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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 9, previously withdrawn from consideration as a result of a restriction requirement, require all the limitations of an allowable claim (claim 8). Pursuant to the procedures set forth in MPEP § 821.04(a), the restriction requirement between inventions A & B, as set forth in the Office action mailed on 12/3/2025, is hereby withdrawn and claims 9 hereby rejoined and fully examined for patentability under 37 CFR 1.104. In view of the withdrawal of the restriction requirement, applicant(s) are advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application. Once the restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 10-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pichlmaier (9,095,089).
Regarding claims 1 and 17, Pichlmaier discloses an agricultural work system and method comprising:
An agricultural production machine (10) including at least two axles (21,22), at least one device interface (23), a sensor assembly (37) positioned on at least one of the at least two axles (21,22) and configured to generate data in order to determine an axle load and a driver assistance system (18, 27, 28)
An attachment (51) configured to connect to the agricultural production machine (10) using the at least one device interface (23), the attachment configured to perform an agricultural work process
Wherein the driver assistance system (27,28) is configured to:
Access sensor data generated by the sensor assembly that is generated during performing of the agricultural work process (column 4 lines 22-42; column 5 lines 35-45)
Automatically determine, using the sensor data and at least one computing unit (27), one or more axle loads on at least one axle of the machine (column 4 lines 39-44) and an axle load ratio (column 1 line 64-column 2 line 8) that account for a configuration of the machine and the attachment and for one or more operating parameters of the work system (column 6 line 60 through column 7 line 21) and perform one or both of
Automatically generating an output on a display (column 7 line 19-21; column 8 lines 31-34; column 9 lines 65-67) of the machine indicative of one or both of the one or more axle loads or the axle load ratio or
Automatically controlling at least a part of the work system based on the one or both of the one or more axle loads or the axle load ratio (column 7 line 37-47)
Regarding claims 2 and 18, the agricultural production machine includes an operating and display unit (18) and wherein the operating and display unit is configured to display the one or more axle loads (75,77), the axle load ratio (column 9 lines 63-65), and changes to the one or both of the one or more axle loads (75,77) or the axle load ratio.
Regarding claims 3-4 and 19, the driver assistance system is configured to automatically determine the one or more axle load and the axle load ratio by determining whether the attachment is attached to the agricultural production machine as a mounted attachment attached to the device interface or a trailed attachment and determining both or the one or more axle loads or the axle load ratio based on whether the attachment is attached to the machine as the mounted attachment or the trailed attachment (column 6 line 60 through column 7 line 21).
Regarding claims 5 and 20, determining both of the one or more axle loads or the axle load ratio based on the attachment comprises determining a device interface load transmitted to the agricultural production machine via the at least one device interface based on the attachment (column 4 lines 18-25 and column 6 line 60 through column 7 line 21).
Regarding claim 10, Pichlmaier discloses estimating rolling resistance to determine coupling forces and determining a vertical axle load acting on one of the axles (column 5 lines 46-59)
Regarding claim 11, Pichlmaier discloses that in a first step forces exerted on tools of the attachment are determined (column 5 lines 47-49) and further discloses the steps of:
Determining a vertical axle load acting on one of the axles (column 5 lines 35-46)
Determining the axle load ratio (column 6 lines 53-65)
Performing an estimation of a driving torque on the axles of the agricultural production machine (column 8 lines 26-30)
Regarding claim 12, an estimation of a driving force coefficient is performed using quantities determined in the first and the second step (column 5 lines 46 through column 6 line 45); (figures 9; 10-10g).
Regarding claim 13, Pichlmaier discloses determining one or more axle loads comprises determining a vertical axle loa and wherein the vertical axle load is determined dependent on a variable filling volume of a container or a spatial arrangement of the container on the machine (column 7 line 1-36; column 8 lines 1-16).
Regarding claim 14, Pichlmaier discloses determining an initial ballasting of one or both of the machine and the attachment using a dialog based sequence by the driver assistance system (column 7 lines 1-21).
Regarding claim 15, Pichlmaier discloses comparing the axle loads and an axle load distribution with limit values and responsive to determining the axle loads or the axle load distribution exceeds respective limit values, automatically generating the output on the display indicating a warning (column 8 lines 37-42).
Regarding claim 16, Pichlmaier discloses automatically determining an adjusted operating parameter for modifying operation of at least one of the agricultural production machine or the attachment by performing one or both of automatically generating the output on the display with the adjusted operating parameter or automatically executing the adjusted operating parameter in order to modify operation of at least one of the agricultural production machine or the attachment (column 5 lines 18-26).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Bitter (8,352,121) also discloses an axle load monitoring system for a hitch.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jamie L McGowan whose telephone number is (571)272-5064. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 9:00-5:00 CST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chris Sebesta can be reached at 571-272-0547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMIE L MCGOWAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
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