PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15908947
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-03
Publication Date: 2018-07
Patent Classification: ["172", "002000"]

Abstract:
A disc opener unit for an agricultural implement has a down pressure adjustment device that automatically adjusts the amount of down pressure applied on a furrowing disc based on strain measurements taken by a strain gauge or load cell. The strain gauge, which may be mounted to an arm that is used to set the position of a depth setting gauge wheel, provides feedback to a processor that in turn controls the amount of hydraulic fluid in a hydraulic cylinder to adjust the down force applied on the disc. The amount of down pressure is therefore adjusted in substantially real-time in response to changes in field conditions, which improves furrow depth consistency and reduces wear on the gauge wheel and its components.

Claim (Index 18):
An agricultural implement, comprising:\n a toolbar configured to be coupled to a towing vehicle; a rock shaft; a cylinder coupled between the toolbar and the rockshaft, the actuator being configured to actuate the rockshaft relative to the toolbar; a plurality of disc opener units ganged to the rock shaft, each of the plurality of disc opener units comprising:\n a disc configured to cut a trench into the ground, and \n a gauge wheel assembly configured to set a penetration depth of the disc, the gauge wheel assembly comprising a gauge wheel and a depth control arm coupled to the gauge wheel via a crankshaft extending through a center of the disc, the depth control arm including a first end coupled to the crankshaft and a second end configured to engage a depth adjustment member of the disc opener unit; \n a load sensor installed on the depth control arm of a first disc opener unit of the plurality of disc opener units, the load sensor being configured to detect a load applied through the gauge wheel assembly of the first disc opener unit; and a controller configured to monitor the load applied through the gauge wheel assembly of the first disc opener unit based on data received from the load sensor, the controller being further configured to adjust an operation of the cylinder based on the monitored load to maintain a desired down pressure on the discs of the plurality of disc opener units.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 41.0
- Percentile: 90.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.70667
- Patent Class: 172.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['12820720', '12820759', '14571603', '13605210', '12621959']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7601450510984821
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5386562451000826
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7379961704986422
- Mean Citation Score: 327.857366
- Max Citation Score: 407.91092
- Similarity Product: 355.58384626281736

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 0
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 0
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test