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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-9 in the reply filed on 9/9/26 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there would not be a search burden. This is not found persuasive because claims 1-4 require details of magnets and a sensor to detect the magnets. Claims 5-9 does not require magnets which monitor the roller based on their positioning and includes multiple different types of sensors that monitor for flow and/or torque instead which is not required by claims 1-4. These different elements are not obvious variants and therefore present a search burden.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Heathcote (2018/0338409) in view of Romanyszyn (7,572,113) and Schoeny et al. (2019/0281759).
Regarding claim 1, Heathcote discloses a volumetric metering system comprising a housing (42) configured to be coupled to a commodity container (hopper not shown – pgph 0011), a roller (46) coupled within the housing, the roller having elements (153) thereon used to identify an interchangeable volumetric metering member (roller) and a sensor (152) to detect and read those members (153) to determine what metering member/roller is being used (pgph 0049).
While Heathcote discloses the invention as described above, it fails to disclose that the elements (153) for identifying roller/meter information could be magnets. Like Heathcote, Romanyszyn discloses a rotating element with identifying elements and a sensor to determine information about the rotating element. Unlike Heathcote, Romanyszyn discloses the use of multiple spaced magnets and a Hall effect sensor to determine characteristics of the rotating member based on the position of the magnets (column 7 lines 38-59). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize magnets and a hall effect sensor in Heathcote as taught by Romanyszyn to determine information about the roller member as a simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results (KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 USPQ2d 1385 (2007)) since both devices utilizes elements on a rotating member with a sensor on the housing to identify characteristics of the rotating member and since Heathcote discloses a preference for a type of sensor/identification element but does not require a certain type (pgph 0049).
While the combination of Heathcote and Romanyszyn discloses the invention as described above, it fails to specifically disclose three magnets. Like the combination, Schoeny also discloses a rotating seed meter member and further teaches that it is known to utilize magnets on a rotating seed meter member providing information to a sensor about the system. Unlike the combination, Schoeny discloses that a plurality of magnets can be circumferentially spaced around the seed meter member. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize three magnets on the roller of the combination as taught by Schoeny as it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8. See also, MPEP § 2144.05 which states: In re Harza, 274 F.2d 669, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960).
Regarding claim 2, the combination discloses that the angular distance can be fixed at 180° (Romanyszyn – column 7 line 60 through column 8 line 5).
Regarding claim 3, the combination discloses that all of the magnets are disposed on the roller.
Regarding claim 4, the combination discloses that the sensor is coupled to a controller that is configured to determine the position of the magnets encoding the roller and automatically determine roller information based on the position of the magnets (Heathcote pgph 0049; Romanyszyn column 7 lines 38-59; Schoeny pgph 0051).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Bent et al. (2017/0118905) also discloses a method of roller identification in a seed meter.
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/JAMIE L MCGOWAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3671
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