1DETAILED 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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN1 (CN110040209) in view of CN2 (CN108128400).
Regarding claim 1, CN1 teaches
A driving apparatus for an electrically assisted bicycle comprising:
a motor (2 figure 1) located in a bottom bracket of the electrically assisted bicycle, wherein the motor comprising a tubular mandrel (211 figure 4) formed with a reduced section;
an epicyclic gearing (3 figure 1 planetary gearset) comprising a reduced sun gear (31 figure 2) supported on the reduced section of the tubular mandrel;
an annular supporting element (41 figure 2) connected to at least one chain ring (4 figure 1) of the electrically assisted bicycle;
a left shaft (figure 4 right side where sprocket sits) extending throughout the tubular mandrel and comprising a left end connected to a crank of the electrically assisted bicycle, a right end (31 figure 4), and a reduced section extending throughout the reduced section of the tubular mandrel, wherein the right end (31 figure 4) is slenderer than the left end;
a right shaft (1 figure 2 and left side figure 4 where motor sits) comprising a right end connected to another crank of the electrically assisted bicycle and a left end (211 figure 4 where connects with 31) connected to the right end of the left shaft so that the left and right shafts are rotatable together with each other; (see figure 2 planetary gearset 32)
CN1 does not explicitly teach however CN2 teaches
a first clutch arranged between the epicyclic gearing and the annular supporting element; and (5 figure 1)
a second clutch arranged between the right shaft and the epicyclic gearing. (7 figure 1)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify CN1 based on the teachings of CN2 to teach a first clutch arranged between the epicyclic gearing and the annular supporting element; and a second clutch arranged between the right shaft and the epicyclic gearing. The motivation would be to avoid motor coil resistance around mutual inductance generated user and wasting physical strength (CN2 page 1 paragraph 2)
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN1 (CN110040209) in and CN2 (CN108128400) in view of Wagner (GB2146932)
Regarding claim 2, CN1 and CN2 do not explicitly teach however Wagner teaches wherein the right end of the left shaft is a square, wherein the right shaft comprises a left end formed with a square bore for receiving the right end of the left shaft (page 2 column 2 line 72-85 square bore 27).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify CN1 and CN2 based on the teachings of Wagner to teach wherein the right end of the left shaft is a square, wherein the right shaft comprises a left end formed with a square bore for receiving the right end of the left shaft. The motivation would be to assist in easy assembly
Conclusion
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/GEORGE C JIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747