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.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/16/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DeJarnette et al. (US 2020/0037522 A1) in view of Golgotiu et al. (US 2012/0260569 A1).
Regarding claim 1, DeJarnette discloses a plant watering system (Title; claim 1) including:
a plurality of containers (Fig. 5, plant display 500 shown having a plurality of containers) for containing plant growing medium and plants (“FIG. 5 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a robotic plant-watering device 502 watering plants on a plant display 500. The plant display 500 in this example includes a set of shelves 514 for displaying one or more live plants. In this example, the set of shelves 514 includes four shelves. In other examples, the plant display 500 may include a single shelf, two shelves, as well as three or more shelves. The plant display in this example contains small potted plants. In other examples, however, the display may hold larger items such as fruit trees, shade trees, or other larger plant types.”, Para. [0086]);
a conduit defining an outlet for, in use, conveying water along the conduit and discharging water via the conduit outlet (Fig. 5, robotic arm 516 and watering device 518 shown being formed of a conduit for water; “The robotic plant-watering device 502 autonomously waters plants on the plant display 500 via at least one robotic arm 516 including a watering device 518 on a portion of the robotic arm 516. The robotic arm 516 in this example is a telescoping arm which extends to reach the highest shelf and retracts to reach plants on the middle and lower shelves. The watering device 518 sprays water extracted from a water tank on the robotic plant-watering device 502.”, Para. [0087];
a regulator for regulating the flow of water along the conduit (“FIG. 9 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating an articulating robotic arm 900 including a set of adjustable watering devices. The set of watering devices are adjustable to control the flow of water from the watering device and/or adjustable to control the direction of water flowing out of the watering device.”, Para. [0094]);
a scale associated with one of the containers for determining the weight of the associated container (Fig. 3, set of sensors 322 with sensor data 320; how sensors are used and associated with each plant is described in Para. [0073]; Fig. 14, set of weight sensors 14406; “FIG. 14 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a set of sensor devices 1400. The set of sensor devices 1400 in some example includes sensor devices on a robotic plant-watering device. In other examples, set of sensor devices includes sensor devices on a plant display or a sensor device within the plant center. The set of sensor devices 1400 in this example includes a set of one or more temperature sensors 1402 such as a thermometer, a set of one or more hygrometers 1404 for measuring humidity, a set of one or more weight sensors 1406, a set of one or more pressure sensors 1408, a set of one or more infrared (IR) sensors 1410, a set of one or more motion sensors 1412, a set of one or more scanner devices 1414, and/or a set of one or more image capture devices 1416, such as, but not limited to, a camera 1418. The set of scanner devices 1414 may include a barcode scanner, a QR code reader, an RFID tag reader, or any other type of scanner. A barcode scanner may include a UPC code reader, a matrix barcode reader, etc.”, Para. [0100])
a controller that controls the regulator, thereby to vary the flow of water along the conduit in response to the container weight determined by the scale (Claim 11 and “FIG. 9 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating an articulating robotic arm 900 including a set of adjustable watering devices. The set of watering devices are adjustable to control the flow of water from the watering device and/or adjustable to control the direction of water flowing out of the watering device.”, Para. [0094]; note, Fig. 14 shows weight sensors are used to determine and identify the plant and maintenance needs; “an analysis component implemented on the at least one processor of the computing device analyzes the real-time context data associated with the live plant center, the sensor data generated by the set of sensor devices within the live plant center and historical plant data associated with the plurality of plants using the set of per-plant maintenance rules”, Para. [0136]; note, the weight sensors is a apart of the set of sensors);
means for moving the conduit outlet across the plurality of containers, in use to provide water to the plurality of containers (As shown in Figs. 5 and 9; “Water sprays out of one or more holes within the adjustable watering device. The robotic plant-watering device moves the articulating robotic arm 344 through a set of motions to spray water evenly across a desired watering zone on the plant. The watering zone may be the soil within the pot/container, an absorbent mat under the plant, or any other portion of a plant or plant container.”, Para. [0076]); and
