DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s amendments and remarks filed on 08/15/2025. The Applicant has amended claims 1 – 3, 13 and 18, added new claims 20 – 30, and cancelled claims 4 – 12 and 19 without prejudice. No new subject matter has been added. Claims 1 – 3, 13 – 18, and 20 – 30 are currently pending and are addressed below.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on 08/15/2025 has been entered. Applicant’s claim amendments have overcome the Claim Objections and 35 USC §112 and §101 rejections set forth in the 05/15/2025 Office Action, however, new grounds for rejection have been introduced and are detailed below. Claims 1 – 3, 13 – 18, and 20 – 30 remain pending in the application.
Reply to Applicant’s Remarks
Applicant’s remarks filed 08/15/2025 have been fully considered and are addressed as follows:
Claim Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. 102 & 103:
Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103:
Applicant’s arguments (see Arguments/Remarks, filed 08/15/2025) with respect to claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 have been fully considered but, respectfully, are not persuasive.
Regarding the Applicant’s arguments that “amended claim 1 recites a unique system in which a centralized system may control multiple aspects of remote agricultural production machine(s), including sending commands to perform the at least one agricultural process automatically, performing the monitoring, and performing the overriding. This unique division of responsibilities enables a centralized system, with the processing power and the ability to communicate with multiple machines to commands the remote agricultural production machine(s) while still maintaining sufficient control to monitor for anomalies (such as obstacles, malfunctions, or the like) and while still maintaining sufficient control to interview to effectively override the previous automatic commands. This is unlike the system in Hurd, which is more of a traditional system in which the intelligence is more imbued at the endpoint device.”, the arguments are moot in view of art applied to amended claim limitations. See Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 section below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/14/2025 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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1 – 3, 13 – 18, and 20 – 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 18 recite, similarly, in the last 2 lines, “thereby at least partly overriding the one or more commands to the one or more agricultural production machines.”.
The term “at least partly” in claims 1 and 18, are relative terms which render the claims indefinite. The terms are not defined by the claims, the specification does not provide reasonably certain metes and bounds for, or define with reasonable certainty, any or all variations as may be covered by the claimed terms, leaving the full scope of the claims undeterminable by, and not reasonably certain to, those skilled in the art.
Claim 1 recites “transmit information to the one or more agricultural production machines used by the one or more agricultural production machines for the deployment of the one or more agricultural production machines…” which is unclear and therefore leaving the full scope of the claim undeterminable by, and not reasonably certain to, those skilled in the art.
Dependent claims are rendered indefinite by virtue of their dependency upon indefinite claims 1 and 18. Accordingly, Claims 1 – 3, 13 – 18, and 20 – 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-3, 13-16, 20, 21, and 23-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20200159220 HURD et al. (HURD hereafter).
Regarding Claim 1, HURD discloses An agricultural production machine assistance system configured to control one or more agricultural production machines to act as one or more autonomous agricultural production machines (see at least HURD [¶0008], “an integrated technology platform that includes multiple hardware and software components within a common software structural architecture, or “stack”, for synching equipment and operating systems into a common operating system for autonomous performance of agricultural activities using one or more pieces of equipment”), the agricultural production machine assistance system comprising:
a communication interface configured to receive electronic data (see at least HURD [¶0032], “The receiver hardware 210 is configured to enable receipt of commands from cloud-side elements of the common software structural architecture 100, or from an operator.”); and at least one processor (see at least HURD [¶0019, Fig.1], “The common software structural architecture 100 is embodied in a plurality of data processing modules 112 that are components within a computing environment 110 that also includes one or more processors”) in communication with the communication interface (see at least HURD [¶0021, Fig.1] These data processing modules 112 include a vehicle interface system 120, a telematics/communications system 130) and configured to:
receive an indication to remotely plan and control the one or more agricultural production machines to perform at least one agricultural process that includes a type and a scope of the at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0022], “the common software structural architecture 100 coordinates functions for integration of multiple machinery and vehicles 102 for performance of autonomous and/or unmanned agricultural activities 104, []. the present invention enables these functions (for example, path planning, navigation, handshaking vehicle-to-vehicle and from vehicle to cloud-based software application) for any machine or vehicle 102 and for any operational situation.”);
