DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
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 .
Status of Claims
This is the final rejection office action on the merits of Application No. 18/094,755 filed on 01/09/2023. Claims 1- 8 are pending. Claim 8 is new claim.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. The certified copy has been filed with application no JP2022-003339, filed on 01/12/2022.
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.
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.
Claims 1-4, and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable HANAI et al. (US 20250042233 A1) in view of Mito et al. (US 20180215256 A1).
Regarding claim 1, HANAI discloses a front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (e.g. 100, figs. 1-12, para 21) comprising:
a front-wheel drive unit (1F, fig. 2) including a front-side drive source (e.g. first motor 2F, fig. 2, paras 23/43) configured to drive a front wheel (e.g. WF) of the vehicle and a front-side transmission mechanism (e.g. 6F, para 23) disposed in a power transmission path between the front-side drive source (2F) and the front wheel (WF) and having a constant gear ratio, the front-side drive source being directly connected to the front-side transmission mechanism in the power transmission path; and
a rear-wheel drive unit (1R, fig. 2) including a rear-side drive source (e.g.2R, fig. 2) configured to drive a rear wheel (WR) of the vehicle and a rear-side transmission mechanism (e.g. 6R) disposed in a power transmission path between the rear-side drive source (2R) and the rear wheel (WR) and having a constant gear ratio, the rear- side drive source being directly connected to the rear-side transmission mechanism in the power transmission path;
wherein the front-wheel drive unit (1F) and the rear-wheel drive unit (1R) are spaced apart from each other in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle (see fig. 4), and
but fails to disclose wherein the gear ratio of the rear-side transmission mechanism is higher than the gear ratio of the front-side transmission mechanism, such that resonance is suppressed owing to a difference in rotational speeds of rotary parts between the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism.
Mito teaches a four wheel drive (e.g. 1, figs. 1-3) wherein the gear ratio of the rear-side transmission mechanism (14) is higher than the gear ratio of the front-side transmission mechanism (18) such that resonance is suppressed owing to a difference in rotational speeds of rotary parts between the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism. (see paras 15 and 17)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify HANAI by adjusting the gear ratio of the rear-side transmission mechanism is higher than the gear ratio of the front-side transmission mechanism as taught by Mito, so that high driving performance can be achieved. (see paras 24 and 53 of Mito)
Regarding claim 2, HANAI/ Mito discloses the front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (fig. 1) as modified according to claim 1, HANAI further discloses wherein each of the front-side transmission mechanism (6F) and the rear-side transmission mechanism (6R) includes at least three rotary shafts (e.g. 20, 40, 52, see fig. 2) that extend substantially in parallel to a width direction of the vehicle, and a plurality of gears (e.g. 31, 41, 42, 51) provided on the at least three rotary shafts, wherein the at least three rotary shafts of each of the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism include a differential rotary shaft (52, fig. 3) which is connected to a drive shaft (70, fig. 2, para 47) of the vehicle in a power transmittable manner and which is provided with a final gear (51) that is one of the plurality of gears, and wherein the front-side transmission mechanism (1F) and the rear-side transmission mechanism (1R) are different from each other in terms of a tooth number ratio between the final gear (51) and a pre-final gear (e.g. 42) which is one of the plurality of gears and which meshes with the final gear (51), such that the gear ratio of the rear-side transmission mechanism is different from the gear ratio of the front-side transmission mechanism.
Regarding claim 3, HANAI/ Mito discloses the front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (fig. 2) as modified according to claim 2, HANAI further discloses wherein a number (e.g. 3) of the at least three rotary shafts (e.g. 20, 40, 52, see fig. 2) of the front-side transmission mechanism (1F) and a number (e.g. 3) of the at least three rotary shafts (e.g. 20, 40, 52, see fig. 2) of the rear-side transmission mechanism (1R) are the same as each other, and a number (e.g. 3) of the plurality of gears of the front-side transmission mechanism (1F) and a number (e.g. 3) of the plurality of gears of the rear-side transmission mechanism (1R) are the same as each other, wherein a positional relationship among the at least three rotary shafts of the front-side transmission mechanism (1F) and a positional relationship among the at least three rotary shafts of the rear-side transmission mechanism (1R) are the same as each other, and a positional relationship between the plurality of gears of the front-side transmission mechanism and a positional relationship between the plurality of gears of the rear-side transmission mechanism are the same as each other, Mito further disclose wherein the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism are different from each other in terms of a tooth number of the final gear and a tooth number of the pre-final gear, such that the tooth number of the final is larger in the rear-side transmission mechanism than in the front-side transmission mechanism, and such that the tooth number of the pre-final gear is larger in the front-side transmission mechanism than in the rear-side transmission mechanism, whereby the gear ratio of the rear-side transmission mechanism is higher than the gear ratio of the front-side transmission mechanism, and wherein the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism are the same as each other in terms of a tooth number of each of other of the plurality of gears that is other than the final gear and the pre-final gear.
