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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1,4,6,10,11,14,15,18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Jongman 20160113199.
Referring to claim 1, Jongman discloses a loss monitoring system for a header arrangement operably couplable to an agricultural harvesting machine, the loss monitoring system comprising: a sample unit (300) operably coupleable, in use, to one or more functional components of the header arrangement and configured for obtaining a crop material sample; a sensor arrangement (310) comprising at least a sensing element, provided as part of or otherwise associated with the sample unit and configured, in use, to provide a sensor response which is dependent upon material constituents present within the sample unit; and a control system (80) comprising one or more controllers being collectively configured to: receive sensor data from the sensor arrangement; process the sensor data to: determine a measure of crop constituents provided by the sample unit; and determine a loss metric for an agricultural operation performed by the header arrangement in dependence on the crop constituent measure; and generate and output one or more control signals for controlling operation of one or more operable components of or otherwise associated with the header arrangement and/or the agricultural harvesting machine in dependence on the determined loss metric (see paragraph 0031).
Referring to claim 4, Jongman discloses the sensing element (310) forms part of the sample unit (300).
Referring to claim 6, Jongman discloses the sensing element (610) is provided coupled to or otherwise associated with a fixed or stationary component of the header arrangement (see paragraph 044 can be applied to a corn header); and wherein the sample unit (300) is arranged such that it obtains the sample to the position of the sensing element (310), in use.
Referring to claim 10, Jongman discloses wherein the one or more controllers (80) are configured to process the sensor response by analysing one or more signal properties of the sensor response; wherein the one or more signal properties include one or more of: an amplitude of the sensor response; and a frequency of the sensor response; and wherein the one or more signal properties or a measurable change therein are proportional to a number or volume of crop constituents held or otherwise carried by the sample unit ( see paragraph 0044).
Referring to claim 11, Jongman discloses the loss metric quantifies a crop loss associated with the agricultural harvesting machine (see paragraph 0031).
Referring to claim 13, Jongman discloses the sample unit is operably coupleable to the functional component such that it is positioned at least partly below a crop engaging component of the header arrangement (see paragraph 31, can be located below deck plates).
Referring to claim 14, Jongman discloses the one or more operable components controllable by the control system comprise one or more functional components of the header arrangement; and wherein the one or more controllers are operable to control one or more functions of said functional components, including one or more of: the operation of the component(s);an operational speed of said component(s); and a relative position of features of the component(s) (see paragraph 0031, can change width of channel between deck plates).
Referring to claim 15, Jongman discloses the one or more operable components controllable by the control system comprise one or more functional components ( deck plates 28) of the agricultural machine ( see paragraph 0031).
Referring to claim 18, Jongman discloses a header arrangement (see figure 1) for a harvesting machine comprising the loss monitoring system of claim 1.
Referring to claim 19, Jongman discloses an agricultural machine comprising or being operably coupleable to the header arrangement of claim 18 ( paragraph 0018).
Referring to claim 20, Jongman discloses a method of monitoring crop loss associated with a header arrangement operably couplable to an agricultural harvesting machine, the method comprising: receiving, from a sensor arrangement ( 310) which includes a sensing element provided as part of or otherwise associated with a sample unit (300), a sensor response which is dependent on material constituents present within the sample unit, the sample unit being operably coupled to one or more functional components of the header arrangement; determining a measure of crop constituents provided by the sample unit in dependence on the sensor response; determining a loss metric for an agricultural operation performed by the header arrangement in dependence on the crop constituent measure; and controlling operation of one or more operable components (28) of or otherwise associated with the header arrangement and/or the agricultural harvesting machine in dependence on the determined loss metric (see paragraph 0031).
Claim(s) 1,3,4,6,11-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Werning 20140053524 .
Referring to claim 1, Werning discloses a loss monitoring system for a header arrangement operably couplable to an agricultural harvesting machine, the loss monitoring system comprising: a sample unit (50) operably coupleable, in use, to one or more functional components of the header arrangement and configured for obtaining a crop material sample; a sensor arrangement (44) comprising at least a sensing element, provided as part of or otherwise associated with the sample unit and configured, in use, to provide a sensor response which is dependent upon material constituents present within the sample unit; and a control system (46) comprising one or more controllers being collectively configured to: receive sensor data from the sensor arrangement; process the sensor data to: determine a measure of crop constituents provided by the sample unit; and determine a loss metric for an agricultural operation performed by the header arrangement in dependence on the crop constituent measure; and generate and output one or more control signals for controlling operation of one or more operable components of or otherwise associated with the header arrangement and/or the agricultural harvesting machine in dependence on the determined loss metric (see paragraph 0026).
Referring to claim 3, Werner discloses the sample unit comprises a contact surface ( protrusions 52) which is configured to contact with crop constituents in its path and move said crop constituents upon movement of the associated functional component of the header arrangement.
Referring to claim 4, Werning discloses the sensing element (44) forms part of the sample unit (50).
Referring to claim 6, Werning discloses the sensing element (44) is provided coupled to or otherwise associated with a fixed or stationary component of the header arrangement (see fig. 4); and wherein the sample unit (50) is arranged such that it obtains the sample to the position of the sensing element (44), in use.
