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 .
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, 6, and 10-11, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (Tomizawa 2013/0257232) in view of (Yamasaki 2011/0018374).
Regarding Claim 1; Tomizawa discloses a motor unit (a motor unit defined by 2-Fig. 3—as set forth by para. 0032), comprising: a motor (motor-80); and a control device configured to control the motor (as constituted by an electronic control unit-3 supplying currents to drive the motor unit and motor thereof—as set forth by para.’s 0005 and 0024), wherein the control device includes an external connector that is disposed spaced apart from the motor along an axis of the motor (as depicted by Fig.’s 3 and 10—whereas external connector-60 atleast in-part centrally aligns with a vertical axis of the motor, and extends to an outside disposition through a hole-72—as set forth by para. 0040), a first board that is disposed between the motor and the external connector (whereas a first board 43 is between the connector 60 and the motor-80—as depicted by Fig.’s 3 and 10), in an orientation intersecting the axis of the motor (whereas 43 extends across the vertical axis of the motor--—as depicted by Fig.’s 3 and 10), a second board that is disposed between the first board and the external connector, in array with the first board (whereas a second board-42 is disposed between the first board-43 and the external connector -60—as depicted by Fig.’s 3 and 10), and a circuit component that is mounted on the first board and the second board (as constituted by a power module 40 having terminals extending therefrom above and below and mounted to each of the respective first and second boards—as depicted by Fig.’s 3-4 and/or 10), the external connector has a base portion (whereas 60 comprises a base defined by a base portion defined by 61, 65 and/or 68—as depicted by Fig.’s 3 and 10), and a positioning pin protruding from the base portion toward the motor (as depicted by Fig. 3—whereas 67 defined a positioning pin extending downward through 60 in a downward direction toward the motor-80), the first board has a first through hole, the second board has a second through hole provided at a position corresponding to the first through hole, the positioning pin is inserted into the first through hole and the second through hole (as constituted the pin-67 inserted in the holed of the first board-43 and the hole of the second board-42--as depicted by Fig. 3), and suggests the motor includes a heat sink that is made of a metal material (whereas the motor atleast indirectly attaches via a motor frame 93 to a heat sink 44 which is metal and includes walls 46-47 which sandwich the motor-80—as set forth by para.’s 0036, 0042 and 0044; and para.’s 0033 and 0036 further discloses the heat sink attached to a rear frame-93 of the motor case; and para 0004 discloses reference 2011/0018374 at para. 0117 in which heat sink 601 is formed integrally with a motor case), the heat sink has a raised portion (whereas 46-47 constitute raised walls of the heat sink), and a sunken portion that is sunken further away from the external connector than the raised portion (whereas a space between 46 and 47 constitutes a sunken interior with respect to a top of the raised portion and the external connector-60--as depicted by Fig. 3), the second board is disposed on the raised portion so as to cover a part of the sunken portion (whereas the second board-42 is attached to the heat sink—as set forth by para. 0038, and Fig.’s 3 and 10 depict the second board-42 as disposed over the raised portion defined by 46 and/or 47 so as to cover the sunken portion of the heat sink), and the first board is disposed between the sunken portion and the second board (as depicted by Fig.’s 3 and 10—whereas the first board-43 is between the second board-42 and the sunken portion). Except, Tomizawa does not explicitly disclose the frame is metal. However, Yamasaki discloses a frame is the same material as the heat sink (wherein claim 17 denotes a heat sink and a motor case may be made of the same material and formed integrally), and thus it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the frame as aluminum since it was known in the art, as set forth by Tomizawa at para. 0004 in disclosed reference Yamasaki 2011/0018374 that the heat sink is integral to the heat sink and formed of the same material so as to provide an enhanced contact area between the heat sink and the end frame to promote more heat conduction from the heat sink to the frame and improve the heat radiation performance. Note: Merriam Webster defines a hole as: an opening through something: perforation; an area where something is missing; gap; and otherwise a cutout is also defined as: something cut out or off from something else also: the space or hole left after cutting, and thus an area where something is missing or something cut out or off of something or the space or hole left after cutting are each construed as a hole, and it is herein noted that a hole does not necessitate a particular shape or being wholly surrounded or enclosed—if so intened.
Regarding Claim 6; the motor unit according to claim1, wherein the heat sink has a positioning hole provided at a position corresponding to the first through hole and the second through hole, and the positioning pin is inserted into the first through hole, the second through hole, and the positioning hole (whereas the heat sink 44 comprises a positioning hole-49 corresponding to the first and second hole in which each hole receives the positioning pin-67—as depicted by Fig. 3).
Regarding Claim 10; the motor unit according to claim 1, wherein the circuit component includes a control circuit component that makes up a control circuit for controlling operations of the motor, and the control circuit component is mounted on the first board (as set forth by para. 0036—whereas the first board-43 defining a control unit substrate includes the circuit component-40 which is part of the control unit-3).
Regarding Claim 11; the motor unit according to claim 1, wherein the second board is rigidly fixed to the heat sink (whereas 42 is attached to the heat sink 44—para. 0038), the circuit component includes a large-sized and heavy component including a capacitor and a coil, and the large-sized and heavy component is mounted on the second board (as set forth by para.’s 0024 and 0027).
Regarding Claim 12; the motor unit according to claim 1, wherein the positioning pin has a contacting portion that is configured to come into contact with a facing face of the second board facing the external connector (as depicted by Fig.’s 3 and 4—whereas a head of 67 is configured to atleast indirectly contact a flat face upper face of a leg part-66 of a flat plate 65 which face the external connector-60).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 7-9, and 12, 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.
Regarding Claim 2; the motor unit according to claim 1, wherein the control device further includes an inter-board connector pair including a first connector that is mounted on the first board and a second connector that is mounted on the second board and connected to the first connector.
Regarding Claim 3; the motor unit according to claim 1, wherein a heat dissipation material is interposed between the first board and the sunken portion, and between the second board and the raised portion.
Regarding Claim 4; the motor unit according to claim 1, wherein the external connector further has a first board support that protrudes from the base portion toward the motor, and the first board is fixed to a distal end of the first board support.
Regarding Claim 5; the motor unit according to claim 1, wherein the external connector further has a second board support that protrudes from the base portion toward the motor, and the second board is fixed to a distal end of the second board support.
motor unit according to claim 1, wherein the heat sink has a positioning hole provided at a position corresponding to the first through hole and the second through hole, and the common positioning pin is inserted into the first through hole, the second through hole, and the positioning hole.
Regarding Claim 7; the motor unit according to claim 6, wherein the motor further includes a rotating shaft, and a sensor magnet fixed to an end portion of the rotating shaft, the circuit component includes a magnetic sensor mounted on the first board or the second board so as to face the sensor magnet, and the heat sink is configured to hold a bearing that rotatably supports the rotating shaft.
Regarding Claim 8; the motor unit according to claim 6, wherein the positioning pin has a distal end portion that is inserted into the positioning hole, an outer peripheral face of the distal end portion has a retaining recess, and an inner peripheral face of the positioning hole has a retaining protrusion that retains the retaining recess.
Regarding Claim 9; the motor unit according to claim 1, wherein the circuit component includes a drive circuit component that makes up a drive circuit for supplying driving electric power to the motor, and the drive circuit component is mounted on a region of the second board facing the raised portion.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 6, and 10-11 have been considered but are moot; whereas modified rejection(s) are herein presented to read on the amended claim construction.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/COURTNEY L SMITH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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