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 Amendments and Remarks filed on 10/22/2025, for application number 18/394,074 filed on 12/22/2023, in which claims 1-15 were originally presented for examination.
Claims 1-10 and 15 are amended.
Claims 1-15 are currently pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant Amendments and Remarks filed on 10/22/2025 in response to the Non-Final office action mailed on 07/24/2025 have been fully considered and are addressed as follows:
Regarding the Claim Rejections under 35 USC § 103: With respect to the previous claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant has amended the independent claims and these amendments have changed the scope of the original application. Therefore, the Office has supplied new grounds for rejection attached below in the FINAL office action and therefore the prior arguments are considered moot.
FINAL OFFICE ACTION
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-5, 8-12, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogura et al. (US 2017/0168501 A1, hereinafter “Ogura”) in view of Nagashima et al. (JP 2013230088 A, hereinafter “Nagashima”) further in view of Yamamoto (US 2020/0084423 A1). The rejections below are based on the machine translation of Nagashima, a copy of which is attached to the previous Office Action as also indicated in the 892 form.
Regarding claim 1, Ogura discloses a management system, comprising:
(Ogura at [0066]: “The display shows GPS (positioning) information, so that the status of signal reception from satellites can be known, and measures can be taken easily when signals from GPS satellites are disrupted”; para. [0107]: “If the operation is interrupted, the position where interruption occurred is stored in the memory 30a (S17)”; para. [0114]: “the number of satellites associated with the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) from which signals are received is less than a predetermined number of satellites”) and sensing data output from a sensor to sense a surrounding environment of the agricultural machine (Ogura at para. [0094]: “A video taken by the camera 42 is transmitted to the remote controller 112 and shown on the display 113 to allow for viewing of the front of the vehicle and conditions of the implements or the agricultural field”); and
a processor configured or programmed to:
generate first visualized data (Ogura at para. [0057]: “The remote controller 112 has the display 113 on the housing surface, which is a touchscreen control screen that allows for control through touching the screen, and includes the transceiver 111, a CPU, a memory, a battery, a camera, a GPS (satellite positioning device) and the like inside the housing”), which represents the surrounding environment of the agricultural machine, based on the GNSS data and the sensing data, when reception interference of a satellite signal occurs (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”), and second visualized data, which represents the surrounding environment of the agricultural machine (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”; The surrounding images are generated regardless of the reception interference status, and thus the surrounding images are generated at least during when there was no reception interference occurred in the past); and
cause a display to display a first image based on the first visualized data and a second image based on the second visualized data in distinguishable forms (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”; The surrounding images (i.e., “first image” and “second image”) are outputted regardless of the reception interference status, and additional information including the operation conditions, positioning information, and the communication statuses are also presented. Therefore, the surrounding images (i.e., “first image” and “second image”) are displayed in “distinguishable forms”).
However, Ogura does not explicitly state a storage to store, and
at a same location.
Nevertheless, Ogura at least suggests the idea of storing the position data and the operation data in the memory (see Ogura at para. [0095] and [0107]).
In the same field of endeavor, Nagashima teaches a storage to store, (Nagashima at para. [0019]: “The measurement data acquired by the on-board sensor 21 is associated with the positioning data and time data of the positioning processing unit 201, and is temporarily stored in the storage device 203 as terminal sensing information. The terminal sensing information is composed of various data such as date, time (time), position, orientation, altitude, moisture, atmosphere temperature, ground temperature, soil spectrum, laser distance image, visible image, infrared image and the like. In addition, the mounted sensor 21 may be provided with a camera for acquiring at least a visible image”).
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 system of Ogura by adding the storage as taught by Nagashima with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima is to provide automated operation of agricultural machines.
However, Ogura in view of Nagashima does not explicitly state at a same location.
In the same field of endeavor, Yamamoto teaches at a same location (Yamamoto at para. [0052]: “When it is possible to perform shooting the spatial area designated by the user by using the stereo camera 131, the control unit 150 performs the shooting and transmits obtained imaging data to the remote terminal 300” “when it is impossible to perform shooting, the control unit 150 extracts imaging data including an image of the designated spatial area from the imaging data accumulated in the past image DB 182 and transmits the extracted imaging data to the remote terminal 300”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima by adding at the same location as taught by Yamamoto with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to enable a user to check a situation of a designated spatial area in the past.
