CTNF 18/778,318 CTNF 82867 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1, 8, and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Nagai et al. (US Patent Application Pub. No.: US 2019/0072044 A1) . For claim 1, Nagai et al. disclose the claimed invention comprising: a first housing (reference numeral 45, see figure 2); a second housing (reference numeral 28) that is mounted to the first housing (reference numeral 45) and is fixed to a housing (reference numeral 20) of the internal-combustion engine (see figure 2); a stator (reference numeral 46) that is fixed to the first housing (reference numeral 45, figure 2) or the second housing; and a holding part (reference numeral 300) that is provided to the second housing (reference numeral 28) and holds the rotor (reference numeral 47) so as to be rotatable with respect to the stator (reference numeral 46) at a predetermined position (see figure 2), wherein the rotor includes a joint part (reference numeral 27) directly joined to the output shaft (reference numeral 11) and rotates with respect to the stator at the predetermined position (see figure 2), and the first housing (reference numeral 45) and the second housing (reference numeral 28) accommodate the stator (reference numeral 46) and the rotor (reference numeral 47) in a state in which the joint part (reference numeral 27) is capable of being directly joined to the output shaft (reference numeral 11, see figure 2). For claim 8, Nagai et al. already disclose the second housing (reference numeral 28) being fixed to the housing (reference numeral 20) of the internal-combustion engine (see figure 2) which would also teach the shape of the second housing (reference numeral 28) to correspond to the shape of the housing (reference numeral 20) of the internal-combustion engine (see figure 2), i.e. the second housing includes a fixed part fixed to a predetermined part of the housing of the internal-combustion engine, and the fixed part has a shape corresponding to a shape of the predetermined part. For claim 10, Nagai et al. disclose the rotor (reference numeral 47) being disposed inside the stator (reference numeral 46, see figure 2), and the stator (reference numeral 46) being fixed to the first housing (reference numeral 45, see figure 2) or the second housing . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 2-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagai et al . as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kaminokado (US Patent Application Pub. No.: US 2008/0185205 A1) . For claim 2, Nagai et al. disclose the claimed invention except for a gap between the holding part and the rotor being set to equal to or larger than an oscillation range of the rotor generated when the rotor directly joined to the output shaft rotates. Having a particular distance for the gap between the holding part and the rotor would merely involve adjusting the size of the gap component which is a known skill as exhibited by Kaminokado which discloses ball bearings (reference numerals 52a, 63, see figure 4) within gap components that have different sizes which also represent different distances of the gap in which the bearings are disposed in (see figure 4), and when applied to the gap of Nagai et al. this would allow a person of ordinary skill to adjust the gap so that a gap between the holding part and the rotor can be equal to or larger than an oscillation range of the rotor generated when the rotor directly joined to the output shaft rotates. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the particular distance as disclosed by Kaminokado for the gap between the holding part and rotor of Nagai et al. for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating the proper functioning of the device. For claim 3, Nagai et al. disclose the claimed invention except for the gap between the holding part and the rotor being set to equal to or smaller than a gap between the rotor and the stator. Having a particular distance for the gap between the holding part and the rotor would merely involve adjusting the size of the gap component which is a known skill as exhibited by Kaminokado which discloses ball bearings (reference numerals 52a, 63, see figure 4) within gap components that have different sizes which also represent different distances of the gap in which the bearings are disposed in (see figure 4), and when applied to the gap of Nagai et al. this would allow a person of ordinary skill to adjust the gap so that the gap between the holding part and the rotor can be equal to or smaller than a gap between the rotor and the stator. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the particular distance as disclosed by Kaminokado for the gap between the holding part and rotor of Nagai et al. for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating the proper functioning of the device. For claim 4, Nagai et al. disclose the claimed invention except for the gap between the holding part and the rotor being set to equal to or larger than the oscillation range of the rotor generated when the rotor directly joined to the output shaft rotates and equal to or smaller than the gap between the rotor and the stator. Having a particular distance for the gap between the holding part and the rotor would merely involve adjusting the size of the gap component which is a known skill as exhibited by Kaminokado which discloses ball bearings (reference numerals 52a, 63, see figure 4) within gap components that have different sizes which also represent different distances of the gap in which the bearings are disposed in (see figure 4), and when applied to the gap of Nagai et al. this would allow a person of ordinary skill to adjust the gap so that the gap between the holding part and the rotor can be equal to or larger than the oscillation range of the rotor generated when the rotor directly joined to the output shaft rotates and equal to or smaller than the gap between the rotor and the stator. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the particular distance as disclosed by Kaminokado for the gap between the holding part and rotor of Nagai et al. for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating the proper functioning of the device . 