a database that stores:
a first predetermined weight;
a second predetermined weight; and
at least one intermediate weight (“The robotic plant-watering device 206 in this example scans the display ID 214 using one or more sensor device(s) 216. The sensor device(s) 216 may include, without limitation, a barcode reader, a camera for capturing an image of the display ID 214, an RFID tag reader, a QR code reader, or any other type of device for reading the display ID 214. In other examples, the one or more sensor device(s) 216 may include an image capture device (camera), motion sensor, pressure sensor, weight sensor, heat sensor, temperature sensor, hygrometer, proximity sensor, light sensor, or any other type of sensor device.”, Para. [0055]; “The set of sensor devices 1400 in this example includes a set of one or more temperature sensors 1402 such as a thermometer, a set of one or more hygrometers 1404 for measuring humidity, a set of one or more weight sensors 1406, a set of one or more pressure sensors 1408, a set of one or more infrared (IR) sensors 1410, a set of one or more motion sensors 1412, a set of one or more scanner devices 1414, and/or a set of one or more image capture devices 1416, such as, but not limited to, a camera 1418.”, Para. [0100]; note, it is inherent the weight changes as the plants are watered and drying), characterised in that the controller includes a processor that controls the regulator in response to:
the weight determined by the scale; and
the data in the database (“an analysis component implemented on the at least one processor of the computing device analyzes the real-time context data associated with the live plant center, the sensor data generated by the set of sensor devices within the live plant center and historical plant data associated with the plurality of plants using the set of per-plant maintenance rules”, Para. [0136]; note, the weight sensors is a apart of the set of sensors).
DeJarnette does not expressly disclose a database that stores: a first predetermined weight associated with zero flow along the conduit; a second predetermined weight associated with 100% flow along the conduit; and at least one intermediate weight associated with flow along the conduit that is between 0% and maximum flow along the conduit.
However, in an analogous robotic plant watering art, Golgotiu discloses a first predetermined weight associated with zero flow along the conduit; a second predetermined weight associated with 100% flow along the conduit; and at least one intermediate weight associated with flow along the conduit that is between 0% and maximum flow along the conduit (“In an illustrated embodiment, flow control valve 120 provides "coarse" fluid flow, while flow control valve 122 provides "fine" fluid flow. In one illustrated embodiment, fluid flow through course flow control valve 120 is about ten times greater than the fluid flow through fine control valve 122, although any desired ratio may be used. In operation, controller 100 initially opens both coarse and fine flow control valves 120 and 122 to begin filling or dosing the pots 16. As the weight of the pots approaches the desired weight for the particular experiment, controller 100 shuts off the coarse flow control valve 120 and finishes the fill operation using the fine flow control valve 122 to precisely control the amount of water added to the pot 16.”, Para. [0044]; thereby providing 100% flow at minimum weight, finer or slower flow at an intermediate weight approaching the maximum weight, when the device is finished watering and is turned off to 0% flow).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of DeJarnette to further include a first predetermined weight associated with zero flow along the conduit; a second predetermined weight associated with 100% flow along the conduit; and at least one intermediate weight associated with flow along the conduit that is between 0% and maximum flow along the conduit, as taught by Golgotiu, with a reasonable expectation for success, to prevent over watering the plants.
Regarding claim 2, Golgotiu further discloses wherein the conduit moving means comprises either: a hinged mount on which the conduit is mounted; and an actuator or motor for angularly displacing the conduit about the hinged mount; or a runner on which the conduit is mounted; a rail along which the runner is movable; and an actuator or motor for moving the runner along the rail (Figs. 1-3 shows that the watering robot runs on a rail).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of DeJarnette wherein the conduit moving means comprises either: a hinged mount on which the conduit is mounted; and an actuator or motor for angularly displacing the conduit about the hinged mount; or a runner on which the conduit is mounted; a rail along which the runner is movable; and an actuator or motor for moving the runner along the rail, as taught by Golgotiu, with a reasonable expectation for success, to provide a rail to guide the robot of DeJarnette preventing the robot from accidentally knocking into containers with delicate plants.
