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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant Argument, filed 9th June 2026, with respect to the rejections of Claims 1, 3-12, 14-17, and 19-20 under U.S.C. 102 and 103 respectively have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejection, necessitated by amendment, is made as seen below.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claim 13, to the extent that the previous rejection may still apply to amended claims, have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument, see new ground of rejection, necessitated by amendment, below.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 3-6, 16-17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hara (US 20180202504 A1) in view of Minamitani (US 20040029668 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Hara discloses An electromechanical brake system comprising: a screw-nut mechanism contained within a housing (34) comprising a rotatable body (22) configured to be rotatable and a translatable body (28) operably coupled with the rotatable body (22), the translatable body (28) configured to be axially translatable relative to the rotatable body (22) to move a brake pad (18) according to rotation of the rotatable body (22) (see Fig. 1, [0049-0050]); and an actuator assembly (26) comprising: a motor (38) fixedly mounted in the housing (34) and having a motor shaft (40), and a multiple-stage drive mechanism having a belt drive mechanism (44) and a gear drive mechanism (46, 48), the multiple-stage drive mechanism operably connecting between the motor shaft (40) and the rotatable body (22) of the screw-nut mechanism (see Fig. 1, Fig. 2), wherein the belt drive mechanism (33) of the multiple-stage drive mechanism comprises: a drive belt (33); a drive pulley (31) provided on the motor shaft (30a); and a driven pulley (32) connected to the drive pulley (31) of the motor shaft (30a) via the drive belt (33), wherein the driven pulley (32) is provided on an intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive (33) mechanism and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see Fig. 4, [0050-0051]), wherein: the driven pulley (32) provided on the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (44) and the gear drive mechanism (46, 48) (see Fig. 1, Fig. 2).
Hara does not explicitly disclose the driven pulley having an inner wall fixedly coupled to the intermediate shaft and an outer wall having an outer surface rotatably engaged with the drive belt, and one or more bearings configured to rotatably support the inner wall of the driven pulley are disposed inside a space formed between the inner wall and the outer wall of the driven pulley, wherein a part of the housing protrudes into the space of the driven pulley to accommodate the one or more bearings.
Minamitani teaches a driven pulley (82) having an inner wall (46) fixedly coupled to the intermediate shaft (22) and an outer wall (A) (see Annotated Fig. 3 below) having an outer surface rotatably engaged with the drive belt (28), and one or more bearings (26) configured to rotatably support the inner wall (46) of the driven pulley (82) are disposed inside a space formed between the inner wall (82) and the outer wall (A) of the driven pulley (82), wherein a support (84) protrudes into the space of the driven pulley (82) to accommodate the one or more bearings (26) (see Fig. 3, Annotated Fig. 3 below).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teachings of Minamitani with the electromechanical brake of Hara in order to improve the durability of the pulley by reducing the bending moment applied to the shaft (see US 20040029668 A1 [Minamitani]; [0005-0010]). It should be noted that while the support is not necessarily part of a housing in Minamitani, one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would recognize in combination, as the driven pulley of Hara is supported by the housing already, the protruding support of Minamitani should be made as part of the housing of Hara, thus teaching the limitations of Amended Claim 1.
PNG
media_image1.png
639
706
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Annotated Fig. 3
Regarding Claim 3, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches wherein a diameter of the drive pulley provided on the motor shaft (40) is smaller than a diameter of the driven pulley provided on the intermediate shaft (52) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (44) and the gear drive mechanism (46, 48) (see US 20180202504 A1 [Hara]; Fig. 3A, Fig. 3B).
Regarding Claim 4, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches wherein the gear drive mechanism (46, 48) of the multiple-stage drive mechanism comprises: a first gear (58) provided on the intermediate shaft (52) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (44) and the gear drive mechanism (46, 48); and a second gear (60) rotatably engaged with the first gear (58), provided on the intermediate shaft (52), to rotate the rotatable body of the screw-nut mechanism (22) (see US 20180202504 A1 [Hara]; Fig. 1, Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 5, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches wherein a diameter of the first gear (58) provided on the intermediate shaft (52) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (44) and the gear drive mechanism (46, 48) is smaller than a diameter of the second gear (60) configured to rotate the rotatable body (22) of the screw-nut mechanism according to rotation of the first gear (58) (see US 20180202504 A1 [Hara]; Fig. 2, [0054]).
