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 .
Claims 1-10 have been examined.
P = paragraph, e.g. p5 = paragraph 5.
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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being disclosed by Nishii et al. USPAP 2022/0382277.
As per claims 1, 9 and 10, Nishii discloses a farm field registration device/method computer readable medium comprising: an acquisition device configured to acquire boundary information for defining a boundary line of a farm field;
a controller configured or programmed to create a farm field map in a predetermined data format based on the boundary information; and a storage device configured to store the farm field map; wherein the acquisition device is configured to acquire division information for defining a division line that divides the farm field into a plurality of divided farm fields each including a plantable area (p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5); paragraph 5 of Nishii discloses:
[0005] By the way, in the conventional technology such as the one in the Patent Document 1; so as to preliminarily prevent any extraordinary approach or collision between harvesters as a plurality of work vehicles, a single farm field is sectionalized into a plurality of sections by a middle division, and for each sectionalized section, any work by a master harvester and any work by a slave harvester are separated. In the conventional technology, however, the farm field is sectionalized into a plurality of sections thereby to separate the work vehicles to respective sections, without considering the work capacity of each of the work machines possessed by a plurality of work vehicles. Due to the above, each work vehicle often travels and works without fully demonstrating its own work capacity in the separated section, which may reduce travel efficiency and work efficiency.
the controller is configured or programmed to execute division processing of creating a divided farm field map corresponding to the plurality of divided farm fields based on the division information; and the storage device is configured to store the divided farm field map (p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9).
Nishii discloses via p’s 56-57:
[0056] The work allocator 37 divides the work area A of the farm field H into a plurality of work blocks B based on each of the combine harvesters 1a and 1b to perform cooperative work in the farm field H, and allocates any of the combine harvesters 1a and 1b to each work block B. One or more work blocks B are allocated to the combine harvester 1a, and one or more work blocks B different from those of the combine harvester 1a are allocated to the combine harvester 1b. In response to, for example, an operation of the dividing button 61 of the work allocating screen 60 of the display 34, the work allocator 37 divides the work area A.
[0057] First, the work allocator 37 sets, to the work area A, the predetermined number of middle divisions C along the strip direction of the farm field H, thereby to divide the work area A into a plurality of work blocks B that are parallel in the direction of intersection with the strip direction, i.e., in a width direction. At this time, based on the own machine information of the combine harvesters 1a and 1b, the number of middle divisions of the middle division C (the number of blocks of a plurality of work blocks B) and a block width of each work block B (the number of block strip) are determined in a manner to optimize the combine harvesters 1a and 1b's harvesting traveling in the work area A.
As per claim 2, Nishii discloses wherein the division information includes areas of the plurality of divided farm fields; and the division processing includes processing of determining, based on the areas, a position of the division line by moving at least one side of the farm field map in parallel to a center side (p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via figure 5:
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As per claim 3, Nishii discloses wherein the acquisition device is configured to acquire types of crops to be planted in the plurality of divided farm fields; and the division processing includes processing of determining a map to which one of the types of crops is to be associated among the plurality of divided farm field maps (fig’s 6, 9; p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 66, 88-90) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via paragraph 21:
[0021] A self-driving and a manual driving allow the combine harvesters 1a and 1b to travel in the to-be-worked-on farm field and to perform harvesting and any other work so as to harvest crops from grain stalks planted in the farm field. It is assumed that, in the first embodiment, the combine harvester 1a is an automatic traveling work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a preliminarily -created travel path, and the combine harvester 1b is a work vehicle that travels in response to a manual driving by a worker.
As per claim 4, Nishii discloses wherein the farm field registration device is a management device configured to communicate with an agricultural machine configured to perform automatic driving; and the management device is configured to transmit the plurality of divided farm field maps to the agricultural machine (p’s 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9; p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via p66:
[0066] The travel path creator 38 creates the travel path P to be referred to for the automatic traveling and automatic harvesting (automatic harvesting traveling) by the self-driven combine harvester 1a in the farm field H and stores the travel path P in a storage 51, and sends the travel path P to the combine harvester 1a via the communicator 33. The travel path creator 38, for example, according to the operation of the creating button 71 of the travel path creating screen 70 of the display 34, creates the travel path P. The travel path includes not only any travel setting related to the automatic traveling, but also any work setting related to any work such as the automatic harvesting. In addition to the travel position in the farm field H, the travel setting includes the progressing direction (steering direction, and forward or backward) and a set vehicle speed at each travel position. The work setting includes any information about the harvesting traveling or stop at each travel position, the harvesting speed and harvesting height, the number of harvesting strips, and any other work.