Regarding claim 2, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Yamamoto further teaches wherein the processor is configured or programmed to cause the display to display the first image and the second image side by side on a single display screen (Yamamoto at para. [0052]: “When it is possible to perform shooting the spatial area designated by the user by using the stereo camera 131, the control unit 150 performs the shooting and transmits obtained imaging data to the remote terminal 300” “when it is impossible to perform shooting, the control unit 150 extracts imaging data including an image of the designated spatial area from the imaging data accumulated in the past image DB 182 and transmits the extracted imaging data to the remote terminal 300”; FIG. 8 and para. [0070]: “an image window 450 is newly opened and a title such as ‘Past photo’ indicating that the displayed image shows a state in the past is displayed together with the unfolded image”; FIG. 8 and para. [0071]: “the display control unit 352 opens a sub-image window 451 near the image window 450 and displays a title such as ‘Current’ indicating that the displayed image shows a state obtained during the movement together with the unfolded image”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding displaying the first image and the second image side by side as taught by Yamamoto with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to enable a user to efficiently check a situation of a designated spatial area.
Regarding claim 3, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Ogura further discloses further comprising the display (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”).
Regarding claim 4, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Ogura further discloses wherein when the reception interference occurs, the processor is further configured or programmed to:
cause the display to display the first image based on the first visualized data (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”; The surrounding images are generated and outputted regardless of the reception interference status, and thus the surrounding images are displayed “when the reception interference occurs”).
Yamamoto further teaches in response to a request from a terminal operated by a user, cause the display to display the second image based on the second visualized data (Yamamoto at para. [0089]: “Once the display control unit 352 displayed the past image, every time it receives tapping after that, it acquires a past image corresponding to a direction indicated by the tapping and displays the acquired past image on the image window 450, so that the user feels as if he/she is observing the space from the viewpoint of the mobile robot 100, which is moving around”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding the request from the terminal as taught by Yamamoto with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to enable a user to efficiently check a situation of a designated spatial area.
Regarding claim 5, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 4.
Yamamoto further teaches wherein the processor is further configured or programmed to, in response to the request from the terminal, cause the display to display the first image and the second image side by side on a single display screen (Yamamoto at para. [0052]: “When it is possible to perform shooting the spatial area designated by the user by using the stereo camera 131, the control unit 150 performs the shooting and transmits obtained imaging data to the remote terminal 300” “when it is impossible to perform shooting, the control unit 150 extracts imaging data including an image of the designated spatial area from the imaging data accumulated in the past image DB 182 and transmits the extracted imaging data to the remote terminal 300”; FIG. 8 and para. [0070]: “an image window 450 is newly opened and a title such as ‘Past photo’ indicating that the displayed image shows a state in the past is displayed together with the unfolded image”; FIG. 8 and para. [0071]: “the display control unit 352 opens a sub-image window 451 near the image window 450 and displays a title such as ‘Current’ indicating that the displayed image shows a state obtained during the movement together with the unfolded image”; [0089]: “Once the display control unit 352 displayed the past image, every time it receives tapping after that, it acquires a past image corresponding to a direction indicated by the tapping and displays the acquired past image on the image window 450, so that the user feels as if he/she is observing the space from the viewpoint of the mobile robot 100, which is moving around”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding displaying the first image and the second image side by side as taught by Yamamoto with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to enable a user to efficiently check a situation of a designated spatial area.
Regarding claim 8, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Ogura further discloses wherein each of the first visualized data and the second visualized data includes information representing a reception level of the satellite signal received by the GNSS receiver (Ogura at para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”; para. [0060]: “GPS (positioning) information includes longitudes and latitudes that represent the actual position of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, number of captured satellites, radio wave reception intensity, and so on”).
