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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/15/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. See 102 rejection of claims 1 and 11 below.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities: “the rotational stopper member” in the last line of claims 1 and 11, should read “the rotation stopper member”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-6 and 11-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fujita et al. (WO 2019/239482 A1) hereinafter, Fujita.
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Fujita teaches a steer-by-wire steering device (10), comprising:
a shaft interlocking member (80) fixed to a steering shaft (21) so that the shaft interlocking member is rotated together with the steering shaft (sixth paragraph of page 4), the shaft interlocking member radially extending from the steering shaft (Fig 1-2);
a rotation stopper member (90) rotatably arranged around the steering shaft and extending in a radial direction of the steering shaft (Fig 1-2), the rotation stopper member configured to be rotatable together with the shaft interlocking member by being supported by an end portion (82) of the shaft interlocking member according to rotation of the steering shaft (fourth paragraph of page 5 and Fig 2-3); and
a housing (61) having a stopper protrusion protruding (61a) from a surface of the housing to block rotation of the rotation stopper member when an end portion of the rotation stopper member contacts the stopper protrusion of the housing by rotation of the shaft interlocking member (Fig 5), or a housing (61) having an arc-shaped guide recess (61a on the left to 61a on the right, Fig 5a) in which an end portion (92) of the rotation stopper member is rotatably inserted wherein ends of the arc-shaped guide recess are configured to block rotation of the end portion of the rotation stopper member when the end portion of the rotation stopper member contacts one of the ends (61a) of the arc-shaped guide recess by the rotation of the shaft interlocking member (Fig 5); and
a stopper support (75) directly coupled to the steering shaft and supporting the rotational stopper member (Fig 2-3).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Fujita teaches an axial support (72, 73, 75) coupled to the steering shaft to axially support the shaft interlocking member and the rotation stopper member (fifth paragraph of page 4 and Fig 2-3).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Fujita teaches that the shaft interlocking member includes:
a shaft coupling portion (81) having a shaft hole to which the steering shaft is fixedly coupled (Fig 2-3); and
an extension support portion (82b) radially extending from the shaft coupling portion to support the rotation stopper member so that the rotation stopper member is rotated by the extension support portion of the shaft interlocking member when the extension support portion of the shaft interlocking member contacts the rotation stopper member (Fig 2-5).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Fujita teaches that the rotation stopper member includes:
a main body (91) having a coupling hole in which the steering shaft is rotatably inserted (Fig 3); and
a protrusion support portion (92b) radially extending from the main body and axially protruding to be supported by the extension support portion of the shaft interlocking member when the extension support portion of the shaft interlocking member contacts the protrusion support portion of the rotation stopper member by the rotation of the shaft interlocking member (Fig 2-5).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Fujita teaches a damper (separate elastic body, second paragraph of page 8) coupled to the protrusion support portion of the rotation stopper member to elastically support the extension support portion of the shaft interlocking member (third paragraph of page 8).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Fujita teaches a stopper support (72, 73, 75) coupled between an inner surface of the coupling hole of the main body of the rotation stopper member and an outer circumferential surface of the steering shaft such that the stopper support is axially supported by the shaft coupling portion of the shaft interlocking member (fifth paragraph of page 4 and Fig 2-3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 and 17-20 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claims 7 and 17 recite that the stopper support is substantially ring-shaped and has a cutout at a side of the stopper support and an outer circumferential groove formed on an outer circumferential surface of the stopper support to receive the inner surface of the coupling hole of the main body of the rotation stopper member.
Since the prior art (e.g. Fujita) teaches steering angle limiter that lack said features, the prior art does not anticipate the claimed subject matter.
For illustration purposes, Fig 4 of the examined disclosure shows the stopper support 170, which is different than the stopper support taught by the prior art of record (Fig. 3 of Fujita and Fig. 2 of Gal, etc.)
Furthermore, it would not have been obvious to a skilled artisan to have modified the prior art in order to arrive at the claimed invention without resorting to impermissible hindsight.
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 HOSAM SHABARA whose telephone number is (571)272-5495. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am-5 pm.
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/HOSAM SHABARA/Examiner, Art Unit 3618
/MINNAH L SEOH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3618
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