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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03 July 2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 21-22 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zheng CN 110219896.
Re clm 21, Zheng discloses a rolling bearing assembly (Fig. 6) comprising: a rolling bearing (100 and 101, shown by Fig. 5); at least one displacement sensor module (at 5, Fig. 6), and a first seal assembly member (4) supported by the housing (3) and a second seal assembly member (102) mounted on the shaft (1), wherein the rolling bearing includes an inner ring, an outer ring, and a plurality of rolling elements between the inner ring and the outer ring (as shown in Fig. 6), wherein the inner ring is supported on a shaft (1), wherein the outer ring is mounted in a housing (3), wherein the at least one displacement sensor module is configured to measure a radial position of the shaft in order to detect wear of the rolling bearing, and wherein the at least one displacement sensor module is located on the first seal assembly member (4) and configured to measure a distance to the second seal assembly member.
Re clm 22, Zheng further discloses the first seal assembly member and the second seal assembly member form a labyrinth seal (as shown in Fig. 6).
Re clm 24, Zheng further discloses the bearing is located in a space defined in part by the housing and the shaft, and wherein the at least one displacement sensor module is located outside the space (at least a portion of the sensor 5 is located outside the space, Fig. 6).
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 11-14 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rode U.S. 4,348,665 in view of Motohashi JP 2007-078073 (U.S. 2007/0058892 as English equivalent).
Re clm 11, Rode discloses a large rolling bearing assembly (Fig. 2) comprising: a rolling bearing (40, 42, 44 and 46); and at least one displacement sensor module (70), wherein the rolling bearing includes an inner ring (40), an outer ring (42), and a plurality of rolling elements (44 and 46) between the inner ring and the outer ring, wherein the inner ring is supported on a shaft (28), wherein the outer ring is mounted in a housing (38), and wherein the at least one displacement sensor module is configured to measure a radial position of the shaft in order to detect wear of the rolling bearing (col. 5: lines 38-48), wherein the at least one displacement sensor module includes at least one sensor element (at 70).
Rode does not disclose wherein the at least one displacement sensor module is mounted so that the at least one sensor element is arranged adjacent to an intermediate element mounted on the inner ring and an axial end of the rolling bearing.
Motohashi teaches a bearing with a sensor module comprising equivalent mounting arrangements (Fig. 4-7 and 9-10) in which the at least one displacement sensor module (8, Fig. 6) is mounted so that the at least one sensor element is arranged adjacent to an intermediate element (50) mounted on the inner ring and an axial end of the rolling bearing.
Since both Rode and Motohashi disclose sensor module arrangements, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to substitute the arrangement of Rode with any well-known equivalent including the at least one displacement sensor module is mounted so that the at least one sensor element is arranged adjacent to an intermediate element mounted on the inner ring and an axial end of the rolling bearing to achieve the predictable result of sensing displacement between the bearing elements.
Re clm 12, Rode further discloses the at least one displacement sensor module is integrated in the housing or is integrated in the outer ring (housing as shown in Fig. 2).
Re clm 13, Rode further discloses the at least one displacement sensor module is arranged on a radial surface of the housing (bore hole is a radially extending surface) or on a radial surface of the outer ring adjacent to an axial end of the rolling bearing.\
Re clm 14, Rode further discloses the housing or the outer ring includes a radially extending opening (hole through which 70 extends in 38), and wherein the at least one displacement sensor module and the radially extending opening are configured such that the at least one displacement sensor can be inserted into the radially extending opening (as shown in Fig. 2).
Re clm 18, Rode further discloses at least one sealing unit (at 54) arranged on at least one axial end of the rolling bearing, and wherein the at least one displacement sensor module is arranged radially outside of the sealing unit (at least a portion of sensor arrangement is radially outside of seal arrangement at 54) and configured to indirectly measure the radial position of the shaft.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 23 and 25 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection. Although Rode was previously used to reject the claims, the claims are now rejected over the newly cited references of Motohashi and Zheng provided in the IDS submitted 03 July 2026.
None of Applicant’s previous arguments are relevant to the new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
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/ALAN B WAITS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
