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 .
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.
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 1 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andersen (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0015715) in view of Thomas et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0390033).
In reference to claim 1, Andersen discloses a combine harvester 10 comprising
a threshing system 26 for threshing and separating grain from a harvested grain crop (par. 0049);
a cleaning system 42 configured to receive the threshed and separated grain from the threshing system 26, and to remove chaff from the received grain (Fig. 1); and
a hillside compensation system 76 (par. 0060);
wherein the threshing system 26 comprises a return pan 38 configured to guide the threshed and separated grain in a forward direction towards the cleaning system 26, and wherein the hillside compensation system 76 is configured to control the return pan 38 (Fig. 2a-3, pars. 0060-0061).
Andersen fails to disclose the cleaning system comprising a crop flow sensing system configured to monitor a lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system;
the hillside compensation system configured to control the cleaning system in order to adjust the lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system,
and controlling the return pan separately from the cleaning system and depending on the lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system.
Thomas discloses a cleaning system 108 comprising a crop flow sensing system 120 configured to monitor a lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system 108 (par. 0034);
the hillside compensation system 124 (par. 0026) configured to control the cleaning system 108 in order to adjust the lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system 108 (par. 0044).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a crop flow sensing system and control the cleaning system based on a lateral distribution of crops detected by the crop flow sensing system with a reasonable expectation of success so that the cleaning system can compensate for uneven distributions of crop on the cleaning system. Further, Andersen discloses controlling the return pan separately from the cleaning system and Thomas discloses controlling the cleaning system separately from the return pan. In combination, this would result in controlling the return pan separately from the cleaning system and depending on the lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system.
In reference to claim 11, Thomas discloses that the hillside compensation system 120 comprises a levelling system (par. 0044, “a lateral compensation system”) for adjusting an orientation of the cleaning system 108 relative to the threshing system 136.
In reference to claim 12, Thomas discloses that the cleaning system is pivotable about a pivot axis that lies within a vertical plane that is substantially parallel to a driving direction of the combine harvesting and wherein the levelling system is configured to pivot the cleaning system about the pivot axis (pars. 0034 and 0044). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to pivot the cleaning system about an axis substantially parallel to the driving direction of the combine with a reasonable expectation of success as this manner of pivoting is known in the art to be effective for compensating for lateral distributions that arise from hillside harvesting.
In reference to claim 13, Andersen discloses a method of adjusting a lateral distribution of threshed and separated grain on a return pan 38 of a threshing system 26 of a combine harvester 10, the method comprising
based on a signal from sensor 75, controlling an operation of a return pan 38 of the threshing system separately from the cleaning system 42.
Andersen fails to disclose receiving, from a crop flow sensing system of a cleaning system of the combine harvester, a distribution signal representative of a lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system,
controlling the cleaning system in order to adjust the lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system.
Thomas discloses receiving, from a crop flow sensing system 120 of a cleaning system 108 of the combine harvester 100, a distribution signal representative of a lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system 108 (par. 0034),
controlling the cleaning system 108 in order to adjust the lateral distribution of crop on the cleaning system 108 (par. 0044).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to receive distribution signals from a crop flow sensing system and controlling the cleaning system to adjust lateral distribution of crop with a reasonable expectation of success so that the cleaning system can compensate for uneven distributions of crop on the cleaning system.
In reference to claim 14, neither reference discloses a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium. However, the examiner takes Official Notice that such media are well known in the art for storing instructions for causing processors to execute methods. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to use such a medium as it is known in the art to be necessary for such a medium to provide instructions to a processor for a processor to conduct a method.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andersen (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0015715) in view of Thomas et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0390033) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fuchs et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0311547).
Andersen fails to disclose that the threshing system further comprises at least one adjustable vane, provided on an upper surface of the return pan, and wherein the hillside compensation system is further configured to adjust an orientation of the adjustable vane for controlling a flow direction of the threshed and separated grain that is guided towards the cleaning system.
Fuchs discloses adjustable vanes 156 and 158 provided on an upper surface of the return pan 128 (Fig. 2), and wherein the compensation system 192 is configured to adjust an orientation of the adjustable vanes 156 and 158 for controlling a flow direction of the threshed and separated grain that is guided towards the cleaning system (par. 0045). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include adjustable vanes on the return pan with a reasonable expectation of success so that the lateral distribution of grain over the return pan can be controlled.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Andersen (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0015715) in view of Thomas et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0390033) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Baumgarten et al. (US Paten Application Publication No. 2023/0099523).
In reference to claim 10, Andersen fails to disclose that the crop flow sensing system comprises at least two grain loss sensors, installed in at least two different lateral positions behind the cleaning system.
Baumgarten discloses at least two grain loss sensors 131, installed in at least two different lateral positions behind the cleaning system (par. 0066). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include grain loss sensors behind the cleaning system with a reasonable expectation of success so that grain loss can be measured.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ohms et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0058693) discloses measuring lateral grain distributions (Figs. 8A-8C, par. 0048); and Koch et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0396899) discloses monitoring the lateral distribution of grain in a combine (Figs. 5 and 6, par. 0036).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRAD HARCOURT whose telephone number is (571)272-7303. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Doug Hutton can be reached at (571)272-4137. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRAD HARCOURT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3674
3/09/26