responsive to receiving the indication:
automatically plan deployment of the one or more agricultural production machines in order to perform the at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0022]);
automatically transmit information to the one or more agricultural production machines used by the one or more agricultural production machines for the deployment of the one or more agricultural production machines in order to perform the at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0008], “a telematics component that enables stable in-field communications between all aspects of the integrated technology platform”);
receive information from the one or more agricultural production machines (see at least HURD [¶0008]);
responsive to receiving the information:
automatically analyze the information in order to:
automatically determine one or more commands for the one or more agricultural production machines in order to automatically perform the at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0022]);
automatically transmit the one or more commands to the one or more agricultural production machines for the one or more agricultural production machines to automatically perform the at least one agricultural process(see at least HURD [¶0008]);
automatically monitor one or more aspects of the one or more agricultural production machines during the at least one agricultural process in order to identify one or more situations that disrupt performing the at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0008, “includes a user interface enabling operators to arrange, monitor, and manage specific use cases and applications.”); and
responsive to automatically identifying the one or more situations that disrupt performing the at least one agricultural process, automatically determine and transmit one or more intervening commands in order to intervene in automatically controlling the one or more agricultural production machines, thereby at least partly overriding the one or more commands to the one or more agricultural production machines (see at least HURD [¶0040], “The common software structural architecture 100 also includes a safety system 160 which is responsible for analyzing specific operational parameters of autonomous vehicle activity. This module, referred to in FIG. 1 as a “perception” system 160, recognizes and distinguishes terrain to be covered by autonomously-operated equipment, and performs tasks such as identification of obstacles and other characteristics that enable safe, efficient, and confident performance of machines and vehicles 102 in such an operating environment.”, “The perception system 160 is responsible for intake and analysis of data (such as images and reflected signals) from an array of sensors (such as cameras, radar systems and Lidar systems), and may include one or more machine learning and artificial intelligence subsystems configured to fuse data collected from multiple sensors together to provide the autonomously-operated machinery and vehicles 102 with situational awareness to avoid obstacles and other terrain characteristics during the performance of agricultural activities 104.”).
Regarding Claim 2, HURD discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor comprises at least one server configured to communicate with the one or more agricultural production machines (see at least HURD [¶0033], “information is communicated from the receiver hardware 210 and the telemetry hardware 290 via communications protocols 220 and 222. A cloud-based protocol 220 [], is used to communicate data between agricultural machinery and vehicles 102 and the cloud-side elements of the common software structural architecture 100, such as the AAVI component subsystem 150 and machine control elements 250, such as a controller and a server”);
wherein the one or more agricultural production machines are unmanned and are configured to, responsive to receiving the one or more commands autonomously perform one or more driving movements and one or more work activities (see at least HURD [¶0009], “a system and method of synchronizing and integrating multiple pieces of agricultural machinery to perform agricultural activities where one or more of these pieces is unmanned.”);
further comprising one or more data processing devices (see at least HURD [¶0019], “The common software structural architecture 100 is embodied in a plurality of data processing modules 112”), one or more data receiving devices, and one or more data sending devices (see at least HURD [¶0032], “The telemetry hardware 290 is a telemetry device that is configured to collect and transmit data”); and
wherein the one or more data processing devices, the one or more data receiving devices, and the one or more data sending devices are associated with one or more autonomous vehicles and the at least one server (see at least HURD [¶0033], “information is communicated from the receiver hardware 210 and the telemetry hardware 290 via communications protocols 220 and 222. A cloud-based protocol 220 [], is used to communicate data between agricultural machinery and vehicles 102 and the cloud-side elements of the common software structural architecture 100, such as the AAVI component subsystem 150 and machine control elements 250, such as a controller and a server”).
