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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Muehlfeld US Patent No. (11,477,935) referred to hereinafter as Muehlfeld.
As per claim 1, Muehlfeld teaches a method of applying a herbicide to a flood field, the method comprising: providing an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30); flying the UAV along a plurality of substantially parallel spray flight paths (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30); spraying a herbicide composition comprising an aqueous emulsion (EW) from the UAV onto the surface of the flood field at a plurality of application areas, each one of the plurality of application areas corresponding to one of the plurality of spray flight paths (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30), each application area being separated from adjacent application areas by a dispersion area into which herbicide composition sprayed onto the flood field surface can disperse(see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30).
As per claim 2, Muehlfeld teaches a method according to claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of application areas is from about 4 m to about 6 m wide(see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30).
As per claim 3, Muehlfeld teaches a method according to claim 2, wherein each dispersion area is from about 3 m to about 5 m wide (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30).
As per claim 4, Muehlfeld teaches a method according to claim 1 wherein each of the application areas is spaced from an edge of the flood field or from an edge of the planted region of the flood field (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30).
As per claim 5, Muehlfeld teaches a method according to claim 4, wherein each of the application areas is spaced from an edge of the flood field or from an edge of the planted region of the flood field by about 1 m to about 3 m (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30).
As per claim 6, Muehlfeld teaches a method according to claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of spray flight paths is connected to adjacent ones of the plurality of spray flight paths by a non-spray flight path (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30).
As per claim 7, Muehlfeld teaches a method according to claim 1, wherein the UAV has a nozzle and the herbicide is sprayed through the nozzle (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30).
As per claim 8, Muehlfeld teaches a method according to claim 1, wherein spraying the herbicide composition comprises spraying a composition comprising one or more active ingredients and one or more surfactants, preferably wherein the composition has a viscosity of less than 600 cps (see at least abstract, summary, C8L53-62, C9L45-C10L5, C5L59-L65, C6L19-L30).
As per claims 9-18, the limitations of claims 9-18 are similar to the limitations of claims 1-8, therefore they are rejected based on the same rationale.
Conclusion
Please refer to from 892 for cited references.
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/MUSSA A SHAAWAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669
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