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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “essentially” in claim 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “essentially” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Because “essentially” has not been defined, a person of ordinary skill in the art would not be able to reasonably determine what would constitute enough rotation of the brake housing to not infringe upon “essentially prevent rotation.”
Any claim not specifically addressed under 112(b) is rejected as being dependent on a claim rejected under 112(b).
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 (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 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.
Claims 1, 12, 13, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2018/222105 A1 to Hellholm et al (hereinafter Hellholm).
Regarding claim 1, Hellholm discloses a track assembly (21) for a tracked vehicle (10) (Fig. 1 & p. 9 lns 6-17), said track assembly (21) being configured to be connected to a vehicle body (30) of said vehicle (10) (Fig. 1 & p. 9 lns 6-17), said track assembly (21) comprising a track support beam (22) configured to support a plurality of road wheels (23,23a) (Fig. 3a/b & p. 11 lns 4-7), a drive wheel member (24), and a drive arrangement (100) for operating said drive wheel member (24) (Figs. 3a/b and 5 & p. 11 lns. 8-14), said drive wheel member (24) being configured to be rotated about a centre axis (z) (Figs. 3a/b and 5 & p. 13 lns 19-25, p. 14 lns 7-10, p. 15 lns 7-9), an endless track (25) being disposed around said road wheels (23,23a) and drive wheel member (24) (Fig. 3a), wherein said drive arrangement (100) comprises a drive unit (110) for driving said drive wheel member (24) (Fig. 5 & p. 16 lns 21-27), and a brake arrangement (140) for braking the drive wheel member (24) (Fig. 5 & p. 18 lns 4-7), wherein said drive arrangement (100) comprises a drive axle (112) being configured to be coaxially arranged relative to said centre axis (Z) of said drive wheel member (24) for rotating said drive wheel member (24) (Figs. 3a/b and 5 & p. 16 lns 21-27), wherein the brake arrangement (140) comprises a housing configured to provide an enclosure for brake members of said brake arrangement (Fig. 6 & p. 20 lns 7-23 disclose the brake may be a variety of different types of brakes but at a minimum include a stator. The housing is depicted in Fig. 6, arrow 140 is pointing to the exterior structure of the brake which is interpreted as being the housing. See also Fig. 5.), wherein said brake arrangement (140) is configured to be journaled in bearings (120) in connection to a portion of the drive axle (112) protruding from said drive wheel member (24) so as to allow rotation of said drive axle (112) relative to said brake housing (Figs. 4-6 & p. 17 lns 14-24, p. 19 lns 13-20, claim 10 disclose the drive arrangement, which includes brake 140, includes bearing configuration 120 allowing the drive wheels to rotate relative to the stator of the motor, particularly between the motor housing and the drive wheel housing 24c. Further, p. 19 lns 26-27 state that the drive axle rotates with the drive wheel 24. P. 15 lns 16-22 disclose the fork 80 fixedly attaches non-rotating parts of the drive arrangement 100 and p. 20 lns 7-18 disclose the fork is fixedly attached to the stator of the brake 140, and thus at least the stator and housing of the brake are interpreted as being non-rotating. Because the housing/stator of the brake is non-rotating and the drive axle is rotatable the brake and the drive axle are interpreted as being journaled in bearings relative to each other), wherein said brake arrangement comprises a torque arm (80) configured to be connected to said track support beam (22) so as to essentially prevent rotation of said brake housing of said brake arrangement (140) about said centre axis (Z), wherein said torque arm (80) is attached to or constitutes a portion of said brake housing (140) (Figs. 3a-6 & p. 15 lns 10-13, 16-22 and p. 20 lns 7-18 which disclose, as discussed above that the fork 80 non-rotatingly fastens the brake to the support beam 22).
Regarding claim 12, depending on claim 1, Hellholm further discloses wherein said torque arm (80) is configured to provide torque resistance in connection to a brake action of said brake arrangement (140) on said drive axle (112) (As discussed above in the rejection of claim 1, Hellholm discloses the arm 80 non-rotatably fixes the brake arrangement 140, therefore any brake action is assisted by the arm 80 because it prevents it from rotating.).
Regarding claim 13, depending on claim 1, Hellholm further discloses wherein said torque arm (80) is configured to be movably connected to said track support beam (22) such that the movement of the torque arm (80) and hence brake arrangement (140) relative to said track support beam (22) is a movement in the longitudinal direction of said endless track (25) (compare Figs. 3a/b with Fig. 4 which depict a fully assembled arrangement of the track assembly and a disassembled of the assembly where based on the removal of the clamping members 84 of the torque arm, i.e., movably connected to the track support beam, allows movement of the drive arrangement 100 including the brake assembly 140 relative to the track support beam 22. Examiner notes that because the endless track 25 moves in a loop, any direction around the loop could be considered to be the longitudinal direction of the endless track.).
Regrading claim 15, depending on claim 1, Hellholm further discloses wherein said drive arrangement (100) is configured to be coaxially arranged relative to said centre axis (Z) of said drive wheel member (24) (Fig. 5 & see above rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 16, Hellholm discloses a tracked vehicle (10) comprising at least one track assembly (21) of claim 1 (Fig. 1 & see above rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 17, depending on claim 16, Hellholm further discloses wherein said tracked vehicle (10) comprises a left track assembly, a right track assembly and a vehicle body (30) (Fig. 1 & p. 3 lns. 19-23), wherein said track assemblies are suspendedly arranged to said vehicle body (30) by means of a suspension arrangement (S) (Fig. 1 & p. 3 lns. 3-9).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 and 14 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER B WEHRLY whose telephone number is (303)297-4433. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:30 - 4:30 MT.
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/CHRISTOPHER B WEHRLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3611