Regarding Claim 3, HURD discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 2, wherein the at least one server is configured as a data cloud (see at least HURD [¶0033], “A cloud-based protocol 220 [], is used to communicate data between agricultural machinery and vehicles 102 and the cloud-side elements of the common software structural architecture 100, such as the AAVI component subsystem 150 and machine control elements 250, such as a controller and a server”).
Regarding Claim 13, HURD discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 1, wherein an external service, requested by one or both of the one or more autonomous agricultural production machines or a customer, is one or both of a remote monitoring service or a remote control service distant from the one or more autonomous agricultural production machines; and wherein the external service is configured to perform one or both of remote monitoring or remote control of the one or more autonomous agricultural production machines (see at least HURD [¶0023], “This data processing module 112 is responsible for managing the physical interface(s) to any vehicular system used in performance of an agricultural activity 104. This portion of the technology stack embodied in the common software structural architecture 100 integrates with vehicular functions, such as control of steering, throttle, gear state and braking, enabling full automation of all aspects of vehicular operation remotely”).
Regarding Claim 14, HURD discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 13, wherein the one or more autonomous agricultural production machines, for one or both of remote monitoring or remote control using one or both of the remote monitoring service or the remote control service, includes at least one data processing device, at least one data transmitting device, and at least one data receiving device for transmitting one or both of machine data or environment data at time intervals or in real time to a database assigned to a server; wherein the one or both of the machine data or the environment data are collected in the database and assigned to a particular autonomous agricultural production machine and linked to further available data from an immediate environment of the particular autonomous agricultural production machine (see at least HURD [¶0040], “The common software structural architecture 100 also includes a safety system 160 which is responsible for analyzing specific operational parameters of autonomous vehicle activity. This module, referred to in FIG. 1 as a “perception” system 160, recognizes and distinguishes terrain to be covered by autonomously-operated equipment, and performs tasks such as identification of obstacles and other characteristics that enable safe, efficient, and confident performance of machines and vehicles 102 in such an operating environment.”); and
wherein the one or both of the machine data or the environment data saved in the database of the server are structured in such a way that the agricultural production machine assistance system is configured to access the particular autonomous agricultural production machine and take over its control (see at least HURD [¶0040], “The perception system 160 is responsible for intake and analysis of data (such as images and reflected signals) from an array of sensors (such as cameras, radar systems and Lidar systems), and may include one or more machine learning and artificial intelligence subsystems configured to fuse data collected from multiple sensors together to provide the autonomously-operated machinery and vehicles 102 with situational awareness to avoid obstacles and other terrain characteristics during the performance of agricultural activities 104.”).
Regarding Claim 15, HURD discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 13, wherein the one or both of the remote monitoring service or the remote control service is configured to provide a geo-fence data record; and wherein the one or more autonomous agricultural production machines are configured to use of the geo-fence data record thereby causing movement of the one or more autonomous agricultural production machines to be limited to a territory, defined by the geo-fence data record, to be worked (see at least HURD [¶0049, Fig.4], “At step 420, the process continues by coordinating a synching of operating systems between one or more machines 102 in the executive control layer 140. This includes integrating operational functions attendant to conducting the agricultural activity 104, such as messaging, safety supervision, in-field mission control, path planning, field setup, and location mapping for a geographical location that includes a particular field where the one or more machines 102 are or will operate. These steps therefore develop the integrated common operating system to be used for autonomous operation of the one or more machines 102, as shown at step 430.”).
Regarding Claim 16, HURD discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to assign the one or more autonomous agricultural production machines to a main process as a supporter (see at least HURD [¶0009], “a system and method of synchronizing and integrating multiple pieces of agricultural machinery to perform agricultural activities where one or more of these pieces is unmanned.”);
wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine need for support in an environment of the one or more autonomous agricultural production machines and to assign jobs to available autonomous agricultural production machines depending on the determined need (see at least HURD [¶0018], “The common software structural architecture 100 constructs a technical “stack” which serves as such a common operating system, and can be applied as a package to any situation where autonomous action is necessary in an in-field or off-road environment. This includes specific applications involving multiple machinery or vehicles 102 to enable their autonomous operation, such as for example in performing agricultural activities 104.”).
