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 Objections
Claim 14 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 14 recites “a motor” which was already recited in claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-2 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ito et al. (US 2014/0091683 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ito discloses a motor (100), comprising:
a motor part (1) comprising a rotor (4) rotatable around a central axis, and a stator (5) facing the rotor (4) in a radial direction with a gap therebetween (FIG. 1);
a circuit board (25) arranged on an axial one side of the motor part (1);
a connection terminal (13) arranged between the stator (5) and the circuit board (25) in an axial direction;
a first housing (6) having a first opening (see annotation below) that is open at the axial one side and accommodating the motor part (1); and
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a second housing (30, 35, 36) arranged on the axial one side of the first housing (6),
wherein the stator (5) comprises: an annular stator core (8) fixed to the first housing (6), a coil (10) comprising a plurality of coil bodies (12 salient poles) attached to the stator core (8), and an insulator (9) arranged between the stator core (8) and the coil (10),
the connection terminal (13) electrically connects the coil (10) and the circuit board (25),
the second housing (30, 35, 36) comprises:
a board accommodator (30, 36) having a cylindrical shape that extends in the axial direction and accommodating the circuit board (25);
a board holding part (31) holding the circuit board (25); and
a terminal holding part (31; also acts as a terminal holding part) holding the connection terminal (13; FIG. 1),
an outer peripheral surface (outer surface of housing 36) of the board accommodator (30, 36) constitutes a portion of an outer peripheral surface of the second housing (30, 35, 36; FIG. 1, 2), and
the terminal holding part (31) is connected to an inner side surface (FIG. 6A, 6B) of the board accommodator (30).
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Regarding claim 2/1, Ito was discussed above in claim 1. Ito further discloses wherein the coil (10) comprises a coil lead-out wire (windings ends ¶ [0028]) led out from the coil body to the axial one side (to the terminals 12 in FIG. 1) and connected to the connection terminal (13), and
the terminal holding part (31) is arranged further on the axial one side than the stator core (8).
Regarding claim 12/1, Ito was discussed above in claim 1. Ito further discloses wherein the board accommodator (30) has a second opening (see annotation below) that is open at the axial other side, and
an inside of the first housing (6) and an inside of the second housing (30, 35, 36) are connected to each other via the first opening and the second opening.
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core (8).
Regarding claim 13/1, Ito was discussed above in claim 1. Ito further discloses wherein the motor (1) is fixed to an mounted body (6),
the second housing (30, 35, 36) has a flange protruding toward the radially outer side from the board accommodator (30, 36; FIG. 1; the flange on the outer side of the frame 30), and
the flange is fixed to the mounted body (6).
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.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito et al. (US 2014/0091683 A1) in view of Takahashi et al. (US 2021/0305853 A1).
Regarding claim 14/1, Ito was discussed above in claim 1. Ito does not disclose a pump, comprising: a motor according to claim 1, and a pump mechanism connected to the rotor.
Takahashi discloses a pump (¶ [0033]), comprising a motor (1).
Takahashi discloses the motor can be used as a drive source for various other parts in an automobile, including an oil pump. An oil pump would always require a pump mechanism in order to pump oil. Thus, Takahashi inherently discloses a pump mechanism.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the claimed invention to have modified Ito in view of Takahashi to disclose a pump, comprising: a motor according to claim 1, and a pump mechanism connected to the rotor, as disclosed in ¶ [0033] of Takahashi, an electric motor can be used to various different uses to drive other parts of an automobile.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-11 are 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.
Regarding claim 3/2, the specific limitation of “the body (15a) has … a first recess (15h) in the body (15a) that is recessed toward an upper side from a lower side further on the radially inner side than the holding hole (15b), … a body bump (51a) penetrating toward the radially inner side is provided in the terminal body (51), and … the body bump (51a) is arranged in the first recess (15h)” in the combination as claimed are neither anticipated nor made obvious over the prior art made of record.
None of the prior arts discloses a recess on the body of a terminal holder on the radially inner side of the holder, a protrusion on a terminal towards the radially inner side, the protrusion is inserted into the recess.
Claims 4-11 are allowable for depending upon claim 3.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINKI CHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-0521. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/MINKI CHANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2834
/OLUSEYE IWARERE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834