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 § 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) 1-3, 7, 10, 13-16, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Balling et al. (US PG Pub 2020/0076276) in view of Fippl (DE102017215091).
As to independent claim 1, Balling et al. teaches bearing shield device (see figure 3) for a stator device (41), having a bearing shield (43) and a sensor device (1) which has a holding member (See annotated figure 3) fastened to the bearing shield (43) as shown in figure 1.
PNG
media_image1.png
608
548
media_image1.png
Greyscale
However Balling et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein the holding member has a first leg portion, a second leg portion, and a web portion connecting the leg portions, wherein the leg portions for arranging the sensor device on a winding head of the stator device are elastically deformable in such a manner that they radially embrace the winding head and exert a restoring force on the latter.
Fippl teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein the holding member (7) has a first leg portion (8), a second leg portion (8), and a web portion (7a) connecting the leg portions (8), wherein the leg portions (8) for arranging the sensor device (5) on a winding head (2) of the stator device (1) are elastically deformable in such a manner that they radially embrace the winding head (2) and exert a restoring force on the latter as shown in figures 1 ad 2, for the advantageous benefit of providing an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Wu by using the holding member has a first leg portion, a second leg portion, and a web portion connecting the leg portions, wherein the leg portions for arranging the sensor device on a winding head of the stator device are elastically deformable in such a manner that they radially embrace the winding head and exert a restoring force on the latter, as taught by Fippl, to provide an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
As to claim 2/1, Balling et al. in view of Fippl teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein the leg portions at their ends facing away from the web portion are widened in a direction pointing away from one another.
However Fippl teaches the leg portions (8) at their ends facing away from the web portion (7a) are widened in a direction pointing away from one another as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of providing an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Balling et al. in view of Fippl by using the leg portions at their ends facing away from the web portion are widened in a direction pointing away from one another, as taught by Fippl, to provide an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
As to claim 3/1, Balling et al. teaches wherein the holding member (see annotated figure 3) has a spacer (see annotated figure 3) by which the holding member (see annotated figure 3) is fastened to the bearing shield and which spaces apart the web portion (18) from the bearing shield (43) as shown in figure 3.
As to claim 7/1, Balling et al. in view of Fippl teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein the sensor device has a temperature sensor arranged on the web portion.
However Fippl teaches the sensor device (5) has a temperature sensor arranged on the web portion (7a) as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of providing an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Balling et al. in view of Fippl by using the leg portions at their ends facing away from the web portion are widened in a direction pointing away from one another, as taught by Fippl, to provide an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
As to claim 10/1, Balling et al. teaches wherein the sensor device has a temperature sensor (27) arranged on the first leg portion and/or a temperature sensor (29) arranged on the second leg portion as shown in figure 3.
As to claim 13/1, Ballling et al. teaches stator device for an electric machine (see title) , having: a stator (41) which has a winding head (45), and a stator housing (43) having a housing casing and a bearing shield device (see figure 3) fastened to the housing casing (43), and the at least one temperature sensor (27, 29) rests on the winding head (45) as shown in figure 3.
However Balling et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein the leg portions embrace the winding head and exert the restoring force on the latter.
Fippl teaches the leg portions (8) embrace the winding head (2) and exert the restoring force on the latter as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of providing an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Balling et al. in view of Fippl by using the leg portions embrace the winding head and exert the restoring force on the latter, as taught by Fippl, to provide an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
As to claim 14/1, Balling et al. teaches for producing a stator device (see figure 3), comprising the following steps: providing a stator (41) which has a winding head (45) and is arranged in a housing casing (43); providing a bearing shield device see figure 3) arranging the bearing shield device (see figure 3) on the housing casing (43) and the temperature sensor (27, 29) rests on the winding head (45); and fastening the bearing shield device to the housing casing (43) as shown in figure 3.
However Balling et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except in such a way that the leg portions embrace the winding head while exerting the restoring force on the latter.
Fippl teaches in such a way that the leg portions (8) embrace the winding head (2) while exerting the restoring force on the latter as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of providing an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Balling et al. in view of Fippl by using in such a way that the leg portions embrace the winding head while exerting the restoring force on the latter, as taught by Fippl, to provide an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
As to claim 15/13, Balling et al. teaches electric machine (see title) for driving a vehicle (103), having a stator device (see figure 3) and a rotor (inherent moving component, its rotation is due to the interaction between windings and magnetic fields which produces a torque around the rotor's axis) which is mounted so as to be rotatable in relation to the stator(41) as shown in figure 3.
As to claim 16/2, Balling et al. teaches wherein the holding member (see annotated figure 3) has a spacer (see annotated figure 3) by which the holding member (see annotated figure 3) is fastened to the bearing shield (43) and which spaces apart the web portion (18) from the bearing shield (43) as shown in figure 3.
As to claim 18/2, Balling et al. in view of Fippl teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except teaches wherein the sensor device has a temperature sensor arranged on the web portion.
However Fippl teaches the sensor device has a temperature sensor (5) arranged on the web portion (7a) as shown in figure 2, for the advantageous benefit of providing an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify Balling et al. in view of Fippl by using the sensor device has a temperature sensor arranged on the web portion, as taught by Fippl, to provide an alternative arrangement with respect to the prior art for contacting a temperature sensor on a winding head of an electric machine, which is effort minimized.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 8-9, 11-12, 17, 19-20 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. Note Claim 4-5 depends claim 1, claim 6 depends claim 5, claim 11 depends claim 10, claim 12 depends claim 1, claim 17 depends 2, claim 19 depends claim 7 and claims 20 depends claim 8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES whose telephone number is (571)270-7850. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 6:30-2:30 EST.
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, OLUSEYE IWARERE can be reached at (571)270-5112. 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.
/JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 October 3, 2025