Regarding Claim 20, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to automatically identify the one or more situations by automatically identifying at least one obstacle (see at least HURD [¶0040], “includes a safety system 160 which is responsible for analyzing specific operational parameters of autonomous vehicle activity. [] recognizes and distinguishes terrain to be covered by autonomously-operated equipment, and performs tasks such as identification of obstacles and other characteristics that enable safe, efficient, and confident performance of machines and vehicles 102 [] to avoid obstacles and other terrain characteristics during the performance of agricultural activities 104.”); and
wherein responsive to automatically identifying the at least one obstacle, the at least one processor is configured to automatically determine and transmit the one or more intervening commands in order for the one or more agricultural production machines to avoid collision with the at least one obstacle (see at least HURD [¶0040]).
Regarding Claim 21, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to automatically identify the one or more situations by automatically identifying at least one malfunction in performing the at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0008, 0040], “includes a user interface enabling operators to arrange, monitor, and manage specific use cases and applications.”, “The common software structural architecture 100 also includes a safety system 160 which is responsible for analyzing specific operational parameters of autonomous vehicle activity. This module, referred to in FIG. 1 as a “perception” system 160, recognizes and distinguishes terrain to be covered by autonomously-operated equipment, and performs tasks such as identification of obstacles and other characteristics that enable safe, efficient, and confident performance of machines and vehicles 102 in such an operating environment.”, “The perception system 160 is responsible for intake and analysis of data (such as images and reflected signals) from an array of sensors (such as cameras, radar systems and Lidar systems), and may include one or more machine learning and artificial intelligence subsystems configured to fuse data collected from multiple sensors together to provide the autonomously-operated machinery and vehicles 102 with situational awareness to avoid obstacles and other terrain characteristics during the performance of agricultural activities 104.”, the system monitors and recognizes operational parameters including malfunction.).
Regarding Claim 23, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 1, wherein the indication to remotely plan and control the one or more agricultural production machines comprises a deployment plan that includes a deployment location and a deployment time for the one or more agricultural production machines (see at least HURD [¶0008, 0022, 0023], “a telematics component that enables stable in-field communications between all aspects of the integrated technology platform”, “the common software structural architecture 100 coordinates functions for integration of multiple machinery and vehicles 102 for performance of autonomous and/or unmanned agricultural activities 104, []. the present invention enables these functions (for example, path planning, navigation, handshaking vehicle-to-vehicle and from vehicle to cloud-based software application) for any machine or vehicle 102 and for any operational situation.”, “This data processing module 112 is responsible for managing the physical interface(s) to any vehicular system used in performance of an agricultural activity 104. This portion of the technology stack embodied in the common software structural architecture 100 integrates with vehicular functions, such as control of steering, throttle, gear state and braking, enabling full automation of all aspects of vehicular operation remotely”, the planning and navigation includes time, location, actions, etc.);
wherein the at least one processor is configured to automatically plan the deployment of the one or more agricultural production machines by generating and transmitting one or more deployment instructions to the one or more agricultural production machines in order for the one or more agricultural production machines to automatically deploy to the deployment location at least by the deployment time in order to perform the at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0008, 0022, 0023]) .
Regarding Claim 24, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a required number of autonomous vehicles from the deployment plan (see at least HURD [¶0022], “the common software structural architecture 100 coordinates functions for integration of multiple machinery and vehicles 102 for performance of autonomous and/or unmanned agricultural activities 104, []. the present invention enables these functions (for example, path planning, navigation, handshaking vehicle-to-vehicle and from vehicle to cloud-based software application) for any machine or vehicle 102 and for any operational situation.”);
wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the required number of autonomous vehicles by transmitting the deployment instructions(see at least HURD [¶0022]); and
wherein the deployment instructions are indicative to the required number of autonomous vehicles to act as autonomous agricultural production machines executing driving movements and work activities derived from a customer-specific deployment plan (see at least HURD [¶0026], “The executive control layer 140 is a software subsystem that coordinates control of autonomously-operated equipment, and is responsible for micro-services that may include command messaging, safety supervision, in-field mission control, path planning, and machine configuration.”).
