Appeal No. 1999-1101
Application 08/727,125
Appellants argue that Demetriades-Shah does not suggest
using radiation and sensing of reflection in an on-line system
such as that taught by Monson even in view of Peterson (Br15).
Demetriades-Shah teaches measurement of a characteristic
of the crop, its reflectance, which characteristic is directly
related to chlorophyll concentration, which, in turn, is
directly related to nitrogen requirements of the crop. One of
ordinary skill in the sensing art would have had sufficient
skill to appreciate that the reflectance measurements and
calculations in Demetriades-Shah can be done in real time
because they are similar in nature to the spectrographic
analysis in Monson, unlike the hand-held meter in Peterson and
unlike chemical assaying of plant nitrogen status. One of
ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to apply
remote sensing in a real-time fertilization system in view of
Monson. Demetriades-Shah and Peterson provide the motivation
to use remote sensing of physical characteristics of the crop,
instead of the soil, to determine fertilizer requirements.
Appellants argue that "Demetriades-Shah, et al., teaches
away from the necessary reflectance measurement in which the
light is reflected down and then upwardly by referring to
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