Regarding claim 4, HANAI/ Mito discloses the front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (fig. 2) as modified according to claim 3, HANAI further discloses wherein each of the front-side drive source (2F) and the rear-side drive source (2R) includes an output shaft (e.g. 20, para 44) extending in the width direction of the vehicle and disposed on a first axis (e.g. A1, fig. 2, para 22) that is substantially parallel to the width direction of the vehicle, wherein the at least three rotary shafts of each of the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism include an input rotary shaft (e.g. 30, fig. 2), an intermediate rotary shaft (e.g. 40) and the differential rotary shaft (e.g. 52), wherein the input rotary shaft of each of the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism is disposed on the first axis (e.g. A1), and is provided with a drive gear (31) that is one of the plurality of gears, wherein the input rotary shaft (30) of the front-side transmission mechanism (1F) is connected to the front-side drive source (2F, fig. 2) in a power transmittable manner, while the input rotary shaft (30) of the rear-side transmission mechanism (1R) is connected to the rear-side drive source (2R) in a power transmittable manner, wherein the intermediate rotary shaft (40) of each of the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism is disposed on a second axis (e.g. A3) that is parallel to the first axis (e.g. A1), and is provided with the pre-final gear (42) and a large-diameter gear (41) that is one of the plurality of gears, such that the large-diameter gear is larger in diameter than the pre-final gear (42) and is axially spaced apart from the pre-final gear, and such that rotation is to be transmitted to the large-diameter gear from the drive gear, and wherein the differential rotary shaft (52) of each of the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism, which is connected to the drive shaft (70), is disposed on a third axis (e.g. A2) that is parallel to the first axis (A1), and is provided with the final gear (51) that meshes with the pre-final gear (42) such that rotation is to be transmitted to the final gear from the pre-final gear.
Regarding claim 6, HANAI/ Mito discloses the front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (fig. 1) as modified according to claim 1, HANAI further discloses wherein the front-side drive source (2F, fig. 2) and the rear-side drive source (2R, fig. 2) are the same as each other in terms of an axial length and a diameter of a rotor of the electric motor. (see para 7)
Regarding claim 7, HANAI/ Mito discloses the front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (fig. 2) as modified according to claim 3, HANAI further discloses wherein the gear ratio of the front-side transmission mechanism (6F) is an input rotational speed of the front-side transmission mechanism to an output rotational speed of the front-side transmission mechanism, and wherein the gear ratio of the rear-side transmission mechanism (6R) is an input rotational speed of the rear-side transmission mechanism to an output rotational speed of the rear-side transmission mechanism. (see para 23 “As shown in, for example, FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, the front-wheel drive unit 1F includes a first rotary electric machine 2F including a first rotor 21F, a first differential gear assembly 5F that distributes a driving force transmitted to a first differential input gear 51F to the pair of front wheels WF, a first transmission gear assembly 6F that transmits the driving force between the first rotor 21F and the first differential input gear 51F, and a first case 10F.”)
Regarding claim 8, HANAI/ Mito discloses the front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (fig. 2) as modified according to claim 1, Mito further discloses wherein the front-side transmission mechanism and the rear-side transmission mechanism are different from each other in terms of meshing frequencies of gears included in the front-side transmission mechanism and gears included in the rear-side transmission mechanism, such that the resonance is suppressed. (see para 17 of Mito)
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HANAI et al. (US 20250042233 A1) in view of Mito et al. (US 20180215256 A1)and further in view of Cho et al. (US 20210394738 A1)(hereinafter “Cho”).
Regarding claim 5, HANAI/ Mito discloses the front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (fig. 1) as modified according to claim 1, HANAI further discloses a control apparatus (e.g. 9, fig. 8, para 33) but fails to disclose the control apparatus is configured to detect whether unevenness is present on a road surface or not, depending on whether a rotational speed of the front wheel is changed or not, wherein the control apparatus is configured, when detecting that the unevenness is present on the road surface, to limit a torque of the rear-side drive source.
Cho teaches a front/rear-wheel independent drive vehicle (100, figs. 1-3) wherein a control apparatus (e.g. 210, 220, 230, 240, 200, fig. 2, paras 40-46)) which is configured to detect whether unevenness (e.g. slope or gradient, para 8) is present on a road surface or not, depending on whether a rotational speed of the front wheel ( via when speed sensor, see paras 8, 42) is changed or not, wherein the control apparatus is configured, when detecting that the unevenness is present on the road surface, to limit a torque of the rear-side drive source (see para 49).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify HANAI/ Mito by adding the feature of control apparatus to detect unevenness of the road based on the wheel speed as taught by Cho, such as the control of the drive will be reliable and the drive will be smooth and comfortable on an uneven road.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see filed 06/26/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive, a new reference has been applied (Mito et al. US 20180215256 A1) that discloses the limitation, as appears above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/F.P/Examiner, Art Unit 3655
/FARHANA PERVIN/Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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