Regarding Claim 25, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 2, wherein the one or more agricultural production machines, responsive to receiving the one or more commands, automatically interpret the one or more commands in order for the one or more agricultural production machines to perform particular driving movements and particular work activities (see at least HURD [¶0026], “The executive control layer 140 is a software subsystem that coordinates control of autonomously-operated equipment, and is responsible for micro-services that may include command messaging, safety supervision, in-field mission control, path planning, and machine configuration.”).
Regarding Claim 26, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 2, wherein the agricultural production machine assistance system, via the one or more commands, completely assumes automatic control over the one or more agricultural production machines to perform the one or more driving movements and the one or more work activities (see at least HURD [¶0023, 0045, Fig.3], “data processing module 112 is responsible for managing the physical interface(s) to any vehicular system used in performance of an agricultural activity 104. This portion of the technology stack embodied in the common software structural architecture 100 integrates with vehicular functions, such as control of steering, throttle, gear state and braking, enabling full automation of all aspects of vehicular operation remotely”, “operation 300 implements the components 310 of the common software structural architecture 100, to turn a tractor or other piece of equipment 102 into a fully automated machine to coordinate an automated performance of a grain cart therewith in the conduct of agricultural activities 104. The AutoCart™ application 172 is, for example, capable of safely moving a tractor between waypoints in a field, and syncing with a combine during harvest operation, to fill and empty grain carts as the equipment moves through a field to be harvested.”).
Regarding Claim 27, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 1, wherein the one or more agricultural production machines comprise at least a first agricultural production machine and a second agricultural production machine (see at least HURD [¶0045], “operation 300 implements the components 310 of the common software structural architecture 100, to turn a tractor or other piece of equipment 102 into a fully automated machine to coordinate an automated performance of a grain cart therewith in the conduct of agricultural activities 104. The AutoCart™ application 172 is, for example, capable of safely moving a tractor between waypoints in a field, and syncing with a combine during harvest operation, to fill and empty grain carts as the equipment moves through a field to be harvested.”);
wherein the first agricultural production machine is configured to perform automatic harvesting that generates a salvaged product (see at least HURD [¶0045]);
wherein the second agricultural production machine is configured to perform automatic salvaging of the salvaged product (see at least HURD [¶0045]); and
wherein the one or more commands are configured to automatically coordinate control of the first agricultural production machine to perform the automatic harvesting and control of the second agricultural production machine to perform the automatic salvaging of the salvaged product (see at least HURD [¶0023, 0045, Fig.3], “data processing module 112 is responsible for managing the physical interface(s) to any vehicular system used in performance of an agricultural activity 104. This portion of the technology stack embodied in the common software structural architecture 100 integrates with vehicular functions, such as control of steering, throttle, gear state and braking, enabling full automation of all aspects of vehicular operation remotely”, “operation 300 implements the components 310 of the common software structural architecture 100, to turn a tractor or other piece of equipment 102 into a fully automated machine to coordinate an automated performance of a grain cart therewith in the conduct of agricultural activities 104. The AutoCart™ application 172 is, for example, capable of safely moving a tractor between waypoints in a field, and syncing with a combine during harvest operation, to fill and empty grain carts as the equipment moves through a field to be harvested.”).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20200159220 HURD et al. (HURD hereafter), further in view of US 20080098035 Wippersteg et al. (Wippersteg hereafter).
Regarding Claim 17, HURD discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 13 but does not explicitly disclose wherein the one or both of the remote monitoring service or the remote-control service is activated based on input from a user indicative of paying a usage fee.
