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 .
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 (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.
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 and 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wendling (DE 102016202628 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Wendling discloses a system for a work vehicle (10), the system comprising: an arm (78/80, figure 3); and an actuator system comprising: a drive component (page 4 paragraph 6 of the provided translation discloses a drive component in the form of a motor or a manual means); and a linkage assembly (pivot bearings 82 and 84) coupled to the arm and the drive component; wherein the drive component is configured to drive the linkage assembly to rotate the arm from a first position in which the arm extends forward of a working component of the work vehicle (Figure 4) to a second position in which the arm is positioned rearward of the working component of the work vehicle (Figure 5).
Regarding claim 12, Wendling discloses wherein the work vehicle comprises an agricultural harvester (10), and the working component comprises a cutter bar (54) assembly.
Regarding claim 13, Wendling discloses comprising a header (10), wherein the drive component is configured to drive the linkage assembly to rotate the arm relative to a frame of the header (As shown in figures 4 and 5).
Regarding claim 14, Wendling discloses wherein the drive component is configured to drive the linkage assembly to rotate the arm through an arc between approximately 45 to 100 degrees (Figure 4 and 5 show the arm rotates through the claimed range).
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.
Claim(s) 2-5 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wendling (DE 102016202628 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Wendling discloses and embodiment with multiple sensors (68/70) attached to a different embodiment as shown in figure 1. However, Wendling is lacking these addition sensors as shown in the embodiment of figure 3.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the embodiment of figure 3 to comprise the additional sensors 70 as taught by Wendling embodiment of figure 1 for the purpose of providing additional sensing of crop stock and obstacles as discussed on page 3 the last paragraph.
Regarding claim 3, Wendling discloses wherein the one or more devices comprise a sensor, a light emitter, or both (sensor 70).
Regarding claim 4, Wendling discloses wherein the one or more devices comprise a sensor configured to detect terrain features, system features, or both (The sensor 70 may determine terrain feature in the form of obstacles. Sensor 62 is a camera attached to a control system to control operating parameters of the header page 2 paragraph 7).
Regarding claim 5, Wendling discloses the ability for manual operation (page 4 6th paragraph).
Wendling does not go into detail of a specific use of a handle to aid in the manual manipulation of the arms.
First, it would have been an instant obvious matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art to merely add a handle to aid an operator to manually rotate the arms of the pivoting structure.
Second, for the sake of argument, Examiner takes official notice that it is old and well known in the art of manual manipulation of adjustable structures to utilize handles to aid in the manual manipulation of movable structures. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have added a handle to the linkage of Wendling to aid the operator in the manual folding and unfolding of the arms.
Regarding claim 15, Wendling discloses that the harvester comprises a control system and a display system for an operator (page 2 paragraph 7). A control system is considered to comprise processors. Further the combine is considered to comprise typical controls for an operator to control functions of the combine. Wendling further discloses the optional use of a motor to control the arms folding and unfolding (page 4 6th paragraph). Wendling does not specifically discuss the operators ability to control the motor from the operators station to fold and unfold the arms from the first to second positioning as shown in figures 4 and 5.
It would have been an instant obvious matter of design choice to one of ordinary skill in the art to add controls for the operator within the cabin for the operator to control the motor to fold and unfold the arms.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wendling (DE 102016202628 A1) as applied to claim 1 in further view of Rockwell (USPN 4178998).
Regarding claim 6, Wendling discloses pivotal bearing used to rotate the arms in relation to one another however is lacking detail of the joint.
The problem to be solved by one of ordinary skill in the art lies within the pivotal movement of two structural members in relationship to one another.
Rockwell disclose a system for a work vehicle with arm elements that are pivotally attached to one another (Figure 3 shows arm elements 34 and 41 that are pivotally attached to one another at axis 42for folding and unfolding) and teaches the use of a linear actuator (121) and linkage assembly capable of folding and unfolding the arm elements in relationship to one another.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Wendling to use a similar assembly to rotate the arms in relationship to one another via a use of linear actuator linkage assembly as taught by Rockwell for the purpose of actuating the arm without manual means.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wendling (DE 102016202628 A1) as applied to claim 1 in further view of Jones (US 2017/0290266).
Regarding claim 7, Wendling discloses pivotal bearing used to rotate the arms in relation to one another however is lacking detail of the joint.
The problem to be solved by one of ordinary skill in the art lies within the pivotal movement of two structural members in relationship to one another.
Jones disclose a system for a work vehicle with arm elements that are pivotally attached to one another (Figure 6 shows arm elements 126 and 130 that are pivotally attached to one another at axis 134 for folding and unfolding) and teaches the use of an over center linkage (122 ¶0045) that may be operated by the operator via a handle (186).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Wendling to rotate the arms in relationship to one another via a use of an over center linkage as taught by Jones for the purpose of manipulating the force required for an operator to manually rotate the arms during operation.
Claim(s) 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Boyd (US 2016/0106038) in view of Wendling (DE 102016202628 A1).
Regarding claims 16 and 17, Boyd discloses header (28) for a work vehicle (20), the header comprising: a frame; an arm coupled to the frame ; a sensor supported on the arm (Figure 2 shows a sensor 52 with an arm attached to the rear of the header frame);
The arm of Boyd is rigidly attached to the frame. Boyd is lacking the use of an actuator system to move the arm.
Wendling discloses a header with a sensor system and teaches the use of a rotatable arm structure (78/80) with an actuators system (manual or motor page 4, 6th paragraph) wherein the actuator system is configured to drive the arm to rotate from a first position in which the arm extends to position the sensor forward of the frame (figure 4) to a second position in which the arm is withdrawn to align the sensor with the frame (figure 5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Boyd to add a rotational arm with actuation as taught by Wendling for the purpose of adding the ability to rotate the sensor system between an operational positioning to a transport positioning.
The combination would be considered to maintain the arm attachment to the header as shown by Boyd with the motor being operationally attached to the arm and the frame of the header to facilitate movement between the two.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Boyd (US 2016/0106038) in view of Wendling (DE 102016202628 A1) as applied to claim 16 in further view of Jones (US 2017/0290266).
Regarding claim 18, the combination discloses pivotal bearing used to rotate the arms in relation to one another however is lacking detail of the joint.
The problem to be solved by one of ordinary skill in the art lies within the pivotal movement of two structural members in relationship to one another.
Jones disclose a system for a work vehicle with arm elements that are pivotally attached to one another (Figure 6 shows arm elements 126 and 130 that are pivotally attached to one another at axis 134 for folding and unfolding) and teaches the use of an over center linkage (122 ¶0045) that may be operated by the operator via a drive component handle (186).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the combination to rotate the arms in relationship to one another via a use of an over center linkage as taught by Jones for the purpose of manipulating the force required for an operator to manually rotate the arms during operation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 is allowed.
Claims 8-11 and 19 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. Lego (US 2018/0077861)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ADAM J BEHRENS whose telephone number is (303)297-4336. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-2pm MST.
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/ADAM J BEHRENS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671