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 .
DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This is the first Office action on the merits for Application No. 18/590,295, filed 11/14/2023. Claims 1-17 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) received on 11/14/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitations "the first gear” and “the second gear" in lines 7 and 11. There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitations "diameters of the first gear of the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the second gear of the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism" in lines 1-3. It is unclear whether the limitation is referring to the diameters of the first gear of the first screw nut mechanism and the second gear of the second screw-nut mechanism or the diameters of both first/second gears and the rotatable bodies of the first/second screw-nut mechanisms. For the purposes of examination, the limitation is interpreted as - -diameters of the first gear of
Claims 2-17 are rejected up dependent from a rejected base claim and they inherit its deficiencies.
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.
Claims 1-3, 6-8 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gerber et al. (US 2023/0012601 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Gerber discloses an electromechanical brake system (figs. 14-22) comprising:
a pair of screw-nut mechanisms (figs. 15, 16) comprising first and second screw-nut mechanisms (i.e., includes at least ramp nuts 460 and spindles 192), each screw-nut mechanism comprising a rotatable body (460) configured to be rotatable and a translatable body (192) operably coupled with the rotatable body, the translatable body configured to be axially translatable relative to the rotatable body to move a brake pad assembly (37) according to rotation of the rotatable body,
wherein the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism is provided with the first gear (fig. 20, i.e., driven gear 580) and the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism is provided with the second gear (i.e., the other gear 580 of driven gears 580);
an actuator assembly (paragraphs [0098 – 0099], [0105], i.e., includes motor assembly 600) configured to provide a torque; and
a drive gear (560) rotatably engaged between the first gear (580) of the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the second gear (i.e., the other gear of driven gears 580) of the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism and operably connected to the actuator assembly to be rotated by the torque of the actuator (paragraphs [0095 – 0105].
Regarding claim 2, Gerber discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein the drive gear (560) is configured to rotate both the first gear (driven gear 580) of the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the second gear (i.e., the other gear of driven gears 580) of the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism simultaneously by the torque of the actuator to rotate the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism simultaneously (paragraphs [0095 – 0105].
Regarding claim 3, Gerber discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein the translatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the translatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism are operably coupled to the brake pad assembly (37) so that the translatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the translatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism simultaneously move the brake pad assembly (37) according to the rotation of the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism to apply or release brake (see paragraphs [0098] – [0100], [0113] and [0076].
Regarding claim 6, as best understood, Gerber discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein diameters of the first gear (i.e., diameter of driven gear 580) of the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the second gear (i.e., diameter of the other gear of the driven gears 580) of the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism are larger than a diameter of the drive gear (560) rotatably engaged between the first gear and the second gear (i.e., drive gears 580).
Regarding claim 7, Gerber discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein: the rotatable body (460) and the translatable body (192) of the first screw-nut mechanism and the rotatable body (i.e., the other rotatable body of ramp nuts 460) and the translatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism have threaded grooves (fig. 15), and a threaded direction (fig. 18) of the threaded grooves of the rotatable body and the translatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and a threaded direction of the threaded grooves of the rotatable body and the translatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism are same as each other (shown in figures 15, 16 and 18).
Regarding claim 8, Gerber discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein the drive gear (560), the first gear (i.e., driven gear 580) of the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the second gear (i.e., the other gear of driven gears 580) of the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism are arranged on a same plane as each other (shown in fig. 20).
Regarding claim 17, Gerber discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein:
a diameter of the first gear (fig. 20, i.e., diameter of driven gear 580) of the first screw-nut drive mechanism is larger than an outer diameter of the rotatable body (480) of the first screw-nut drive mechanism, and a diameter of the second gear (fig. 20, i.e., diameter of the other gear of driven gears 580) of the second screw-nut drive mechanism is larger than an outer diameter of the rotatable body of the second screw-nut drive mechanism (shown in figure 15).
Claims 1, 4-5 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shou et al. (CN 104389927 A, machine translation attached).
Regarding claim 1, Shou discloses an electromechanical brake system (figs. 1-3 and machine translation attached) includes a pair of screw-nut mechanisms (figs. 1 and 2, i.e., each screw nut mechanism includes members 12,13), first and second screw-nut mechanisms (12,13), each screw-nut mechanism having a rotatable body (i.e., screw nut 13) configured to be rotatable and a translatable body (i.e., screw 12) operably coupled with the rotatable body (13), the translatable body (12) configured to be axially translatable relative to the rotatable body to move a brake pad assembly (7-9) according to rotation of the rotatable body,
wherein the rotatable body (13) of the first screw-nut mechanism is provided with the first gear (i.e., output gear 5) and the rotatable body (i.e., the other ball screw of the ball screws 12) of the second screw-nut mechanism is provided with the second gear (i.e., the other gear of the output gears 5);
an actuator assembly (i.e., includes motor 19) configured to provide a torque; and
a drive gear (3) rotatably engaged between the first gear (5, i.e., via idle gear 4) of the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the second gear (fig. 3, i.e., the other gear 5; via gear 4) of the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism and operably connected to the actuator assembly (19) to be rotated by the torque of the actuator (par. [0031], [0038]).
Regarding claim 4, Shou discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein: the first gear (5) is fixed to the rotatable body (i.e., screw nut 13; fig. 2) of the first screw-nut mechanism, and the second gear (i.e., the other gear of output gears 5) is fixed to the rotatable body (i.e., the other ball screw nut of ball screw nuts 13) of the second screw-nut mechanism (figs. 1 and 2).
Regarding claim 5, Shou discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein: teeth of the first gear (fig. 2, i.e., teeth of output gear 5) are directly formed on the rotatable body (13) of the first screw-nut mechanism, and teeth of the second gear (i.e., teeth of the other gear of output gears 5) are directly formed on the rotatable body (i.e., the other ball screw nut of ball screw nuts 13) of the second screw-nut mechanism.
Regarding claim 16, Shou discloses the electromechanical brake system of claim 1, wherein: the rotatable body (13) of the first screw-nut mechanism has an inner race of a first bearing (fig. 2, i.e., inner race of bearing 15) rotatably supporting the rotatable body of the first screw-nut mechanism and the first gear (5) rotatably engaged with the drive gear (3, i.e., via gear 4), and the rotatable body (i.e., the other ball screw nut 13) of the second screw-nut mechanism has an inner race of a second bearing (i.e., the other inner race of the other bearing of bearings 15) rotatably supporting the rotatable body of the second screw-nut mechanism and the second gear rotatably engaged with the drive gear (i.e., drive gear 3 is indirectly rotatably engaged with the other output gear of output gears 5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-15 are rejected but would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 9, the prior art of record fails to disclose or render obvious the electromechanical brake system of claim 1 and in combination with the features recited.
Claims 10-15 are allowable as being dependent upon the allowable base claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tinh T Dang whose telephone number is (571)270-1776. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9AM - 5PM.
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/TINH T DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655