, modified to utilize physical lever as presented in the rejection of claims 1 and 11).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Winkel, as modified above, discloses the agricultural sprayer of claim 1, further comprising: a computing system (Winkel: controller 202; fig. 5) communicatively coupled to the first lever (sliders 232c/232d in fig. 6 of Winkel, as modified in the rejections of claims 1 and 11), the computing system configured to (par. 30): receive an input from the first lever indicative of the position of the first lever relative to the operator control panel (230) along the range of motion (par. 29: “multiple graphical sliders 232 a-I, which can be touched and dragged on the screen for adjustment by the user”); and control an operation of the first actuator based on the received input such that the first wing section and the second wing section are moved relative to the center section at the selected speed (see Winkel, par. 30; par. 29: “the slider 232 c could control a speed for folding (“In”) the first boom arm segment 100 via an actuator at the hinge 140, whereas the slider 232 d could control a speed for unfolding (“Out”) the first boom arm segment 100 via the actuator at the hinge 140”).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Winkel, as modified above, discloses the agricultural sprayer of claim 1, wherein the first actuator (216) is configured to move the first wing section (100) and the second wing section (105) between a folded position and an unfolded position such that the position of the first lever relative to the operator control panel (230) along the range of motion is indicative of the selected speed at which the first actuator is to move the first wing section (100) and the second wing section (105) between the folded position and the unfolded position (see Winkel fig. 6 with sliders as modified in rejection of claims 1 and 11; and par. 29: “the slider 232 c could control a speed for folding (“In”) the first boom arm segment 100 via an actuator at the hinge 140, whereas the slider 232 d could control a speed for unfolding (“Out”) the first boom arm segment 100 via the actuator at the hinge 140”).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Winkel, as modified above, discloses the agricultural sprayer of claim 1, wherein the first actuator (216) is configured to pivot the first wing section (100) and the second wing section (105) relative to the center section such that the position of the first lever (232c/232d, as modified in claims 1 and 11) relative to the operator control panel (230) along the range of motion is indicative of the selected speed at which the first actuator (216) is to pivot the first wing section (100) and the second wing section (105; see lever in Winkel’s fig. 6 as modified in claims 1 and 11; see annotated figures 1 and 2 above).
Regarding claim 10, Winkel, as modified above, discloses the agricultural sprayer of claim 1, further comprising: a cab (35) supported on the frame, wherein the operator control panel, the first lever (232c/232d, par. 29, as modified in rejection of claims 1 and 11) and the second lever (232a/232b; par. 29, 30; as modified in rejection of claims 1 and 11) positioned within the cab (par. 26: “configured to receive user selectable input from a user in the operator cab 35”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the pending claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the Horst reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUONGMINH NGUYEN PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-0158. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM - 5PM M-F.
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/TUONGMINH N PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752