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagai et al . as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lutz (US Patent No.: 5679087) and Maute et al. (US Patent Application Pub. No.: US 2011/0012446 A1) . For claim 5, Nagai et al. disclose the claimed invention except for the first housing having a through hole through which a tool, which is used when the joint part is directly joined to the output shaft, is insertable, and a cover, which closes the through hole and is detachable, is attached to the first housing. Having a through hole for inserting a tool is a known skill in the art as exhibited by Lutz (reference numerals 1a", 15a", see figure 10), and forming detachable covers is a known skill as exhibited by Maute et al. (see paragraph [0030]), which when combined with Lutz's through hole and the first housing of Nagai et al. would disclose a cover which closes the through hole and is detachable, being attached to the first housing. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the through hole as disclosed by Lutz and also the detachable cover as disclosed by Maute et al. for the first housing of Nagai et al. for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating the proper assembly of the device . 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagai et al . as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lutz (US Patent No.: 5679087) . For claim 6, Nagai et al. disclose the claimed invention except for the first housing having a through hole through which a tool, which is used when the joint part is directly joined to the output shaft, is insertable. Having a through hole for inserting a tool is a known skill in the art as exhibited by Lutz (reference numerals 1a", 15a", see figure 10), and when applied to the first housing of Nagai et al. this would disclose the first housing having a through hole through which a tool, which is used when the joint part is directly joined to the output shaft, is insertable. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the through hole as disclosed by Lutz for the first housing of Nagai et al. for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating the proper assembly of the device . 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagai et al . as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Higuchi (US Patent No.: 7004134) and Kaminokado (US Patent Application Pub. No.: US 2008/0185205 A1) . For claim 7, Nagai et al. disclose the claimed invention except for the joint part having a cylindrical shape, and an inner peripheral edge of the joint part having a taper that guides the rotor so that a central axis of the rotor approaches a central axis of the output shaft when the joint part is directly joined to the output shaft, and an aperture radius of the taper being set to be equal to or larger than a radius obtained by adding a gap between the holding part and the rotor to a radius of an outer edge of an end of the output shaft. Higuchi discloses a joint part (reference numerals 26, 26a) having a cylindrical shape (see figure 2) and having a taper (see figure 2) which can guide the rotor (reference numeral 21, figure 2) when approaching an output shaft (reference numeral 14, figure 2) for joining the joint part and output shaft (see figure 2), and having an aperture radius be equal or larger to a distance formed by a gap between the holding part and the rotor would merely involve adjusting the size of the gap component which is a known skill as exhibited by Kaminokado which discloses ball bearings (reference numerals 52a, 63, see figure 4) within gap components that have different sizes which also represent different distances of the gap in which the bearings are disposed in (see figure 4), and when applied to the gap of Nagai et al. this would allow a person of ordinary skill to have a particular gap between the holding part and the rotor which would allow an aperture radius of the taper to be equal to or larger than a radius obtained by adding a gap between the holding part and the rotor to a radius of an outer edge of an end of the output shaft. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the cylindrical shape and the taper for the joint part as disclosed by Higuchi and also have a particular radial distance as disclosed by Kaminokado so that the aperture radius would have a particular radius based on the gap between the holding part and rotor for Nagai et al. for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating the proper assembly of the device . 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagai et al . as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Higuchi (US Patent No.: 7004134) . For claim 9, Nagai et al. disclose the claimed invention except for the rotor being disposed outside the stator, and the stator being fixed to the first housing. Having the rotor disposed outside the stator is a known skill as exhibited by Higuchi which discloses the rotor (reference numeral 21) being disposed outside the stator (reference numeral 22, see figure 1) with the stator (reference numeral 22) being fixed to a first housing (reference numeral 31, see figure 1). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the rotor disposed outside of the stator as disclosed by Higuchi for the rotor of Nagai et al. for predictably providing desirable configuration for facilitating the normal interaction between rotary electric machine components . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following references disclose embodiments of rotary electric machine configurations: US 8134265 B2 (Maekawa; Yoshinori et al.), US 20150318754 A1 (NISHIKAWA; Ken et al.), US 20150275842 A1 (FUJITA; Tatsuya), US 20140026552 A1 (Koiwai; Kazushige et al.), US 20130180497 A1 (Saiki; Seiji et al.), US 20050126529 A1 (Higuchi, Masaaki), JP 2018196219 A (MATSUHISA TOMOHIRO), EP 2865551 A2 (GOLKA MARKUS), JP 2013144956 A (SAEKI SEIJI et al.), DE 60118112 T2 (JOACHIM JON BARRY), EP 0666634 A1 (LUTZ DIETER et al.), WO 2014170940 A1 (INOUE M et al.) . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEX W MOK whose telephone number is (571)272-9084. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-4pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. 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. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ALEX W MOK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 2 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 3 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 4 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 5 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 6 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 7 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 8 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 9 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 10 Art Unit: 2834 Application/Control Number: 18/778,318 Page 11 Art Unit: 2834
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