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
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 04 June 2024 and 27 May 2025 were filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bittner (US 12,207,646).
Bittner discloses the following claimed features:
Regarding claim 1, a calibration system for an agricultural spray system (Figures 1-4), said agricultural spray system having a plurality of spray nozzles (32) configured to deliver spray material within an airstream to agricultural plants, said spray nozzles being controlled by pulse-width modulation (column 9, lines 33-62), said calibration system comprising: a LIDAR sensor (column 11, lines 27-38) configured to sense said agricultural plants and generate a LIDAR output signal; a processor (76), said processor configured to: determine an approximate plant density for a first location based on said LIDAR output signal; determine a desired spray density for said agricultural plants and said spray material (column 14, lines 20-39); calculate a target spray rate for said spray material based at least in part on said approximate plant density and said desired spray density (column 5, lines 28-45); determine a duty cycle for said first spray nozzle based on said target spray rate (column 8, lines 31-56); determine a maximum duty cycle for each location within a spray boundary for said first spray nozzle (column 13, lines 8-21); and calculate an updated target spray rate based on a predetermined maximum duty cycle for said first spray nozzle and said maximum duty cycle (column 13, lines 22-52).
Regarding claim 2, said updated target spray rate being used to spray said agricultural plants using said agricultural spray system (Abstract).
Regarding claim 3, a first updated target spray rate being calculated for a first boundary of said agricultural plants and a second updated target spray rate being calculated for a second boundary of said agricultural plants (column 13, lines 8-52).
Regarding claim 4, a first updated target spray rate being calculated for a first time during a growing season, and a second updated target spray rate being calculated for a second time during said growing season (column 8, lines 31-56).
Regarding claim 5, said processor (76) further configured to: determine an expected change of said updated target spray rate between said first time and said second time during said growing season; and comparing said expected change of said updated target spray rate to said first updated target spray rate and said second updated target spray rate to determine an agricultural growing statistic (column 16, lines 20-43).
Regarding claim 6, said target spray rate being determined at least in part based on a traverse speed of said agricultural spray system (column 8, lines 31-56).
Regarding claim 7, said maximum duty cycle being determined at a first traverse speed; said updated target spray rate comprising a calculation of a second traverse speed to achieve said predetermined maximum duty cycle (column 8, lines 31-56).
Regarding claim 8, said approximate plant density being calculated using a nearest object detected by said LIDAR sensor (column 11, lines 26-38).
Regarding claim 9, said approximate plant density being additionally calculated using a maximum distance of said agricultural plants (column 8, lines 31-56).
Regarding claim 10, said maximum distance being a predetermined nominal distance of a row of said agricultural plants from said agricultural spray system (column 7, lines 17-41).
Regarding claim 11, said maximum distance being based in part on LIDAR measurements of said agricultural plants taken from an opposite side of said agricultural plants (column 11, lines 26-38).
Regarding claim 12, said approximate plant density being calculated for each of a plurality of locations corresponding to locations reached by each of said plurality of spray nozzles (column 11, lines 39-51).
Regarding claim 13, said maximum duty cycle being determined for each of said plurality of locations for each of said plurality of spray nozzles (column 11, lines 39-51).
Regarding claim 14, said processor (76) further configured to: calculate a new nozzle size for at least one of said plurality of spray nozzles; and display said new nozzle size.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AN H DO whose telephone number is (571)272-2143. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7:5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephen Meier can be reached on 571-272-2149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AN H DO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/STEPHEN D MEIER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853