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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/21/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Amendments submitted on 04/21/2026 have been considered and entered. Claims 1, 2, 4, 12, 14 and 16 have been amended and claims 3, 5 and 6 have been canceled. Claims 1, 2, 4 and 7-16 are pending in the present application.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 7, 8 and 10-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue (JP 2015124811 A) in view of (JP WO 202000457 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 12 and 14, Inoue discloses a brake device (Figs. 1-31) comprising:
a main braking caliper body (9);
a brake pad part including a first brake pad (11a in fig. 26) and a second brake pad (11b) that are arranged at one side and another side of the main braking caliper body and have first surfaces facing each other;
a main braking piston (45a, 45b, 46a, 46b) pressurizing second surfaces of the first brake pad and the second brake pad to shorten a distance between the first brake pad and the second brake pad;
a parking caliper body (10 in fig. 27) coupled to the main braking caliper body and including a locking part (29a in fig. 27) caught by the second surface of the first brake pad (11a); and
a parking piston (13 in fig. 30) installed on the parking caliper body and pressuring the second surface of the second brake pad, wherein, when the parking piston pressurizes the second brake pad, the locking part of the parking caliper body moves the first brake pad toward the second brake pad (note the abstract),
wherein the main braking caliper body includes a guide hole (although not shown but note the end of the guide rods 48a and 48b inserted into the main caliper body 10b at 15b adjacent to members 49a and 49b in fig. 27) extending in a direction parallel to a direction in which the parking piston moves,
wherein the parking caliper body includes a guide rod (48a and 48b) inserted into the guide hole and sliding along the guide hole when the parking piston is driven (note the guide pins 48a and 48b, a pair of portions formed on the inner side end of the floating caliper 10b with the intermediate portion of the portion protruding to the inner side from the inner body portion 15b as a sliding portion, wherein the guide holes formed at the respective distal end portions of the arm portions 47a and 47b, the displacement in the axial direction is loosely inserted as disclosed by Inoue).
Inoue discloses all claimed limitations as set forth above including the guide rod but fails to disclose an assembly bolt coupling the guide rod to the parking caliper body as recited in the claim. However, JP ‘057 disclose a similar brake assembly comprising; a main caliper (30), a guide pin (10B in figs. 13-14) disposed in a through hole of the mail caliper coupling the caliper unit to the arm portions via a bolt (106). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time before the filing date of the present application was made to modify the connecting members of Inoue with the teaching of JP ‘057 will provide positive connection of the parking caliper unit and prevent it from getting loose overtime.
Re-claim 7, Inoue discloses the main braking piston includes a first main braking piston (45a and 46a in fig. 31) pressuring the second surface of the first brake pad, and a second main braking piston (45b and 46b in fig. 30) pressuring the second surface of the second brake pad, and
wherein the first main braking piston and the second main braking piston operate symmetrically to each other.
Re-claim 8, Inoue discloses when the parking piston (13) is driven, the parking caliper body moves in a direction of the second brake pad with respect to the main braking caliper body (note the abstract).
Re-claim 10, Inoue discloses a pair of the second main braking pistons (45b and 46b in fig. 30) are provided in a perpendicular direction to a direction in which the pair of the second main braking pistons move, and wherein the parking piston (13) is located between the pair of second main braking pistons.
Re-claim 11, Inoue discloses a parking motor (36 in fig. 27) located at an upper side of the parking piston and providing driving force to the parking piston; and
a pinion gear (gears disposed in the casing 37) transmitting force of the parking motor, wherein a rotation axis of the parking motor is parallel to a direction in which the parking piston is pressurized (note fig. 29).
Re-claims 13 and 15, Inoue discloses the main braking piston includes a first main braking piston pressuring the second surface of the first brake pad (11a), and a second main braking piston pressuring the second surface of the second brake pad (11b),
wherein the first main braking piston and the second main braking piston operate symmetrically to each other, and
wherein, when the parking piston (13) is driven, the parking caliper body moves in a direction of the second brake pad with respect to the main braking caliper body (note the abstract).
Re-claim 16, Inoue discloses the rotating wheel includes an outer surface facing outward of the vehicle and an inner surface facing inward, wherein the first brake pad is located on the outer surface of the rotating wheel faces one surface of the brake disc, and wherein the second brake pad and the parking piston are located on the inner surface of the rotating wheel face the other surface of the brake disc (note the both pads 11a and 11b are pressed against both side surfaces of the rotor 1).