However, Wippersteg, directed towards a device and method for coordinating a machine fleet, discloses wherein the one or both of the remote monitoring service or the remote control service is activated based on input from a user indicative of paying a usage fee (see at least Wippersteg [¶0035, 0036], “[0035] The inventive coordination device takes this problem into account by requesting that a user 3--who wants to reserve a contingent of capacity of machines 5 for a certain period of time--state the urgency of his reservation, and by fulfilling this reservation only when the stated urgency reaches a threshold defined by administration unit 1. As a criterium for quantifying the urgency, e.g., the difference between the expected harvesting yields at the point in time requested for the reservation and a period of time that is one week earlier or later, for example, may be assumed. The quality of the crop material, which depends on the harvesting time, may also be taken into account.”, “In the case--which is significant for practical application--that users 3 and operators of machines 5 belong to units that are economically independent of each other, and the operator of machines 5 are paid by users 3 for the use of machines 5, the urgency may also be easily quantified via a monetary amount that a user is willing to pay for the use of the machines at the desired point in time.).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have considered the teachings of Wippersteg to modify HURD, with a reasonable expectation of success, to use the technique of the remote monitoring service or the remote control service being activated based on input from a user indicative of paying a usage fee, for the purpose of enabling advanced scheduling and coordination of agricultural services based on urgency, thus providing more efficient machine capacity planning and work performance, as taught by Wippersteg.
Claims 18, 22, and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20200159220 HURD et al. (HURD hereafter), further in view of US 20150105965 Blackwell et al., (Blackwell hereafter).
Regarding Claim 18, Hurd discloses An agricultural production machine (see at least HURD [¶0022], “the common software structural architecture 100 coordinates functions for integration of multiple machinery and vehicles 102 for performance of autonomous and/or unmanned agricultural activities 104, []. the present invention enables these functions (for example, path planning, navigation, handshaking vehicle-to-vehicle and from vehicle to cloud-based software application) for any machine or vehicle 102 and for any operational situation.”), but does not explicitly disclose
configured to operate as a manned agricultural production machine or an unmanned agricultural production machine,
However, Blackwell, directed towards autonomous systems, methods, and apparatus for ag based operations, discloses configured to operate as a manned agricultural production machine or an unmanned agricultural production machine (see at least Blackwell [¶0070, FIGS. 6-8], “while the tug unit 10 may be self-propelled and autonomous while in a field, [] it may be desirable to manually operate and control the tug unit 10”, “an operator can manually operate the unit 10 within or near the cab 22.”, “An operator can manipulate the tug unit 10 in order to access the cab 22 such that the tug unit transforms to a manually operable vehicle. When an attached cab 22 is used, the components of the cab 22 can be selectably attached to the tug unit 10 to provide a manually operable vehicle.”),
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have considered the teachings of Blackwell to modify HURD, with a reasonable expectation of success, to use the technique of configuring the agricultural production machine to operate as a manned agricultural production machine or an unmanned agricultural production machine, for the purpose of providing advanced autonomous or manual control options as required to enable efficient machine capacity planning and work performance.
