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 .
Claims 1-19 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 February 6, 2026; August 13, 2025 and May 31, 2024 have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 16, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chinese Patent No. CN103863108 to Masataka et al. (A machine translation is enclosed with this action and referred to herein).
Regarding claim 1, the Masataka patent teaches a method of controlling a power connection device for a four-wheel drive vehicle, the method comprising controlling a clutch ring 33 and a support ring 31a to mesh with each other to constitute any one meshing structure selected from a first meshing structure 33a, a second meshing structure 31a, and a third meshing structure by operating an actuator 30 after determining a driving situation and rotational speeds of left and right driving wheels. See Figs. 1-3 and pages 1, 4, 7 and 8 of the translation that describes when the four wheel drive is engaged and taking into account right and left driving wheel speeds.
Regarding claim 16, the rotational speeds of the left and right driving wheels are acquired from wheel sensors mounted in the left and right driving wheels 901-904, see Fig. 1.
Regarding claim 18, teeth of the clutch ring are formed along an inner-diameter portion of the clutch ring directed toward the support ring, and the teeth of the support ring are formed along an outer-diameter portion of the support ring directed toward the clutch ring. See Fig. 3a.
Regarding claim 19, the clutch ring 33 and the support ring 31a are mounted in a casing 20 of a disconnector apparatus, and the clutch ring is configured to mesh with the support ring while being moved toward the support ring by a sleeve moved by the operating of the actuator. See Figs. 1-3.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-15 and 17 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Publication No. 2010/0261569 to Ishikawa teaches a clutch for disconnecting a differential.
Japanese Patent No. JP3804383 teaches a vehicle that takes into account wheel speed.
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/JUSTIN HOLMES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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