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 .
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, 2, and 5-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borio (EP 3574744) in view of Pellenc (US 2009/0090093).
With respect to claim 1, Borio disclose an agricultural machine (2) for working around trunks of vegetable plants, comprising: a support structure (22), adapted to be connected to a vehicle or tractor; a main arm (23), connected to said support structure (22), adapted to make a movement relative to said support structure (22); an actuator system (25) at least adapted to control the movements of said main arm (23) to selectively move a distal end (end where 3 is attached) of the main arm (23) towards or away from a trunk of a vegetable plant; at least one agricultural equipment (3), adapted to work around trunks of vegetable plants, the at least one agricultural equipment being connected to said distal end (see figure 1 the end that 3 attaches to is the distal arm) of said main arm (23); a control system (27), adapted to at least control said actuator system (25); a safety system (stricker element 74 adapted to soften impact) adapted to prevent said agricultural equipment from damaging the trunk of the vegetable plant around which said agricultural equipment is operating; said safety system comprising: at least one idle wheel (74). Borio does not disclose a sensor with the safety system. In the similar field of agricultural machines, Pellenc disclose at least one sensor (36/37); said at least one sensor (36/37) is adapted to detect the position of the cutters which are placed on the actuators to control the action of the actuator to adjust the positioning of the cutters. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the after before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Borio by including a position sensor as taught by Pellenc with a reasonable expectation of success in order to determine the position of the arm in Borio and adjust the position as desired. The combination of Borio as modified by Pellenc would include a control system (27 of Borio) being adapted to control said actuator system (25 of Borio) in such a way so that said main arm (23 of Borio) will move in the event that said at least one sensor (position sensor 36/37 as added in from Pellenc) detects the abutment of said idle wheel (idle wheel in Borio) against said trunk of the plant, thus moving the distal end of said main arm (23) away from the trunk of the vegetable plant (via the actuator which would move in response to the position sensor), so as to prevent said at least one idle wheel from exerting a force against said trunk (wherein the idle wheel in Borio provides impact reduction and protection).
With respect to claim 2, Borio in view of Pellenc disclose the agricultural machine wherein said control system (27) is adapted to control said actuator system (25) in such a way as to prevent said idle wheel from abutting against said trunk (see paragraphs 2 and 3, and wherein the actuator system controls where the arm is).
With respect to claim 5, Borio is silent as the wheel 74 having an elastic member. However, it would have been considered obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have selected an elastic wheel on the outer perimeter of the wheel 74, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
With respect to claim 6, Borio in view of Pellenc disclose wherein said idle wheel being pivoted to the distal end of the main arm (see figure 3).
With respect to claim 7, Borio in view of Pellenc disclose wherein said actuator system (25) being a hydraulic system (see paragraph 75).
With respect to claim 8, Borio in view of Pellenc disclose an adjustment system (see paragraph 67, unnumbered actuators), which is adapted for adjusting a spatial position of said agricultural equipment; said control system being adapted to control said adjustment system (see paragraph 67, unnumbered actuators).
With respect to claim 9, Borio in view of Pellenc disclose wherein said agricultural machine is a suckers removing machine (3) adapted to remove suckers in proximity to the trunk of a vegetable plant (see abstract).
With respect to claim 10, Borio in view of Pellenc disclose wherein two suckers removing devices (3) are present at the distal end of said main arm
(23); each suckers removing device (3) comprising: an arm (23), hinged at one end to the distal end of said main arm and being thus rotatable about a first axis (see axis in figure 1 unnumbered between 22 and 23); at least one cutting device (5) fixed to the distal end of the arm (see figure 3); at least one protection structure (6), adapted to rotate idle about a third axis (Z) and facing said cutting device (see figure 1); said two suckers removing devices (3) being adapted to assume a working configuration and being driven by a hydraulic system (4, see claim 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 11, and 12 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.
With respect to claim 3, the prior art does not disclose nor would it be obvious to include “wherein said idle wheel comprises return elements adapted to allow said idle wheel to change the position of the an axis of symmetry or rotation in case of abutment against said trunk of the plant and to return into an idle position following the an action exerted on said idle wheel by said trunk of the plant” in combination with the limitations of claim 1.
With respect to claim 4, this claim depends from claim 3.
With respect to claims 11 and 12, the prior art does not disclose, nor would it be obvious to include “a feeler device; said feeler device comprising an abutment portion; said feeler device being adapted to disable said hydraulic system of the suckers removing devices, letting allowing said arms to turn idle as long as a trunk of a vegetable plant is acting upon said abutment portion” in combination with the limitations of the independent claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICOLE A COY whose telephone number is (571)272-5405. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6am-3:30pm.
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/Nicole Coy/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3672
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