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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 02/06/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 1 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.
The phrase in line 16 said “ inter-change time interval between two occurrence time spots” lacks clear meaning: whether this refer to rotational period, angular displacement timing or another measurement parameter, and whether the interval must be consecutive polarity changes or any two detected changes, and what objective boundaries define the stopping condition.
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) 1-2, 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huber(4,454,459) in view of Dey, IV et al. (US PG Pub 2017/0246732), Lutz (US PG Pub 2003/0128026) and Vanko et al. (US PG Pub 2017/0234484).
As to independent claim 1, An electric power tool (110), comprising: a housing (115, 116); a motor (114) disposed in said housing (115, 116); an output shaft (125, 126) connected to said motor (114) and extending out of said housing (115, 116), and configured to be driven by operation of said motor (114) to rotate about its own axis; a magnetic ring (142) sleeved on said output shaft (125, 126) so as to synchronously rotate with said output shaft (125, 126), and having a plurality of magnetic portions (inherent to generates field on the magnetic ring) surrounding said output shaft (125, 126); a magnetic polarity detector circuit (140) disposed at a predetermined position in proximity to said magnetic ring (142), and configured to detect a change of magnetic polarities at the predetermined position; and a controller (30) electrically connected to said motor (114) and said magnetic polarity detector circuit (140), and configured, when said magnetic ring (142) synchronously rotates with said output shaft (125, 126) that is driven by operation of said motor (114), as shown in figures 1-5
However Huber teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except every adjoining two of said magnetic portions having different magnetic polarities, and to control said motor to stop operating when an inter-change time interval between two occurrence time spots at which two respective changes of magnetic polarities were detected by said magnetic polarity detector circuit satisfies a predetermined condition.
Dey, IV et al. teaches a magnetic ring (815) with every adjoining two of said magnetic portions (820, 825,830,835) having different magnetic polarities (see figure 28) as shown in figure 28, for the advantageous benefit of improving from the viewpoint of space saving of the rotation detection device.
Lutz teaches control (motor controller, see paragraph [0050] said motor (700) to operating when an inter-change time interval between two occurrence time spots (see paragraph [0014]), at which two respective changes of magnetic polarities (magnets 204) were detected by said magnetic polarity detector circuit (108,109) satisfies a predetermined condition as shown in figures 2, 7, and see paragraph [0014, [0050-0054], for the advantageous benefit of providing an accurate, low-cost device that senses rotor position and detects rotational speed.
Vanko et al. teaches to stop the motor operating when a condition is detected (see paragraph [0025-0026]), for the advantageous benefit of preventing tool is flying out of the user's hands.
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 Huber by using every adjoining two of said magnetic portions having different magnetic polarities, and to control said motor to stop operating when an inter-change time interval between two occurrence time spots at which two respective changes of magnetic polarities were detected by said magnetic polarity detector circuit satisfies a predetermined condition, as taught by Dey, IV et al., Lutz and Vanko et al., to improve from the viewpoint of space saving of the rotation detection device, provide an accurate, low-cost device that senses rotor position and detects rotational speed and prevent tool is flying out of the user's hands.
As to claim 2/1, Huber in view of Dey, IV et al., Lutz and Vanko et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein the predetermined condition is that the inter-change time interval is not smaller than a preset time.
However Lutz teaches wherein the predetermined condition is that the inter-change time interval is not smaller than a preset time (see paragraph [0047], preset threshold is conventional digital control logic), for the advantageous benefit providing an accurate, low-cost device that senses rotor position and detects rotational speed.
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 Huber in view of Dey, IV et al., Lutz and Vanko et al. by using the predetermined condition is that the inter-change time interval is not smaller than a preset time, as taught by Lutz., to provide an accurate, low-cost device that senses rotor position and detects rotational speed.
As to claim 4/1, Huber teaches further comprising a circuit board (134) that is disposed at the predetermined position, said magnetic polarity detector circuit (140) being disposed on said circuit board (134) as shown in figure 1-5.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huber(4,454,459), Dey, IV et al. (US PG Pub 2017/0246732), Lutz (US PG Pub 2003/0128026) and Vanko et al. (US PG Pub 2017/0234484) as applied in claim 1 above and further in view of Brannen (US PG Pub 2020/0186060)
As to claim 3/1, Huber in view of Dey, IV et al., Lutz and Vanko et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except wherein said controller is configured to start timing the inter-change time interval immediately after said motor starts operating, and each time when said magnetic polarity detector circuit detects a change of magnetic polarities, to reset the inter-change time interval.
However Brannen teaches said controller is configured to start timing the inter-change time interval immediately after said motor starts operating, and each time when said magnetic polarity detector circuit detects a change of magnetic polarities, to reset the inter-change time interval (see paragraph [0040-0041, 0055]), for the advantageous benefit of improving performance from the motor.
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 Huber in view of Dey, IV et al., Lutz and Vanko et al. by using said controller is configured to start timing the inter-change time interval immediately after said motor starts operating, and each time when said magnetic polarity detector circuit detects a change of magnetic polarities, to reset the inter-change time interval, as taught by Brannen, to improve performance from the motor.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huber(4,454,459), Dey, IV et al. (US PG Pub 2017/0246732), Lutz (US PG Pub 2003/0128026) and Vanko et al. (US PG Pub 2017/0234484) as applied in claim 1 above and further in view of Velderman (US PG Pub 2020/0235638).
As to claim 5/1, Huber in view of Dey, IV et al., Lutz and Vanko et al. teaches the claimed limitation as discussed above except further comprising: a trigger disposed on said housing; and a trigger detecting circuit electrically connected to said controller, and configured to detect a state of how said trigger is pressed, wherein said controller is configured to control said motor to rotate at a consistent rotational speed when said trigger detecting circuit detects that said trigger is being pressed, regardless a depth to which said trigger is pressed.
Velderman teaches a trigger (102) disposed on said housing (12); and a trigger detecting circuit (146) electrically connected to said controller (100), and configured to detect a state of how said trigger (102) is pressed, wherein said controller (100) is configured to control said motor (14) to rotate at a consistent rotational speed when said trigger detecting circuit (146) detects that said trigger (102) is being pressed, regardless a depth to which said trigger (102) is pressed as shown in figures 1-2A, 3, and see paragraph [0111], for the advantageous benefit of improving performance from the motor.
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 Huber in view of Dey, IV et al., Lutz and Vanko et al. by using a trigger disposed on said housing; and a trigger detecting circuit electrically connected to said controller, and configured to detect a state of how said trigger is pressed, wherein said controller is configured to control said motor to rotate at a consistent rotational speed when said trigger detecting circuit detects that said trigger is being pressed, regardless a depth to which said trigger is pressed, as taught by Velderman, to improve performance from the motor.
Conclusion
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/JOSE A GONZALEZ QUINONES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 March 3, 2026