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 .
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.
Claims 15-24, 27, and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al. (JP2008273361) in view of van der Knaap et al. (EP3035506A1).
With respect to claims 15 and 21, Sato et al. disclose a control apparatus (ECU)/steering device for a vehicle having a steering device (see figure 1), comprising a pump device with a pump (30), for pumping a working medium to a first output port (see connections in figure 1 and paragraphs [0008] and [0009] of attached translation) or a second output port of the pump device, and an electric motor (20) for driving the pump (30, [0014] of attached translation), a transmission device (St) which has an input shaft that is couplable to a steering wheel (see figure 1), a movable transmission element (60) for transmitting a torque from the input shaft to an output in a first direction and a second direction (left and right in Fig 1), and a first working medium port (see connections to the cylinder unit in figure 1 along P1) and a second working medium port (see connections to the cylinder unit in figure 1 along P2), wherein the first working medium port is connected to the first output port for moving the transmission element (60) in the first direction using the working medium and the second working medium port is connected to the second output port for moving the transmission element (60 in the second direction) using the working medium (see figure 1 and paragraphs [0016] and [0017] of attached translation), and a valve (40) that is connected between the first output port and the second output port (valve 40 is switched, as shown in figure 1, between the two connections, it is insignificant in which direction the valve lies), wherein the apparatus comprises a control unit (ECU) configured to provide a motor signal (motor 20 is electronically actuated by the control unit; see paragraphs [0022] and [0023] of attached translation, the shaft 21 is not rotated in this state and the hydraulic liquid is led via the short-circuited valve 40 via the channels 81a in the electric motor in order to be preheated) to the electric motor (20) of the steering device to operate the electric motor in a preheating phase for heating the working medium (20), and provide a valve opening signal (valve 40 is electronically actuated by the controller, see paragraphs [0009] and [0018] of attached translation, the preheated hydraulic liquid is led via the open valve 40 back to the tank, wherein at the desired temperature or after a specific time, the valve is closed again for normal operation) for opening the valve (40) of the steering device. Sato et al. do not disclose that the output shaft is couplable to a steering column lever. Van der Knaap et al., however, disclose that an output is couplable to a steering column lever (Fig 4). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to substitute the steering transmission of Sato et al. with the steering column lever of Knaap et al., since such a modification appears to be merely one of several possibilities from which a person skilled in the art would choose, and it appears such a substitution would yield nothing more than predictable results, namely, that torque would be transmitted from the input shaft utilizing the hydraulic system of Sato et al.
With respect to claim 16, wherein the control unit is further configured to: provide the motor signal to the electric motor for driving the electric motor for moving the steering column lever in a normal operating phase, and provide a valve closing signal to the valve for closing the valve ([0018] of attached translation).
With respect to claim 17, wherein the control unit is further configured to: provide the motor signal in the preheating phase as a signal that causes a current flow through a motor winding of the electric motor from which no rotation of a rotor of the electric motor results ([0022-0023] of attached translation).
With respect to claim 18, wherein the control unit is further configured to: provide the motor signal in the preheating phase as a signal that causes a current flow of a first magnitude through the motor winding, resulting in a rotation of the rotor with a first rotation rate, and provide the motor signal as a signal in the normal operation phase that causes the current flow of the first magnitude through the motor winding, resulting in the rotation of the rotor with a second rotation rate greater than the first rotation rate (torque of the rotor is dependent on the flow variable used for the actuation, and the temperature exchange is influenced in the same way; so as the current increases, the rotation rate also increases).
With respect to claim 19, wherein the control unit is further configured to: activate the preheating phase in response to a temperature signal indicating a temperature below a threshold value ([0022-0023] of attached translation).
With respect to claim 20, wherein the control unit is further configured to: activate the preheating phase in response to a start signal indicating a cold start of the vehicle (a temperature sensor is used via which a start signal is triggered; [0022-0023] of attached translation).
With respect to claim 22, wherein a motor winding of the electric motor is surrounded by the working medium (Fig 2).
With respect to claim 23, wherein the pump and the electric motor have a common shaft and are arranged in a common housing (Fig 2).
With respect to claim 24, wherein the housing has a channel for conducting the working medium from an inlet along an inner wall of the housing to the motor winding, and the channel is shaped to conduct the working medium around the motor winding (Fig 2).
With respect to claim 27, wherein the pump is a bidirectional hydraulic pump (Fig 1).
With respect to claim 28, the apparatus discussed above meets the method limitations.
Claims 25-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sato et al. (JP2008273361) in view of van der Knaap et al. (EP3035506A1), as applied to claim 21 as discussed above, and further in view of Bitou et al. (EP2353969A2).
With respect to claim 25, the combination of Sato et al. and van der Knaap et al. discloses the claimed invention discussed above but does not specifically disclose wherein a rotor of the electric motor has a plurality of permanent magnets, wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of permanent magnets are spaced apart by slots for passing the working medium through. Bitou et al., however, disclose that an electric motor rotor has a plurality of permanent magnets, wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of permanent magnets are spaced apart by slots for passing the working medium through [0019]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to further modify the invention of Sato et al. in view of the teachings of Bitou et al. to have an electric motor with the magnetic function discussed above, since it was old and well known in the art, and one of ordinary skill would have expected it to yield nothing more than predictable results, namely, that the magnets would generate a drive for circulating the working medium.
With respect to claim 26, wherein the slots are shaped to convey the working medium when the rotor rotates [0019].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DREW J BROWN whose telephone number is (571)272-1362. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday.
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DREW BROWN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
/DREW J BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3614