As per claim 5, Nishii discloses wherein the controller is configured or programmed to generate a travel route of an agricultural machine in a case where the agricultural machine performs work travel by automatic driving, for each of the plurality of divided farm field maps (p’s 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9; p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via figure 9:
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As per claim 6, Nishii discloses wherein the farm field registration device is a management device configured to communicate with an agricultural machine configured to perform automatic driving; and the management device is configured to transmit the travel route generated by the controller to the agricultural machine (p’s 5-9; ab; p’s 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9; p’s 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via p’s 88-89:
[0088] As described above, according to the first embodiment, the combine harvester 1a, which works in the farm field in cooperation with the combine harvester 1b, is the work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on the travel path created in the farm field, and includes the portable terminal 30 that functions as the work allocator 37 which divides the work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on the combine harvesters 1a and 1b, and which allocates any of the combine harvesters 1a and 1b to each work block, and the controller 50 that functions as the self-driving controller 53 which performs the work of the work block allocated to the combine harvester 1a.
[0089] Also, according to the first embodiment, the work method of a plurality of work vehicles including at least one combine harvester 1a as an automatic traveling work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a travel path created in a farm field includes: an allocating process that divides a work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on each of the work vehicles, and that allocates any of the plurality of work vehicles to each of the work blocks, and a working process that allows the plurality of work vehicles to perform any work of the plurality of work blocks.
As per claim 7, Nishii discloses wherein the farm field registration device is an agricultural machine configured to perform automatic driving; and the agricultural machine is configured to generate a travel route in a case of performing work travel by automatic driving, for each of the plurality of divided farm field maps received from the management device (p’s 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9; p’s 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 5-9; ab) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via p’s 7-9:
[0007] For solving the above problem, a work method of the present invention is a work method of a plurality of work vehicles including at least one automatic traveling work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a travel path created in a farm field, the method including: an allocating process that divides a work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on each of the work vehicles, and that allocates any of the plurality of work vehicles to each of the work blocks, and a working process that allows the plurality of work vehicles to perform any work of the plurality of work blocks.
[0008] Also, for solving the above problem, a work vehicle of the present invention is a work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a travel path created in a farm field, the work vehicle including: a work allocator that divides a work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on a plurality of work vehicles including the work vehicle and another work vehicle, and that allocates any of the plurality of work vehicles to each of the work blocks, and a self-driving controller that performs a work of the work blocks' work block allocated to the work vehicle.
[0009] Also, for solving the above problem, a work system of the present invention is a work system of a plurality of work vehicles including at least one automatic traveling work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a travel path created in a farm field, the work system including: a work allocator that divides a work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on each of the work vehicles, and that allocates any of the plurality of work vehicles to each of the work blocks, wherein the plurality of work vehicles perform a work of the respectively allocated work blocks.
As per claim 8, Nishii discloses wherein the farm field registration device is an agricultural machine configured to perform automatic driving; and the agricultural machine is configured to generate a travel route in a case of performing work travel by automatic driving, for each of the plurality of divided farm field maps created by the division processing (p’s 20-21, 66, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 5-9; ab; p’s 88-90; fig’s 6, 9) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, figure 6 of Nishii discloses:
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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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishii et al. USPAP 2022/0382277, and further in view of Wu et al. USPAP 2021/0360850.
