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 .
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 and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Howard-Willis et al (US 2021/0107603) in view of Rogus (US 10946238). With respect to claims 1, 27, Howard-Willis et al disclose the basic claimed structure including a pedal drive system for a watercraft with a thrust unit having a propeller 700, a manual drive train with a pair of pedals (Figure 6B) mechanically attached to a crankshaft (Figure 6B) for rotation of the crankshaft about a crankshaft axis, in at least an manual pedal mode, the manual drive train being connected to the thrust unit to input power to the thrust unit by pedaling the pair of pedals, an assist drive train having a motor (paragraphs 0161, 0173), in at least an assist mode and the assist drive train is connected to the thrust unit to input power to the thrust unit. For the various modes not paragraph 0173. Not disclosed by Howard-Willis et al is manual drive train brake to inhibit motion about the crankshaft axis. Rogus teaches a pedal drive system (with pedals 44a, 44b) with assist motor 86 and a manual drive train brake 142. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the device of Howard-Willis et al with a manual drive train brake as taught by Rogus with a high likelihood of success for improved user conditioning by providing increased pedal effort. The combination combines known feature to achieve predictable results. Further, it is noted that a person of ordinary skill in the art of designing complex hybrid drive trains would have years of experience in the art and advanced degrees. Such a person would be familiar with various drive trains systems and drive train braking systems and would have found the combination to have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 2-4, 6-7, 11-13, 15-18, 20-22, 24, 29 and 32 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Getta et al (US 2014/01378174) show a pedal assist drive system.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN AVILA whose telephone number is (571)272-6678. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 6-4.
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STEPHEN AVILA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3617
/STEPHEN P AVILA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615