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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-7 and 10 in the reply filed on 8/20/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is no undue burden if examination of the non-elected claims were required given the overlapping subject matter of the features of the embodiments recited in such claims with those of the elected subject matter. This is not found persuasive because although there is overlapping subject matter between groups, there are nonoverlapping subject matter exclusive from each group. Also, as noted in the previous office action, there would be serious search/examination burden if restriction were not required due to different field of search. Thus, the requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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) 1-5 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yoshikawa (US 20080203842).
Regarding claim 1, Yoshikawa discloses a rotor 21, in figures 1 and 2, for an externally excited synchronous machine (paragraph 1), comprising: pole shoes 23 having an outer contour (lines between points X, A, B, C and Z) composed of straight line segments (lines XA, AB, BC and CZ), the ends of which are situated on a line corresponding to a sine field pole contour (figure 2, dotted line).
Regarding claim 2, Yoshikawa discloses the outer contour of the pole shoes is mirror symmetrical (figure 2, centerline 27).
Regarding claims 3-5, Yoshikawa discloses the outer contour of the pole shoes comprises 8 line segments (figure 2, 4 lines XA, AB, BC and CZ, mirror symmetrical at centerline 27; thus, total of 8 line segments per pole shoe).
Regarding claim 10, Yoshikawa discloses an externally excited synchronous machine (paragraph 1), comprising: a rotor according to claim 1 (note rejection of claim 1 above).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshikawa in view of Shrestha (US 20160211787).
Regarding claim 6, Yoshikawa further discloses the rotor composed of individual sheet metal slats arranged congruently one on top of another (claim 1).
Yoshikawa does not disclose a pole wheel with exciter windings.
Shrestha discloses a rotor 104 (figure 1) with a pole wheel 106 with exciter windings 110, for the purpose of providing flexible, controllable, and robust rotor excitation, thereby improving reliability and adjustability.
Thus, it would have been obvious to person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have a pole wheel with exciter windings disclosed by Shrestha in the rotor disclosed by Yoshikawa, for the purpose of providing flexible, controllable, and robust rotor excitation, thereby improving reliability and adjustability.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshikawa in view of Shrestha, in further view Hunstable (US 20220045559).
Regarding claim 7, Yoshikawa in view of Shrestha does not disclose the individual sheet metal slats are coated with an insulator.
Hunstable discloses a motor including individual sheet metal slats are coated with an insulator (paragraphs 154 and 157), for the purpose of reducing eddy current and provide resistance to corrosion or rust.
Thus, it would have been obvious to person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have the individual sheet metal slats are coated with an insulator as disclosed by Hunstable in the device disclosed by Yoshikawa in view of Shrestha, for the purpose of reducing eddy current and provide resistance to corrosion or rust.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Schmidt (US 20190020233) and, machine translations of Salzmann (WO 2012/119894), machine translations of Yao (CN 113394936), and machine translations of Merwerth (DE 10 2017 205 021).
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/BUMSUK WON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872