As per claims 1, 9 and 10, Nishii discloses a farm field registration device/method computer readable medium comprising: an acquisition device configured to acquire boundary information for defining a boundary line of a farm field;
a controller configured or programmed to create a farm field map in a predetermined data format based on the boundary information; and a storage device configured to store the farm field map; wherein the acquisition device is configured to acquire division information for defining a division line that divides the farm field into a plurality of divided farm fields each including a plantable area (p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5); paragraph 5 of Nishii discloses:
[0005] By the way, in the conventional technology such as the one in the Patent Document 1; so as to preliminarily prevent any extraordinary approach or collision between harvesters as a plurality of work vehicles, a single farm field is sectionalized into a plurality of sections by a middle division, and for each sectionalized section, any work by a master harvester and any work by a slave harvester are separated. In the conventional technology, however, the farm field is sectionalized into a plurality of sections thereby to separate the work vehicles to respective sections, without considering the work capacity of each of the work machines possessed by a plurality of work vehicles. Due to the above, each work vehicle often travels and works without fully demonstrating its own work capacity in the separated section, which may reduce travel efficiency and work efficiency.
the controller is configured or programmed to execute division processing of creating a divided farm field map corresponding to the plurality of divided farm fields based on the division information; and the storage device is configured to store the divided farm field map (p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9).
Nishii discloses all the limitations of the invention, however, arguendo, if Nishii is or might be interpreted such that it might not explicitly disclose storage device, then Wu discloses storage device (p’s 76-80, 82-91, 93, 97-100, 123; ab; fig’s 5, 10, 11, 4; p’s 39, 105). If this interpretation is taken, then it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Nishii to include storage device such as that taught by Wu in order to have storage be used to store data and/or software code. In one embodiment, the storage can be an internal storage unit in the automatic driving system, such as a hard disk or memory in the automatic driving system. In another embodiment, the storage may also be an external storage device in the automatic driving system, such as a plug-in hard disk of the automatic driving system, a Smart Media Card (SMC), a Secure Digital Card (SDC), a flash card and so on (Wu, p76).
Wu discloses via p88:
[0088] It should be noted that the image processing system 30 uses the image segmentation and recognition technology to identify the type of crop, the height of crop, the ripeness and other information from the image captured by the image acquisition device 20. The image processing system 30 can determine whether the crop has been harvested based on the type of the crop and the height of the crop in the identified image. The image processing system 30 can be used to adjust the operation parameters based on the particle plumpness in the identified image. In other words, the image processing system 30 can identify the area type of the farmland and the boundary of the farmland according to the image captured by the image acquisition device 20, and identify the type, the height, the particle plumpness, and the crop maturity, etc. of the crop in the farmland.
Wu discloses via p77:
[0077] The automatic driving system for grain processing shall divide the area type of the farmland according to the types and boundaries of each divided area, the area type divided by the automatic driving system include at least one worked area 100, at least one unworked area 200, and at least one field boundary area 300. The automatic driving system for grain processing determines a route of movement of a vehicle by a navigation system according to the divided area type, so as to achieve automatic driving.
Figure 5B of Wu discloses:
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Nishii discloses via p’s 56-57:
[0056] The work allocator 37 divides the work area A of the farm field H into a plurality of work blocks B based on each of the combine harvesters 1a and 1b to perform cooperative work in the farm field H, and allocates any of the combine harvesters 1a and 1b to each work block B. One or more work blocks B are allocated to the combine harvester 1a, and one or more work blocks B different from those of the combine harvester 1a are allocated to the combine harvester 1b. In response to, for example, an operation of the dividing button 61 of the work allocating screen 60 of the display 34, the work allocator 37 divides the work area A.
[0057] First, the work allocator 37 sets, to the work area A, the predetermined number of middle divisions C along the strip direction of the farm field H, thereby to divide the work area A into a plurality of work blocks B that are parallel in the direction of intersection with the strip direction, i.e., in a width direction. At this time, based on the own machine information of the combine harvesters 1a and 1b, the number of middle divisions of the middle division C (the number of blocks of a plurality of work blocks B) and a block width of each work block B (the number of block strip) are determined in a manner to optimize the combine harvesters 1a and 1b's harvesting traveling in the work area A.
