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) 16-20, 24, and 31-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang et al (US 2011/0259658). Huang discloses:
With regard to claim 16 - A drive device comprising:
a motor unit with an electric motor 34 configured to drive an electric bicycle;
a hub axle 10 coupled to the electric motor 34;
a gearbox 50, which is configured to drive the electric bicycle and is rotatable about an axis of rotation, and which is coupled to the electric motor 34 and to the hub axle 10 and is configured to output a torque for driving the electric bicycle; and
a motor housing 30, in which the electric motor 34 and the gearbox 50 are arranged and through which the hub axle 10 extends, the electric motor 34 being shielded by an adjacent wall of the motor housing 30, which extends into an outer region outside the motor housing 30 so that heat generated by the electric motor 34 during operation of the electric bicycle is dissipated to the outer region by direct heat conduction through the wall (see Fig. 2).
With regard to claim 17 - wherein the wall is directly adjacent to the outer region and the electric motor 34 and is thereby shielded from the outer region only by a wall of the drive device 16.
With regard to claim 18 - wherein the wall has an extension section 39, which connects the wall to the outer region in a thermally conductive manner.
With regard to claim 19 - wherein the electric motor comprises a rotor 36 and a stator 34, and wherein the stator 34 is arranged in direct proximity to the wall of the motor housing 30 (see Fig. 2).
With regard to claim 20 - wherein the wall comprises a cooling structure comprising a plurality of fins 39 arranged spaced apart from each other on an outer side of the wall.
With regard to claim 24 - wherein the hub axle 10 has, with respect to the axis of rotation, a first end portion and a second end portion, which are arranged to be coupled on opposite sides with respect to the axis of rotation to a respective outer frame element, and wherein the second end portion is formed narrower than the first end portion (see marked up figure below).
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With regard to claim 31 - wherein the hub axle is formed in two parts and comprises a thru axle 10 and a sleeve-shaped drive axle 58 through which the thru axle 10 extends.
With regard to claim 32 - a first frame element 81 and a second frame element 82, which are arranged on opposite sides outside the motor housing 30 with respect to the axis of rotation and surround the hub axle 10, wherein the first and second frame elements 81, 82 are arranged in such a way that they predeterminedly brace the drive axle in cooperation with the thru axle 10 (see Fig. 2).
With regard to claim 33 - a bicycle frame extending to a bottom bracket and to a bicycle hub; and
the drive device according to claim 16, is the drive device being coupled to the bicycle hub for driving the electric bicycle (see Fig. 1).
Claim(s) 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xu (CN212163055).
With regard to claim 16 - A drive device comprising:
a motor unit 1 with an electric motor 4 configured to drive an electric bicycle;
a hub axle 2 coupled to the electric motor 4;
a gearbox 5, which is configured to drive the electric bicycle and is rotatable about an axis of rotation, and which is coupled to the electric motor 4 and to the hub axle 2 and is configured to output a torque for driving the electric bicycle; and
a motor housing 1a, 1b, in which the electric motor 4 and the gearbox 5 are arranged and through which the hub axle 2 extends, the electric motor 4 being shielded by an adjacent wall 1a of the motor housing, which extends into an outer region outside the motor housing 1a, 1b so that heat generated by the electric motor 4 during operation of the electric bicycle is dissipated to the outer region by direct heat conduction through the wall (see Fig. 1).
With regard to claim 17 - wherein the wall 1a is directly adjacent to the outer region and the electric motor 4 and is thereby shielded from the outer region only by a wall of the drive device.
With regard to claim 18 - wherein the wall 1a has an extension section 1c, which connects the wall to the outer region in a thermally conductive manner.
With regard to claim 19 - wherein the electric motor comprises a rotor 4b and a stator 4a, and wherein the stator 4a is arranged in direct proximity to the wall 1a of the motor housing (see Fig. 1).
With regard to claim 20 - wherein the wall 1a comprises a cooling structure comprising a plurality of fins 1c arranged spaced apart from each other on an outer side of the wall.
Claim(s) 16 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kirschey (WO 2016083080).
With regard to claim 16 - A drive device comprising:
a motor unit 10 with an electric motor 61 configured to drive an electric bicycle;
a hub axle 11 coupled to the electric motor 61;
a gearbox 25, which is configured to drive the electric bicycle and is rotatable about an axis of rotation, and which is coupled to the electric motor 58 and to the hub axle 11 and is configured to output a torque for driving the electric bicycle; and
a motor housing 17, in which the electric motor 61 and the gearbox 25 are arranged and through which the hub axle 11 extends, the electric motor 61 being shielded by an adjacent wall of the motor housing (see Fig. 10), which extends into an outer region outside the motor housing 17 so that heat generated by the electric motor 61 during operation of the electric bicycle is dissipated to the outer region by direct heat conduction through the wall (“The stator 62 discharges its heat to the air-cooled transmission case 41, whereas the rotor 63 discharges its heat to an oil contained in the case 41. This oil undergoes its cooling, in turn, by the air flow surrounding the housing 41.” – see translation).
With regard to claim 22 - wherein the motor housing is formed in two parts and comprises a circumferential housing section 17 and a stator cover 41, which are rotatably coupled to each other with respect to the axis of rotation by a bearing 44, wherein the housing section 17 surrounds the stator cover 41 and the stator cover 41 is rotationally fixed, wherein the housing section 17 is rotatably coupled to the hub axle 11 with respect to the axis of rotation, and wherein the stator cover 41 extends axially along the axis of rotation to an outside of the housing section (see Fig. 10).
