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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the amendment filed on June 2, 2026. Claims 1-13 are pending. Claims 1, 12 and 13 are independent.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ amendments and arguments have been fully considered and persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made.
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 1-8, 10, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 20200296878 to Dix in view of WO 2019/002539 to Kraggerud et al. (hereinafter “Kraggerud”).
With respect to independent claims 1, 12 and 13, Dix discloses detecting (S3) a position of the working machine (2) (see claim 6: a navigation system configured to determine an absolute location of the work vehicle and to output a navigation signal, wherein the control system is configured to receive the navigation signal from the navigation system);
determining (S3.1) a change in position of the working machine (2) (see claim 6: determine the relative location of the work vehicle with respect to the work area based on the navigation signal);
determining (S4) a driving direction (2 a) of the working machine based on the change in position of the working machine (2) (see paragraph [0020]: the relative location of the work vehicle with respect to the work area based on the navigation signal);
determining (S5.1) whether an orientation (4 a; 6 a) of the action instruction (4; 6) matches the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) within a first tolerance (see paragraph [0027]: wherein the first turn starting point is determined and varies based at least on a relative orientation of the first headland swath to the first main swath);
determining (S7), for action instructions (4; 6; 8) having an orientation (4 a; 6 a) that differs from the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine by no more than the first tolerance, an absolute distance between the working machine (2) and the action instruction (4; 6; 8) concerned based on the position of the working machine (2) and the respective position of the action instruction (4; 6; 8) (see paragraph [0019]: a control system configured to: determine an end-of-row turn path for the work vehicle based at least on the relative location of the work vehicle and a minimum turning radius of the work vehicle);
determining (S8), for action instructions (4; 6; 8) having an absolute distance from the working machine smaller than a first pre-definable value, a relative distance between the working machine (2) and the action instruction (4; 6; 8) concerned in the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) and transversely to the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) based on the position of the action instruction (4; 6; 8) concerned, the position of the working machine (2) and the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) (see abstract: direct the work vehicle to turn from a first main swath of the work area to a headland swath of the work area, travel along the headland swath in [a] direction toward a second main swath of the work area, and turn from the headland swath to the second main swath.); and
actuating (S9), for the action instructions (4; 6; 8) having a relative distance which is smaller than a second pre-definable value, an external control unit for carrying out the action instruction (4; 6; 8) concerned (see paragraphs [0004] and [0022]: output a guidance signal comprising guidance instructions to implement the end-of-row turn path. The vehicle steering system 48 may control the direction of travel of the work vehicle. In the illustrated embodiment, the vehicle steering system 48 includes a wheel angle control system 76, a differential braking system 78, and a torque vectoring system 80. The vehicle steering system 48 may be configured to receive a guidance signal from the vehicle controller, base station controller, and/or field controller, and automatically steer the work vehicle to implement an end-of-row turn based on the guidance signal.).
Dix does not explicitly teach reading-in (S0) information about action instructions (4, 6, 8), wherein for each action instruction (4, 6, 8) information on a respective position and information on up to an orientation (4 a; 6 a) in each case is read in.
Kraggerud teaches receiving control information in the control system, the control information comprising control signals defining a sequence of positions for both the top link and the depth control wheel, wherein the sequence of positions comprises positions assigned to an intermediate plough working position... and a transport plough position. (see page 1, line 33 - page 2, line 2).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the plurality of pre-defined sequences of positions and detecting a present operation parameter for at least one of the tractor or the plough of Kraggerud with geometric attributes of Dix in order to provide an operating parameter that triggers selection to avoid redundant computation and allow the same position or orientation data to serve both the turn-path function and implement sequence selection function of the controller.
With respect to dependent claim 2, Dix discloses wherein the action instruction comprises one of activating a transmission, actuating a working device, actuating a drive motor, actuating a steering system, and actuating brakes (see paragraph [0022]: a work vehicle steering system configured to control a direction of travel of the work vehicle).
With respect to dependent claim 3, Dix discloses determining whether the action instruction (4; 6; 8) concerned is in the driving direction (2 a) or opposite to the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) on the basis of the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) and the respective position of the action instruction (4; 6; 8), and wherein determining the absolute distance is carried out for a respective action instruction (4; 6; 8) in the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) (see paragraphs [0027] and [0029]: the first turn starting point is determined and varies based at least on a relative orientation of the first headland swath to the first main swath" (implies directional comparison of swath/turn location relative to travel direction. The end-of-row turn path 112 may include a first turn segment 130 configured to generally direct the work vehicle to turn from a first main swath... to a headland swath... travel along the headland swath in a direction toward a second main swath.).
With respect to dependent claim 4, Dix discloses determining a respective direction vector for a particular action instruction (4; 6; 8) on the basis of the position of the working machine (2) and the position of the action instruction (4; 6; 8) concerned, wherein determining the absolute distance for a particular action instruction (4; 6; 8) is carried out when the direction vector of the action instruction (4; 6; 8) is carried out when the direction vector of the action instruction (4; 6; 8) concerned matches the driving direction (2a) of the working machine (2) within a second tolerance (see abstract and paragraph [0042]: determine an end-of-row turn path for the work vehicle based at least on the relative location of the work vehicle and a minimum turning radius of the work vehicle. The method further includes the step (block 156) of determining, via the control system, a potential end-of-row turn path for the work vehicle for each of the headland swaths based at least on the relative locations of the work vehicle, a current main swath (e.g., the first main swath), each of the headland swaths, and a next main swath (e.g., the second main swath) and the minimum radius of curvature for the work vehicle.).
