Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 12-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nagl et al (US 2016/0200347). Nagl et al teach:
A handwheel actuator (10) for a steering system, comprising:
a housing (12);
a piston (18) slidably disposed within a bore of the housing, the piston having:
a first end forming a first fluid chamber (14) with the bore of the housing; and
a second end forming a second fluid chamber (15) with the bore of the
housing, the second fluid chamber configured to be fluidly connected to the first fluid chamber (via lines through valves 30, 35 and hydraulic line 25); and
a shaft (11) disposed within the housing and configured to be rotatably driven by a handwheel; and
the shaft and piston cooperate to convert an input rotary motion of the shaft to
an output linear motion of the piston, and the output linear motion of the piston is
configured to displace a fluid so as to apply a selectively variable rotational resistance to the shaft.
See Nagl et al, the abstract, paragraphs 1-16 and 21-26. Note that the shaft (11) is threadedly engaged with the piston (18) and causes the rotation of the shaft to cause an axial linear displacement of the piston (see Nagl et al, par. 21). Note also, electronic control valves 30 and 35 located in the hydraulic line between the two fluid chambers which can meter and shut-off the communication between the two fluid chambers.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-11 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERICK R SOLIS whose telephone number is (571)272-4853. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 -5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Logan Kraft can be reached at (571) 270-5065. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERICK R SOLIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747
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