As per claim 2, Nishii discloses wherein the division information includes areas of the plurality of divided farm fields; and the division processing includes processing of determining, based on the areas, a position of the division line by moving at least one side of the farm field map in parallel to a center side (p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via figure 5:
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As per claim 3, Nishii discloses wherein the acquisition device is configured to acquire types of crops to be planted in the plurality of divided farm fields; and the division processing includes processing of determining a map to which one of the types of crops is to be associated among the plurality of divided farm field maps (fig’s 6, 9; p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 66, 88-90) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via paragraph 21:
[0021] A self-driving and a manual driving allow the combine harvesters 1a and 1b to travel in the to-be-worked-on farm field and to perform harvesting and any other work so as to harvest crops from grain stalks planted in the farm field. It is assumed that, in the first embodiment, the combine harvester 1a is an automatic traveling work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a preliminarily -created travel path, and the combine harvester 1b is a work vehicle that travels in response to a manual driving by a worker.
As per claim 4, Nishii discloses wherein the farm field registration device is a management device configured to communicate with an agricultural machine configured to perform automatic driving; and the management device is configured to transmit the plurality of divided farm field maps to the agricultural machine (p’s 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9; p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via p66:
[0066] The travel path creator 38 creates the travel path P to be referred to for the automatic traveling and automatic harvesting (automatic harvesting traveling) by the self-driven combine harvester 1a in the farm field H and stores the travel path P in a storage 51, and sends the travel path P to the combine harvester 1a via the communicator 33. The travel path creator 38, for example, according to the operation of the creating button 71 of the travel path creating screen 70 of the display 34, creates the travel path P. The travel path includes not only any travel setting related to the automatic traveling, but also any work setting related to any work such as the automatic harvesting. In addition to the travel position in the farm field H, the travel setting includes the progressing direction (steering direction, and forward or backward) and a set vehicle speed at each travel position. The work setting includes any information about the harvesting traveling or stop at each travel position, the harvesting speed and harvesting height, the number of harvesting strips, and any other work.
As per claim 5, Nishii discloses wherein the controller is configured or programmed to generate a travel route of an agricultural machine in a case where the agricultural machine performs work travel by automatic driving, for each of the plurality of divided farm field maps (p’s 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9; p’s 5-9; ab; 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via figure 9:
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As per claim 6, Nishii discloses wherein the farm field registration device is a management device configured to communicate with an agricultural machine configured to perform automatic driving; and the management device is configured to transmit the travel route generated by the controller to the agricultural machine (p’s 5-9; ab; p’s 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9; p’s 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via p’s 88-89:
[0088] As described above, according to the first embodiment, the combine harvester 1a, which works in the farm field in cooperation with the combine harvester 1b, is the work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on the travel path created in the farm field, and includes the portable terminal 30 that functions as the work allocator 37 which divides the work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on the combine harvesters 1a and 1b, and which allocates any of the combine harvesters 1a and 1b to each work block, and the controller 50 that functions as the self-driving controller 53 which performs the work of the work block allocated to the combine harvester 1a.
[0089] Also, according to the first embodiment, the work method of a plurality of work vehicles including at least one combine harvester 1a as an automatic traveling work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a travel path created in a farm field includes: an allocating process that divides a work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on each of the work vehicles, and that allocates any of the plurality of work vehicles to each of the work blocks, and a working process that allows the plurality of work vehicles to perform any work of the plurality of work blocks.
As per claim 7, Nishii discloses wherein the farm field registration device is an agricultural machine configured to perform automatic driving; and the agricultural machine is configured to generate a travel route in a case of performing work travel by automatic driving, for each of the plurality of divided farm field maps received from the management device (p’s 66, 88-90; fig’s 6, 9; p’s 20-21, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 5-9; ab) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, Nishii discloses via p’s 7-9:
[0007] For solving the above problem, a work method of the present invention is a work method of a plurality of work vehicles including at least one automatic traveling work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a travel path created in a farm field, the method including: an allocating process that divides a work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on each of the work vehicles, and that allocates any of the plurality of work vehicles to each of the work blocks, and a working process that allows the plurality of work vehicles to perform any work of the plurality of work blocks.
