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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1 – 5, 9 – 11 and 14 - 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shaga (2022/0187335).
As to claim 1, Shaga discloses a high-resolution angular inductive sensor and associated method of use of an inductive sensor (400) assembly including: a transmitter coil (310, 315) having an inner diameter; and at least one receiver coil (320) located proximate to the transmitter coil (310, 315); a secondary sensor (360) positioned within the inner diameter of the transmitter coil (310); and a coupler member (250, [0034]) coupled to a part and configured to move with a movement of the part (rotatable shaft (not shown), [0035]), the coupler member (250) overlies at least a portion of the at least one receiver coil (320), the coupler member (250) including: a body (390) having an area defined by an outer edge; at least two projecting protrusions (320, 322, 324, 326) extending beyond the outer edge of the body (390); and at least one target (345) positioned within the area (405, 407) of the body [0003], [0035], [0054], wherein the at least one receiver coil is configured to generate a receiver signal when the transmitter coil (310, 315) is excited due to a change in an inductive coupling between the transmitter coil (310, 315) and the at least one receiver coil (320) caused by the movement of the at least two projecting protrusions (320, 322, 324, 326), the receiver signal being sensitive to a position of the part [0003], [0035], [0054], (Fig. 2A, 5, 6A).
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As to claim 2, Shaga discloses that the movement of the coupler member (250) moves the at least one target (345) detected by the secondary sensor to generate a second receiver signal (320) (Fig, 6A), [0060].
As to claim 3, Shaga discloses a circuit board (320, PCB) having a plurality of layers, wherein the at least one receiver coil (350) has a pair of spaced apart terminating ends, the at least one receiver coil (350) is a sinusoidal shape with five periods that spans 300 degrees between the pair of spaced apart terminating ends (315), the pair of spaced apart terminating ends define a gap within the plurality of layers of the circuit board ((PCB), [0069], Fig. 5).
As to claim 4, Shaga discloses a plurality of traces for the secondary sensor (320) pass through the gap defined by the pair of spaced apart terminating ends (315) of the at least one receiver coil (350) and the plurality of traces are positioned on a same layer of the plurality of layers of the circuit board (PCB) (Fig. 2A, 4A and 5), [0045] – [0048].
As to claim 5, Shaga discloses a plurality of traces for the secondary sensor (320) pass through the gap defined by the pair of spaced apart terminating ends of the at least one receiver coil (320) and the plurality of traces are positioned on different layers of the plurality of layers of the circuit board (PCB) (Fig. 2A, 4A and 5).
As to claim 9, Shaga discloses the secondary sensor is a Hall Effect sensor and the at least one target is at least one magnet [0002].
As to claim 10, Shaga discloses the body further includes an annular portion that circumferentially surrounds (345) the at least one magnet, the annular portion (407) is formed from a different material than the at least two projecting protrusions (320, 322, 324, 326) and the at least one magnet [0002], (320, 322, 324, 326), (Fig. 6A).
As to claim 11, Shaga discloses a high-resolution angular inductive sensor and associated method of use of an inductive sensor assembly (400) including: a transmitter coil (310, 315) having an inner diameter; and a plurality of receiver coils (320) located proximate to the transmitter coil (310, 315), each of the plurality of receiver coils (320) having a pair of terminating ends that terminate spaced apart to define a gap therebetween in at least one layer of the multi-layered circuit board (325); a secondary sensor (350) positioned within the inner diameter of the transmitter coil (310), the secondary sensor (360) having at least one electrically conductive trace (325) extending therefrom and though the gap; and a coupler member (250) configured to move, the coupler member (250) overlies at least a portion of the plurality of receiver coils (205), the coupler member (250) including: a body (390) having an area defined by an outer edge; at least two projecting protrusions (320, 322, 324, 326) extending beyond the outer edge of the body (390); and at least one target (345) positioned within the area of the body, wherein movement of the coupler (390) member modifies an inductive coupling between the transmitter coil (301) and the plurality of receiver coils (315) to generate a first receiver signal (405) and the movement of the coupler member (390) moves the at least one target (345) detected by the secondary sensor (350) to generate a second receiver signal (320, the second receiver signal indicative of a different change caused by movement of the coupler member (250) than the first receiver signal ([0003], [0035], [0054], [0069], Claims 1 – 3, 20 – 21, Fig. 2, 5 and 6A].