Regarding claim 9, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Ogura further discloses wherein the agricultural machine is configured to automatically travel based on the GNSS data (Ogura at para. [0030]: “autonomous travel work vehicle 1 capable of autonomously-traveling and a manned, accompanying travel work vehicle 100 steered by an operator to accompany the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 are tractors, with a rotary tiller attached to each of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100 as an implement”; para. [0050]: “The controller 30 in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 thus obtains position information of the vehicle body determined by the moving receiver 33 from the radio waves transmitted from the GPS satellites 37, 37 at predetermined time intervals, and obtains information on the changes in orientation and direction of the vehicle body from the gyro sensor 31 and the direction sensor 32. Based on the position information and the information on the changes in orientation and direction of the vehicle body, the controller 30 controls the steering actuator 40, the speed change means 44 and the like such that the vehicle travels along a predetermined travel path R”);
the processor is configured or programmed to generate the first visualized data and the second visualized data during the portion of the time period (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate).
However, Ogura does not explicitly state the storage is configured to store the GNSS data and the sensing data during a portion of a time period when the agricultural machine is automatically traveling, the portion including a time period when the reception interference is occurring and another time period when the reception interference is not occurring.
Nevertheless, Ogura at least suggests the idea of storing the position data and the operation data in the memory (see Ogura at para. [0095] and [0107]).
Nagashima further teaches the storage is configured to store the GNSS data and the sensing data during a portion of a time period when the agricultural machine is automatically traveling, the portion including a time period when the reception interference is occurring and another time period when the reception interference is not occurring (Nagashima at para. [0017]: “the automatic agricultural machine 25 according to the first embodiment is equipped with the agricultural machine terminal 20, the mounted sensor 21, and the illumination 29”; para. [0018]: “The display unit 217 is provided with a switching button for selecting and switching one of an automatic mode for autonomously controlling the automatic farming machine 25”; para. [0019]: “The measurement data acquired by the on-board sensor 21 is associated with the positioning data and time data of the positioning processing unit 201, and is temporarily stored in the storage device 203 as terminal sensing information. The terminal sensing information is composed of various data such as date, time (time), position, orientation, altitude, moisture, atmosphere temperature, ground temperature, soil spectrum, laser distance image, visible image, infrared image and the like. In addition, the mounted sensor 21 may be provided with a camera for acquiring at least a visible image”; The storage device stores the position data and the sensing data regardless of the reception interference status).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding the storage as taught by Nagashima with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to provide automated operation of agricultural machines.
Regarding claim 10, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Ogura further discloses wherein the GNSS data includes information representing a reception level of the satellite signal and an estimated position of the agricultural machine (Ogura at para. [0114]: “the controller 30 determines whether or not the GPS signal is abnormal (S20). The controller 30 receives GPS signals from a plurality of GPS satellites 37, 37 . . . so as to determine the current location of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”);
the sensing data includes information representing an image of the surrounding environment of the agriculture machine (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42”); and
Nagashima further teaches the storage is configured to store a database including the reception level, the estimated position, the image and information about date and time (Nagashima at para. [0019]: “The measurement data acquired by the on-board sensor 21 is associated with the positioning data and time data of the positioning processing unit 201, and is temporarily stored in the storage device 203 as terminal sensing information. The terminal sensing information is composed of various data such as date, time (time), position, orientation, altitude, moisture, atmosphere temperature, ground temperature, soil spectrum, laser distance image, visible image, infrared image and the like. In addition, the mounted sensor 21 may be provided with a camera for acquiring at least a visible image”; para. [0034]: “FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of the data management unit 502 forming a database. In the figure, the data management unit 502 manages various data relating to farmland, agricultural work, harvesting, etc. of the relevant year on the database, and can update the database in real time. In addition, at the time of data update of the database, the data log is always recorded in association with time information (time, date, year, etc.)”; para. [0180]: “the data management unit 502 in association with position and time information based on the working status of the agricultural machine (the automatic farming machine 25 and the agricultural machine 15) and the data acquired from the remote sensor 40 and the agricultural machine terminal 20 or the producer terminal 10”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding the database as taught by Nagashima with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to provide automated operation of agricultural machines.
