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 .
The current application relates to a Foreign Application Priority Data JP2022-88283 filed on Nov. 25, 2022.
Appeal Brief
A conference for the Appeal Brief filed on 04/14/2026 had been held with SPE- Peter Nolan, and SPE-Anne Antonucci and Examiner: Nga X. Nguyen. Applicant's Appeal Brief arguments filed 04/14/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for allowance. The Final Rejection filed on 11/25/2025 is withdrawn. New reference found and examination is updated as shown below.
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) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomita (20200064863).
With regard to claim 1, Tomita discloses a work vehicle automatic traveling system (see the abstract). The system comprises a management center includes a management computer 100 which includes a work site information storage unit 101 and a work plan managing unit 102; a terminal 4 and harvesters 1. Wherein, the harvesters 1 comprises a control unit 5 (see [0074]-[0075]+). The system processing:
registering first work corresponding to a first work vehicle that automatically travels in a first work range within a work region; registering second work corresponding to a second work vehicle that automatically travels in a second work range within the work region (the work plan managing unit 102 manages and plans the works for multiple harvesters 1 on specified are of the filed, see [0076]+);
generating, in the first work range, a first target route for the first work vehicle to automatically travel, based on work information of the first work, and generating, in the second work range, a second target route for the second work vehicle to automatically travel, based on work information of each of the first work and the second work, in a case where each of the first work and the second work is registered (the harvesters 1 include a communication processing unit 70 which exchanges data with the management computer 100, see [0097] for an area CA to be worked by two harvesters 1, i.e., the master harvester 1m working and traveling on the travel route element L11, L21, L32, wherein the harvester 1s working on the traveling route elements L31, L41. Wherein the two harvester 1 execute work autonomous travel on an area CA with independent routes set based on the setting routes, see [0129]-[0130]+ ) ; and
initiating automatic travel by at least one of the first work vehicle on the first target route or the second work vehicle on the second target route (executing autonomous travel by the harvesters, see [0129]+).
Although Tomita’s disclosure does not explicitly describe features in the same words as recited in the claim, Examiner interprets Tomita’s work vehicle autonomic traveling system, as discussed above, to be equivalent to the claimed scope. For this reason, Tomita is obvious suggestively, if not anticipatory, of the claimed subject matter.
With regard to claim 2, Tomita teaches that the setting method according to claim 1, wherein a work plan, which includes information of the first work vehicle and a first work machine that are used for the first work and information of the second work vehicle and a second work machine that are used for the second work, is registered, and the first target route and the second target route are generated in a case where the work plan is registered (the work plan includes information of travel patterns, the work format of multiple harvesters with the type of crop to be harvested, see [0076]+).
With regard to claim 3, Tomita teaches that the setting method according to claim 2, wherein, on a registration screen where the work plan is registered, a list of work contents, identification information of work vehicles, identification information of work machines, and work ranges is displayed for each work (the set of the device parameters of the master harvester and the slave harvester displayed, see [0159]+.
With regard to claim 4, Tomita teaches that the setting method according to claim 1, wherein the first target route is a route that is set to an entirety of the work region, and the second target route is a route that is set to a partial region of the work region (see [0107]+).
With regard to claim 5, Tomita teaches that the setting method according to claim 4, wherein the second target route is generated in a set range, which is set by a user within the work region (a user can input information through a touch panel, see [0085]+).
With regard to claim 8, Tomita teaches that the setting method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of work blocks is included in the work region, the first target route is generated for the first work range which is selected by a user within the work region, and the second target route is generated for the second work range which includes a region between adjacent two of the work blocks within the first work range (the display animates the travel trajectory of the harvester 1 traveling along the autonomous travel routes which the driver can confirm the travel roues to be traveled on before the travel started, see [0084]+).
With regard to claim 9, Tomita teaches that the setting method according to claim 1, wherein, in a process of generating the first target route and the second target route, warning information is displayed on a route generation screen in a case where it is determined that at least one of the first target route and the second target route partially protrudes to an outside of the work region in automatic traveling of work vehicles (Fig. 24 illustrating the area CA to be worked is segmented into two segments CA1 and CA2, see [0154]+)
With regard to claim 10, Tomita discloses an automatic traveling method that executes:
causing the first work vehicle to automatically travel in accordance with the first target route that is set within the work region by the setting method according to claim 1 (The master harvester 1m is set work travel (autonomous travel), see [0129]+); and
causing the second work vehicle to automatically travel in accordance with the second target route that is set within the work region by the setting method according to claim 1 after the automatic traveling of the first work vehicle is started (the slave harvester 1s is set automatically work travel related to the master harvester 1m so that the harvesters carry out work travel cooperatively in the area, see [0130]-[0132]+).
