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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 1-6, 16-20) in the reply filed on 6/17/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that examination of all the claimed features can be made without serious burden. This is found persuasive and the restriction requirement is withdrawn.
Claims 1-20 are addressed below.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
“controllable subsystem” in claim 7, described in dependent claims 8, 10, 11, 13, may include valves, propulsion subsystem, steering subsystem, or actuators.
“a propulsion subsystem operable to control a travel speed of the agricultural material application machine” in claim 10, described in paragraph 78, may include engine.
“a steering subsystem operable to control a travel direction of the agricultural material application machine” in claim 11, described in paragraphs 62, 72, may include wheels or steering wheel.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim(s) 2-4, 7-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites “adjust the image of the portion of the worksite ahead”, which is understood as referring to the “image” defined in line 5 of claim 1. However, claim 2 further recites “identify a target in the adjusted image…” in line 8; it is not clear if this limitation refers to 1) the “adjusted image” defined in line 14 of claim 1 or 2) another adjusted image after applying white balance correction of lines 5-7 of claim 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for the white-balance-corrected adjusted image for the latter element. Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required for clarity of the claim scope.
Similar indefiniteness issue exists for claims 3 and 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for the adjusted image after segmenting and adjusting colors. Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required for clarity of the claim scope.
Claim 7 recites “the controllable valve” in line 6, which lacks proper antecedent basis in the claim.
Claim 14, depending upon claim 12, recites “the component” in line 1, which lacks proper antecedent basis in the claim.
The remainder of the claims listed in the rejection title is/are rejected for being dependent from a rejected base claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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, 3-11, 13-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith (US 20190351434) in view of Dickson (US 6160902).
(Note 1: cross-out limitations in this office action indicates the lack of explicit teaching in the primary reference, the limitation is addressed by additional teaching below)
Regarding claim 1, Smith discloses an agricultural material application machine (fig. 2) comprising:
a material reservoir (tank 30);
a controllable valve (par. 40: “the controller 108 may be configured to transmit suitable control signals to one or more valves (not shown) configured to selectively occlude the flow of the agricultural substance 70 from the tank 30 (FIGS. 1 and 2)”, emphasis included);
a pump (par. 28: “pumps”) configured to pump material from the material reservoir to the controllable valve;
an image sensor (vision-based sensors, par. 18 or camera; par. 25: “the camera 106 may be configured to capture images (e.g., RGB images, NIR images, or CIR images)…”) configured to capture an image of a portion of a worksite ahead of the controllable valve (fig. 1);
one or more processors (110); and
memory (112) storing instructions, executable by the one or more processors (par. 32), that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
control the controllable valve based on the
Smith is silent regarding a light sensor configured to detect ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and generate sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite; and the processor to adjust the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite to generate an adjusted image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve.
Dickson discloses a relevant imaging system 10 that includes a light sensor (light receiving unit 18 and ambient light sensor 64) configured to detect ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and generate sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite (col. 7, ln 34-50: “The ambient light sensor 64 … provides three output signals representative of the ambient red, near infrared and green light, respectively, around the area 12”); and the processor (image processor 22) to adjust the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite to generate an adjusted image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve (col. 8, ln 2-11, col. 8, ln 22-36; col. 8, ln 36-39: “The image processor 22 is used to enhance the multi-spectral image 76, compute a threshold value for the image and produce the vegetation image 78”). Dickson further discloses the image processor 22 then performs additional image analysis on the resulting vegetation image 78. The image analysis may be used to evaluate crop status in a number of ways. For example, plant nitrogen levels, plant population and percent canopy measurements may be characterized depending on how the vegetation image is filtered. (col. 9, ln 29-35). Based on the resulting data from analysis of the adjusted image, the controller 30 adjusts/controls the treatment application to apply treatment according to the corresponding deficiencies (col. 5, ln 11-25).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Smith to incorporate the teachings of Dickson to provide a light sensor configured to detect ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and generate sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite; and the processor to adjust the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite to generate an adjusted image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve. Doing so would allow for vegetation enhancement for crop analysis and/or evaluation of soil or other specific parts of the plants (col. 8, ln 49-52).
