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 .
DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This is the third Office Action on the merits of Application 18/844,166 filed on 9/5/24. Claims 7-15 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 7, 8, 10 & 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent 9,005,071 to Smemo et al (applicant previously cited reference) in view of U.S. Patent 5,857,934 to Ohkubo.
Claim 7
Smemo discloses in Fig 1,
A device comprising: a first planetary gear mechanism including a first sun gear (e.g. 124) connected to an input shaft (e.g. 110), a first carrier (e.g. 130) connected to an output shaft (e.g. 132), and a first ring gear (e.g. 128); a second planetary gear mechanism including a second sun gear (e.g. 114) connected to the input shaft, a second carrier (e.g. 120) connected to a first fixed element (see 108 connected with housing) via a first engagement element (e.g. 108), and a second ring gear (e.g. 118) connected to a second fixed element (see 106 connected with housing) via a second engagement element (e.g. 106); and a third engagement element (e.g. C1) connecting the input shaft and the second carrier, wherein the first ring gear is connected to the second carrier so as to be integrally rotatable therewith, and the third engagement element is provided between the first sun gear and the first ring gear.
Smemo does not explicitly disclose that the first engagement element is disposed outward in an axial direction of the input shaft with respect to the first planetary gear mechanism and the second planetary gear mechanism. Ohkubo however, teaches such element (e.g. b2, Fig 7) being disposed outward in an axial direction of the input shaft with respect toe planetary gear set. Therefore it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims were effectively filed to dispose the brake in the axial direction with respect to the planetary gear mechanism as taught by Ohkubo and applied to Smemo for the benefit of reducing the height of the transmission housing and saving space.
Claim 8
The device according to claim 7, wherein a value obtained by dividing the number of teeth of the first sun gear by the number of teeth of the first ring gear is smaller than a value obtained by dividing the number of teeth of the second sun gear by the number of teeth of the second ring gear (see Column 6, lines 4-9).
Claim 10
The device according to claim 7, wherein the third engagement element is operated by an electric actuator (Column 6, lines 28-32).
Claim 13
The device according to claim 7, wherein the first engagement element and the second engagement element are arranged side-by-side in the axial direction of the input shaft (see Fig 1 and as modified in view of Ohkubo).
Claim 14
The device according to claim 7, wherein the second carrier includes a holding portion holding a pinion gear (e.g. 116), a first connecting portion (e.g. left end portion of 120) connected to a first side of the holding portion, and a second connecting portion (e.g. 120) connected to a second side of the holding portion, and the second connecting portion of the second carrier is connected to the first fixed element via the first engagement element.
Claim 15
The device according to claim 14, wherein the third engagement element connects the input shaft and the second connecting portion of the second carrier (see Fig. 1).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent 9,005,071 to Smemo et al (applicant previously cited reference) in view of U.S. Patent 5,857,934 to Ohkubo in view of U.S. Patent 6,290,044 to Burgman et al.
Claim 9
Smemo in view of Ohkubo teaches a device comprising a first planetary gear mechanism, second planetary gear mechanism, a first engagement element, a second engagement element and a third engagement element. Smemo in view of Ohkubo however, does not explicitly disclose that at least one of the first or second engagement elements are a selectable one-way clutch. Burgman teaches a selectable one way clutch, which transmits torque, for use in an automatic transmission. Therefore it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the claims was effectively filed to substitute one of the first or second engagement elements, which transmit torque, with the selectable one-way clutch as taught by Burgman to achieve the predictable result of providing torque transmission.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11 & 12 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 12/17/25 with respect to the rejections of claims 7-10 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Ohkubo.
The objections of claims 11 & 12 has been withdrawn.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/HUAN LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655