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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nordstrom (US 1,276,562 A).
Nordstrom ‘562 (“Nordstrom”) shows a planting unit for singulating a plurality of seeds (Fig. 1), said planting unit comprising:
CLAIM 1 a seed holder (7);
a seed discharge (19);
at least one drive unit (4);
a seed singulator (1), wherein the seed singulator further comprises:
an open top (Fig. 1);
a stepped bowl configuration (shoulder 8) having a lower inner circular wall (positioned between 9 and 7) and an upper outer circular wall (between the open top and 9);
a seed singulating ledge (13) having a seed receiving area (solid area of 13) and a seed singulation area (17);
wherein the seed singulating ledge (13) is positioned between said lower inner circular wall and an upper outer circular wall; and
wherein the seed singulating ledge (13) is driven by the at least one drive unit (4; p. 1, ll. 36-7) to rotate relative to the upper outer circular wall along a first direction to move one or more of said plurality of seeds between the seed receiving area and seed singulation area;
CLAIM 2 wherein the seed singulating ledge (16) has a ledge axis; and
wherein during operation of the planting unit the ledge axis is maintained substantially along the horizontal plane;
CLAIM 3 wherein the seed singulator further comprises a first guide member (14) which extends over the seed singulating ledge (13); and
CLAIM 4 wherein the seed singulating ledge (13) has a ledge width of such dimensions to support a plurality of seeds only in a single row-like manner (Figs. 2, 4)1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nordstrom (US 1,276,562 A).
CLAIM 5 Nordstrom fails to disclose specific dimensions for the singulating ledge (13). However, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have made the width of a ledge of the singulating ledge between 1.5 inches and 2.5 inches, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. One having ordinary skill in the art would have recognized the ledge width as a limiting factor for the seed types capable of use in the prior art unit. Thus, the motivation for making the modification would have been to facilitate proper use of the unit with seeds have a diameter between 1.5 inches and 2.5 inches.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Henderson et al. (US 4,526,269 A) shows a singulator comprising an open top, an upper section, and a lower section.
Mauch et al. (US 6,244,201 B1) shows a potato planter.
Jiao et al. (CN 111937545 A) shows a planting unit for singulating a plurality of seeds (Fig. 1), said planting unit comprising:
a seed holder (bottom of 2-2);
a seed discharge (7);
at least one drive unit (14);
a seed singulator (2), wherein the seed singulator further comprises:
an open top (Fig. 2);
a stepped bowl configuration (2-3) having a lower inner circular wall (wall of 2-2) and an upper outer circular wall (wall of 2-1);
a seed singulating ledge (3) having a seed receiving area (towards the left in Fig. 2) and a seed singulation area (near 11, towards the right of Fig. 2);
wherein the seed singulating ledge (3) is positioned between said lower inner circular wall (wall of 2-2) and an upper outer circular wall (wall of 2-1); and
wherein the seed singulating ledge (3) is driven by the at least one drive unit to rotate relative to the upper outer circular wall along a first direction to move one or more of said plurality of seeds between the seed receiving area and seed singulation area.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TARA MAYO whose telephone number is (571)272-6992. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:30AM-5:00PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Rocca can be reached at 571-272-8971. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TARA MAYO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
/tm/
21 February 2026
1 With respect to claim 4, Applicant claims a width of the singulating ledge relative to the size of a seed, which is not part of the claimed invention. Thus, in addition to being shown by Nordstrom in Figures 2 and 4, the limitation is met by the prior art because it is capable of use with seeds sized to fit in a single row on the ledge.