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 § 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 13 is 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 13 recites the limitation "the threshing units" in line 13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It appears this claim was intended to depend from claim 12, rather than claim 11.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Mackin et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0120127).
In reference to claim 1, Mackin discloses a support system for supporting a concave 116 beneath a threshing unit 114 of a combine harvester 102, the support system comprising:
an adjustment shaft 126 (Fig. 2);
a suspension system 122 for setting a depth of the concave 126 beneath the threshing unit 114 (Fig. 2),
a force or torque sensor 134a for sensing a force applied to the adjustment shaft 126 (par. 0038); and
an output system 144 for reporting the force (par. 0040).
In reference to claim 7, Mackin discloses a memory (par. 0040, “memory circuit”) for storing the force together with associated position data indicating the position of the combine harvester 102 (par. 0040, “data processed by the ALU”, including force data (par. 0038) and position data (par. 0037)).
In reference to claim 11, Mackin discloses a threshing system for a combine harvester 102, comprising:
a threshing unit 114;
a concave 116 beneath the threshing unit 114;
the support system of one of claim 1 (see above), for supporting the concave 116 beneath the threshing unit 114 (Figs. 2 and 3).
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 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mackin et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0120127) in view of Baumgarten et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0226275).
In reference to claim 3, Mackin fails to disclose that the output system is adapted to generate a speed recommendation for presentation to a user.
Baumgarten discloses an output system is adapted to generate a speed recommendation for presentation to a user (par. 0042, “a message is displayed to the driver of the combine to reduce the speed of the combine and in this manner, to limit the flow rate of the crops”). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to generate a speed recommendation for presentation to a user with a reasonable expectation of success so that a user can adjust a speed based on the recommendation.
In reference to claim 4, Mackin fails to disclose that the output system is adapted to generate a speed control signal for delivery to a vehicle speed controller.
Baumgarten discloses that an output system is adapted to generate a speed control signal for delivery to a vehicle speed controller (par. 0017, “automatically control the speed of the crop machine with reference to the detected useable material portion”). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to generate a speed control signal for delivery to a vehicle speed controller with a reasonable expectation of success “in order release the driver of the machine from this responsibility” (par. 0017).
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mackin et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0120127).
In reference to claim 5, Mackin fails to disclose that the force sensor 134a comprises an arrangement of one or more strain gauges. However, Mackin also discloses the use of strain gauges in other parts of the invention to determine forces (par. 0038, “strain gauges to provide a signal indicative of the shear load”). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use a strain gauge to measure the force with a reasonable expectation of success as it amounts to a substitution of equivalents to perform the same function, which is in this case to measure a force.
In reference to claim 6, the examiner takes Official Notice that electric and optical strain gauges are known in the art. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use an electric or optical strain gauge with a reasonable expectation of success as it amounts to a substitution of equivalents to perform the same function, which is in this case to function as a strain gauge.
Claims 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mackin et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0120127) in view of Van Hullebusch et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0164560).
In reference to claim 12, Mackin fails to disclose two or more threshing units.
Van Hullebusch discloses two threshing units 5 (Fig. 2). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include two threshing units with a reasonable expectation of success to increase the total threshing capacity. In combination, this would result in two threshing units, wherein each threshing unit has a respective associated concave and a respective support system as set forth in claim 1 (see claim 1 above).
In reference to claim 13, Van Hullebusch discloses that the threshing units 5 comprise axial threshing cylinders (Figs. 1 and 2).
In reference to claim 14, Mackin discloses a combine harvester 102 comprising:
a crop cutting head 104;
the threshing system of claim 11 (see above).
Mackin fails to disclose a grain cleaning system for receiving the cut and threshed crop material.
Van Hullebusch discloses a grain cleaning system 8/9/10 (par. 0016) for receiving the cut and threshed crop material (Fig. 1). 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 grain cleaning system with a reasonable expectation of success so that the threshed crop material can be cleaned.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 8-10 and 15 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. Kemmerer (US Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0254233) discloses a rotary shaft 212 for adjusting a concave 130 (Fig. 3); Bergkamp (WIPO Publication No. WO 2013/082236) discloses a means for adjusting a concave 40 (Fig. 2), and Yanke et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0233663) discloses adjusting concaves 26 (Figs. 3 and 4).
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
6/08/26
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