DETAILED ACTIONAcknowledgment is made of applicant’s amendment filed 1/13/26.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.
Claims 12 – 15 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Todd et al. (10,051,787, hereinafter Todd – See IDS dated 9/28/23).
Regarding claim 12, Todd discloses an apparatus comprising a plurality of row units 110 (See Fig. 1) distributed across a width of a header 104, a plurality of damping features 114 (See Fig. 3) coupled to the header that attenuate vibrations generated due to respective initial contacts between crops and the header to form attenuated vibrations; a plurality of vibration sensors 328, 330 coupled to the header that generate signals indicative of the attenuated vibrations; and a controller configured that receives the signals; and processes the signals to determine respective locations of the respective initial contacts relative to the header (See Col. 3, lines 15 – 26, Col. 4, lines 12 – 57 and Col. 5, lines 1 – 54).
Regarding claim 13, the plurality of damping features comprises a plurality of hoods 114, wherein each hood of the plurality of hoods is positioned adjacent to at least one row unit of the plurality of row units 110 (See Figs. 1 and 3).
Regarding claim 14, each damping feature of the plurality of damping features is formed from a plastic material, a foam material, a rubber material, or other non-metal material (See Col. 3, lines 20 – 25).
Regarding claim 15, at least one of the plurality of damping features comprises a variable damping element (See Col. 3, lines 20 – 25).
Regarding claim 18, the controller instructs an appropriate output based on the respective locations of a threshold number of the respective initial contacts being outside of a target impact region, wherein the appropriate output comprises one or more alarms, one or more control signals to adjust the header, or both (See Col. 5, lines 11 – 54). Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16 and 21 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The primary reasons for indicating allowable subject matter is that the prior art does not anticipate or make obvious the provisions of “the variable damping element couples to a deck plate of the header and provides a variable level of attenuation along a length of the deck plate of the header” (referring to claim 16) and “the controller processes the signals in determining the respective locations of the respective initial contacts relative to a longitudinal axis of the header” (referring to claim 21) in combination with the other limitations presented in claim 12.7. Claims 1 – 11, 19 – 20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject
matter: The primary reasons for indicating allowable subject matter is that the prior art does not anticipate or make obvious the provisions of “the controller receives the signals; and processes the signals to determine a location of the initial contact between the crop and the header relative to a longitudinal axis of the header” in combination with the other limitations presented in claim 1 and “processing, via one or more processors, the signals that determine a location of the initial contact between the portion of the crop and the header relative to a longitudinal axis of the header” in combination with the other limitations presented in claim 19. Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, on Pg. 9, Paras. 2 - 3, Pg. 11, Para. 4 and Pg. 12
Para. 3, with respect to these claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
11. Heims et al. (2025/0318466) disclose systems and methods for resolving header slip and stall events. Hunt et al. (2025/0194467) disclose systems and methods for controlling a corn header. Reed et al. (2023/0389473) disclose an electric row unit drive system for corn header of combine harvester. Borry et al. (EP3556197) disclose a header with multiple row elements.12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OCTAVIA HOLLINGTON whose telephone number is (571)272-2176. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/OCTAVIA HOLLINGTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855 4/3/26
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