As to claim 14, Shaga discloses the secondary sensor is a Hall Effect sensor and the at least one target is at least one magnet [0002].
As to claim 15, Shaga discloses the body further includes an annular portion (407) that circumferentially surrounds the at least one magnet, the annular portion (407) is formed from a different material than the at least two projecting protrusions (320, 322, 324) and the at least one magnet ([0002], Fig. 6A).
As to claim 16, Shaga discloses the coupler member (250) is coupled to a part that moves (rotatable shaft), the first receiver signal (320) is correlated with a position of the part (390) and the second receiver signal (320) is correlated with the position of the part (390) ([0035], Claim 21, Fig. 2A, 5, 6A).
As to claim 17, Shaga discloses that the first receiver signal (405) and the second receiver signal (410) are redundant signals (Claim 21, Fig. 5, 6A).
As to claims 18 and 19, Shaga discloses that the at least one electrically conductive trace for the secondary sensor passes through the gap defined by the pair of terminating ends of the plurality of receiver coils on a same layer of the multi-layered circuit board as at least a portion of the plurality of receiver coils; or the at least one electrically conductive trace for the secondary sensor (320) passes through the gap defined by the pair of terminating ends of the plurality of receiver coils (320) and are positioned on different layer of the multi-layered circuit board than the transmitter coil (PCB) (Fig. 2A, 4A and 5).
As to claim 20, Shaga discloses a high-resolution angular inductive sensor and associated method of use of an inductive sensor assembly including: a coupler member (250, [0034]) configured to move, the coupler member (250) including: a body (390) having an area defined by an outer edge; three projecting protrusions (320, 322, 324, 326) extending beyond the outer edge of the body; and at least one target (345) positioned within the area of the body (405,407); an inductive sensor assembly (390) including: a transmitter coil (310) having an inner diameter; a plurality of receiver coils (315) located proximate to the transmitter coil (310, 315), each of the plurality of receiver coils (320) having a pair of terminating ends spaced apart to define a gap therebetween, each of the plurality of receiver coils (315) are arranged in a sinusoidal shape with five periods that spans 300 degrees (Fig. 5), the plurality of receiver coils (320) are separated into three independent inductive coil segments (320, 322, 324) and two unused segments in which the plurality of receiver coils (315) are configured to, in the three independent inductive coil segments, sense changes to the inductive coupling (390) between the transmitter coil (310, 315) and the plurality of receiver coils (320) caused by the three projecting protrusions passing through the respective three independent inductive coil segments (320, 322, 324), ([0060], claim 21, Fig. 5, 6A); and a secondary sensor (360) positioned within the inner diameter of the transmitter coil ((310, 315), [0003], [0054], (Claims 1 - 3) and Fig. 5 and 6A), the secondary sensor (360) having at least one electrically conductive trace (325) extending therefrom and though the gap [0052, Fig. 2, 5 and 6A].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 – 8 and 12 - 13 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.
As to claims 6 – 8, the prior art fails to disclose that the at least two projecting protrusions extending from the body of the coupler member is three projecting protrusions extending from the body; the three projecting protrusions extending from the body are symmetrically spaced apart; and at least one of the three projecting protrusions extending from the body extends a different distance outward from the body than the other two of the three projecting protrusions. These features taken together with the other limitations of the claim renders the claims allowable over prior art.
As to claims 12 - 13, the prior art fails to disclose that the plurality of receiver coils are separated into three independent inductive coil segments and two unused segments in which the plurality of receiver coils are configured to, in the three independent inductive coil segments sense changes to the inductive coupling between the transmitter coil and the plurality of receiver coils caused by the at least two projecting protrusions passing through the respective three independent inductive coil segments. These features taken together with the other limitations of the claim renders the claims allowable over prior art.
Prior Art of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant s disclosure.
Oshinubi et al. (11,525,702) is cited for its disclosure of a sensor system for determining at least one rotation characteristic of a rotating element.
Kurz et al. (2024/0027232) is cited for its disclosure of inductive position sensor and device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REENA AURORA whose telephone number is (571)272-2263. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8:00AM-5:00PM.
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/REENA AURORA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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