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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on March 24, 2026 and March 27, 2026 have been considered by the Examiner.
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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakayama (US 2020/0406479) in view of Inoue et al. (US 10,427,308, see Form 892 entered Nov. 21, 2025).
Nakayama discloses and shows a wire body fixing structure comprising:
an actuator (4) including a through-hole (12,13) through which a wire body (6) passes; and
a fixing part (19,20,21) configured to fix the wire body, wherein
the fixing part includes a support member (Fig. A, below, item 500) configured to support the wire body, and
an attachment tool (Fig. A, item 600) configured to attach the wire body to the support member and fix the wire body between an axis of the actuator and an inner circumferential surface of the through-hole.
Nakayama’s attachment tool is not arranged in an internal space of the through-hole. Inoue discloses and shows a wire body fixing structure having attachment tools (Fig. B, below, item 200) arranged in an internal space of a through-hole, the attachment tools arranged as such prevents wire bodies from becoming entangled at the entrance of the through hole.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Nakayama fixing structure to where the attachment tool is arranged in an internal space of the through-hole so as to prevent the wire body from becoming entangled at the entrance of the through hole
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Cl. 2 – Nakayama discloses and shows the fixing part fixing the wire body in the internal space of the through-hole outside an exit of the through-hole. Nakayama does not include a protection tube arranged within the through-hole. Inoue discloses and shows a robot having a through-hole 19 through which a wire body passes (see Fig. 2) and a protection tube 20 arranged inside the through-hole and configured to protect the wire body from a power transmission element of the actuator, the protection tube reduces interference between the wire bodies and peripheral devices and protects the wire bodies from excessive external forces (col. 5:11-13, 47-49).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Nakayama actuator to include a protection tube arranged inside the through-hole and configured to protect the wire body from a power transmission element of the actuator, reduces interference between the wire bodies and peripheral devices and protects the wire bodies from excessive external forces, wherein the fixing part fixes the wire body in the internal space of the through-hole outside an exit of the protection tube.
Cl. 3 – a distance from the axis of the actuator to the support member is shorter than or substantially equal to a distance from the axis to an inner circumferential surface of the protection tube (Nakayama).
Cl. 4 –a distance from a free end of the support member (closer to the through-hole) to an end surface of the protection tube (note how the protection tube, 19, of Inoue ends at the same ending of the wrist element 6) is shorter than a thickness of the wire body or a thickness of a bundle of the wire bodies.
Cl. 5 – the fixing part includes a support member configured to support the wire body, and a corner, on a side close to the wire body, of the free end of the support member is rounded (Nakayama, see item 21, for example).
Cl. 6 –the actuator includes only an electric motor or includes an electric motor (Nakayama, 8) to which at least one selected from the group of a decelerator, a sensor 12, and another machine element 10,11 is coupled, and the fixing part fixes the wire body in an internal space of the electric motor, the decelerator, or the sensor.
Cl. 7 – the wire body is supported at two locations (Inoue, see Figs. 3-4, at item 25) including a load side (Fig. 3) and a non-load side (Fig. 4) of the actuator, and the wire body is fixed by the fixing part on at least one side selected from the group consisting of the load side and the non-load side.
Cl. 8 – the fixing structure further comprises: fixing parts, including the fixing part, disposed on the load side and the non-load side of the actuator, wherein the fixing part on the load side and the fixing part on the non-load side fix the wire body at substantially same angular positions or at angular positions deviating from each other by approximately 180 degrees about the axis of the actuator at a reference position of the actuator (Inoue, see Figs. 3-4).
Cl. 9 – the fixing part (item 21, for example) includes a support member configured to support the wire body and an attachment tool configured to attach the wire body to the support member, the wire body is laid loosely between two attachment tools, and at least one selected from the group of a support surface of the support member supporting the wire body and a contact surface of the attachment tools with the wire body is smooth (as opposed to having a serrated surface, for example).
Cls. 10-12 – Nakayama discloses and shows a machine, robot and actuator comprising the wire body fixing structure described in claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant' s arguments with respect to the rejected claims have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds.
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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/BOBBY RUSHING, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
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