HURD further discloses the agricultural production machine comprising:
at least one communication interface (see at least HURD [¶0032], “The receiver hardware 210 is configured to enable receipt of commands from cloud-side elements of the common software structural architecture 100, or from an operator.”); and
at least one processor (see at least HURD [¶0019, Fig.1], “The common software structural architecture 100 is embodied in a plurality of data processing modules 112 that are components within a computing environment 110 that also includes one or more processors”) in communication with the communication interface (see at least HURD [¶0021, Fig.1] These data processing modules 112 include a vehicle interface system 120, a telematics/communications system 130) and configured to:
receive, from an agricultural production machine assistance system remote from the agricultural production machine, a deployment plan indicative of information and equipment in order to act as a specially designed autonomous agricultural production machine, wherein the deployment plan comprises a deployment location and a deployment time to perform at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0008, 0022, 0023], “a telematics component that enables stable in-field communications between all aspects of the integrated technology platform”, “the common software structural architecture 100 coordinates functions for integration of multiple machinery and vehicles 102 for performance of autonomous and/or unmanned agricultural activities 104, []. the present invention enables these functions (for example, path planning, navigation, handshaking vehicle-to-vehicle and from vehicle to cloud-based software application) for any machine or vehicle 102 and for any operational situation.”, “This data processing module 112 is responsible for managing the physical interface(s) to any vehicular system used in performance of an agricultural activity 104. This portion of the technology stack embodied in the common software structural architecture 100 integrates with vehicular functions, such as control of steering, throttle, gear state and braking, enabling full automation of all aspects of vehicular operation remotely”, the planning and navigation includes time, location, actions, etc.);
responsive to receiving the deployment plan:
automatically transport to the deployment location at least by the deployment time (see at least HURD [¶0008, 0022, 0023]);
configure to be the unmanned agricultural production machine by:
receiving one or more commands from the agricultural production machine assistance system (see at least HURD [¶0008, 0022, 0023]);
automatically performing the at least one agricultural process based on the one or more commands (see at least HURD [¶0008, 0022, 0023]);
automatically transmitting, to the agricultural production machine assistance system, information regarding the at least one agricultural process being performed for monitoring of the at least one agricultural process by the agricultural production machine assistance system to determine one or more situations that disrupt performing the at least one agricultural process (see at least HURD [¶0040], “The common software structural architecture 100 also includes a safety system 160 which is responsible for analyzing specific operational parameters of autonomous vehicle activity. This module, referred to in FIG. 1 as a “perception” system 160, recognizes and distinguishes terrain to be covered by autonomously-operated equipment, and performs tasks such as identification of obstacles and other characteristics that enable safe, efficient, and confident performance of machines and vehicles 102 in such an operating environment.”, “The perception system 160 is responsible for intake and analysis of data (such as images and reflected signals) from an array of sensors (such as cameras, radar systems and Lidar systems), and may include one or more machine learning and artificial intelligence subsystems configured to fuse data collected from multiple sensors together to provide the autonomously-operated machinery and vehicles 102 with situational awareness to avoid obstacles and other terrain characteristics during the performance of agricultural activities 104.”);
receiving, from the agricultural production machine assistance system, one or more intervening commands in order to intervene in automatically controlling the one or more agricultural production machines, thereby at least partly overriding the one or more commands to the one or more agricultural production machines (see at least HURD [¶0040]).
Regarding Claim 22, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the indication to remotely plan and control the one or more agricultural production machines is received from at least one of the one or more agricultural production machines.
However, Blackwell discloses wherein the indication to remotely plan and control the one or more agricultural production machines is received from at least one of the one or more agricultural production machines (see at least Blackwell [¶0074], “The master tug unit can also communicate to the child tug units wirelessly. For example, when a change occurs manually to the master tug unit, this information can be transmitted wirelessly to the children tug units such that they will also change in a similar manner. This wireless communication can include change in speed, change in direction, or the like.”).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have considered the teachings of Blackwell to modify HURD, with a reasonable expectation of success, to use the technique of the indication to remotely plan and control the one or more agricultural production machines is received from at least one of the one or more agricultural production machines, for the purpose of providing advanced communication and autonomous or manual control options as required to enable efficient machine capacity planning and work performance.
Regarding Claim 28, Hurd discloses The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 1, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more agricultural production machines are configured to be operated either as one or more manned agricultural production machines or one or more unmanned agricultural production machines; and
responsive to receiving the indication, the at least one processor is configured to send at least one command in order to configure the one or more agricultural production machines as the one or more unmanned agricultural production machines.
