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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 7-8 are objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claims 3-4. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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.
(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.
Claims 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsutani (JP2013113660A).
Regarding claim 5, Matsutani teaches a an encoder ([0006], [0020]) comprising: a rotating plate (110) that rotates about a rotation axis (AX) ([0022-0023]); an optical module (120) including at least one of a light source that faces the rotating plate and emits a light (121) to the rotating plate and a light receiving element (122) that receives the light emitted from the light source and reflected by the rotating plate or the light transmitted through the rotating plate ([0025]); a substrate (130) to which the optical module is attached ([0022]); and a frame (140) that supports the substrate (130) ([0022], wherein the substrate has a first mounting hole (131), a second mounting hole (131), and a third mounting hole (131) in which screws are inserted to fix together the substrate and the frame at each position, the frame includes three through holes (142) at positions respectively corresponding to the first mounting hole, the second mounting hole, and the third mounting hole, the screws being inserted in the three through holes ([0030]), and in a radial direction of the rotating plate, a difference between an inner dimension of the frame and an outer dimension of the rotating plate is larger than a difference between an inner dimension of the first mounting hole, the second mounting hole, and the third mounting hole and an outer dimension of a shaft portion of the screw or a difference between an inner dimension of the three through holes and the outer dimension of the shaft portion of the screw (fig. 2 shows the gap between frame and the plate is much larger than the gap between shaft 151 of the screw and the hole 131/142).
Regarding claim 6, Matsutani teaches a motor (SM) ([0016]) comprising: a bracket (10) ([0022]); a shaft (SH) penetrating the bracket (fig. 2 shows the shaft penetrating the bracket 10); and the encoder (100) ([0022]) according to claim 5, wherein the rotating plate is attached to the shaft and rotates together with the shaft ([0022]-[0023]), and the substrate (130) is fixed to the bracket (10) together with the frame (140) by the screw (150) ([0030], figs. 2-3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 1:
The prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, fails to teach or disclose:
“in a radial direction of the rotating plate, a difference between an inner dimension of the frame and an outer dimension of the rotating plate is larger than a difference between an inner dimension of the recess and an outer dimension of the protrusion”.
Claims 2-4 are allowed due to dependency to claim 1.
Matsutani teaches an encoder ([0006], [0020]) comprising: a bracket (10) ([0022]) ; a rotating plate (110) that rotates about a rotation axis (AX) ([0022-0023]); an optical module (120) including at least one of a light source (121) that faces the rotating plate and emits a light to the rotating plate and a light receiving element (122) that receives the light reflected by the rotating plate or the light transmitted through the rotating plate ([0025]); a substrate (130) on which the optical module is disposed ([0022], [0025]); and a frame (140) that is fixed to the bracket (10) and supports the substrate (130) ([0022]), wherein the bracket has three or more recesses in a surface facing the frame, the frame has three or more protrusions that are provided at positions corresponding to the three or more recesses and each enter a corresponding one of the recesses of the bracket (inversely, Matsutani teaches wherein the bracket (10 )has three or more protrusions (13) in a surface facing the frame, the frame has three or more recesses that are provided at positions corresponding to the three or more protrusions and each enter a corresponding one of the protrusions of the bracket ([0041]-[0043], fig. 3).
The prior art of record does not compare any two dimensional differences or establishes any dimensional hierarchy. Therefore, the prior art of record fails to teach “in a radial direction of the rotating plate, a difference between an inner dimension of the frame and an outer dimension of the rotating plate is larger than a difference between an inner dimension of the recess and an outer dimension of the protrusion”.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMED DOUMBIA whose telephone number is (571)272-8266. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00 PM ET.
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/MOHAMED DOUMBIA/Examiner, Art Unit 2877
/Michael A Lyons/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877
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