With respect to dependent claim 5, Dix does not explicitly teach storing information about an action instruction (4; 6; 8), wherein the information about the action instruction is selected from the respective direction vector of the action instruction (4; 6; 8), the absolute distance between the working machine (2) and the action instruction (4; 6; 8), the relative distance between the working machine (2) and the action instruction (4; 6; 8), whether the action instruction (4; 6; 8) is in the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2), and whether the orientation (4 a; 6 a) of the action instruction (4; 6) differs from the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) by no more than the first tolerance.
Kraggerud teaches receiving control information in the control system, the control information comprising control signals defining a sequence of positions for both the top link and the depth control wheel, wherein the sequence of positions comprises positions assigned to an intermediate plough working position... and a transport plough position. The selecting the control information comprises - detecting a present operation parameter for at least one of the tractor or the plough; and - selecting the control information in dependence on the operation parameter]). (See page 1, line 33 - page 2, line 2 and page 5, lines 25 - 27).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the plurality of pre-defined sequences of positions and detecting a present operation parameter for at least one of the tractor or the plough of Kraggerud with geometric attributes of Dix in order to provide an operating parameter that triggers selection to avoid redundant computation and allow the same position or orientation data to serve both the turn-path function and implement sequence selection function of the controller.
With respect to dependent claim 10, Dix discloses determining the relative distance is carried out only for those action instructions (4, 6, 8) for which, in the step (S7) of determining the absolute distance between the working machine (2) and the action instruction (4; 6; 8) concerned, the absolute distance has not increased over time (see [0024]: the processor 54 of the vehicle controller 30 may determine an end-of-row turn path based at least in part on the relative location of the work vehicle received from the navigation system 44 and a minimum turning radius of the work vehicle received from the memory device 56.).
With respect to dependent claim 6, Dix does not explicitly teach wherein the information about action instructions (4, 6, 8) is presented in the form of a list, wherein the list has been stored in the step (S10) of storing information about the action instruction (4; 6; 8), wherein the method also comprises sorting the list of information about action instructions (4, 6, 8), wherein the step (5.1) of determining whether the orientation (4 a; 6 a) concerned differs from the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) by no more than the first tolerance, is carried out on the basis of the list sorted in the sorting step (S2).
Kraggerud teaches detecting a present operation parameter... and selecting the control information in dependence on the operation parameter. Selecting the control information from a plurality of pre-defined sequences of positions (see page 5, lines 25-29).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the plurality of pre-defined sequences of positions and detecting a present operation parameter for at least one of the tractor or the plough of Kraggerud with the ordering criteria by relative orientation and location of Dix in order to provide geometric sorting by heading alignment to select pre-defined sequence that is applied next.
With respect to dependent claim 7, Dix does not explicitly teach reading-in information about a new action instruction (9), wherein reading-in the new action instruction (9) includes receiving a user confirmation, and wherein determining whether the respective orientation (4 a; 6 a) does not differ from the driving direction (2 a) of the working machine (2) by more than the first tolerance is carried out on the basis of the new action instruction (9) confirmed in the confirmation step (S1.1).
Kraggerud teaches the control system provides a request signal... the request signal indicating a request for starting a headland control mode of operation; and - in response to the request signal, starting the headland. (See page 6, line 33 – page 7, line 2).
Kraggerud also teaches operating the top link and the depth control wheel according to the control signals while the tractor with the plough is arriving at the headland, moving through the headland and leaving the headland. (See page 2, lines 20 - 22).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the confirmation-gated deadland mode of Kraggerud with the continuous turn-detection logic of Dix in order to provide a reliable headland automation for safety in automatic agricultural machinery.
With respect to dependent claim 8, Dix discloses actuating a user interface (12) with information about action instructions (4, 6, 8), on the basis of the information about action instructions (4, 6, 8) stored in the storage step (S10) (see paragraph [0022]: the speed system 46 may be controlled by the operator. In a fully automatic mode of operation, both the speed system 46 and the steering system 48 may be controlled by the vehicle controller. The vehicle steering system 48 may be configured to receive a guidance signal from the vehicle controller, base station controller, and/or field controller, and automatically steer the work vehicle to implement an end-of-row turn based on the guidance signal.).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dix in view of Kraggerud as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0081830 to Tuttle et al. (hereinafter “Tuttle”).
With respect to dependent claim 9, Dix in view of Kraggerud does not explicitly teach receiving a user input by way of the user interface (12), wherein actuating the external control unit is carried out on the basis of the user input received by way of the user interface.
Tuttle discloses an operator may control the position of the implement... by raising and lowering the tractor hitch using a remote control. The invention enables the planter to compare the tractor hitch position relative to an implement position and control operation of the implement accordingly without additional user inputs.). (baseline manual-input mode contrasted with automatic mode (see paragraph [0007]).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the automatic actuation with the state of the position of Tuttle with the distance tracking and turn execution logic of Dix to provide detect and filter targets whose distance is increasing to prevent erroneous triggering of actions.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dix in view of Kraggerud as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0339822 to Gresch et al. (hereinafter “Gresch”).
With respect to dependent claim 11, Dix in view of Kraggerud does not explicitly teach wherein the second pre-definable value is a function of the driving status of the working machine (2).
Gresch teaches the control device can be programmed to output steering and/or speed signals for manual or automatic control of the working machine that are optimized for driving safety and/or fuel economy and/or driver comfort and/or the maintenance of a predetermined speed and/or of a predetermined distance from a preceding vehicle. (See paragraph [0016]).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the control thresholds as a function of the machine driving state of Gresch with the guidance signal of Dix to provide driving safety and maintain a predetermined distance for safety.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEMETRA R SMITH-STEWART whose telephone number is (571)270-3965. The examiner can normally be reached 10am - 6pm.
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/DEMETRA R SMITH-STEWART/Examiner, Art Unit 3661
/PETER D NOLAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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