(Note 2: all references made in parenthesis hereafter are referencing the primary reference, unless otherwise stated.)
Regarding claim 3, Smith, as modified above, discloses the one or more processors to adjust the image based on ambient lighting conditions (via Dickson’s ambient light sensor 64) to generate vegetation image used to evaluate crop status (Dickson, col. 9, ln 29-32), and control the valve based on the identified target according to the vision-based sensor data (Smith, par. 40: “when crops are present, the controller 108 may be configured to control the operation of the valve(s) such that the agricultural substance 70 is dispensed from the nozzles 36”) and the adjusted image (Dickson; col. 5, ln 11-25). Smith further discloses, in par. 34, in embodiments in which the vision-based sensor 102 corresponds to the camera 106, the algorithms may allow the controller 108 to identify a given feature(s) within the captured images using one or more image processing techniques. In view of Dickson, this is understood to corresponds to identifying a target/plant/measured property in the processed/adjusted images.
Dickson further teaches adjusting the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve by segmenting the image of the portion of the worksite (Abstract: “The image is segmented into images at different wavelengths such as at the red, green and near infrared wavelengths. The images are combined into a multi-spectral image and segmented into a vegetation image by eliminating all non-vegetation images by using the images at two wavelengths. The vegetation image is analyzed for nitrogen levels by calculating reflectance values at the green wavelength. The images may be stored for further analysis of crop characteristics.”).
Regarding claim 4, Smith, as modified above, discloses the one or more processors to adjust the image based on ambient lighting conditions (via Dickson’s ambient light sensor 64) to generate vegetation image used to evaluate crop status (Dickson, col. 9, ln 29-32), and control the valve based on the identified target according to the vision-based sensor data (Smith, par. 40: “when crops are present, the controller 108 may be configured to control the operation of the valve(s) such that the agricultural substance 70 is dispensed from the nozzles 36”) and the adjusted image (Dickson; col. 5, ln 11-25). Smith further discloses, in par. 34, in embodiments in which the vision-based sensor 102 corresponds to the camera 106, the algorithms may allow the controller 108 to identify a given feature(s) within the captured images using one or more image processing techniques. In view of Dickson, this is understood to corresponds to identifying a target/plant/measured property in the processed/adjusted images.
Dickson further teaches adjusting one or more colors of the image of the portion of the worksite (Abstract: “The image is segmented into images at different wavelengths such as at the red, green and near infrared wavelengths. The images are combined into a multi-spectral image and segmented into a vegetation image by eliminating all non-vegetation images by using the images at two wavelengths. The vegetation image is analyzed for nitrogen levels by calculating reflectance values at the green wavelength. The images may be stored for further analysis of crop characteristics.”).
Regarding claim 5, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 1, but Smith is silent regarding the one or more processors to control one or more supplemental light sources of the agricultural material application machine based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite.
However, in the relevant vegetation imaging system cited above, Dickson further teaches a light source 62 (fig. 2), tied to the image processor 22, is used to illuminate the target vegetation area 12 to generate a consistent source of light to eliminate the effect of background conditions such as shade, clouds on the ambient light levels reaching the area 12 (col. 7, ln 25-33).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Smith to incorporate the additional teachings of Dickson to provide the one or more processors to control one or more supplemental light sources of the agricultural material application machine based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite. Doing so would yield the predictable result of eliminate the effect of background conditions such as shade, clouds on the ambient light levels reaching the target area (Dickson, col. 7, ln 25-33).
Regarding claim 6, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 1, wherein the light sensor is one of: (i) a white balance camera; or (ii) an incidental light sensor (Dickson’s claim 1: “an ambient light sensor … to quantify changes in ambient light intensity;”) and wherein the ambient lighting conditions include one or more of: (i) intensity (Dickson’s claim 1: “an ambient light sensor … to quantify changes in ambient light intensity;”); (ii) color; (iii) direction; or (iv) position.
