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 .
Status of Claims
This is the first action on the merits for application 18680045 filed on 05/31/2024. Claims 1-16 are pending.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/31/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because “an outer profiling of the form fitting element” described in ¶[0047] or from claim 7.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “a shaft-mounted complement” in claim 1; “screw drive” in claim 11; “plunger coil” in claim 12 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: “AP” and “G” from Fig.1 and “RG-G” from Fig.3.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Interpretation
The term “integrated in” in claim 1 is interpreted as formed or designed in one piece, see ¶[0004] of the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 15 recites “a latching engagement” in line 17 should read --the latching engagement—since latching engagement limitation is recited in previously line.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-16 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “the form-fitting element is biased longitudinally in relation to the blockable shaft and in defined manner against the shaft-mounted complement”. It is unclear the boundary of the term “defined manner” since the claim does not define any functional parameters that distinguish a “defined manner” from any generic biasing.
Claim 5 recites “the form-fitting element is shaped in a form of an annular element that runs around in closed fashion.” The claim does not set boundaries for determining what constitutes an annular element that “run around in closed fashion”. It is unclear whether the limitation requires completely continuous annular member extends circumferentially without interruption or whether interruption or gaps would still be considered as “running around in closed fashion”.
Claim 7 recites “the form-fitting element has an outer profiling which is complementary to a guide portion of the blocking actuator. It is unclear because the term “complementary to” does not defined in the specification and claim does not specify which type of complementary is required.
Claim 15 recites “providing a blockable shaft” in line 4. It is unclear if a blockable shaft is referring to a shaft of drive train in line 1 or how does a blockable shaft different than a shaft of drive train in line 1.
Claim 15 recites “the shaft” in line 10, 13. It is unclear if the shaft is referring to the shaft of drive train in line 1 or blockable shaft.
Claim 15 recites “the movement clearance” in line 13. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
The dependent claims are also rejected due to their dependency from claims 1 and 15.
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) 1-10, 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YU (CN 112922980 A cited from IDS) in view of Chen (US 20200173498 A1)
Claim 1: YU discloses a blocking mechanism for a vehicle (¶[0006]), the blocking mechanism (e.g. electromechanical braking device, see ¶[0006]) comprising:
a blocking actuator (36) of a drivetrain (8) of the vehicle;
a blockable shaft (e.g. there is no special definition of shaft in the specification. Thereof, the term is interpreted under BRI as rotating member that transmits torque and has longitudinal axis. In this case, cylindrical hub portion of gear 18 as shown in Fig.3 functions as shaft like torque transmits member.) of the drivetrain (8); and
a form-fitting element (46,52, 44) being part of the blocking actuator (36) and actuating between the blocking actuator (36) and the blockable shaft (cylindrical hub body of 18),
the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) is actuated in an axial stroke movement and longitudinally in relation to the blockable shaft (cylindrical hub body of 18) (¶[0030]),
the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) includes an elastic force transmission portion (44)
wherein: in a state where the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) bears against an end face of a shaft-mounted complement (48, 50) to which the form-fitting element is partially form-fittingly coupled (¶[0031]: “The teeth of the two coupler halves have insertion bevels 50, 52 only along one of the two circumferential directions”. This confirms that 52 contacts surface of 50 when teeth are in butt position)
the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) is biased longitudinally in relation to the blockable shaft (cylindrical hub body of 18) and in defined manner against the shaft-mounted complement (48,50) by at least one elastic force transmission portion (44) to form a latching engagement (¶[0031]: engaged position), and
in a blocked state of the blockable shaft (cylindrical hub body of 18) where the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) and the shaft-mounted complement (48,50) engage in one another in a form-fitting region (e.g. region where 46 and 48 are engaged) of the blocking mechanism (electromechanical braking device) (¶[0031]),
the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) is supported against a housing portion (part of 14, 16. As 16 supports 14 which supports 41.Element 41 as a linear motor, or a motor with a rocker arm, see ¶[0030]. Note: “housing portion” does not have any special definition from the specification. The term is interprets as part of the whole structure that supports the drive motor unit) of an electric motor drive unit (41),
the blocking actuator (36) is mounted on the housing portion (part of 14, 16; specifically 36 mounted on 14 as shown in Fig.1), and in the form-fitting region (e.g. region where 46 and 48 are engaged) and in a circumferential direction of the blockable shaft (cylindrical hub portion of gear 18),
the blocking mechanism has a movement clearance (clearance between teeth 46 and 48 when they are engaged. Note: the clearance must exist between the engaging surface otherwise teeth could not enter and exit out the gaps easily.) between the form-fitting element (46,52,44) and the shaft-mounted complement (48,50).
