PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15883366
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-01
Publication Date: 2019-08
Patent Classification: ["172", "021000"]

Abstract:
A soil penetrating apparatus having an automatic tool (e.g., aerator tine) depth control system and method. The system includes an actuator that sets and controls tine depth, a sensor that monitors tine depth, and a controller that controls the actuator in response to the sensor. In some embodiments, the actuator is a hydraulic actuator, wherein once tine depth is set, flow to the actuator is bypassed. A relief may be provided to allow the tines to lift to a shallower depth temporarily when soil hardness exceeds a threshold. The system may then automatically return the tines to the pre-selected depth once soil conditions permit.

Claim (Index 20):
An actuator assembly comprising:\n a linear actuator comprising: a cylinder; and a rod adapted to extend and retract from the cylinder; a rail support positioned proximate the cylinder; a sensor rail supported by the rail support and attached to the rod, wherein the sensor rail translates relative to the rail support as the sensor rail moves with the rod, the sensor rail defining a series of edges; and a quadrature encoder attached to the rail support, wherein the encoder detects the passage of edges of the series of edges as the rod extends and retracts from the cylinder.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 36.0
- Percentile: 86.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.85714
- Patent Class: 172.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['11474651', '11975277', '13435170', '12348286', '12713755']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7594272103636213
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5370286663266668
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7371873559599258
- Mean Citation Score: 293.542686
- Max Citation Score: 313.3399
- Similarity Product: 194.8316698985815

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test