DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to applicant’s communication filed on 10.9.25. In view of this communication, claims 1-4 are now pending in this application. Claims 5-9 are withdrawn.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10.9.25 has been entered.
Response to Arguments and Amendments
The Applicant has made amendments to the independent claim 1 which will be examined below.
With respect to 35 U.S.C 102 and 103 rejections, the Applicant provides arguments to which the
Examiner will respond accordingly:
Applicant Argument 1: Ito in Fig. 20 lacks two or more windings wound in an annular shape as only one
winding is wound in an annular shape. Thus, claim 1 and claims dependent therefrom would not have been obvious over Ito, even considering Takahashi, which does not remedy Ito's deficiencies described above. Ueda, cited for a dependent claim, fails to remedy all the deficiencies of Takahashi and Ito. Thus, the claims would not have been obvious over the cited art.
Examiner Response 1: Applicant has made amendments in claim 1 which will be prosecuted in below sections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tamura et al (WO2020175335A1 English translation PCT Filed 2.20.20), hereinafter Tamura.
Regarding Claim 1, Tamura discloses a rotating electrical machine [Abstract](Figs 111,120,127,13,14) comprising:
a magnetic field-producing unit (1710) including a magnet unit (1712) which is equipped with a plurality of magnetic poles [Abstract] whose polarities alternate [Abstract] in a circumferential direction [Abstract] of the magnet unit;
an armature (1720) which includes a multi-phase armature winding (1731)[Abstract]; and
a rotor (1710) which is implemented by one of the magnetic field-producing unit (1710) and the armature, wherein
the armature winding (1731) includes a plurality of winding segments (1801) each of which is made of a winding of a conductor wire member (CR,82)[0755] the winding segments being arranged at a given interval away from each other in the circumferential direction [0818] and facing (Fig 111) the magnet unit (1712),
each of the conductor wire members (82) is made of a bundle of a plurality of wires (86),
each of the winding segments (1801) is made of the conductor wire member which includes two or more windings (Fig 127b discloses multiple windings) wound in an annular shape (Fig 127) and includes a pair of straight portions (1802) and a pair of link portions (1803) , the straight portions extending straight in an axial direction (AA) of the rotor, the link portions connecting the straight portions together (Fig 127),
each of the straight portions (1802) includes turns of the conductor wire member which are arranged in multiple columns and layers (Fig 127b), and
each of the link portions (1803) has a space factor lower than those in the straight portions (1802)[ Presence of 1807 helps in space factor improvement of 1802 - Para 0822 discloses “This makes it possible to improve the space factor of the intermediate conductor portions 1802 arranged in the circumferential direction”].
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Regarding Claim 2, Tamura discloses the rotating electrical machine as set forth in claim 1. Tamura further discloses wherein each of the link portions (1803) is curved (1803 is in the form of letter C ) from end to end (Fig127b) thereof.
Regarding Claim 3, Tamura discloses the rotating electrical machine as set forth in claim 1. Tamura further discloses wherein each of the link portions (1803) has a dimension, as defined in a radial direction (R), which is larger than those of the straight portions (1802) [ Presence of 1807 helps in space factor improvement of 1802 - Para 0822 discloses “This makes it possible to improve the space factor of the intermediate conductor portions 1802 arranged in the circumferential direction”. There is no 1807 around 1803. Therefore width of 1803 in radial direction will occupy more space, hence larger].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tamura in view of Tamura.
Regarding Claim 4, Tamura discloses the rotating electrical machine as set forth in claim 1. Tamura further discloses wherein the turns of the conductor wire member (CR,82) are arranged adjacent to each other in contact between sides thereof in each of the straight portions (1802) are in contact (Fig 127) but does not explicitly disclose each of the conductor wire members has a rectangular cross section.
Tamura further discloses each of the conductor wire members has a rectangular cross section [Para 0344 discloses “However, this may be changed so that the conductor 82 is configured to be a rectangular conductor having a rectangular cross section”].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have formed rotating electric machine of Ito in view of Tamura with rectangular cross-section of conducting wire member as further taught by Tamura in order to have an optimal trade-off between additional cost of rectangular cross section versus better utilization of space for winding.
Conclusion
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/VISWANATHAN SUBRAMANIAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2834