Regarding claim 7, Smith discloses an agricultural material application machine configured to apply material to a worksite, the machine comprising:
a material reservoir configured to hold the material;
a controllable subsystem (par. 40: “the controller 108 may be configured to transmit suitable control signals to one or more valves (not shown) configured to selectively occlude the flow of the agricultural substance 70 from the tank 30 (FIGS. 1 and 2)”, emphasis included; par. 28: “pumps”; par. 20, engine, steerings);
an image sensor (vision-based sensors, par. 18 or camera; par. 25: “the camera 106 may be configured to capture images (e.g., RGB images, NIR images, or CIR images)…”) configured to capture an image of a portion of a worksite ahead of the controllable valve;
one or more processors (108); and memory (112) storing instructions, executable by the one or more processors, that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
control the controllable subsystem (PAR. 20, 28, 40)
Smith is silent regarding a light sensor configured to detect ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and generate sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite, and control the subsystem based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite.
Dickson discloses a relevant imaging system 10 that includes a light sensor (light receiving unit 18 and ambient light sensor 64) configured to detect ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and generate sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite (col. 7, ln 34-50: “The ambient light sensor 64 … provides three output signals representative of the ambient red, near infrared and green light, respectively, around the area 12”); and the processor (image processor 22) to adjust the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite to generate an adjusted image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve (col. 8, ln 2-11, col. 8, ln 22-36; col. 8, ln 36-39: “The image processor 22 is used to enhance the multi-spectral image 76, compute a threshold value for the image and produce the vegetation image 78”). Dickson further discloses the image processor 22 then performs additional image analysis on the resulting vegetation image 78. The image analysis may be used to evaluate crop status in a number of ways. For example, plant nitrogen levels, plant population and percent canopy measurements may be characterized depending on how the vegetation image is filtered. (col. 9, ln 29-35). Based on the resulting data from analysis of the adjusted image, the controller 30 adjusts/controls the treatment application to apply treatment according to the corresponding deficiencies (col. 5, ln 11-25).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Smith to incorporate the teachings of Dickson to provide a light sensor configured to detect ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and generate sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite, and control the subsystem based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite. Doing so would allow for vegetation enhancement for crop analysis and/or evaluation of soil or other specific parts of the plants (col. 8, ln 49-52).
Regarding claim 16, Smith discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium (memory devices 112; par. 32) including instructions that are configured to cause a computing system to:
obtain, from an image sensor, an image of a portion of a worksite ahead of a controllable valve (par. 40: “the controller 108 may be configured to transmit suitable control signals to one or more valves (not shown) configured to selectively occlude the flow of the agricultural substance 70 from the tank 30 (FIGS. 1 and 2)”, emphasis included) of an agricultural material application machine (vision-based sensors, par. 18 or camera; par. 25: “the camera 106 may be configured to capture images (e.g., RGB images, NIR images, or CIR images)…”);
control the agricultural material application machine based, at least, on the image
Smith is silent regarding obtaining, from a light sensor, sensor data indicative of ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and control the machine based on the sensor data.
Dickson discloses a relevant imaging system 10 that includes a light sensor (light receiving unit 18 and ambient light sensor 64) configured to detect ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and generate sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite (col. 7, ln 34-50: “The ambient light sensor 64 … provides three output signals representative of the ambient red, near infrared and green light, respectively, around the area 12”); and the processor (image processor 22) to adjust the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite to generate an adjusted image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve (col. 8, ln 2-11, col. 8, ln 22-36; col. 8, ln 36-39: “The image processor 22 is used to enhance the multi-spectral image 76, compute a threshold value for the image and produce the vegetation image 78”). Dickson further discloses the image processor 22 then performs additional image analysis on the resulting vegetation image 78. The image analysis may be used to evaluate crop status in a number of ways. For example, plant nitrogen levels, plant population and percent canopy measurements may be characterized depending on how the vegetation image is filtered. (col. 9, ln 29-35). Based on the resulting data from analysis of the adjusted image, the controller 30 adjusts/controls the treatment application to apply treatment according to the corresponding deficiencies (col. 5, ln 11-25).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Smith to incorporate the teachings of Dickson to obtain, from a light sensor, sensor data indicative of ambient lighting conditions at the worksite and control the machine based on the sensor data. Doing so would allow for vegetation enhancement for crop analysis and/or evaluation of soil or other specific parts of the plants (col. 8, ln 49-52).
