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 Objections
Claims 1-10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The combined terms such as “partsstructured” and “unitthat” in at least lines 4 and 6 respectively needs correction. See also “shaftincludes”, sectionis” in claim 3 and other instances throughout the claims. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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)(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 1, 6 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Schroeder et al., U.S. 11,668,352.
Regarding claim 1, Schroeder et al. discloses propeller shaft (fig 2, shafts 28, 30 of powertrain 22; col. 3, lines 9-14) for transmitting driving force of a vehicle (fig 1, 10), the propeller shaft having a vehicle mounting member (col. 5, lines 38-46) that serves for mounting to the vehicle, and includes a mounting part (via rubber mounts) structured to be mounted to the vehicle and a supported part (housing 68, intermediate coupling assembly; col. 6, lines 34-39) supported by the mounting part (via rubber mounts); and a first shaft unit (1st, 2nd shafts 52, 54; fig 2, including rubber mounts) that is supported by the vehicle via the vehicle mounting member, and includes a sleeve yoke (fig 3, universal joints 40, 42 of propeller 28), a stub shaft (fig 5, 72; col. 6, lines 49-59), and a tube (fig 3, shaft 38; col. 11, lines 12-24), wherein:
the sleeve yoke (40, 42, 28) is structured to be connected to an output shaft (fig 2, shaft 30; col. 4, lines 16-28) of a transmission (26) of the vehicle (10), and receive driving force of the vehicle via the output shaft (30; col. 3, lines 9-14, 34-37); the stub shaft (72) is disposed oppositely to the sleeve yoke (40, 42, 28) in a direction of a rotational axis of the first shaft unit (52, 54), and is covered by the supported part (housing 68) of the vehicle mounting member; the tube connects (38) the sleeve yoke (40, 42) and the stub shaft (72);
and the stub shaft (72) includes a weakest part (fig 4, breaking region 110; col. 6, line 60 – col. 7, line 3) structured to be less in torsional strength than a remaining part of the first shaft unit (col. 1, line 62 – col. 2, line 5) and formed at a position at which the stub shaft (72) overlaps (vertically to the undercarriage of vehicle) with the vehicle mounting member (rubber mounts) in the direction of the rotational axis.
As to claim 6, the reference discloses the stub shaft (72) includes an outer peripheral surface (110; col. 9, lines 45-54) that is least in diameter at the weakest part, in the direction of the rotational axis.
As to claim 9, the reference discloses the weakest part (110) wherein the method of making a device is not germane to the patentability of the device itself, devoid structurally defining features.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 7, 8 and 10 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 and to overcome the objections above.
Conclusion
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21 February 2026
/KENNETH L THOMPSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676