DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 8/3/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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(s) 1, 3-6, and 8-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyazawa et al (US 5,845,727) in view of Shimomura et al (US 2013/0312539). Miyazawa discloses:
With regard to claim 1 - A cycle driving device having a torque sensor, comprising:
a crankset axle 13 or a hub connected to a plate 17 by a coupling member;
a driving and measuring member having a first section 14 secured in rotation with the crankset axle 13 or hub, and a second section 15 connected to the plate 17;
a permanent magnet supported by one of the first section 14 and the second section 15 of the driving and measuring member;
a torque detection device incorporated in the coupling member,
wherein the first and second sections 14, 15 cooperate through an elastically deformable element 16; and
wherein the torque detection device comprises a fixed probe 38 that measures a relative angular position of the first section and the second section (see column 13, line 35 – column 14, line 4).
Miyazawa fails to explicitly disclose the claimed structure of the torque detection device.
Shimomura teaches a torque measuring system comprising a driving and measuring member having a first section 11 and a second section 12;
a permanent magnet 14 supported by one of the first section and the second section;
a torque detection device 101; and
wherein the torque detection device 101 comprises a fixed magneto-sensitive probe 502 that measures a magnetic field according to the relative angular position of the first section 31 and the second section 32 and is capable of converting the magnetic field into an electrical signal (see ¶[0063]), the magnetic field measurement being performed at a single axial position in the periphery of the first section 11 and the second section 12; and
wherein the torque sensor 101 is an angular sensor comprising:
a first magnetized structure 14 comprising a plurality of magnetized poles, the first magnetized structure 14 secured to one of the first section 11 and the second section 12; and
a second structure secured to another of the first section 11 and the second section 12, the second structure comprising two extended concentric chainrings 31, 32 of interlocking teeth 315, 325, the two concentric chainrings 31, 32 defining at least one air gap in which the fixed magneto-sensitive probe 502 is placed.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the device of Miyazawa with the teaching of Shimomura so as to replace the torque sensor with that of Shimomura, with a reasonable expectation of success, to improve the detection accuracy of the turn angle (see ¶[0009]).
With regard to claim 3, Miyazawa and Shimomura fail to disclose wherein the first magnetized structure comprises a plurality of magnets in the form of a ring or a magnetized disc having a pole pitch of 3 mm to 4 mm. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to form the magnetic disc of Shimomura to have a pole pitch of 3 mm to 4 mm, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
With regard to claim 4, Shimomura teaches wherein the air gap is defined by a collector structure comprising two flux closure pieces 521, 522 inserted between the concentric chainrings.
With regard to claim 5, Miyazawa discloses wherein the first section 14 and the second section 15 cooperate by the elastically deformable element 16 and by a stop 14e, 15e limiting the angular stroke resulting from the elastic deformation of the coupling member.
With regard to claim 6, Miyazawa discloses wherein the elastically deformable element comprises a jaw coupling comprising at least one elastically deformable insert 16.
With regard to claim 8, Shimomura teaches an additional sensor 42 disposed close to the first magnetized structure and cooperating with the first magnetized structure to provide position or rate information.
With regard to claim 9, Miyazawa discloses wherein the second section is connected to the plate via a freewheel 18.
With regard to claim 10, Miyazawa discloses wherein the torque detection device controls electric pedaling assistance supplied by an electric motor to the plate or to the support body of a rear wheel (“And, the produced motor drive force is converted into appropriate torque by the reduction gear mechanism, this motor drive force is added to the manpower drive force by the combining mechanism and transmitted to the rear wheel 5, the electric bicycle is assisted by the motor power to run forward comfortably.” – column 8, lines 24-29).
With regard to claim 11, Miyazawa discloses wherein the electric motor is mechanically connected to the plate or to the support body of the rear wheel by a freewheel 18.
With regard to claim 12, Miyazawa discloses wherein the electric motor comprises a permanent magnet brushless electric motor (“The motor M comprises a rotor core 22 which is fixed to a motor shaft 21 by means of a key and has a magnet, and a stator core 23 which is disposed around the outer periphery of the rotor core 22 and directly fixed to the casing 12a. As shown in FIG. 4, the stator core 23 has ends of its radial poles 23a fixed to the inner part of the casing with bolts 24 which are parallel to the motor shaft. In other words, considering the positions of lines of magnetic force passing through the stator core 23, the parts having a low flux density of the lines of magnetic force are connected to the casing with the bolts 24, thereby minimizing adverse effects such as a hindrance to the magnetic flux or the like by forming bolt-holes and disposing the bolts, so that the motor performance can be prevented from being lowered. And, since the special motor casing is not required, it is possible to make the size compact.” – column 11, lines7- 22).
With regard to claim 13, Miyazawa discloses control electronics 8a for the electric motor and for the angular sensor integrated on a same support (“As shown in FIG. 6, power cables and sensor cords (hereinafter referred to as wirings 10a) of the motor M and sensors which are accommodated into the casing 12 are arranged to leave the main casing 12a through a single opening 12e formed on it. In this embodiment, the opening 12e is formed on the casing which is opposed to a circuit board 8a, connectors 10b are lead from the circuit board 8a, and the connectors 10b are positioned near the opening 12e. Thus, assembling ability and maintenance service can be improved. Besides, since the wirings 10a are also connected to other power supply and control by means of the connectors 10b connected to the leading ends of the wirings, assembling ability and maintenance service are improved in the same way.” – column 8, line 57 – column 9, line 3).
With regard to claim 14, Miyazawa discloses an additional sensor configured to provide position or rate information for controlling the electric motor (“The control circuit consists of a microcomputer which receives sensor signals from the leg power detecting means, a running speed sensor, an outside atmosphere senor and others in the power unit 11 and outputs a control signal to the motor drive circuit. This microcomputer includes an A/D converter for converting each input signal into a digital signal, an I/O port for reading the digital signal into or out of a memory space, a CPU for executing prescribed processing and determination based on the read data signal, a memory and the like. Therefore, based on the detected signals from various sensors, the microcomputer processes according to the program stored in the memory and outputs an appropriate operation command such as a duty set signal to the motor drive circuit.” – column 7, line 66 – column 8, line 12).
With regard to claim 15, Miyazawa discloses wherein the electric motor and the torque sensor are integrated into a module having electrical connections (see citation above).
With regard to claim 16, Miyazawa discloses wherein the module is integrated into a wheel and configured to be mounted on a cycle (see Fig. 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/3/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The modification of Miyazawa by the Shimomura teaching is intended to replace the entire sensor structure of Miyazawa with that taught by Shimomura. Thus, whether the sensor of Miyazawa is magnetic is now moot. Regarding the sensor of Shimomura, Applicant’s argument against the reference, that it does not teach “the magnetic field measurement being performed at a single axial position in the periphery of the first section and the second section” due to there being multiple magnetic sensors, is countered by the teaching of Shimomura in ¶[0063] that describes “At least one magnetic sensor 41 is disposed between the magnetism collecting parts (521, 522)”. This implies that the system may include a single sensor measuring the magnetic field at a single axial position. Regarding the argument that the magneto-sensitive probe is not placed in the air gap between concentric chainrings 31 and 32, Fig. 4 shows portions 521 and 522 of the probe as being disposed within the airgap of the chainrings. This figure corresponds to that of Applicant’s own Fig. 4B, which shows a probe similarly disposed in air gap 440. Thus, the rejection is maintained.
Conclusion
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/TIMOTHY WILHELM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617 September 3, 2026
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