Regarding claim 11, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Ogura further discloses wherein the processor is configured or programmed to send a notice to an external terminal when the reception interference occurs (Ogura at para. [0114]: “when the GPS signals assume abnormal values, the autonomous traveling is stopped (S21), and the operation is interrupted. "Abnormalities of GPS signals" include the following situations: the number of satellites associated with the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) from which signals are received is
less than a predetermined number of satellites; the level of signals from the satellites is lower than a predetermined level” “When stopping the traveling, the cause of the stop is shown on the display 113 of the remote controller 112 and on the display means 49 of the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and an alarm is set off (S22)”).
Regarding claim 12, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Ogura further discloses wherein the sensor includes at least one of a camera or a LIDAR sensor provided in the agricultural machine (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera 42 connected to the controller 30 is also mounted on the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 to take images of the surroundings of the vehicle body”).
Regarding claim 14, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
Ogura further discloses wherein the processor is configured or programmed to recognize based on the sensing data, an object that causes the reception interference in the surrounding environment (Ogura at para. [0067]: “The autonomous travel work vehicle 1 is equipped with the camera 42 for taking images of the surroundings of the vehicle, and the video captured by the camera 42 can be shown on the display 113, Thus the situation surrounding the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 can be readily recognized from a distance and measures can be taken easily when there is an obstacle or the like”; para. [0076]: “there may be water inlets or drain outlets around the agricultural field, boundary piles or stones may be arranged, or trees may have grown into the agricultural field” “These objects are set as obstacles during creation of the agricultural field data”; Any physical obstructions can cause the reception interference).
However, Ogura does not explicitly state output an alert signal when recognizing the object.
Nevertheless, Ogura at least suggests the idea of outputting an alert when the reception interference occurs (see Ogura at para. [0114]).
Nagashima further teaches output an alert signal when recognizing the object (Nagashima at para. [0163]: “the agricultural work management unit 510 performs image analysis on the image data from the camera in the terminal sensing information, and automatically performs image target detection processing to change the moving object in the image or the image in the image”; para. [0164]: “the farm work management unit 510 generates an alarm signal in response to the detection of an abnormal event in the image”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding the alert signal as taught by Nagashima with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to notify an operator of detected objects.
Regarding claim 15, Ogura discloses a method to be executed by a computer, the method comprising:
causing, while an agricultural machine including a GNSS receiver is traveling, (Ogura at [0066]: “The display shows GPS (positioning) information, so that the status of signal reception from satellites can be known, and measures can be taken easily when signals from GPS satellites are disrupted”; para. [0107]: “If the operation is interrupted, the position where interruption occurred is stored in the memory 30a (S17)”; para. [0114]: “the number of satellites associated with the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) from which signals are received is less than a predetermined number of satellites”) and sensing data output from a sensor to sense a surrounding environment of an agricultural machine (Ogura at para. [0094]: “A video taken by the camera 42 is transmitted to the remote controller 112 and shown on the display 113 to allow for viewing of the front of the vehicle and conditions of the implements or the agricultural field”); and
generating first visualized data (Ogura at para. [0057]: “The remote controller 112 has the display 113 on the housing surface, which is a touchscreen control screen that allows for control through touching the screen, and includes the transceiver 111, a CPU, a memory, a battery, a camera, a GPS (satellite positioning device) and the like inside the housing”), which represents the surrounding environment of the agricultural machine, based on the GNSS data and the sensing data, when reception interference of a satellite signal occurs (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”), and second visualized data, which represents the surrounding environment of the agricultural machine (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”; The surrounding images are generated regardless of the reception interference status, and thus the surrounding images are generated at least during when there was no reception interference occurred in the past); and
causing a display to display a first image based on the first visualized data and a second image based on the second visualized data in distinguishable forms (Ogura at para. [0052]: “camera footage may be displayed constantly or selectively on another dedicated display, or on the display means 49 provided in the autonomous travel work vehicle 1”; para. [0057]: “The display 113 can present, for an operator to monitor, images of the surroundings taken by the camera 42, conditions of the autonomous travel work vehicle 1, operation conditions, GPS (positioning) information, communication statuses between the remote controller 112 and the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 ( e.g., good/no good, or radio wave intensity or communication rate), control screens, positional relationship between the autonomous travel work vehicle 1 and the accompanying travel work vehicle 100, and so on”; The surrounding images (i.e., “first image” and “second image”) are outputted regardless of the reception interference status, and additional information including the operation conditions, positioning information, and the communication statuses are also presented. Therefore, the surrounding images (i.e., “first image” and “second image”) are displayed in “distinguishable forms”).