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.
Claim(s) 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Hsiung (US 2020/0153323). Xu fails to explicitly disclose a slip ring arranged inside the motor housing with respect to the axis of rotation, wherein the slip ring comprises a first slip ring element and a second slip ring element, which contact each other radially and/or axially with respect to the axis of rotation and are coupled to a stator to provide a power supply to the stator for torque generation in an operation of the electric bicycle. Hiung teaches a hub motor for an electric bicycle (¶[0065]) comprising a stator 101 and slip ring 1006, wherein the slip ring comprises a first slip ring element 1006 and a second slip ring element 1014, which contact each other radially and/or axially with respect to the axis of rotation and are coupled to a stator to provide a power supply to the stator for torque generation (“[0053] Please refer to the FIG. 3, the scalable AI artificial intelligence power, power generation multi-stator multi-function motor and system device preferably implemented in the present invention, so that the inductive type can also fully utilize the multi-layer common rotor (100) 360-degree omnidirectional magnetic field characteristics, so the multi-layer common rotor shaft (1002) of the excitation winding coil set (1005) is sleeved into the collector ring (1006) to supply excitation coil winding wire (1007) to the excitation The winding coil set (1005), and the collector ring brush (1014) is locked on the inner stator set (101), and is excited by the contact slip ring (1006) when the multilayer common rotor (100) is placed. The coil winding wire (1007) is powered by the power supply brush power line (1015) to energize the multiple common rotor (1004) located in the inner layer and the exciting winding coil set (1005) in the outer multilayer common rotor (1003). The magnetic field forms an inductive electromagnet, which is like a permanent magnet multi-stator and multi-function brushless motor. It has become a design solution for an inductive multi-stator multi-function motor, which can achieve more than AI artificial intelligence power generation. Stator multi-function motor system like device, make pars bar principle, and flywheel energy storage efficiency of power generation. In order to enhance the value of the industry, and effectively reduce costs and reduce dependence on rare earth magnets.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the electric bicycle of Xu with the teaching of Hsiung so as to effectively reduce costs and reduce rare earth magnets dependence.
Claim(s) 24-28 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Janecek et al (US 2012/0234108).
With regard to claim 24, Xu discloses wherein the hub axle has, with respect to the axis of rotation, a first end portion and a second end portion, which are arranged to be coupled on opposite sides with respect to the axis of rotation to a respective outer frame element. Xu fails to explicitly disclose wherein the second end portion is formed narrower than the first end portion. Janecek teaches an electric bicycle comprising an electric motor 450 disposed within a housing and a hub axle 444 wherein the hub axle has, with respect to the axis of rotation, a first end portion and a second end portion, which are arranged to be coupled on opposite sides with respect to the axis of rotation to a respective outer frame element, and wherein the second end portion is formed narrower than the first end portion (see Fig. 4A). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the electric bicycle of Xu with the teaching of Janecek so as to include the hub axle of Janecek to allow for easy measuring of the torque placed upon the hub axle by the pedals.
With regard to claims 25 and 30, Xu discloses a cassette body 3, which is coupled to the motor housing 1a, 1b and surrounds the hub axle 2 with respect to the axis of rotation, and which is configured to transmit a torque of a rider of the electric bicycle to the motor housing.
However, Xu fails to explicitly disclose a sensor unit coupled to the hub axle and arranged between the cassette body and the hub axle with respect to a radial direction transverse to the axis of rotation, the sensor unit configured to determine the torque. Janecek teaches an electric bicycle comprising an electric motor 450 disposed within a housing, a hub axle 444, a cassette body 412, and a sensor unit 440 coupled to the hub axle 444 and arranged between the cassette body 412 and the hub axle 444 with respect to a radial direction transverse to the axis of rotation, the sensor unit 440 configured to determine the torque (“[0067] Continuing to reference FIGS. 3A through 4B, in certain exemplary embodiments, transverse flux machine 350 and 450 rotate about axle 344 and 444, respectively. Torque tubes 334 and 434 are disposed around axles 344 and 444, respectively, and strain gauges 340 and 440 are affixed to torque tubes 334 and 434, respectively.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify the electric bicycle of Xu with the teaching of Janecek such that the motor assembly includes a torque sensor disposed between the cassette body and hub axle to allow for torque sensing upon the hub axle in a compact system.
With regard to claim 26, Janecek teaches wherein the sensor unit 440 is arranged in the narrower second end portion of the hub axle and the sensor unit and the second end portion are formed in coordination with each other (see Fig. 2A).
With regard to claim 27, Janecek teaches wherein the hub axle is formed in two parts and comprises a thru axle 444 and a sleeve-shaped drive axle 434 through which the thru axle 444 extends.
With regard to claim 28, Janecek teaches a first frame element and a second frame element, which are arranged on opposite sides outside the motor housing with respect to the axis of rotation and surround the hub axle, wherein the first and second frame elements are arranged in such a way that they predeterminedly brace the drive axle in cooperation with the thru axle (See Fig. 5A).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 23 and 29 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/TIMOTHY WILHELM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617 July 10, 2026
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