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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bonny (USP 11,343,970).
With respect to claim 1, Bonny disclose a lap bar controller for a lawnmower, the lap bar controller comprising: a framework (110/210) configured to be coupled to a frame (792) of the lawnmower, the framework defining an opening (opening where 112 is); a shaft (112/212) extending through the opening and configured to rotate about a rotational axis defined by a longitudinal axis of the shaft (see column 4 lines 3-6); a control arm (116/216) coupled to the shaft (via 114/214), the control arm comprising a grip configured to be accessible to a user operating the lawnmower (see figure 17 control levers 783L, 783R for operator input), wherein a user input to the grip causes the control arm to bias the shaft to rotate (see column 4 lines 3-34); and a rotary damper (240) coupled to the shaft, wherein rotation of the shaft causes displacement of the rotary damper, and wherein the rotary damper dampens rotation of the shaft relative to the framework (see column 6 lines 4-39).
With respect to claim 2, Bonny disclose wherein the shaft defines a segment having a non-circular cross section (see figure 12), wherein a first member of the rotary damper is coupled to the shaft at the segment, and wherein a second member of the rotary damper is coupled to the framework (see figures 11 and 12).
With respect to claim 3, Bonny disclose wherein the framework defines a mounting location for the rotary damper (at 210m), the mounting location comprising a first flange (top 210m in figure 12) and a second flange (bottom 210m) extending towards the mounting location, and wherein the rotary damper is coupled to the first and second flanges (see figure 12).
With respect to claim 4, Bonny disclose wherein the control arm is further coupled to the framework through a spring 138)configured to bias the control arm to a neutral position (see column 4 line 63-column 5 line 30).
With respect to claim 5, Bonny disclose wherein the rotary damper comprises an
inner body (246) and an outer body (248), wherein the inner body is disposed at least partially within an opening of the outer body (see figure 13), and wherein a volume is disposed between the inner and outer bodies (see column 6 lines 23-39), the volume housing a viscous fluid that applies resistive torque to the inner body to dampen rotation of the control arm (see column 6 lines 23-39).
With respect to claim 7, Bonny disclose wherein the rotary damper extends beyond an outer boundary defined by the framework by no more than 25 millimeters (mm) (see figure 11, the extension is no more than 25mm).
With respect to claim 8, Bonny disclose a lawnmower comprising: a frame (792) supporting a seat (implied for zero turn lawn tractor); a mower deck (798) supported by the frame, the mower deck comprising a plurality of cutting implements driven by one or more deck motors (implied for lawn tractor); a plurality of wheels (793) supporting the frame and rotatable to move the lawnmower across a ground surface; a wheel motor (777) configured to drive at least one of the plurality of wheels to rotate; a processor (771L) in communication with the wheel motor and configured to instruct the wheel motor based on a user input; a first lap bar controller (783L) configured to receive the user input, the first lap bar controller comprising (see rejection of claim 1): a framework coupled to the frame and defining an opening; a shaft extending through the opening and configured to rotate about a rotational axis defined by a longitudinal axis of the shaft; a control arm coupled to the shaft, the control arm comprising a grip
configured to be accessible to a user operating the lawnmower, wherein a user input to the grip causes the control arm to bias the shaft to rotate; a rotary damper coupled to the shaft, wherein rotation of the shaft causes displacement of the rotary damper, and wherein the rotary damper dampens rotation of the shaft relative to the framework; and a sensor coupled to the framework and the shaft, the sensor configured to detect the user input through rotation of the shaft and communicate the detected user input to the processor.
With respect to claim 9, Bonny disclose further comprising a second lap bar controller (771R), the second lap bar controller comprising (see rejection of claim 1): a framework coupled to the frame and defining an opening; a shaft extending through the opening and configured to rotate about a rotational axis defined by a longitudinal axis of the shaft; a control arm coupled to the shaft, the control arm comprising a grip configured to be accessible to a user operating the lawnmower, wherein a user input to the grip causes the control arm to bias the shaft to rotate; a rotary damper coupled to the shaft, wherein rotation of the shaft causes displacement of the rotary damper, and wherein the rotary damper dampens rotation of the shaft relative to the framework; and a sensor (155) coupled to the framework and the shaft, the sensor configured to detect the user input through rotation of the shaft and communicate the detected user input to the processor.