However, Ogura does not explicitly state causing, and
at a same location.
Nevertheless, Ogura at least suggests the idea of storing the position data and the operation data in the memory (see Ogura at para. [0095] and [0107]).
In the same field of endeavor, Nagashima teaches causing, (Nagashima at para. [0019]: “The measurement data acquired by the on-board sensor 21 is associated with the positioning data and time data of the positioning processing unit 201, and is temporarily stored in the storage device 203 as terminal sensing information. The terminal sensing information is composed of various data such as date, time (time), position, orientation, altitude, moisture, atmosphere temperature, ground temperature, soil spectrum, laser distance image, visible image, infrared image and the like. In addition, the mounted sensor 21 may be provided with a camera for acquiring at least a visible image”).
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 method of Ogura by adding the storage as taught by Nagashima with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the method of Ogura in view of Nagashima is to provide automated operation of agricultural machines.
However, Ogura in view of Nagashima does not explicitly state at a same location.
In the same field of endeavor, Yamamoto teaches at a same location (Yamamoto at para. [0052]: “When it is possible to perform shooting the spatial area designated by the user by using the stereo camera 131, the control unit 150 performs the shooting and transmits obtained imaging data to the remote terminal 300” “when it is impossible to perform shooting, the control unit 150 extracts imaging data including an image of the designated spatial area from the imaging data accumulated in the past image DB 182 and transmits the extracted imaging data to the remote terminal 300”).
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 method of Ogura in view of Nagashima by adding at the same location as taught by Yamamoto with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the method of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to enable a user to efficiently check a situation of a designated spatial area.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto and Tokashiki (JP 2006020237 A). The rejections below are based on the machine translation of Tokashiki, a copy of which is attached to this Office Action as also indicated in the 892 form.
Regarding claim 6, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 4.
Nagashima further teaches wherein the storage is configured to store the GNSS data and the sensing data in association with points of time while the agricultural machine is traveling (Nagashima at para. [0019]: “The measurement data acquired by the on-board sensor 21 is associated with the positioning data and time data of the positioning processing unit 201, and is temporarily stored in the storage device 203 as terminal sensing information. The terminal sensing information is composed of various data such as date, time (time), position, orientation, altitude, moisture, atmosphere temperature, ground temperature, soil spectrum, laser distance image, visible image, infrared image and the like. In addition, the mounted sensor 21 may be provided with a camera for acquiring at least a visible image”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding the storage as taught by Nagashima with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto is to provide automated operation of agricultural machines.
However, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto does not explicitly state:
the request from the terminal includes information specifying a specific date and time in the past; and
the processor is configured or programmed to generate the second visualize data at the specific date and time based on the information.
In the same field of endeavor, Tokashiki teaches the request from the terminal includes information specifying a specific date and time in the past (Tokashiki at para. [0055]: “the image stored in the database 8 is stored together with information indicating “movement distance of the moving camera device 7”, “movement direction of the moving camera device 7”, and “imaging date and time”; para. [0063]: “the control unit 47 controls the image processing unit 45 to form thumbnail images of the respective images, and also forms an image so as to form a thumbnail list image that is listed by sequentially arranging the thumbnail images of the latest shooting date and time”; para. [0064]: “The user operates the upper operation unit 22 or the like of the mobile phone 4 to select a desired image (= desired place) from the thumbnail list image”); and
the processor is configured or programmed to generate the second visualize data at the specific date and time based on the information (Tokashiki at para. [0064]: “The user operates the upper operation unit 22 or the like of the mobile phone 4 to select a desired image (= desired place) from the thumbnail list image. When this selection operation is performed, the control unit of the mobile phone 4 transmits information indicating the thumbnail image selected by the user to the control station 6 side”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding the request as taught by Tokashiki with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto and Tokashiki is to provide remote operation.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto and Tomiyama (JP 2001289652 A). The rejections below are based on the machine translation of Tomiyama, a copy of which is attached to the previous Office Action as also indicated in the 892 form.
