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 .
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Figgins et al., US Pg. Pub. No. (2017/0064904) referred to hereinafter as Figgins in view of Vandeven et al., US Pg. Pub. No. (2021/0100155) referred to hereinafter.
As per claim 1, Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester, comprising: a header for gathering a crop and feeding the crop into a feeder housing; the feeder housing (see at least abstract, summary, Para 33, 35, 37), comprising: a system for automatically adjusting one or more parameters of the header, wherein the system comprises: one or more sensors configured to detect a position of the conveyor idler over time (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33, 35, 37); and a controller configured to receive a signal indicative of the position of the conveyor idler and to provide one or more control signals to adjust the one or more parameters of the header based on variation of the position of the conveyor idler over time (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33-35, 37). Figgins doesn’t expressly teach a conveyer, comprising a conveyor idler, however Vandeven teaches a conveyer, comprising a conveyor idler (see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to incorporate the teachings of Vandeven into the disclosure of Figgins, in order to ensure smooth operation and help maintain the longevity of the equipment.
As per claim 2, although Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester of claim 1, Figgins does not expressly teach wherein the variation of the position of the conveyor idler over time relates to movement of the conveyor idler in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the conveyer. However Vandeven teaches wherein the variation of the position of the conveyor idler over time relates to movement of the conveyor idler in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the conveyer (see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to incorporate the teachings of Vandeven into the disclosure of Figgins, in order to ensure smooth operation and help maintain the longevity of the equipment.
As per claim 3, Figgins does not expressly teach limitation of claim 3, however Vandeven teaches wherein the variation of the position of the conveyor idler over time relates to movement of the conveyor idler in a direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the conveyer(see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to incorporate the teachings of Vandeven into the disclosure of Figgins, in order to ensure smooth operation and help maintain the longevity of the equipment.
As per claim 4, Figgins doesn’t expressly teach the limitations of claim 4 however Vandeven teaches wherein the conveyor idler comprises a first longitudinal end adjacent a first side of the feeder housing and a second longitudinal end adjacent a second side of the feeder housing and opposite the first longitudinal end (see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1), wherein the one or more sensors are configured to detect both a first position of the conveyor idler over time at the first longitudinal end and a second position of the conveyor idler over time at the second longitudinal end(see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1), wherein the controller is configured to receive both a first signal indicative of the first position and a second signal indicative of second position, to derive differences across a width of the conveyor extending from the first side to the second side in feeding the crop into the feeder housing based on first signal and the second signal, and to provide the one or more control signals to adjust the one or more parameters of the header across a width of the header based on the variation of both the first position and the second position of the conveyor idler over time (see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to incorporate the teachings of Vandeven into the disclosure of Figgins, in order to ensure smooth operation and help maintain the longevity of the equipment.
As per claim 5, Figgins doesn’t expressly teach the limitations of claim 5, however Vandeven teaches a wherein the conveyor comprises a plurality of chains disposed about the conveyor idler and a plurality of slats extending across at least two chains of the plurality of chains (see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1), wherein the plurality of slats comprises a first set of slats disposed on the plurality of chains adjacent the first side, a second set of slats disposed on the plurality of chains adjacent the second side (see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1), and a third set of slats disposed on the plurality of chains between the first set of slats and the second set of slats, wherein a first spacing of the first set of slats along the longitudinal axis differs from a second spacing of the second set of slats along the longitudinal axis and/or a third spacing of the third set of slats along the longitudinal axis to enable the differences across the width of the conveyor in feeding the crop into the feeder housing to be detected (see at least Para 36, 38, 40, fig. 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to incorporate the teachings of Vandeven into the disclosure of Figgins, in order to ensure smooth operation and help maintain the longevity of the equipment.
As per claim 6, Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to bandpass filter the signal at a frequency that the plurality of slats pass a detection location of the one or more sensors to generate a filtered signal (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33-35, 37).
As per claim 7, Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to provide the one or more control signals to adjust the one or more parameters of the header based on variation over time of the filtered signal (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33-35, 37).
As per claim 8, Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to receive an additional signal indicative of net engine load, to calculate a recursive correlation between variation of the net engine load over time and the variation of the position of the conveyor idler over time, and to adjust both the one or more parameters of the header and a ground speed of the agricultural harvester based on the recursive correlation (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33-35, 37).
As per claim 9, Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to receive one or more additional signals indicative of a distribution of the crop across a width of the conveyor, and to adjust the one or more parameters of the header based on both the variation of the position of the conveyor idler over time and the one or more additional signals (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33-35, 37).
As per claim 10, Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to receive additional data and to provide the one or more control signals to adjust the one or more parameters of the header based on both the variation of the position of the conveyor idler over time and the additional data, wherein the additional data comprises crop height, crop density, and/or humidity prior to cutting or while cutting the crop (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33-35, 37).
As per claim 11, Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the one or more parameters of the header until the variation is minimized (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33-35, 37).
As per claim 12, Figgins teaches an agricultural harvester of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters comprises at least one of knife position, reel position, auger speed, and belt speeds of a draper (see at least abstract, summary Para 29-30, 33-35, 37).
As per claims 13-20, the limitations of claims 13-20 are similar to the limitations of claims 1-12, therefore they are rejected based on the same rationale.
Conclusion
Please refer to from 892 for cited references.
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/MUSSA A SHAAWAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669