YU does not disclose an elastic force transmission portion being integrated in the form-fitting element.
Chen teaches a mechanism (Fig.3) having an elastic force transmission portion (12) being integrated in a form-fitting element (10) (¶[0019]: “the claw portion 10, the base portion 11 and the elastic portions 12 are formed integrally. For example, the claw portion 10, the base portion 11 and the elastic portions 12 can be integrated in one piece through a three-dimensional structure lamination process”)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to the teaching of an elastic force transmission portion being integrated in the form-fitting element as taught by Chen in the form-fitting element of YU in order to reducing number of components, simplifying components, improving structural compactness.
Claim 2: YU as modified by Chen discloses the blocking mechanism of claim 1, wherein the shaft-mounted complement (48, 50; see Fig.2) is arranged in a region of an end of the blockable shaft (cylindrical hub portion of gear 18) .
Claim 3: YU as modified by Chen discloses the blocking mechanism of claim 2, wherein the blocking actuator (36) is mounted on the housing portion (14,16) in a manner situated opposite the end of the blockable shaft (cylindrical hub portion of gear 18).
Claim 4: YU as modified by Chen discloses the blocking mechanism of claim 3, the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) being arranged coaxially (share same axis 13) in with the blockable shaft (cylindrical hub portion of gear 18).
Claim 5: YU as modified by Chen discloses the blocking mechanism of claim 1, wherein the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) is shaped in a form of an annular element that runs around in closed fashion (as best understood, teeth 46 are arranged in annular pattern and teeth form a complete ring around circumference sleeve, see Fig.2).
Claim 6: YU as modified by Chen discloses the blocking mechanism of claim 1, wherein the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) has an inner profiling (inner contour of 52) which form-fittingly interacts with a complementary profiling (contour of 50) of the shaft-mounted complement (48,50) in the form-fitting region.
Claim 8: YU as modified by Chen discloses the blocking mechanism of claim 1, wherein the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) is supported against a housing portion (part of 14, 16) of an electric motor housing (14,16) 1
Claim 9: YU as modified by Chen discloses the blocking mechanism of claim 1, wherein the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) is electrically actuatable (¶[0030]: 41 moves sleeve 36).
Claim 10: YU as modified by Chen discloses the blocking mechanism of claim 1, wherein the form-fitting element (46, 52, 44) is attached to a movement mechanism (motor with a rocker arm, linear motor, ¶[0030]) of the blocking actuator (36) via the at least one elastic force transmission portion (44), the movement mechanism brings about the axial stroke movement of the form-fitting element (46,52,44).
Claim 13: YU as modified by Chen discloses an electric motor drive unit (Fig.1) having a blocking mechanism (e.g. electromechanical braking device, see ¶[0006]) of claim 1.
Claim 14: YU as modified by Chen discloses a vehicle (¶[0006]) having an electric motor drive unit (Fig.1) as claimed in claim 13.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YU (CN 112922980 A cited from IDS) in view of Chen (US 20200173498 A1) and further in view of Kramer (US 20050006187 A1)
Claim 11: YU as modified by Chen does not disclose the blocking mechanism of claim 10, wherein the movement mechanism has a screw drive for generating the axial stroke movement.
Kramer teaches a brake unit (Fig.1) having the movement mechanism (70, 78, 74, 34) has a screw drive (54) for generating the axial stroke movement (¶[0025]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace movement mechanism of the modified system of YU with mechanism has screw drive as taught by Kramer in order to improve positional accuracy, increased axial force generation.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YU (CN 112922980 A cited from IDS) in view of Chen (US 20200173498 A1) and further in view of GEBERT (US 20200332894 A1)
Claim 12: YU as modified by Chen does not disclose the blocking mechanism of claim 10, wherein the movement mechanism has a plunger coil for generating the axial stroke movement.
GEBERT teaches parking lock assembly (10; Fig.1) having a movement mechanism (28) has a plunger coil (32) for generating the axial stroke movement (¶[0037]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to replace movement mechanism of the modified system of YU with mechanism has a plunger coil for generating the axial stroke movement as taught by GEBERT in order to eliminate backlash, noise, and mechanical complexity, fewer moving part and higher reliability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 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.
Claims 15-16 would be allowable if rewritten or amended 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.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Park (US 20170114848 A1) discloses electro-mechanical brake.
Asano (US 20030196859 A1) discloses brake unit with screw and nut member.
LI(CN 116066557 A) park lock for electric automobile.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lillian T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-5404. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ernesto Suarez can be reached at (571)270-5565. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LILLIAN T NGUYEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3655a
1 The strikeout limitation is “or” limitation; thus the prior art does not require to satisfy the strikeout limitation to be applicable.
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