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
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
Claims 1-4 and 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujioka (JP 6338876 B2) in view of Wakitani et al. (US 6756750 B2) (hereinafter “Wakitani”). [Note that prior art citations below are italicized and enclosed in brackets.]
Regarding Claim 1, Fujioka teaches an electric work vehicle comprising: a rotationally drivable electric motor; a travel device configured to travel on a ground based on a drive of the electric motor; a transmission configured to transmit a motive power from the electric motor to the travel device while varying a speed of a rotation inputted from the electric motor [Fujioka Paragraph 0002: “This power transmission device is applied to an electric vehicle as an electric device, and includes an electric motor as a power source and a manual transmission that transmits the power of the electric motor to drive wheels while shifting the power.”]; a single operation part configured to accept a manual operation for changing a direction of the rotation of the electric motor and for changing a shift level of the transmission [Fujioka Paragraph 0003: “In the case of this manual transmission, as the operation position of the shift lever, a high speed position “H”, a low speed position “L”, a neutral position “N”, and a parking position “P” are set.; Paragraph 0004: the electric vehicle is driven in reverse by controlling the electric motor in the reverse direction.”]; and a controller configured to output a control signal to the electric motor and the transmission based on the manual operation accepted by the single operation part [Fujioka Paragraph 0008: “The motor 4 is configured by a brushless DC motor, and is connected to the ECU 2 and the battery 6 via the PDU 5. The PDU 5 is composed of an electric circuit including an inverter. The ECU 2 controls the operation state of the motor 4 as will be described later by controlling the transmission and reception of electric power between the motor 4 and the battery 6 via the PDU 5.”], but does not teach a low-speed forward position, a high-speed forward travel position, a low-speed reverse travel position, and a high-speed reverse travel position.
Wakitani teaches the manual operation accepted by the single operation part includes a low-speed forward travel position, a high-speed forward travel position, a low-speed reverse travel position, and a high-speed reverse travel position [Wakitani Fig. 5; Wakitani Paragraph 19: “The directional speed lever 34 is shown in detail in FIG. 5. From FIG. 5, the directional speed lever 34 can move between a forward region, a neutral region, and a reverse region. In the forward region, Lf indicates low-speed forward travel and Hf high-speed forward travel. The forward traveling speed is adjustable between Lf and Hf. The directional speed lever 34 is operated to adjust the number of revolutions of the left and right electric motors 25L and 25R via the controller 44 and left and right motor drivers 52L and 52R shown in FIG. 4. In the reverse region, Lr indicates low-speed reverse travel and Hr high-speed reverse travel. Reverse traveling speed is controllable between low-speed reverse travel Lr and high-speed reverse travel Hr”]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the electric work vehicle of Fujioka to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, multiple forward- and reverse-speed travel positions in view of Wakitani. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Fujioka and Wakitani because this would have achieved the desirable result of preventing brake drag and on-grade, as recognized by Wakitani [Wakitani “Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments” Paragraph 18: “left and right electromagnetic brakes 51L and 51R as brakes corresponding to parking brakes of a common vehicle. The electromagnetic brakes 51L and 51R are brought into a braking state when the directional speed lever 34 is put in a neutral region.”; Wakitani “Background/Summary” Paragraph 18: “the present invention operates the short circuit brakes while releasing the electromagnetic brakes from the braking state to the released state preparatory to vehicle travel so as to prevent vehicle motion. Then, during the release of the short circuit brakes, the controller outputs a control signal corresponding to zero vehicle speed to cause the electric motors to generate outputs just before travel. This allows the prevention of rollback at hill starts or the like.”; Wakitani “Summary of the Invention” Paragraph 10: “The present invention allows effective prevention of brake drag and on-grade rollback of the electric vehicle.”].
