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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/13/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 12, 14, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brockmeier (US Publication 2017/0295717; IDS dated 01/09/2024 US Publication Cite No. 2) in view of Stuber (US Publication 2018/0184578).
With regards to claim 12, Brockmeier teaches a system for calibrating a seed meter, said system comprising:
a housing (26) configured to hold seed ([0032]; FIG. 1 and 7);
a calibration disc (60; [0035]) configured to be received within said housing (FIG. 7-8 and 11) and to be engaged with a disc seat (62) of the seat meter ([0034]; FIG. 8 and 11-13); and
a drive unit (including 34; [0032]) comprising a driveshaft (38), wherein said motor is configured to rotate said calibration disc ([0032]),
wherein said calibration disc (60; FIG. 11-13) comprises a plurality of indicia (66), such that said calibration disc is configured to be used to calibrate a position of said driveshaft of said motor ([0035-0036]; FIG. 11-13); and
a seed disc (another “disc includes a different number of hole sets”; [0037]) configured to be received within said housing and to be engaged with the disc seat of the seed meter ([0036-0037]).
However, Brockmeier is silent regarding the drive unit is an electric motor.
Stuber teaches an agricultural implement (abstract, similar to Brockmeier) comprising an electric motor (578).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to replace one known type of driving mechanism such as those taught by Brockmeier with another known type of driving mechanism such as those taught by Stuber to drive the metering disc as originally intended.
With regards to claim 14, Brockmeier, as combined with Stuber, teaches (citations directed to Stuber unless specified otherwise) the system of claim 12 wherein the electric motor (578) comprises a processing element (300) and a memory element (306; [0043]).
With regards to claim 18, Brockmeier, as modified by Stuber, teaches the system of claim 12, wherein the seed disc ([0037]; FIG. 12-13) configured to convey seed via a plurality of pockets (66) positioned around a circumference of said seed disc ([0035, 0037]; FIG. 11-13; Brockmeier).
With regards to claim 19, Brockmeier, as modified by Stuber, teaches (citations of Brockmeier unless specified otherwise) the system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of indicia (60) is located at least partly around a circumference of said disc ([0035]; FIG. 11-12; Brockmeier).
With regards to claim 20, Brockmeier, as modified by Stuber, teaches (citations to Brockmeier unless specified otherwise) the system of claim 19, wherein the indicia comprise angular measurement identifiers, and wherein the indicia extend around at least one-quarter of the circumference of said disc ([0035]; FIG. 12-13; Brockmeier).
Claims 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brockmeier (US Publication 2017/0295717; IDS dated 01/09/2024 US Publication Cite No. 2) in view of Stuber (US Publication 2018/0184578) as applied to claim 14, and further in view of Taylor et al. (US Publication 2012/0044101; hereinafter Taylor).
With regards to claim 15, Brockmeier, as modified by Stuber, teaches the system of claim 14. However, Brockmeier, as modified by Stuber, is silent regarding wherein the memory element is configured to store information indicative of the uncorrected home position of the driveshaft of the motor.
Taylor teaches a drive mechanism (FIG. 1) comprising a memory element ([0033]) configured to store information indicative of the uncorrected home position (via the combination usage of the home sensor 102) of the driveshaft of the motor ([0053-0054]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the home sensor and its usage in conjunction with the encoder as taught by Taylor to the method and drive mechanism as taught by Brockmeier, as combined with Stuber, with reasonable expectation of having an enhanced reading of the angle about an axis of rotation of the motor ([0015, 0018]; Taylor).
With regards to claim 16, Brockmeier, as modified by Stuber and Taylor, teaches (citations to Taylor unless specified otherwise) the system of claim 15, wherein the memory element ([0033]) is configured to store information indicative of the corrected home position of the driveshaft of the motor, wherein said corrected home position is offset from said uncorrected home position by the angular offset determined in step (c) ([0053-0054]).
With regards to claim 17, Brockmeier, as combined with Stuber and Taylor, teaches the system of claim 16, wherein said electric motor comprises an encoder (105; Taylor) configured to determine a current position of said driveshaft of said motor ([0053-0054]; Taylor).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5 and 7-11 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The prior arts on record fail to anticipate and/or suggest the combination of the claimed invention. Specifically, the prior arts fail to teach, inter alia, the limitations of “wherein the seed meter comprises an electric motor with a driveshaft, and wherein the driveshaft is configured to be positioned by the motor in an uncorrected home position; (c) identifying a corrected home position for the driveshaft, wherein said identifying of step (c) includes determining, via the indicia of the calibration disc, an angular offset between the uncorrected home position and the corrected home position of the driveshaft;” as required by claim 1.
The closest prior art, Brockmeier (US Publication 2017/0295717), teaches the structural features of claim 1 (see claim 12 above). Brockmeier teaches the seed meter is capable of being used with different disc having different spacing for calibration ([0035-0037]). However, Brockmeier does not teach the specifics of the method of driving the electric motor and adjusting the drive shaft using the calibration disc for subsequent swapping of the seed disc. Thus, Brockmeier does not teach the claimed limitations as mentioned.
Another related prior art, Rauch (DE 102019000047 A1), teaches a system, method and apparats for monitoring and controlling an agricultural seed planting implement (abstract). Rauch teaches the system further includes a seed disc (100) and calibration disc (201). The calibration disc replaces the seed disc during the calibration process similar to the instant invention (page 23). However, Rauch teaches the calibration disc is removed as a unit, along with the motor and drive shaft (FIG. 13 replacing FIG. 6). Thus, Rauch does not teach the mentioned limitation along with the method of “removing the calibration disc from the seed meter and engaging a seed disc with the disc seat of the seat meter” as required by claim 1.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 12 and 14-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG X.L NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-1585. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEPHEN D. MEIER can be reached at (571) 272-2149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QXN/ Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/STEPHEN D MEIER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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