Regarding claim 8, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 7, wherein the controllable subsystem comprises one or more controllable valves (Smith, par. 40: “valves”).
Regarding claim 9, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 8, wherein the instructions. when executed by the one or more processors, further configure the one or more processors to:
identify a plurality of controllable valves (par. 40: “the controller 108 may be configured to transmit suitable control signals to one or more valves (not shown) configured to selectively occlude the flow of the agricultural substance 70 from the tank 30”; identifying the valves step is implied in this disclosure in order to have to the “suitable control signal” sent to the one or more valves), of the one or more controllable valves, based, at least, the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions (as modified in view of Dickson) at the worksite; and
control the plurality of controllable valves (Smith, par. 40).
Regarding claim 10, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 7, wherein the controllable subsystem comprises a propulsion subsystem (engine 23; par. 20) operable to control a travel speed of the agricultural material application machine.
Regarding claim 11, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 7, wherein the controllable subsystem comprises a steering subsystem (par. 20: steering actuator 26, steerable wheels 16) operable to control a travel direction of the agricultural material application machine.
Regarding claim 13, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 7, wherein the controllable subsystem comprises one or more actuators operable to adjust a position of a component of the material application machine (par. 20: steering actuator 26, steerable wheels 16; par. 18).
Regarding claim 14, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 12, wherein the component comprises a boom (32) and wherein the one or more actuators (par. 20: steering actuator 26, steerable wheels 16; par. 18) are operable to adjust the position of the boom.
Regarding claim 15, Smith, as modified above, discloses the agricultural material application machine of claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further configure the one or more processors to:
identify a confidence level (par. 35: “In the event that the identified positional relationship between the boom component(s) and the identified feature(s) is offset from the predetermined positional relationship”; par. 36: “the controller 108 may be configured to determine the lateral distance defined between the boom component(s) and the identified feature(s) based on the data 114 received from the sensor(s) 102”) based, at least, on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions (as modified in view of Dickson to add the light sensor to the vision based sensors 102 of Smith) at the worksite; and
control the controllable subsystem based on the confidence level (par. 35: “the controller 108 may be configured to initiate a control action to adjust the relative positioning of the boom component(s)”, via the steering).
Regarding claim 17, Smith, as modified above, discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein instructions configure the computing system to control the agricultural material application machine by controlling one or more controllable subsystems of the agricultural material application machine, the one or more controllable subsystems comprises one or more of: (i) the controllable valve (par. 40: “the controller 108 may be configured to transmit suitable control signals to one or more valves (not shown) configured to selectively occlude the flow of the agricultural substance 70 from the tank 30 (FIGS. 1 and 2)”, emphasis included): (ii) a pump (par. 28); (iii) a propulsion subsystem (engine, par. 20); (iv) a steering subsystem (par. 20: steering actuator 26, steerable wheels 16); or (v) an actuator operable to position a component of the agricultural material application machine (par. 20: steering actuator 26, steerable wheels 16; par. 18).
Regarding claim 18, Smith, as modified above, discloses the one or more processors to adjust the image based on ambient lighting conditions (via Dickson’s ambient light sensor 64) to generate vegetation image used to evaluate crop status (Dickson, col. 9, ln 29-32), and control the valve to apply material to the target based on the identified target according to the vision-based sensor data (Smith, par. 40: “when crops are present, the controller 108 may be configured to control the operation of the valve(s) such that the agricultural substance 70 is dispensed from the nozzles 36”) and the adjusted image (Dickson; col. 5, ln 11-25). Smith further discloses, in par. 34, in embodiments in which the vision-based sensor 102 corresponds to the camera 106, the algorithms may allow the controller 108 to identify a given feature(s) within the captured images using one or more image processing techniques. In view of Dickson, this is understood to corresponds to identifying a target/plant/measured property in the processed/adjusted images.