Regarding Claim 2, Fujioka teaches the electric work vehicle according to claim 1, wherein: the single operation part comprises a single lever movable in front, back, left and right directions, and the controller is configured to change the direction of the rotation of the electric motor in response to the single lever operated in a left-right direction and to change the shift level of the transmission in response to the single lever operated in a front-back direction [Fujioka Figs. 2, 12, and 14; Fujioka Paragraph 0004: “when the changeover switch is on the forward side, when the speed change lever is operated from the neutral position “N” to the low speed position “L” or the high speed position “H”, the pinion The low speed stage or the high speed stage is in-gear by driving the synchro mechanism to the low speed stage side or the high speed stage side via the shift drum on the shaft and the shift fork for transmission. In this state, the electric vehicle travels forward by controlling the electric motor in the forward rotation direction. On the other hand, when the changeover switch is on the reverse side, when the shift lever is operated from the neutral position “N” to the low speed position “L” or the high speed position “H”, the low speed stage or the high speed stage as described above. Is in-gear, and in this state, the electric vehicle is driven in reverse by controlling the electric motor in the reverse direction.”].
Regarding Claim 3, Fujioka teaches The electric work vehicle according to claim 2, wherein: the single operation part comprises: a first hole configured to guide the single lever in the front-back direction during the manual operation of the single lever; and a second hole configured to guide the single lever in the left-right direction during the manual operation of the single lever, and the first hole and the second hole intersect with each other [Fujioka Figs, 2, 12, and 14].
Regarding Claim 4, Fujioka teaches the electric work vehicle according to claim 3, wherein: the first hole and the second hole intersect with each other at a neutral position of the single lever, and the controller is configured to: transmit no motive power to the travel device in a case of the single lever positioned at the neutral position; control the electric motor to rotate in the direction which moves the travel device forward in a case of the single lever operated forward or backward along the first hole from the neutral position; and control the electric motor to rotate in the direction which moves the travel device backward in a case of the single lever operated leftward or rightward not along the first hole from the neutral position [Fujioka Figs. 2, 12, and 14; Fujioka Paragraph 0061: “various control processes such as a motor control process are executed. In the present embodiment, the ECU 2 corresponds to member position detection means, electric motor control means, rotation direction detection means, vehicle speed detection means”].
Regarding Claim 6, Fujioka teaches the electric work vehicle according to claim 3, wherein: the second hole intersects with a longitudinal intermediate portion of the first hole in the front-back direction [Fujioka Figs. 2, 12, and 14].
Regarding Claim 7, Fujioka teaches the electric work vehicle according to claim 3, wherein: the second hole intersects with the first hole with a first end portion thereof [Fujioka Figs. 2, 12, and 14].
Regarding Claim 8, Fujioka teaches the electric work vehicle according to claim 7, wherein: the single operation part comprises a third hole which intersects with a second end portion of the second hole, and configured to guide the single lever in the front-back direction during the manual operation of the single lever, the second end portion is an opposite end of the first end portion [Fujioka Figs. 2, 12, and 14].
Regarding Claim 9, Fujioka teaches an electric work vehicle but does not teach third hole configuration. Wakitani teaches the electric work vehicle according to claim 8, wherein: the third hole is configured to guide the single lever frontward and backward from the second end portion; the low-speed reverse travel position is one of the frontward and backward positions from the second end portion; and the high-speed reverse travel position is the other of the frontward and backward positions from the second end portion [Wakitani Fig. 5, wherein the "third hole" includes the path of the single operation part (Reference Character 34) between the 2.4V (neutral) region and the 0.0V (high-speed reverse) position”]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the electric work vehicle of Fujioka to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, third hole configurations for high/low and forward/reverse positions in view of Wakitani. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Fujioka and Wakitani because this would have achieved the desirable result of preventing rollback at hill starts, as recognized by Wakitani [Wakitani “Background/Summary” Paragraph 18: “during the release of the short circuit brakes, the controller outputs a control signal corresponding to zero vehicle speed to cause the electric motors to generate outputs just before travel. This allows the prevention of rollback at hill starts or the like.”].
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujioka (JP 6338876 B2) in view of Wakitani et al. (US 6756750 B2) (hereinafter “Wakitani”) and further in view of Yanagihara et al. (US 7648001 B2) (hereinafter “Yanagihara”). [Note that prior art citations are italicized and enclosed in brackets.]
