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 § 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 16-18, 22, 23 and 32-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Digman (US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0210975) in view of Aposhian et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0239429).
In reference to claim 16, Digman discloses a method for field processing comprising:
mowing, via a mowing machine 101 comprising at least one mower (par. 0029), a crop within a processing area so as to provide a mown crop (par. 0029);
determining, at least one mowing parameter (par. 0046, density), wherein the at least one mowing parameter comprises a mower parameter which relates to the at least one mower and which is associated with an area density of the crop (par. 0046); and then
processing the mown crop via a cropmaking machine 102-107 (par. 0029, any one of machines 102-107) which comprises at least one processing device (par. 0029),
wherein,
at least one cropmaking parameter which characterizes an operation of the cropmaking machine 102-107 is set as a function of a position of the cropmaking machine (pars. 0067 for each position of a plurality of positions within the processing area, implying a shared position of the cropmaking machine; par. 0072, “adjusting the position or speed of any of these structures”), and
the at least one mowing parameter is determined for the position (par. 0046).
Digman fails to disclose that the density is determined for each position of a plurality of positions within the processing area.
Aposhian determines determining, for each position of a plurality of positions within a processing area, at least one mowing parameter, wherein the at least one mowing parameter comprises a mower parameter which relates to the at least one mower and which is associated with an area density of the crop (pars. 0034-0036). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to determine density for each of a plurality of positions associated with the mower with a reasonable expectation of success so that said densities can be used to better operate the cropmaking machines.
In reference to claim 17, Digman discloses that the at least one cropmaking parameter is related to a drive speed of the at least one processing device (par. 0072).
In reference to claim 18, Digman discloses that the cropmaking machine comprises, as the at least one processing device, at least one rake rotor (par. 0072, “tedder device 866B”) which is operated at a gyro rotational speed as the drive speed (par. 0072, “forage processing assembly 811 is a tedder, device 866B can be tines or group of tines, sensor 865 can sense a position or speed of the tines, and actuator 866A can be any device suitable for adjusting the position or speed of the tines”).
In reference to claim 22, Digman discloses that the at least one mower 101 comprises a mowing unit (par. 0030, “mower”) and a processor (par. 0030, “conditioner”),
the mowing unit of the at least one mower 101 preforms the mowing of the crop so as to provide the mown crop (par. 0030),
the processor of the at least one mower 101 performs the processing of the mown crop and then deposits the processed mown crop (par. 0030), and
the at least one mower parameter relates to the processor (density of conditioned crops would inherently relate to the conditioner).
In reference to claim 23, Digman discloses that the processor, of mower-conditioner 211, comprises a drive shaft (par. 0030, “power provided via the power-takeoff”), and
at least one mower parameter is associated with a power input of the processor (density of conditioned crops would inherently be associated with how much power was provided to the conditioner).
In reference to claim 32, Aposhian discloses that the at least one mowing parameter is used to determine a position-dependent area density of the crop within the processing area (pars. 0034-0036).
In reference to claim 33, Digman discloses a mowing machine 101 which is used in the method as recited in claim 16 (see above), the mowing machine 101 comprising:
at least one mower 211 which is configured to mow a crop (par. 0030),
wherein,
the mowing machine 101 is set up to mow the crop within a processing area via the at least one mower 211 (pars. 0029 and 0030), and
Digman fails to disclose determining a mowing parameter for each position of a plurality of positioned within the processing area, the at least one mowing parameter is a mower parameter which relates to the at least one mower and which is associated with an arca density of the crop.
Aposhian determines determining, for each position of a plurality of positions within a processing area, at least one mowing parameter, wherein the at least one mowing parameter comprises a mower parameter which relates to the at least one mower and which is associated with an area density of the crop (pars. 0034-0036). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to determine density for each of a plurality of positions associated with the mower with a reasonable expectation of success so that said densities can be used to better operate the cropmaking machines.
In reference to claim 34, Digman discloses that the least one mower 211 comprises a mowing unit (par. 0030, “mower”) for mowing the crop and a processor (par. 0030, “conditioner”) for processing the crop, and
the at least one mower parameter relates to the processor (density of conditioned crops would inherently relate to the conditioner).
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Digman (US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0210975) in view of Aposhian et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0239429) as applied to claim 16 above, and further in view of Murray et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0116121).
In reference to claim 21, Digman and Aposhian fail to disclose that in setting the at least one cropmaking parameter, a drying process which has taken place between the mowing and the processing, is taken into account.
Murray discloses that setting the at least one cropmaking parameter, a drying process which has taken place between the mowing and the processing, is taken into account (par. 0037). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to take a drying process into account with a reasonable expectation of success to ensure that the crops are sufficiently dry.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 19, 20 and 24-31 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. Ingalls et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0407285) discloses adjusting a processing parameter based on measured density of a crop (par. 0070, Fig. 8); and Honeyman et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0358707) discloses determining the density of crop material 102 (par. 0030).
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
7/27/26
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