Regarding claim 3, Golgotiu further discloses wherein the database further includes: a zero actuator or motor speed associated with the first predetermined weight; a first actuator or motor speed associated with the second predetermined weight; and at second actuator or motor speed associated with at least one intermediate weight (As disclosed by the control valves having coarse and fine control which inherently has two actuators: “In an illustrated embodiment, flow control valve 120 provides "coarse" fluid flow, while flow control valve 122 provides "fine" fluid flow. In one illustrated embodiment, fluid flow through course flow control valve 120 is about ten times greater than the fluid flow through fine control valve 122, although any desired ratio may be used. In operation, controller 100 initially opens both coarse and fine flow control valves 120 and 122 to begin filling or dosing the pots 16. As the weight of the pots approaches the desired weight for the particular experiment, controller 100 shuts off the coarse flow control valve 120 and finishes the fill operation using the fine flow control valve 122 to precisely control the amount of water added to the pot 16.”, Para. [0044]; thereby providing 100% flow at minimum weight, finer or slower flow at an intermediate weight approaching the maximum weight, when the device is finished watering and is turned off to 0% flow).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of DeJarnette wherein the database further includes: a zero actuator or motor speed associated with the first predetermined weight; a first actuator or motor speed associated with the second predetermined weight; and at second actuator or motor speed associated with at least one intermediate weight, as taught by Golgotiu, with a reasonable expectation for success, to prevent over watering the plants.
Regarding claim 4, Golgotiu further discloses wherein the speed of the actuator or motor is also controlled by the controller in response to: the weight determined by the scale; and the data in the database (As disclosed by the control valves having coarse and fine control which inherently has two actuators: “In an illustrated embodiment, flow control valve 120 provides "coarse" fluid flow, while flow control valve 122 provides "fine" fluid flow. In one illustrated embodiment, fluid flow through course flow control valve 120 is about ten times greater than the fluid flow through fine control valve 122, although any desired ratio may be used. In operation, controller 100 initially opens both coarse and fine flow control valves 120 and 122 to begin filling or dosing the pots 16. As the weight of the pots approaches the desired weight for the particular experiment, controller 100 shuts off the coarse flow control valve 120 and finishes the fill operation using the fine flow control valve 122 to precisely control the amount of water added to the pot 16.”, Para. [0044]; thereby providing 100% flow at minimum weight, finer or slower flow at an intermediate weight approaching the maximum weight, when the device is finished watering and is turned off to 0% flow).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of DeJarnette wherein the speed of the actuator or motor is also controlled by the controller in response to: the weight determined by the scale; and the data in the database, as taught by Golgotiu, with a reasonable expectation for success, to prevent over watering the plants.
Regarding claim 5, DeJarnette is silent on the shape of the scale.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of DeJarnette wherein the scale is substantially dome-shaped, in use, to facilitate water runoff from the scale, with a reasonable expectation of success, since it would have been an obvious matter of choice to make the different portions of the scale and drainage of whatever form or shape was desired or expedient. A change in form or shape is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art, absent any showing of unexpected results. In re Dailey et al., 149 USPQ 47.
Regarding claim 6, Golgotiu discloses wherein the regulator is a valve or a pump controller (“flow control valve”, Para. [0044]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system of DeJarnette wherein the regulator is a valve or a pump controller, as taught by Golgotiu, with a reasonable expectation for success, since this was an art-recognized equivalent for controlling and regulating the flow of water.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN J SHUR whose telephone number is (571)272-8707. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8:00 am - 4:00 pm EDT.
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/S.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 3647
/KIMBERLY S BERONA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3647