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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of restriction requirement in the reply filed on 7/31/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the embodiments outlined do not share the same or corresponding technical feature. This is found persuasive because the restriction requirement is withdrawn.
Drawings
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 following must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
A proximity sensor and a control unit (claims 3 and 5)
a step of detecting the position of the first valve and a step of stopping the driving of the driving source so as to locate the first valve upward to the rotational axis of the spindle. (claims 4 and 6-8)
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) 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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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 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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hill, US Patent 3,199,311 in view of Kim, KR100665304.
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Regarding claim 1, Hill discloses a driving force transmission mechanism (see fig 1) for transmitting power of a driving source (10) to a work roll (120,124) through a spindle (46), wherein the driving force transmission mechanism (as described above) comprises a first gear part (56) provided on one end of the spindle (46); a second gear part (28) provided on the driving source (10) or the work roll (120,124) to fit into the first gear part (28); and an oil chamber (connected with 114,118) for supplying lubricating oil (oil) to the first gear part (56) and the second gear part (28). Hill does not specify that the oil chamber is provided with a first valve for discharging inner air in the oil chamber out of the oil chamber and a second valve for introducing outer air into the oil chamber.
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Kim teaches a similar coupling device (see fig 5) the oil chamber is provided with valve (170) which may be replace plugs (118) in Hill for discharging inner air in the oil chamber out of the oil chamber and introducing outer air into the oil chamber. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the valve described by Kim to the system disclosed by Hill in order to prevent excess pressure generation within the oil chamber and prevents leakage and scattering of internal oil.
Regarding claim 2, Hill in view of Kim disclose the driving force transmission mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the first valve (170 – Kim) is provided at a position more circumferentially outward than the first gear part (56) and the second gear part (28) in the radial direction of the oil chamber (as described above).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 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 3, 5, and 7-8 are patentable over the prior art of record because the teachings of the references taken as a whole do not show or render obvious the combination set forth in claims 3 and 5, including every structural element recited in the claims, especially, the configuration of the driving force transmission mechanism is provided with a proximity sensor for detecting the position of the first valve and a control unit for stopping the driving of the driving source such that the first valve is positioned upward with respect to a rotational axis of the spindle.
None of the references of the prior art teach or suggest the elements of the lubrication system as advanced above and such do not provide the necessary motivation, absent applicant's specification, for modifying the system in the manner required by the claims.
Claims 4 and 6 are patentable over the prior art of record because the teachings of the references taken as a whole do not show or render obvious the combination set forth in claims 4 and 6, including every structural element recited in the claims, especially, the configuration the driving force transmission mechanism comprising a method step of detecting the position of the first valve and a step of stopping the driving of the driving source so as to locate the first valve upward to the rotational axis of the spindle.
None of the references of the prior art teach or suggest the elements of the lubrication method as advanced above and such do not provide the necessary motivation, absent applicant's specification, for modifying the method in the manner required by the claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL A RIEGELMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7956. The examiner can normally be reached 8-6 EST Monday - Friday.
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, Robert Hodge can be reached at (571) 272-2097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MICHAEL A. RIEGELMAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3654
/MICHAEL A RIEGELMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654
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