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Fujioka and Wakitani teaches an electric work vehicle comprising a single operation part but does not teach a biasing mechanism. Yanagihara teaches the electric work vehicle according to claim 4, wherein: the single operation part is provided with a biasing mechanism which biases the single lever to the neutral position [Yanagihara Fig. 5, Reference Character 42; Paragraph 54: the shift lever 42 is retained in the cutout 57 by the biasing force of the spring 65, to maintain the propelling speed change device 40 in neutral.]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the electric work vehicle, comprising a single operating part, of the combination of Fujioka and Wakitani to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, a biasing mechanism in view of Yanagihara. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Fujioka, Wakitani, and Yanigahara because this would have achieved the desirable result of enabling shifting between reverse and forward positions without requiring special effort, as recognized by Yanigahara [Yanigahara Paragraph 53: “The shift lever 42 is biased by the spring 65 toward the inward control channel 54. Thus, the shift lever 42 is switchable between the reverse position R and second forward speed position F2, without requiring special effort to retain the shift lever 42 in the control channel 54 when the shift lever 42 moves adjacent the communication channel 56.”]. It should be noted that use of neutral-biasing mechanisms on shift levers is common in the art [See for example, Tanaka et al. (JP 2016160614 A) Paragraph 0046: “The purpose is to automatically stop the vehicle 1 when the operator releases his/her hand from the forward/reverse lever 26.”; and Kurokawa (JP 2007137323 A) Paragraph 0059: “The engagement between the locking claw 362 and the locking body 363 can be maintained by the biasing force of the neutral holding spring 339 as an initial position return spring for returning the vehicle 37 to the initial position from the stepping position to make the vehicle speed substantially zero.”].
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujioka (JP 6338876 B2) in view of Wakitani et al. (US 6756750 B2) (hereinafter “Wakitani”) and further in view of Kohler et al. (CN 103958260 A) (hereinafter “Kohler”). [Note that prior art citations are italicized and enclosed in brackets.]
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Fujioka and Wakitani teaches an electric work vehicle but does not teach a motive power unit located in an area backward of the driver’s seat. Kohler teaches the electric work vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising: a travel body mounted with: the travel device including left and right front wheels and left and right rear wheels; a driver's section in a center portion thereof including a driver's seat on which an operator sits to perform the manual operation; a loading platform in a rear portion thereof on which a luggage is loadable, and a motive power unit located in an area backward of the driver's seat, frontward of a rear end of the rear wheels, and below the loading platform, the motive power unit including the electric motor and being configured to output a rotational motive power, a powertrain device located in the area and configured to transmit the rotational motive power from the motive power unit to the left and right front wheels and the left and right rear wheels, the powertrain device having the transmission which includes a gear transmission mechanism configured to shift the shift level between a high-speed stage and a low-speed stage [Kohler Figs. 1 and 22, Reference Character 500 (motive power unit); Kohler Claim 1: “A vehicle, comprising a vehicle frame, the vehicle frame has a front portion, a middle portion and a rear portion, the vehicle frame has a longitudinal central line; the vehicle frame supports a plurality of the ground engaging member supported by the middle part of the vehicle frame seat area; electric power transmission system, the power transmission system supported by the frame and includes locating the electric motor and positioned behind the seat area below the seat area of the at least one battery, the electric motor is drivingly connected to at least one of said ground engaging member and said at least one battery”; Kohler Paragraph 0086: “Exemplary driving modes provided by mode selector 738 comprises a low speed mode and a high speed mode.”]. It would have been obvious for a person having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the electric work vehicle of the combination of Fujioka and Wakitani to include, with a reasonable expectation of success, a motive power unit located in an area backward of the driver’s seat, in view of Kohler. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Fujioka, Wakitani, and Kohler because this would have achieved the desirable result of achieving weight distribution that maximizes vehicle travel capability, as recognized by Kohler [Kohler Paragraph 0077: “the battery pack 304, 306, engine 320, generator 322, and traction motor 500 are adapted so that the size and weight, but not termination or "worst case" driving condition, allows achieving the maximum vehicle travel under typical driving distance and speed.”].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 9, and 10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T WALSH whose telephone number is 303-297-4351. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00 am - 5:30 pm ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, J. Allen Shriver II, can be reached at 303-297-4337. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL T. WALSH/Examiner, Art Unit 3613