PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15945614
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-04
Publication Date: 2018-08
Patent Classification: ["361", "139000"]

Abstract:
Some embodiments provide irrigation valve control apparatuses comprising: a solenoid configured to cooperate with a plunger; an input stimulus source coupled with the solenoid and configured to apply an input stimulus while a plunger drive signal is not being applied and that is sufficiently small to not cause the plunger to move; sampling circuitry configured to measure one or more voltage measurements corresponding to one or more voltages across the solenoid, wherein the one or more voltage measurements are dependent upon the current position of the plunger relative to the solenoid; and control circuitry cooperated with the sampling circuitry to receive the one or more voltage measurements from the sampling circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine whether the plunger is in one of the open and closed positions based on the one or more voltage measurements.

Claim (Index 22):
An irrigation apparatus, comprising:\n a solenoid configured to cooperate with a plunger and to receive a plunger drive signal from plunger activation circuitry wherein the plunger drive signal is configured to induce a magnetic field relative to the solenoid that causes the plunger to change positions between open and closed positions causing an opening and closing of an irrigation valve; first switching circuitry cooperated with the solenoid, wherein the first switching circuitry is configured, upon activation, to dictate a direction of electrical current flow through the solenoid, wherein the direction of current flow while the plunger drive signal is applied controls a direction of movement of the plunger in response to the application of the plunger drive signal; an input stimulus source cooperated with the solenoid, wherein the input stimulus source is configured to generate an input stimulus that is applied to a first terminal of the solenoid at a time while the plunger drive signal is not being applied to the solenoid, and wherein the input stimulus does not cause the plunger to change from a current position; a resistive load cooperated with a second terminal of the solenoid; sampling circuitry coupled with the resistive load, wherein the sampling circuitry is configured to measure one or more voltage measurements across the resistive load in response to the input stimulus; and control circuitry coupled with the sampling circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive the one or more voltage measurements, determine a current passing through the resistive load as a function of the one or more voltage measurements, calculate an estimated inductance of the solenoid as a function of the determined current and a timing of the input stimulus, and determine whether the plunger is in one of the open position and the closed position as a function of the estimated inductance of the solenoid.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 14.0
- Percentile: 91.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.11594
- Patent Class: 361.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15445390', '14133595', '15606413', '14133598', '14873561']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8996604832015309
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.6249452931029432
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8721889641916721
- Mean Citation Score: 450.09112200000015
- Max Citation Score: 526.3628
- Similarity Product: 523.7191292634964

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

Dataset: test