Regarding Claim 6, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches wherein the intermediate shaft (52) has a first portion where the driven pulley (54) of the belt drive mechanism connected to the drive pulley (50) of the motor shaft (40) is provided and a second portion where the first gear (58) of the gear drive mechanism rotatably engaged with the second gear (60) configured to rotate the rotatable body (22) of the screw-nut mechanism is provided (see US 20180202504 A1 [Hara]; Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 16, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches wherein a diameter of the second gear (60) of the gear drive (46, 48) mechanism rotatably engaged with the first gear (58) provided on the intermediate shaft (52) is larger than an outer diameter of the rotatable body (22) of the screw-nut mechanism (see US 20180202504 A1 [Hara]; Fig. 1, Fig. 2, [0053]).
Regarding Claim 17, Hara discloses an actuator assembly comprising: a motor (38) fixedly mounted in a housing (34) having a motor shaft (40); and a multiple-stage drive mechanism having a belt drive mechanism (44) and a gear drive mechanism (46, 48) and operably connecting between the motor shaft (40) and a rotatable body (22) of a screw-nut mechanism, which is operably coupled with a translatable body (28) of the screw-nut mechanism configured to be axially translatable relative to the rotatable body (22) to move a brake pad according to rotation of the rotatable body of the screw-nut mechanism (see Fig. 1, Fig. 2), wherein the belt drive mechanism (33) of the multiple-stage drive mechanism comprises: a drive belt (33); a drive pulley (31) provided on the motor shaft (30a); and a driven pulley (32) connected to the drive pulley (31) of the motor shaft (30a) via the drive belt (33), wherein the driven pulley (32) is provided on an intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (33) and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see Fig. 4, Fig. 7), wherein: the driven pulley (32) provided on the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (44) and the gear drive mechanism (46, 48) (see Fig. 1, Fig. 2).
Hara does not explicitly disclose the driven pulley having an inner wall fixedly coupled to the intermediate shaft and an outer wall having an outer surface rotatably engaged with the drive belt, and one or more bearings configured to rotatably support the inner wall of the driven pulley are disposed inside a space formed between the inner wall and the outer wall of the driven pulley, wherein a part of the housing protrudes into the space of the driven pulley to accommodate the one or more bearings.
Minamitani teaches a driven pulley (82) having an inner wall (46) fixedly coupled to the intermediate shaft (22) and an outer wall (A) (see Annotated Fig. 3 below) having an outer surface rotatably engaged with the drive belt (28), and one or more bearings (26) configured to rotatably support the inner wall (46) of the driven pulley (82) are disposed inside a space formed between the inner wall (82) and the outer wall (A) of the driven pulley (82), wherein a support (84) protrudes into the space of the driven pulley (82) to accommodate the one or more bearings (26) (see Fig. 3, Annotated Fig. 3 below).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teachings of Minamitani with the electromechanical brake of Hara in order to improve the durability of the pulley by reducing the bending moment applied to the shaft (see US 20040029668 A1 [Minamitani]; [0005-0010]). It should be noted that while the support is not necessarily part of a housing in Minamitani, one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would recognize in combination, as the driven pulley of Hara is supported by the housing already, the protruding support of Minamitani should be made as part of the housing of Hara, thus teaching the limitations of Amended Claim 17.
Regarding Claim 19, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches wherein the gear drive mechanism (46, 48) of the multiple-stage drive mechanism comprises: a first gear (58) provided on the intermediate shaft (52) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (44) and the gear drive mechanism (46, 48); and a second gear (60) rotatably engaged with the first gear (58), provided on the intermediate shaft (52), to rotate the rotatable body (22) of the screw-nut mechanism (see US 20180202504 A1 [Hara]; Fig. 1, Fig. 2).
Claims 8-10, 12, 14-15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hara (US 20180202504 A1) as modified by Minamitani (US 20040029668 A1) in Claim 1, Claim 4, and Claim 19 above respectively, further in view of Kim (KR 102411618 B1).
Regarding Claim 8, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches the electromechanical brake system of Claim 4.
Hara modified by Minamitani does not explicitly teach wherein gear teeth of the first gear of the gear drive mechanism are formed on at least a part of an outer circumferential surface of the intermediate shaft operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism and the gear drive mechanism.
