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 § 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 3 is 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.
Claim 3 recites the limitation, “the path has a constant width which is equal to or similar to the diameter of the through hole”. It is unclear what is considered “similar to”. Applicant may wish to define the metes and bounds of the path that is “similar to the diameter of the through hole”. Please clarify.
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.
Claims 1-3 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Izumi et al. (US 6,848,531) in view of Ogasawara (JP 3132833).
Izumi discloses and shows at Fig. 5 a gear mechanism, comprising:
a first gear 112 accommodated in a gearbox 76 and rotatably supported around a first axis line;
a second gear 110 accommodated in the gearbox and meshed with the first gear, the second gear rotatably supported around a second axis line extending along a flat surface crossing the first axis line and having a smaller conical angle than the first gear;
a holder 78 which is attached to the gearbox, which is removable in a direction along the second axis line, and which supports the second gear in a rotatable manner with a bearing 104; and
a second gear shim 114 which is placed at a position between the holder and the gearbox and which can adjust a position of the second gear in the direction along the second axis line
(col 6:8-21), wherein
the second gear shim comprises a through hole in which the holder is located in a state where the holder penetrates the second gear shim.
Izumi does not show a cross section of the shim nor describes a path as claimed.
Ogasawara teaches a gear mechanism which includes a shim to adjust a piston rod and its stroke, the shim comprising a through hole 73a and a path 73b which extends from an outer circumference edge of the shim to the through hole, wherein the path allows the holder to pass in a direction crossing an axis line of the piston between an outside of the shim and an inside of the through hole. Such features allow the shim to be installed late in the installation process to ensure proper stroke length. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add a path to the second gear shim so as to allow installation of the shim at any time deemed necessary and for proper meshing of the gears.
Cl 2 –the second gear shim (Izumi, 114) has at least one penetrating hole around the through hole to which a fixing bolt (Fig. 5, not labeled) is inserted to fix the holder to the gear box, and an inner diameter of the penetrating hole is smaller than an outer diameter of a head portion of the fixing bolt.
Cl. 3 – Izumi discloses and shows at Fig. 5 a gear mechanism, comprising:
a first gear 112 accommodated in a gearbox 76 and rotatably supported around a first axis line;
a second gear 110 accommodated in the gearbox and meshed with the first gear, the second gear rotatably supported around a second axis line extending along a flat surface crossing the first axis line and having a smaller conical angle than the first gear;
a holder 78 which is attached to the gearbox, which is removable in a direction along the second axis line, and which supports the second gear in a rotatable manner with a bearing 104; and
a second gear shim 114 which is placed at a position between the holder and the gearbox and which can adjust a position of the second gear in the direction along the second axis line
(col 6:8-21), wherein
the second gear shim comprises a through hole in which the holder is located in a state where the holder penetrates the second gear shim.
Izumi does not show a cross section of the shim nor describes a path as claimed.
Ogasawara teaches a gear mechanism which includes a shim to adjust a piston rod and its stroke, the shim comprising a through hole 73a and a path 73b which extends from an outer circumference edge of the shim to the through hole, wherein the path allows the holder to pass in a direction crossing an axis line of the piston between an outside of the shim and an inside of the through hole, wherein the path has a constant width which is equal to or similar to the diameter of the through hole (see Fig. 3 where the path has a constant width that is similar to the diameter of the through hole).
Such features allow the shim to be installed late in the installation process to ensure proper stroke length. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add a path to the second gear shim so as to allow installation of the shim at any time deemed necessary and for proper meshing of the gears.
Cl. 7 – neither Izumi nor Ogasawara describes the use of the gear mechanism within a robot. The use of the gear mechanism is found to be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention in accordance with MPEP 2114(II) which states, “it has been held that a recitation with respect to the manner in a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus form a prior art apparatus satisfying the claimed structural limitations” in reciting Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (1987).
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Izumi et al. in view of Ogasawara, as applied to claim 1, and further in view of Ye (CN 108980311).
Izumi and Ogasawara disclose and show the invention of claim 1 as described elsewhere above. Izumi does not include a first gear shim to adjust a position of the first gear. Ye discloses and shows a gear mechanism comprising a first gear shim 220 which can adjust a position of the first gear 62 in a direction along the first axis line 30 (para n0040). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add a shim at the first gear to also adjust the position of the ring gear relative to the pinion.
Ogasawara teaches the use of multiple shims are individual shims of different thicknesses (para 0014) for proper installation. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to where the shims are preset to have a thickness dimension so that the first gear is arranged within a predetermined range with reference to a design position based on measured dimensional values of components which affect the position of the first gear in the direction along the first axis line.
Cl. 5 – Izumi discloses the use of shims “to effect proper meshing (optimal backlash) between the pinion gear and the ring gear” (Abstract). As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the predetermined range is a range of the position of the first gear, the position being configured for achieving an optimal backlash amount between the first gear and the second gear within an adjustable range of the position of the second gear by the second gear shim, thereby a proper meshing between the pinion gear and the ring gear is ensued.
Cl. 6 – the first gear shim (Ye, 220 and shim on opposite side of gear, see para n0040) is set to have a thickness dimension so that the first gear is arranged at a position distant from the second axis line relative to the design position.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed June 20, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant, at pages 8-9 of the Remarks, asserts a U-shaped shim would cause the first cover 78 to be slanted relative to the main case 76 due to a large portion of the shim being eliminated. As shown in Izumi Fig. 5, the shim 114 has a narrower radial dimension at the bottom of the assembly, where there are no fasteners or bolts, than at the top. Therefore, any “slanting” may have been considered in the design and engineering of Izumi’s device and Applicant’s notion of such is unfounded.
At page 10 and regarding claim 3, Applicant asserts that Ogasawara’s shim (see Fig. 3) does not have a path 73b having a constant width which is equal to or similar to the diameter of the through hole 73a. As mentioned elsewhere above, Applicant may wish to define the metes and bounds of the path at claim 3. Either the path is to be equal (see Fig. 5 of instant application) or similar (see Fig. 10 of the instant application) to the diameter of the through hole. The path shown in Ogasawara has a constant width that is “similar to” the diameter of the through hole and similar to Fig. 10 of the instant application. Thus, the reference clearly meets this limitation and a remark stating Ogasawara does not is unsubstantiated.
Rejections remain.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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/BOBBY RUSHING, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
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