FIRST NON-FINAL REJECTION
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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the claimed drive motor, drive motor shaft, first inverter, second inverter, and input shaft (of the electrically drivable axle module) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the axle module" in lines 2, 9, 11, 15, and 17 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the axle module" in line 3 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "a first loading motor" in line 3 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "a second loading motor" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "a test stand base" in line 7 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "a first sliding carriage" in line 8 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "a second sliding carriage" in line 9 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. KR102029341 (citations from translation) in view of Hell et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0230467.
With respect to claims 1, 3, 6, 7, Choi teaches a test stand (test apparatus, figure 1) for testing an electrically drivable axle module (interpreted as EPS module, page 1) for a motor vehicle, comprising at least a first loading motor (left rod unit 100) and a second loading motor (right rod unit 100’) and a test stand base (base of the test apparatus, figure 1) with a test object holder (jig 2, figure 1) for holding the axle module (EPS module, pages 1 and 2), wherein a first motor shaft having a first connecting rod (first rod shaft 130 and first rod shaft end 131 of left rod unit 100, figures 1 and 2) of the first loading motor (left rod unit 100) can be (can be means that the following limitations only have to be possible and not actually implement) connected with no transmission ratio and rotationally fixed to a first drive output shaft (interpreted as an input of the EPS module from the load rod units that have no gearing between, pages 2-3, figure 1) of the axle module (EPS module) and a second motor shaft having a connecting shaft (the corresponding first rod shaft 130 and first rod shaft end 131 of right rod unit 100’, figures 1 and 2) of the second loading motor (right rod unit 100’) can be (can be means that the following limitations only have to be possible and not actually implement) connected with no transmission ratio and rotationally fixed to a second drive output shaft of the axle module (interpreted as an input of the EPS module from the load rod units that have no gearing between, pages 2-3, figure 1), characterized in that the first loading motor is arranged on a first sliding carriage in the form of a first clamping angle (rail brackets 161 and rails 162, page 3, figure 2) on the test stand base (test apparatus, figures 1 and 2) and can be (can be means that the following limitations only have to be possible and not actually implement) moved toward the axle module (the load units move along rails toward the EPS module, page 3, figure 1 and 2) and the second loading motor is arranged on a second sliding carriage in the form of a second clamping angle (rail brackets 161 and rails 162, page 3, figure 2) on the test stand base (test apparatus, figures 1 and 2) and can be (can be means that the following limitations only have to be possible and not actually implement) moved toward the axle module (the load units move along rails toward the EPS module, page 3, figure 1 and 2).
Chois fails to teach and wherein the first loading motor and the second loading motor are each in the form of permanently excited synchronous motors with at least twelve magnetic pole pairs.
Hell teaches a powertrain test stain wherein at least one loading motor is in the form of a permanently excited synchronous motor having twelve or more magnetic pole pairs (paragraph 12).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the invention of Choi with the load motors taught by Hell in order to provide a load motor that is compact and short (paragraph 12).
With respect to claim 2, Choi teaches a drive motor having a drive shaft configured to be connected to the input shaft of the axle module (driving motor 210 having a coupling unit 220 connected to the EPS module, pages 3-4).
With respect to claim 4, Choi teaches wherein the first and second slide carriages have adjacent first and second motor holders (interpreted as the part of the test apparatus that supports the load units 100,100’, figures 1 and 2).
With respect to claim 7, Choi teaches the first motor shaft is connected rotationally fixed by way of a first torque sensor (load sensor 140, figures 1 and 2) to the first connecting shaft (page 3, figures 1 and 2) and the second motor shaft is connected rotationally fixed by way of a second torque sensor (the load sensor 140 of the right rod unit 100’, figures 1 and 2) to the second connecting shaft (page 3, figures 1 and 2).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. KR102029341 (citations from translation) in view of Hell et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0230467 and further in view of Reinisch et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002/0023483.
With respect to claim 5, Choi as modified by Hell teaches the claimed invention except wherein a vertical adjustment module configured for adjusting the first loading motor and/or fir the second loading motor and/or for the drive motor.
Reinisch teaches a drive tester and transmission tester where a drive module comprises a frame module 20 having a very stiff adjusting module 22 that allows, together with an adjustment slide unit, a displacement of upper surface 24 in X-direction, Y-direction and Z-direction (paragraphs 38-39, figure 1).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the invention of Choi as modified by Hell with the vertical adjusting module of Reinisch in order to easily adjustable test stand.
Claim(s) 8, 9, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. KR102029341 (citations from translation) in view of Hell et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0230467 and further in view of Klinger et al. 3,796,092.
With respect to claims 8, 9, and 11 Choi teaches the first motor shaft and second shafts arranged at the end of the motors (first rod shafts 130, figures 1 and2 ) is connected rotationally fixed by way of a first torque sensor (load sensor 140, figures 1 and 2) to the first connecting shaft (load sensor 140 connected to first rod shaft 130 and first rod shaft end 131, page 3, figures 1 and 2) and the second motor shaft is connected rotationally fixed by way of a second torque sensor (the load sensor 140 of the right rod unit 100’, figures 1 and 2) to the second connecting shaft (the corresponding load sensor 140 connected to first rod shaft 130 and first rod shaft end 131 of the right load unit 100’, page 3, figures 1 and 2), but fails to teach the first and second connecting shafts in the form of universal joint shafts and first and second motor shafts being hollow shafts.
Klinger teaches a torsion test stand wherein a test section containing two test specimens 1 may be a universal-joint shaft which can be deflected laterally by a guide section 11, and the test section is connected at one side rigidly with a gear 5a of one reversing transmission 3a and the rotor 8 of a drive motor 9. On the other side, the test section is connected, through a measuring device 10 and a shaft 13, to a rotating piston 6 of a torque transmission coupling 2a which also rotates, and the torque transmission coupling 2a has a housing 7 that is connected to a gear 4a of the second reversing transmission 3b by means of a hollow shaft 14a, in which the shaft 13 is rotatably supported as well as the gear 4a meshes with a like gear 4b of the same reversing transmission 3b which is also connected by means of a hollow shaft 14b to the housing 7 of a second similarly rotating torque transmission coupling 2b (col. 2 line 65 – col. 3 line 29).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the connecting shafts of Choi as modified by Hell with the universal shaft and hollow connecting shafts as taught by Klinger in order to provide a more versatile and reliable test stand.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. KR102029341 (citations from translation) in view of Hell et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2024/0230467 and further in view of Pfeiffer er al. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0310162.
With respect to claim 12, Choi as modified by Hell teaches the at least a first loading motor and a second loading motor, the first and second loading motors each from a common power category (the modified invention of Choi as modified by Hell is teaches the same motor therefore having a common power category); a test stand base (test apparatus, figure 1); a first sliding carriage and a second sliding carriage (rail brackets 161 and rails 162, page 3, figure 2).
Choi as modified by Hell fails to teach a first inverter and a second inverter, the first and second inverters each from a common power category.
Pfeiffer teaches a load machine for drivetrain where variables of the dynamometer 8i are converted in the power electronics (e.g. an inverter) of the dynamometer 8i in a known manner into an electric motor current (paragraph 38).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the invention of Choi as modified by Hell and provide a corresponding inverter with the motor as taught by Pfeiffer with the motors and inverters having a common power category in order to provide a more reliable testing system.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FREDDIE KIRKLAND III whose telephone number is (571)272-2232. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John Breene can be reached at (571) 272-4107. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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FREDDIE KIRKLAND III
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
/Freddie Kirkland III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855 7/25/2026
Prosecution Insights