[0008] Also, for solving the above problem, a work vehicle of the present invention is a work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a travel path created in a farm field, the work vehicle including: a work allocator that divides a work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on a plurality of work vehicles including the work vehicle and another work vehicle, and that allocates any of the plurality of work vehicles to each of the work blocks, and a self-driving controller that performs a work of the work blocks' work block allocated to the work vehicle.
[0009] Also, for solving the above problem, a work system of the present invention is a work system of a plurality of work vehicles including at least one automatic traveling work vehicle capable of automatically traveling based on a travel path created in a farm field, the work system including: a work allocator that divides a work area of the farm field into a plurality of work blocks based on each of the work vehicles, and that allocates any of the plurality of work vehicles to each of the work blocks, wherein the plurality of work vehicles perform a work of the respectively allocated work blocks.
As per claim 8, Nishii discloses wherein the farm field registration device is an agricultural machine configured to perform automatic driving; and the agricultural machine is configured to generate a travel route in a case of performing work travel by automatic driving, for each of the plurality of divided farm field maps created by the division processing (p’s 20-21, 66, 60-61; fig 5; p’s 30, 56-57, 46, 5-9; ab; p’s 88-90; fig’s 6, 9) as per the discussion above and the rejection of corresponding parts of the claims above incorporated herein and further, figure 6 of Nishii discloses:
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Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
[FP 7.05 and 7.05.016 with explanation provided]
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite acquiring boundary information, creating a farm field based on the boundary information, storing data, dividing the farm field, creating farm fields based on the division information and storing map.
The limitation of acquiring boundary information, creating a farm field based on the boundary information, storing data, dividing the farm field, creating farm fields based on the division information and storing map are processes that, under their broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components. That is, other than reciting “device, controller, storage device,” nothing in the claim element precludes the step from practically being performed in the mind. For example, but for the “device, controller, storage device” language, “acquiring boundary information, creating a farm field based on the boundary information, storing data, dividing the farm field, creating farm fields based on the division information and storing map” in the context of this claim encompasses the user manually getting boundary information and creating various farm fields. If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites generic additional computer elements– device, controller, storage device to perform the acquiring boundary information, creating a farm field based on the boundary information, storing data, dividing the farm field, creating farm fields based on the division information and storing map steps. The generic computer elements in the above steps are recited at a high-level of generality (i.e., as a generic device performing a generic computer function of acquiring boundary information, storing information, creating maps based on the acquired data) such that it amounts no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Accordingly, this additional element does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea. The claim is directed to an abstract idea.
The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. As discussed above with respect to integration of the abstract idea into a practical application, the additional element of using a device for acquiring and storing data and programming a device/controller to create maps based on the acquired data steps amounts to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The claim is not patent eligible.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Clifford et al. (U.S. patent application publication 2022/0122298) discloses a
graphical user interface (GUI) that facilitates graphical user interface (GUI) that facilitates dynamically partitioning agricultural fields into clusters on an individual agricultural field-basis using agricultural features. A map of a geographic area containing a plurality of agricultural fields may be rendered as part of a GUI. The agricultural fields may be partitioned into a first set of clusters based on a first granularity value and agricultural features of individual agricultural fields. The individual agricultural fields may be visually annotated in the GUI to convey the first set of clusters of similar agricultural fields. Upon receipt of a second granularity value different from the first granularity value, the agricultural fields may be partitioned into a second set of clusters of similar agricultural fields. The map of the geographic area may be updated so that individual agricultural fields are visually annotated to convey the second set of clusters.
Seitz et al. (U.S. patent application publication 2021/0386051) discloses a spray to a field using an agricultural spraying device. The method includes: monitoring a field section of the field having plants, using an optical and/or infrared detection unit; identifying at least one row of plants in the monitored field section using a processing
unit; using the processing unit, defining a plant region including the at least one identified row of plants in a specified evaluation portion of the monitored field section, using the at least one identified row of plants and a weed region different from the plant region; ascertaining a plant value of the weed region in the specified evaluation portion of the monitored field section using the processing unit; and applying the spray to the weed region of the specified evaluation portion as a function of the ascertained plant value, using spray nozzles of the agricultural spraying device. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BEHRANG BADII whose telephone number is (571)272-6879. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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/Behrang Badii/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3665
Prosecution Insights