With regard to claim 11, Tomita discloses a travel route setting system comprising:
a setting processing part that registers first work corresponding to a first work vehicle that automatically travels in a first work range within a work region and registers second work corresponding to a second work vehicle that automatically travels in a second work range within the work region (communication terminal 4 comprises an area setting unit 44 which sets work travel route for each harvesters 1 autonomously travel, see [0087] & [0173]-[0180); and
a generation processing part that generates, in the first work range, a first target route for the first work vehicle to automatically travel, based on work information of the first work, and generates, in the second work range, a second target route for the second work vehicle to automatically travel, based on work information of each of the first work and the second work, in a case where each of the first work and the second work is registered (first travel route managing module CM1, and second travel route managing module CM2, and etc., see [0180]+); and
a control part that initiates automatic travel by at least one of the first work vehicle on the first target route or the second work vehicle on the second target route (the communication terminal 4 processes data obtained from the management computer 100, the control unit 5 of the harvester 1, and on the basis of input data through the touch panel 41 and be sent from the terminal 4 to the harvester’s control unit 5 for starting automatic travel on the selected route travel, see [0075]-[0080]+).
Although Tomita’s disclosure does not explicitly describe features in the same words as recited in the claim, Examiner interprets Tomita’s work vehicle autonomic traveling system, as discussed above, to be equivalent to the claimed scope. For this reason, Tomita is obvious suggestively, if not anticipatory, of the claimed subject matter.
With regard to claim 12, Tomita discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions to configure a processor to perform atravel-route setting method comprising:
registering first work corresponding to a first work vehicle that automatically travels in a first work range within a work region; registering second work corresponding to a second work vehicle that automatically travels in a second work range within the work region (setting and planning the works for multiple harvesters 1 on specified are of the filed, see [0076]+);
generating, in the first work range, a first target route for causing the first work vehicle to automatically travel, based on work information of the first work (route element selecting unit 63 generates first route element 631 for the master harvester 1m, see [0131]-[0132]+),
generating, in the second work range, a second target route for the second work vehicle to automatically travel, based on work information of each of the first work and the second work, in a case where each of the first work and the second work is registered (route element selecting unit 63 generates second route element 632 for the slave harvester 1s, see [0131]-[0132]+), and
initiating automatic travel by at least one of the first work vehicle on the first target route or the second work vehicle on the second target route (the communication terminal 4 can be switched to an animated display state indicating autonomous travel routes which the driver can intuitively confirm the travel routes be traveled on before the travel starts, see [0084]+).
Although Tomita’s disclosure does not explicitly describe features in the same words as recited in the claim, Examiner interprets Tomita’s work vehicle autonomic traveling system, as discussed above, to be equivalent to the claimed scope. For this reason, Tomita is obvious suggestively, if not anticipatory, of the claimed subject matter.
Claim(s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomita as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Sasamoto (20200305338).
With regard to claim 6, Tomita discloses the claimed subject matter but fails to teach on a reception screen where an operation of setting the set range is received from the user, a region where work has already been done within the work region and a region where work has not been done yet within the work region are displayed in an identifiable manner.
Sasanoto discloses an agriculture support system comprises a support device 90 which displays a creation screen M1 for setting range is received from the user, a region where work has already been done within the work region and a region where work has not been done yet within the work region are displayed in an identifiable manner (see [0036]-[0037]+).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Tomita by including a creatopm screen M1 for setting range is received from the user, a region where work has already been done within the work region and a region where work has not been done yet within the work region are displayed in an identifiable manner as taught by Sasanoto. The combination of Tomita and Sasanoto is an adapted system for allowing a user enables setting work region for agriculture machine.
With regard to claim 7, Tomita teaches that the setting method according to claim 6, wherein, on the reception screen, the region where work has already been done within the work region is displayed in an un-selectable manner and the region where work has not been done yet within the work region is displayed in a selectable manner (when a spinal travel pattern is set, the multiple harvesters are prohibited from simultaneously selecting a travel route element from a travel route element set parallel to a side of the polygon expressing the outer shape of the area CA to be worked, see [0148]+).
Conclusion
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NGA X. NGUYEN
Examiner
Art Unit 3662
/NGA X NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3662
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