However, Blackwell discloses wherein the one or more agricultural production machines are configured to be operated either as one or more manned agricultural production machines or one or more unmanned agricultural production machines (see at least Blackwell [¶0070, FIGS. 6-8], “while the tug unit 10 may be self-propelled and autonomous while in a field, [] it may be desirable to manually operate and control the tug unit 10”, “an operator can manually operate the unit 10 within or near the cab 22.”, “An operator can manipulate the tug unit 10 in order to access the cab 22 such that the tug unit transforms to a manually operable vehicle. When an attached cab 22 is used, the components of the cab 22 can be selectably attached to the tug unit 10 to provide a manually operable vehicle.”); and
responsive to receiving the indication, the at least one processor is configured to send at least one command in order to configure the one or more agricultural production machines as the one or more unmanned agricultural production machines (see at least Blackwell [¶0074], “The master tug unit can also communicate to the child tug units wirelessly. For example, when a change occurs manually to the master tug unit, this information can be transmitted wirelessly to the children tug units such that they will also change in a similar manner. This wireless communication can include change in speed, change in direction, or the like.”).
Regarding Claim 29, Hurd and Blackwell in combination disclose The agricultural production machine assistance system of claim 28, wherein the indication is received from a respective agricultural production machine that is configured to be operated either as a respective manned agricultural production machine or a respective unmanned agricultural production machine (see at least Blackwell [¶0070, FIGS. 6-8], “while the tug unit 10 may be self-propelled and autonomous while in a field, [] it may be desirable to manually operate and control the tug unit 10”, “an operator can manually operate the unit 10 within or near the cab 22.”, “An operator can manipulate the tug unit 10 in order to access the cab 22 such that the tug unit transforms to a manually operable vehicle. When an attached cab 22 is used, the components of the cab 22 can be selectably attached to the tug unit 10 to provide a manually operable vehicle.”); and
responsive to receiving the indication from the respective agricultural production machine, the at least one processor is configured to send the at least one command in order to configure the respective agricultural production machine as the respective unmanned agricultural production machine (see at least Blackwell [¶0074], “The master tug unit can also communicate to the child tug units wirelessly. For example, when a change occurs manually to the master tug unit, this information can be transmitted wirelessly to the children tug units such that they will also change in a similar manner. This wireless communication can include change in speed, change in direction, or the like.”).
Regarding Claim 30, Hurd and Blackwell in combination disclose The agricultural production machine of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to send to the agricultural production machine assistance system an indication to remotely plan and control (see at least HURD [¶0023], “This data processing module 112 is responsible for managing the physical interface(s) to any vehicular system used in performance of an agricultural activity 104. This portion of the technology stack embodied in the common software structural architecture 100 integrates with vehicular functions, such as control of steering, throttle, gear state and braking, enabling full automation of all aspects of vehicular operation remotely”); and
wherein, responsive to the agricultural production machine assistance system receiving the indication, the agricultural production machine assistance system is configured to transmit the deployment plan (see at least HURD [¶0008], “a telematics component that enables stable in-field communications between all aspects of the integrated technology platform”, “The telemetry hardware 290 is a telemetry device that is configured to collect and transmit data”.).
Conclusion
Examiner notes that the fundamentals of the rejection are based on the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim language. Any reference to specific figures, column, line and paragraphs should not be considered limiting in any way. The entire cited reference(s), as well as any secondary teaching reference(s), are considered to provide relevant disclosure relating to the claimed invention. Applicant is kindly invited to consider the reference(s) as a whole. References are to be interpreted as by one of ordinary skill in the art rather than as by a novice. See MPEP 2141. Therefore, the relevant inquiry when interpreting a reference is not what the reference expressly discloses on its face but what the reference would teach or suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Examiner encourages Applicant to fill out and submit form PTO-SB-439 to allow internet communications in accordance with 37 CFR 1.33 (MPEP 502.03). Should the need arise to perfect applicant-proposed or examiner’s amendments, authorization for e-mail correspondence would have already been authorized and would save time.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Neit J. Nieves Flores whose telephone number is (703)756-5864. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 0930-1800 AST.
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/Neit J. Nieves Flores/
Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3664
/RACHID BENDIDI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3664