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue (JP 2015124811 A) in view of (JP WO 202000457 A1), and further in view of Yachi (WO 2015098781 A1).
Re-claim 2, Inoue discloses the main braking caliper body includes:
the first accommodation part (23) that is located in a direction of the second surface of the first brake pad and into which the locking part of the parking caliper body is inserted; and
a second accommodation part (24a in fig. 30) that is located in a direction of the second surface of the second brake pad and including the parking piston positioned thereon.
Inoue discloses all claimed limitations as set forth above including a first accommodation part (23) but fails to disclose the first accommodation part included in the main braking caliper body includes a stopper having one side that is opened to expose at least a portion of the first brake pad, and another side limiting a movement range of the parking caliper body as recited in the claim. However, Yachi disclose a similar caliper body comprising a first accommodation part (23 in fig. 7) included in the main braking caliper body includes a stopper (note the thin wall member of the caliper body partially covering the portion (29 in fig. 7) of the floating caliper body (10) having one side that is opened to expose at least a portion of the first brake pad (11a), and another side limiting a movement range of the parking caliper body (29). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time before the filing date of the present application was made to modify the main caliper body of Inoue to provide the stopper as taught by Yachi will provide extra support to the caliper body while protecting the braking members from being damaged by foreign object.
Re-claim 4, Inoue discloses an upper surface of the main braking caliper body includes the open top portion (note the top view of the caliper body having an open portion where the pads 11a and 11b can be seen as shown in fig. 27), and wherein the parking caliper body includes an upper portion covering at least a portion the open top portion of the main braking caliper body and connecting the locking part and the parking piston.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue (JP 2015124811 A) in view of (JP WO 202000457 A1), and further in view of Yachi (WO 2015098781 A1), and even further in view of Wang (US 2022/0212644 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Inoue discloses all claimed limitations as set forth above including the displacement of the parking piston to apply the parking operation but fails to disclose when the parking piston is driven, an extension length of the parking piston corresponds to a sum of a moving distance of the second brake pad and a moving distance of the parking caliper body. However, Wang discloses a similar electronic parking caliper assembly comprising a parking piston, wherein when the parking piston is driven, an extension length of the parking piston corresponds to a sum of a moving distance of the second brake pad and a moving distance of the parking caliper body (note the displacement of the piston 51 in figs. 3-6). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time before the filing date of the present application was made to apply the teaching of Wang to displace the parking piston of Inoue will provide a stronger clamping force ensuring a reliable braking application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 2, 4 and 7-16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on some reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Regarding Inoue, the examiner notes that the main braking caliper body of Inoue includes a guide hole (although not shown but note the end of the guide rods 48a and 48b inserted into the main caliper body 10b at 15b adjacent to members 49a and 49b in fig. 27) extending in a direction parallel to a direction in which the parking piston moves, wherein the parking caliper body includes a guide rod (48a and 48b) inserted into the guide hole and sliding along the guide hole when the parking piston is driven (note the guide pins 48a and 48b, a pair of portions formed on the inner side end of the floating caliper 10b with the intermediate portion of the portion protruding to the inner side from the inner body portion 15b as a sliding portion, wherein the guide holes formed at the respective distal end portions of the arm portions 47a and 47b, the displacement in the axial direction is loosely inserted as disclosed by Inoue). Inoue relies on JP ‘057 for the teaching of the bolt as JP ‘057 disclose a similar brake assembly comprising; a main caliper (30), a guide pin (10B in figs. 13-14) disposed in a through hole of the mail caliper coupling the caliper unit to the arm portions via the bolt (106). As set forth above, It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time before the filing date of the present application was made to modify the connecting members of Inoue with the teaching of JP ‘057 will provide positive connection of the parking caliper unit and prevent it from getting loose overtime. Therefore, it is clear that the combination of the references as set forth above discloses all of the limitations as recited in the claims and thus the rejections are proper and valid.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHBUBUR RASHID whose telephone number is (571)272-7218. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9am to 10pm EST.
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/MAHBUBUR RASHID/Examiner, Art Unit 3616
/Robert A. Siconolfi/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3616
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