Regarding claim 7, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
However, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto does not explicitly state:
wherein the processor is configured or programmed to:
identify positions of satellites when the satellite signal is received, based on the GNSS data or satellite position data acquired from an external device; and
generate, as each of the first visualized data and the second visualized data, data representing an image including one or more marks, each representing the position of a satellite, superimposed on an image of the surrounding environment of the agricultural machine.
Nevertheless, Ogura at least suggests the idea of identifying the number of satellites sending weak signals (see Ogura at para. [0114]), and Nagashima at least suggests the idea of capturing the number of satellites capable of receiving radio waves (see Nagashima at para. [0026]).
In the same field of endeavor, Tomiyama teaches wherein the processor is configured or programmed to:
identify positions of satellites when the satellite signal is received, based on the GNSS data or satellite position data acquired from an external device (Tomiyama at para. [0013]: “The GPS 3 includes an antenna, a satellite signal receiver, and a satellite data demodulator, and can receive radio waves from a plurality of satellites 51 for positioning”; para. [0014]: “The satellite position calculation means 31 calculates the position of the satellite 51 based on the satellite orbit information”; para. [0028]: “In step S5, the position of each satellite 51 is projected on the memory storing the surrounding image in step S3 using the calculation result of step 4”); and
generate, as each of the first visualized data and the second visualized data, data representing an image including one or more marks, each representing the position of a satellite, superimposed on an image of the surrounding environment of the agricultural machine (Tomiyama at para. [0015]: “The ambient image writing unit 32 writes and stores the captured image acquired by the camera 15 equipped with the fisheye lens in the memory together with the reference azimuth acquired by the geomagnetic sensor (direction detecting unit) (not shown) (FIG. 4 )” “The superposition means 33 superimposes the satellite position calculated by the satellite position calculation means 31 on the surrounding image stored in the memory by the surrounding image writing means 32 (FIG. 5)”; para. [0017]: “Map data (image information) representing a map and the current position of the vehicle on the map is created”).
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 system generating the first and the second visualized data of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding the identification of the position of the satellites as taught by Tomiyama with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto and Tomiyama is to visualize the satellite position using improved position calculation.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto and Nakabayashi et al. (US 2022/0207882 A1, hereinafter “Nakabayashi”).
Regarding claim 13, Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto teaches the management system of claim 1.
However, Ogura in view of Nagashima does not explicitly state wherein the sensor includes a plurality of cameras provided in the agricultural machine; and the processor is configured or programmed to generate the visualized data by a process including synthesizing images output from the plurality of cameras.
In the same field of endeavor, Nakabayashi teaches wherein the sensor includes a plurality of cameras provided in the agricultural machine; and the processor is configured or programmed to generate the visualized data by a process including synthesizing images output from the plurality of cameras (Nakabayashi at para. [0057]: “The vehicle body 10 of the combine harvester is provided with a plurality of cameras 4 ( corresponding to image capture devices) that capture images of the surroundings of the vehicle body. The plurality of cameras 4 each capture an image (surrounding area image) of a predetermined region of the surroundings of the vehicle body 10, and these images are combined to generate an image (surroundings image) of the surroundings in all directions of the vehicle body 10”).
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 system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto by adding the plurality of cameras as taught by Nakabayashi with a reasonable expectation of success. The motivation to modify the system of Ogura in view of Nagashima further in view of Yamamoto and Nakabayashi is to provide improved situational awareness.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 JISUN CHOI whose telephone number is (571)270-0710. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Scott Browne can be reached at (571)270-0151. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JISUN CHOI/
Examiner, Art Unit 3666
/SCOTT A BROWNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3666
Prosecution Insights