Dickson further teaches adjusting one or more colors of the image of the portion of the worksite (Abstract: “The image is segmented into images at different wavelengths such as at the red, green and near infrared wavelengths. The images are combined into a multi-spectral image and segmented into a vegetation image by eliminating all non-vegetation images by using the images at two wavelengths. The vegetation image is analyzed for nitrogen levels by calculating reflectance values at the green wavelength. The images may be stored for further analysis of crop characteristics.”).
Regarding claim 19, Smith, as modified above, discloses the target comprises a plant (Smith, item 44; figs. 1, 3) at the worksite.
Regarding claim 20, Smith, as modified above, discloses the non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein instructions configure the computing system to control the agricultural material application machine by controlling one or more of: (i) a turn velocity of the agricultural material application machine; (ii) actuation of the controllable valve of the agricultural material application machine (par. 40: “the controller 108 may be configured to transmit suitable control signals to one or more valves (not shown) configured to selectively occlude the flow of the agricultural substance 70 from the tank 30 (FIGS. 1 and 2)”); (iii) a height of the controllable valve of the agricultural material application machine; (iv) a travel speed of the agricultural material application machine; or (v) a heading of the agricultural material application machine.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith (US 20190351434) in view of Dickson (US 6160902), further in view of Watanabe (US 20210266507) and Redden (US 20180330166).
Regarding claim 2, Smith, as modified above, discloses the one or more processors to adjust the image based on ambient lighting conditions (via Dickson’s ambient light sensor 64), and control the valve based on the identified target according to the vision-based sensor data (Smith, par. 40: “when crops are present, the controller 108 may be configured to control the operation of the valve(s) such that the agricultural substance 70 is dispensed from the nozzles 36”) and the adjusted image (Dickson; col. 5, ln 11-25). Smith further discloses, in par. 34, in embodiments in which the vision-based sensor 102 corresponds to the camera 106, the algorithms may allow the controller 108 to identify a given feature(s) within the captured images using one or more image processing techniques. In view of Dickson, this is understood to corresponds to identifying a target/plant/measured property in the processed/adjusted images.
Smith is silent regarding the processor to compute a white balance correction based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite;
adjust the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve by applying the white balance correction to the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve.
Watanabe discloses relevant image capture and processing apparatus that includes control of white balance of an image with high accuracy for generation of captured image with appropriate tones with consideration of light sources and or ambient light (par. 2, 4). Watanabe discloses calculation of a white balance correction value and apply the white correction to the image (par. 47: “The WB control unit 200 calculates a final WB correction value from a WB correction value applied to pixels that are estimated to be white (hereinafter referred to as a white WB correction value) and from a WB correction value applied to pixels of a subject (hereinafter referred to as a subject WB correction value)”). Watanabe teaches computing a white balance correction based on ambient lighting conditions and applying the white balance correction to the captured image.
In addition to Watanabe, Redden discloses relevant image processing features for plant detection, wherein white balance or exposure (par. 45) and other image adjustments are made to ensure uniformity across the captured images prior to (“pre-processing”) applying the plant detection model (Abstract, par. 43, 45, 47). Redden teaches identifying a target in the adjusted image.
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Smith and Dickson to incorporate the teachings of Watanabe and Redden to provide the processor to compute a white balance correction based on the sensor data indicative of the ambient lighting conditions at the worksite; and adjust the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve by applying the white balance correction to the image of the portion of the worksite ahead of the controllable valve. Doing so would yield the predictable result of facilitating uniformity in adjusted image (See Paragraph 45 of Redden) that consequently improve reliability in plant or target detection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 is 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUONGMINH NGUYEN PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-0158. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM - 5PM M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arthur Hall can be reached at 571-270-1814. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TUONGMINH N PHAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752
Prosecution Insights