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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (Claims 1-6) in the reply filed on 05/21/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the claims should be examined together since this can be done without serious burden. This is not found persuasive because the inventions have acquired a separate status in the art in view of their different classification; and the inventions require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes /subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search strategies or search queries). Furthermore, a reference that is applicable to the product would not necessary applicable to all the steps as claimed in the process.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 1-6 remained pending and claims 7-14 are withdrawn from further consideration.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takemoto et al. (US 2022/0006341 A1) in view of Luo (US 2021/0351647 A1).
RE claim 1, Takemoto teaches a rotor for an external rotor motor 10 (Fig.1 and ¶ 20), comprising a ring-shaped stack of steel sheets 24 (¶ 30), permanent magnets 23 fixed to an inner side of the stack of sheets 24, and a carrier 21, which has a hub 21 for a shaft 44 and is fastened to the stack of sheets 24 (¶ 28).
Takemoto does not teach brackets are arranged on an outer side of the stack of sheets and press the stack of sheets against the carrier in the axial direction.
Luo teaches brackets 35 are arranged on an outer side of the stack of sheets (25, 15) and press the stack of sheets (25a, 15, 25b) against the carrier 20 (indirectly via rim base 32 of brackets 35) in the axial direction (Figs. 2, 3), doing so provided a more durable and reliable connection between the rotor and the rotor carrier that is also easy to assemble (¶ 4, 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Takemoto by having brackets are arranged on an outer side of the stack of sheets and press the stack of sheets against the carrier in the axial direction, as taught by Luo, for the same reasons as discussed above.
RE claim 6/1, Takemoto teaches the stack of sheets 24 has grooves (between projection portions 24a) in which the permanent magnets 23 are seated (Fig.2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 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.
RE claim 2/1, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, the brackets are each formed from two sheet metal strips which each have an angled end section, lie next to one another on the outer side of the stack of sheets and are welded to one another and/or to the stack of sheets.
RE claim 3/1, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, the stack of sheets has radial protrusions on its outer side and the brackets are arranged on these protrusions.
Claim 4 is allowable for its dependency on claim 3.
RE claim 5/1, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, the carrier surrounds the stack of sheets only over part of the axial length of the stack of sheets.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-5532. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-6PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at (571) 270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THOMAS TRUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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