Kim teaches wherein gear teeth of the first gear (34) of the gear drive mechanism (35) are formed on at least a part of an outer circumferential surface of the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (33) and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see Fig. 4, Fig. 7, [0050-0051], [0059]).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teachings of Kim with the electromechanical brake system of Hara modified by Minamitani in order to improve miniaturization by reducing number of components and structure of the power transmission system (see KR 102411618 B1 [Kim]; [0001]).
Regarding Claim 9, Hara modified by Minamitani and Kim teaches wherein the first gear (34) of the gear drive mechanism (35) is fixed to the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (33) and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see KR 102411618 B1 [Kim]; Fig. 7, [0059]).
Regarding Claim 10, Hara modified by Minamitani and Kim teaches wherein the driven pulley (32) of the belt drive mechanism (33) connected to the drive pulley (31) of the motor shaft (30a) via the drive belt (33) is fixed to the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (33) and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see KR 102411618 B1 [Kim]; Fig. 7, [0059]).
Regarding Claim 12, Hara modified by Minamitani and Kim teaches wherein the second gear (35) is fixed to the rotatable body (50) of the screw-nut mechanism to rotate the rotatable body (50) of the screw-nut mechanism according to rotation of the first gear (34) provided on the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (33) and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see KR 102411618 B1 [Kim]; Fig. 9, [0050]).
Regarding Claim 14, Hara modified by Minamitani and Kim teaches wherein the translatable body (40) of the screw-nut mechanism is arranged between the motor (30) and the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (33) and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see KR 102411618 B1 [Kim]; Fig. 4, Fig. 7).
Regarding Claim 15, Hara modified by Minamitani and Kim teaches wherein the rotatable body (50) of the screw-nut mechanism has: an inner race of a bearing rotatably supporting the rotatable body (50) of the screw-nut mechanism (see KR 102411618 B1 [Kim]; Fig. 9, [0048]), and the second gear (35) rotatably engaged with the first gear (34) provided on the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (33) and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see KR 102411618 B1 [Kim]; Fig. 9, Fig. 10).
Regarding Claim 20, Hara modified by Minamitani and Kim teaches wherein the second gear (35) is formed on or fixed to the rotatable body (50) of the screw-nut mechanism to rotate the rotatable body (50) of the screw-nut mechanism according to rotation of the first gear (34) provided on the intermediate shaft (34) operably connecting between the belt drive mechanism (33) and the gear drive mechanism (35) (see KR 102411618 B1 [Kim]; Fig. 9, [0050]).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hara (US 20180202504 A1) as modified by Minamitani (US 20040029668 A1) in Claim 1 above, further in view of Kinoshita et. al. (US 20220009463 A1).
Regarding Claim 7, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches the electro mechanical brake system of Claim 1, wherein the intermediate shaft (52) is operably connected between the belt drive mechanism (44) and the gear drive mechanism (46, 48).
Hara modified by Minamitani do not explicitly teach the gear mechanism having a flange protruding radially from a circumferential surface of the intermediate shaft.
Kinoshita teaches a rotating shaft (5) with a flange (5a) protruding radially from an outer circumferential surface (see Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teaching of Kinoshita with the electromechanical brake system of Hara modified by minamitani in order to provide thrust support for the rotating intermediate shaft and prevent intermediate shaft misalignment while allowing axial rotation (see US 20220009463 A1 [Kinoshita]; [0023]).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hara (US 20180202504 A1) as modified by Minamitani (US 20040029668 A1) in Claim 4 above, further in view of Casadio (US 20250172180 A1).
Regarding Claim 11, Hara modified by Minamitani teaches the electromechanical brake system of Claim 4.
Hara modified by Minamitani does not explicitly teach where in the gear teeth of the second gear of the gear drive mechanism are formed on at least a part of an outer circumferential surface of the rotatable body of the screw-nut mechanism.
Casadio teaches a rotatable body of a screw-nut with external toothing of a second gear formed on the outer circumferential surface of the rotatable body of a screw-nut mechanism (see Fig. 4, [0053], [0174]).
It would have been obvious, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, to combine the teachings of Casadio with the electromechanical brake system of Hara modified by Minamitani in order to improve compactness of the brake system (see US 20250172180 A1 [Casadio]; [0004-0008]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shea Irvin whose telephone number is (571)272-9952. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:30 - 17:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Siconolfi can be reached at (571) 272-7124. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/S.W.I./Examiner, Art Unit 3616
/Robert A. Siconolfi/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3616
Prosecution Insights