Appeal No. 1999-1101
Application 08/727,125
This is a decision on appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134 from
the final rejection of claims 1-4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, and
17-21. Claims 5, 8, 11, 14, 22, and 23 stand allowed. In the
examiner's answer (Paper No. 22), page 2, claim 14 is allowed
and claims 15 and 16 are noted to contain allowable subject
matter.
We affirm.
BACKGROUND
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for the
real-time determination and application of optimum amounts of
fertilizer to a crop. A physical attribute related to the
fertilizer requirement of the crop is sensed and used to
control the fertilizer application. The fertilizer
application may be controlled by comparing a sensed physical
characteristic of a reference area of the crop that is known
to have sufficient fertilizer with a non-reference area of the
crop.
Claim 1 is reproduced below.
1. A method for controlling the application of
fertilizer to a crop having a physical attribute related
to the fertilizer requirement of said crop, comprising
the steps of:
- 2 -
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007