Referring to claim 11, Werning discloses the loss metric quantifies a crop loss associated with the agricultural harvesting machine (see paragraph 0022).
Referring to claim 12, Werning discloses the sample unit ( 50) is operably coupleable or capable of being coupled to , in use, to one or more functional components of the header arrangement; and wherein the one or more functional components include one or more moveable components ( such as deck plate) of the header arrangement.
Referring to claim 13, Werning discloses the sample unit (50) is operably coupleable to the functional component such that it is positioned at least partly below a crop engaging component of the header arrangement (see paragraph 0022) .
Referring to claim 14, Werner discloses the one or more operable components controllable by the control system comprise one or more functional components of the header arrangement; and wherein the one or more controllers are operable to control one or more functions of said functional components, including one or more of: the operation of the component(s);an operational speed of said component(s); and a relative position of features of the component(s) (see paragraph 0026, can change width of gap between deck plates).
Referring to claim 15, Werner discloses the one or more operable components controllable by the control system comprise one or more functional components of the agricultural machine ( see paragraph 0026 can change speed of harvester).
Referring to claim 16, Werner discloses the one or more functional components of the machine comprise a steering and/or propulsion system of the agricultural machine for controlling motion of the machine in dependence on the determined loss metric (see paragraph 0026).
Referring to claim 17, Werner discloses the one or more operable components controllable by the control system comprise a user interface (48) of or otherwise associated with the agricultural machine for displaying or otherwise providing information indicative of the determined loss metric to an operator of the machine.
Referring to claim 18, Werner discloses a header arrangement (see figure 4) for a harvesting machine comprising the loss monitoring system of claim 1.
Referring to claim 19, Werner discloses an agricultural machine comprising or being operably coupleable to the header arrangement of claim 18 (see claim 12).
Referring to claim 20, Werner discloses a method of monitoring crop loss associated with a header arrangement operably couplable to an agricultural harvesting machine, the method comprising: receiving, from a sensor arrangement ( 44) which includes a sensing element provided as part of or otherwise associated with a sample unit (50), a sensor response which is dependent on material constituents present within the sample unit, the sample unit being operably coupled to one or more functional components of the header arrangement; determining a measure of crop constituents provided by the sample unit in dependence on the sensor response; determining a loss metric for an agricultural operation performed by the header arrangement in dependence on the crop constituent measure; and controlling operation of one or more operable components (34,36) of or otherwise associated with the header arrangement and/or the agricultural harvesting machine in dependence on the determined loss metric (see paragraph 0026).
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) 2 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Werning 20140053524 in view of WO 2024036401 A1 to Kringe.
Referring to claims 2 and 5, Werner does not disclose the sample unit comprises a receptacle, the receptacle defining a volume into which one or more crop constituents may fall or otherwise be collected by the sample unit. Kringe teaches (see fig. 7) a crop loss detector (100) with a sample unit comprises a receptacle (102), the receptacle defining a volume into which one or more crop constituents may fall or otherwise be collected by the sample unit a sensing unit (110) from at least a part of the one or more surfaces. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system disclosed by Werner to have the crop loss detector having a sample unit that comprises a receptacle, the receptacle defining a volume into which one or more crop constituents may fall or otherwise be collected by the sample unit where sensor forms at least part of one of the surface of the receptacle as taught by Kringe with a reasonable expectation of success as this is merely a simple substitution of one type of crop detector for another type of crop detector.
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Werning 20140053524 in view of Todd et al. 20190133037.
Referring to claim 8, Werner does not disclose the sensing element comprises an antenna, and wherein the sensor arrangement comprises a reader component configured to generate an interrogation signal. Todd teaches a sensing element for a crop loss detector that is an antenna and a reader component configured to generate an interrogation signal ( see paragraph 0005, receiver can be considered reader component). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the system disclosed by Werner to have the sensing element comprises an antenna, and wherein the sensor arrangement comprises a reader component configured to generate an interrogation signal as taught by Todd with a reasonable expectation of success as this is a mere substitution of one type of crop loss sensor for another type.
Referring to claim 9, Todd teaches the one or more controllers are configured to analyse the sensor response of the sensing element to the interrogation signal, the sensor response being indicative of one or more characteristics of the crop constituent(s) present within or otherwise collected by the sample unit (see paragraph 0005).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 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.
Referring to claim 7, the closest prior art to Werner does not teach or discloses the sample unit is couplable or otherwise associated with a moveable functional component of the header arrangement while the sensing element of the sensor arrangement is coupled to or otherwise associated with a fixed or stationary component proximal to or adjacent to the path of the moveable component; and wherein the one or more controllers are configured to measure the sensor response from the sensing element as the sample unit passes the sensing element for obtaining the crop constituent measure in combination with the other limitations of the claims nor would it be obvious to modify Werner to include this limitation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GIOVANNA WRIGHT whose telephone number is (571)272-7027. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am- 5 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicole Coy can be reached at (571) 272-5405. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Giovanna Wright/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3672
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