With respect to claim 10, Bonny disclose wherein the first and second lap bar controllers each define an inner side and an outer side, wherein the inner side is disposed between the outer side and the seat, wherein the rotary damper of the first lap bar controller is disposed at the outer side of the first lap bar controller, and wherein the rotary damper of the second lap bar controller is disposed at the outer side of the second lap bar controller (see figures 1 and 17).
With respect to claim 11, Bonny disclose wherein the framework defines a width as measured in a lateral direction, and wherein the rotary damper extends from the
framework by a distance less than 10% of the width of the framework in the lateral
direction (see figure 11, the extension is less than 10% of the width).
With respect to claim 12, Bonny disclose wherein the rotary damper comprises an inner body (246), an outer body (248), and a volume comprising a viscous fluid disposed between the inner body and the outer body (see column 6 lines 23-39).
With respect to claim 13, Bonny disclose wherein the shaft defines a segment having a non-circular cross section (see figure 12), wherein the inner body is coupled to the shaft at the segment, and wherein the outer body is coupled to the framework (see figures 11 and 12).
With respect to claim 14, Bonny disclose wherein the framework defines a mounting location for the rotary damper (at 210m), the mounting location comprising a first flange (top 210m in figure 12) and a second flange (bottom 210m) extending towards the mounting location, and wherein the rotary damper is coupled to the first and second flanges (see figure 12).
With respect to claim 15, Bonny disclose wherein the first lap bar controller is removable from the lawnmower without disconnecting the rotary damper from the frame (wherein 116, 216 is removeable without disconnecting damper 240).
Bonny disclose a method of installing a rotary damper to a lap bar controller of a lawnmower, the method comprising: aligning a rotary damper (240) with a shaft (212) coupled to a lap bar of the lap bar controller; translating the rotary damper to interface with the shaft (see figure 13); and coupling the rotary damper to a framework defining a rotational axis about which the shaft rotates (see figure 11).
With respect to claim 17, Bonny disclose wherein aligning the rotary damper comprises aligning an opening defined by an inner body of the rotary damper with the shaft, and wherein coupling the rotary damper to the framework comprises coupling an outer body to the framework, the outer body surrounding at least a portion of the inner body and in communication with the inner body through a viscous fluid (see figure 13 and column 6 lines 23-39).
With respect to claim 18, Bonny disclose wherein the rotary damper is coupled to a first end of the shaft (see figure 9), the method further comprising: coupling a sensor (255) to a second end of the shaft, the second end of the shaft located opposite the first end of the shaft (see figure 9), wherein coupling the sensor to the second end of the shaft is performed prior to translating the rotary damper to interface with the shaft (see column 6 lines 40-59).
With respect to claim 19, Bonny disclose wherein coupling the rotary damper to the framework is performed without coupling the rotary damper to a frame of the lawnmower (see figure 13).
With respect to claim 20, Bonny disclose wherein aligning, translating, and coupling the rotary damper is performed prior to installing the lap bar controller on the lawnmower (see figure 13, wherein the damper is assembled before the lawnmower).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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.
With respect to claim 6, Bonny disclose further comprising a sensor (155/255) statically coupled to the framework (via 156/256), wherein the sensor receives the shaft and detects rotational displacement of the shaft relative to the framework (see figure 5 and column 4 lines 55-62), wherein the sensor is configured to communicate the detected displacement to a processor of the lawnmower (see column 4 lines 55-62). However, Bonny does not disclose nor would it be obvious to modify Bonny to include “wherein the sensor is disposed on a first side of the control arm, and wherein the rotary damper is disposed on a second side of the control arm, the second side being opposite the first side” in combination with the other limitations of claim 6 and 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICOLE A COY whose telephone number is (571)272-5405. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6am-3:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Namrata Boveja can be reached at 571-272-8105. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Nicole Coy/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3672
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