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 15):
A turf aerator comprising:\n a chassis supported upon a soil surface by left and right drive members; a coring head assembly operatively attached to the chassis and adapted to rotate about a coring head axis transverse to a longitudinal axis of the aerator, the coring head assembly movable between an elevated position and any one of a plurality of aerating positions; a prime mover attached to the chassis and adapted to power the coring head assembly and one or more of the drive members; and a depth control system adapted to maintain a desired soil penetration depth of the coring head assembly as the coring head assembly moves over turf areas of different soil hardness, the control system comprising: a control input adapted to set a desired soil penetration depth corresponding to one of the plurality of aerating positions of the coring head assembly; a sensor operable to estimate a position of the coring head assembly; a relief adapted to permit a reduction of soil penetration depth to a depth less than the desired soil penetration depth when the coring head assembly encounters a soil hardness exceeding a predetermined hardness threshold; an actuator adapted to return the coring head assembly to the desired soil penetration depth when the soil hardness is again at or below the predetermined hardness threshold; and a controller adapted to energize the actuator to move the coring head assembly to the desired soil penetration depth.

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): 0.7597834419694337
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5325607896380098
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7370611767362913
- Mean Citation Score: 293.542686
- Max Citation Score: 313.3399
- Similarity Product: 225.7469772910356

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