DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to applicant’s communication filed on 1.29.24. In view of this communication, claims 13-24 are now pending in this application.
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 Objections
Claims below are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 19 recites “havign” which should be corrected to “having”. Claim 23 recites “devic” which should be corrected to “device . Examiner requests thorough review and similar corrections.
Appropriate correction is required.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Shielding structure for a drive device, pressure generator for a brake system.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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 13,15-19,21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kataoka et al(US20080211356A1), hereinafter Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller (US20230033633A1 PCT filing date 3.3.21), hereinafter Lerchenmueller.
Regarding Claim 13, Kataoka discloses (Figs 1-3,7) a drive device (8), comprising:
an electric machine (1) arranged in a housing (12), a rotor (3) of the electric machine being arranged on a drive shaft (31) for conjoint rotation with the drive shaft, the drive shaft being rotatably mounted (41,42) in the housing;
a sensor unit (6) configured to sense a rotary position [Para 0006 discloses “detect an angular position of the rotor core”] of the rotor, the sensor unit including a circuit board (65) having at least one sensor element (641,642), and the circuit board and being arranged coaxially (Fig 2) to an axis of rotation (J1) of the drive shaft, wherein the circuit board is arranged in the housing (65 is inside 12); and
a shielding sheet (13)[0054 discloses “13 is allowed to be thin”] which radially surrounds (Fig 7, 13a is radially surrounding 641,642) at least some parts (641,642) of the circuit board (65). Kataoka does not explicitly disclose circuit board in the form of an annular disk (65 is semicircular with hole in the center but not a disk).
Lerchenmueller discloses (Fig 1)[Abstract] circuit board (8) being in the form of an annular disk [Abstract].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have formed drive device of Kataoka with circuit board in the form of an annular disk as taught by Lerchenmueller in order to choose the design choice of laying out electronic components as needed on the circuit board.
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Regarding Claim 15, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller discloses the drive device according to claim 13. Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller further discloses wherein the shielding sheet (Kataoka,13) is fastened to the housing (12) by a form-fitting connection [0026 discloses “lid portion 13 of the housing 11 is attached to the housing body 12”].
Regarding Claim 16, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller discloses the drive device according to claim 15. Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller further discloses wherein the shielding sheet (Kataoka,13) has at least one bending tab (13f) and is fastened to the housing (12) by the bending tab (Fig 7)[0026].
Regarding Claim 17, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller discloses the drive device according to claim 15. Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller further discloses wherein the shielding sheet (Kataoka,13) is fastened to an end shield (12es portion of 12) of the housing (12).
Regarding Claim 18, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller discloses the drive device according to claim 13. Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller further discloses wherein the electric machine (Kataoka,1) includes a stator (2) having a multi-phase motor winding (213) [0028], wherein the motor winding is electrically connected or connectable to an electrical energy store [0028 discloses “external power source”] by at least one electrically conductive motor phase supply line (5) and wherein the shielding sheet (13) is arranged radially between the circuit board (641,642 which are part of 65) on one side and the motor phase supply line (5) on the other side.
Regarding Claim 19, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller discloses the drive device according to claim 13. Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller further discloses further comprising: a carrier element (Kataoka,13) that is fastened to the housing (12) and carries the circuit board (65), the carrier element (13) having the shielding sheet (13)(Carrier element and shielding sheet can be same).
Regarding Claim 21, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller discloses the drive device according to claim 13. Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller further discloses wherein the carrier element (Kataoka,13) is fastened connection [0026 discloses “lid portion 13 of the housing 11 is attached to the housing body 12”] to the housing (12) by the shielding sheet (13).
Regarding Claim 22, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller discloses the drive device according to claim 13. Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller further discloses wherein the shielding sheet (Kataoka,13) has a first portion (13a) extending at least substantially in the axial direction (J1) and a second portion (13r) extending at least substantially in the radial direction (R ), wherein the first portion radially surrounds at least some parts (641,642) of the circuit board (65), and wherein the second portion (13r) covers at least some parts (641,642,66) of the circuit board.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller and Saito (US20180375405A1).
Regarding Claim 14, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller discloses the drive device according to claim 13. Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller does not explicitly wherein the shielding sheet (13) completely surrounds the circuit board radially.
Saito discloses (Fig 9) wherein the shielding sheet (122) completely surrounds the circuit board (60) radially (R ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have formed drive device of Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller with shielding sheet completely surrounding circuit board radially as taught by Saito in order to provide additional protection in the radial direction from electric noise.
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Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller and Henning (US20200039495A1).
Regarding Claim 23, Kataoka discloses (Figs 1-4,7) a system (8); a drive device (8) configured to actuate [0021 discloses “steering mechanism”]; and
a control unit (83) configured to controlling [0021] the drive device;
wherein the drive device includes:
an electric machine (1) arranged in a housing (12), a rotor (3) of the electric machine being arranged on a drive shaft (31) for conjoint rotation with the drive shaft, the drive shaft being rotatably mounted (41,42) in the housing;
a sensor unit (6) configured to sense a rotary position [Para 0006 discloses “detect an angular position of the rotor core”] of the rotor, the sensor unit including a circuit board (65) having at least one sensor element (641,642), and the circuit board and being arranged coaxially (Fig 2) to an axis of rotation (J1) of the drive shaft, wherein the circuit board is arranged in the housing (65 is inside 12); and
a shielding sheet (13)[0054 discloses “13 is allowed to be thin”] which radially surrounds (Fig 7, 13a is radially surrounding 641,642) at least some parts (641,642) of the circuit board (65). Kataoka does not explicitly disclose circuit board in the form of an annular disk (65 is semicircular with hole in the center but not a disk) and usage in a pressure generator for a brake system comprising a pump device and drive device configured to actuate the pump device.
Lerchenmueller discloses (Fig 1)[Abstract] circuit board (8) being in the form of an annular disk [Abstract].
Henning discloses (Fig 1) [0008] usage in a pressure generator (11) for a brake system (1)comprising a pump device (12) and drive device (13,17) configured to actuate the pump device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have formed drive device of Kataoka with circuit board in the form of an annular disk as taught by Lerchenmueller in order to choose the design choice of laying out electronic components as needed on the circuit board and usage in braking system as taught by Henning in order to generate and control pressure using a control unit that uses rotor position sensor input.
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Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller, Henning and Saito (US20180375405A1).
Regarding Claim 24, Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller and Henning discloses the pressure generator according to claim 23 but does not explicitly disclose wherein the shielding sheet is electrically connected to an electrical ground connection of the control unit.
Saito discloses (Fig 9)[0077] wherein the shielding sheet (12) is electrically connected to an electrical ground connection [0077] of the control unit (60).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have formed drive device of Kataoka in view of Lerchenmueller and Henning with grounding of shielding element as taught by Saito in order to equalize potential and protect circuitry against electrical noise.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 20 recites “The drive device according to claim 19, wherein the carrier element has a main body made of plastics material, and the shielding sheet is electrically separated from the circuit board by the main body”. Kataoka does not disclose above limitations. In Kataoka, the carrier (13) and shielding element (13) are interpreted as being same and therefore does not disclose above limitation. Therefore claim 20 is allowable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VISWANATHAN SUBRAMANIAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4814. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.
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/VISWANATHAN SUBRAMANIAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2834