DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/6/2024 has been considered.
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.
Claims 1 and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hayashi et al. (U.S. 2015/0233434).
Regarding claim 1, Hayashi discloses (figs. 2-4B) A rotary drive reduction gear or geared motor device (D) within an electric brake actuator (fig. 2) effecting linear displacement of a brake piston (8), said device being integrated into a brake housing (41) or intended to be assembled on such a brake housing, said device comprising:
one or more planetary gear sets (YG) parallel or coaxial to the linear actuation direction (along the axis of 6/54, see figs. 2-3); which use at least one ring gear (52) that is fixed against rotation relative to said brake housing (see pgh. 0080, “attached on the lower body 411”. The ring gear is at least partially fixed in that it cannot freely rotate in perpetuity. In other words, it is “fixed against rotation” at least partially, because if it freely rotated it would not create the required reaction force for the carrier 53 to drive the output 54)
a damping device (55) made at least in part of elastomer material, which is arranged around said fixed ring gear (see fig. 4D, at least partially circumferentially) to be compressed radially and/or axially between said fixed ring gear and said brake housing (at least under certain operating modes or conditions, upon compressing circumferentially, the damping device will also compress radially due to being space limited by the ring gear and the housing); and thus providing radial and/or axial vibration damping between said fixed ring gear and said brake housing (pgh. 0099, impacts are prevented from being transmitted to the electric motor 3).
Regarding claim 10, Hayashi discloses (figs. 2-4B) A damping device (55) arranged to produce the damping device of a reduction gear device according to claim 1 (see claim 1), said damping device being made at least in part of elastomeric material (“cushion rubbers”) and is arranged around a fixed ring gear of said reduction device (as shown) so as to be compressed radially and/or axially between said fixed ring gear and a brake housing (as discussed above in claim 1) when said reduction gear device is integrated into said brake housing (the devices are assembled together and are thus “integrated”), said damping device thus providing radial and/or axial vibration damping between said fixed ring gear and said brake housing (see claim 1 above).
Regarding claim 11, Hayashi discloses (figs. 2-4B) A geared motor device (D) for a brake actuator (fig. 2), characterized in that it comprises a device according to claim 1 (see claim 1 above)
Regarding claim 12, Hayashi discloses (figs. 2-4B) A disc brake (see figs 1-2) for a road vehicle (see pgh. 0001), comprising a reduction gear or geared motor device according to claim 1 (see claim 1 above)
Regarding claim 13, Hayashi discloses (figs. 2-4B) A method for assembling a brake (see figs. 1-3) for a vehicle, characterized in that it comprises: mounting an electric motor (3) carrying a sun gear shaft (e.g. 32) on a motor housing (41), thus forming a motor unit, or providing such a motor unit; and
assembling the motor housing of said motor unit on the brake housing (see figs. 2-3, assembled as shown); by interconnecting one or more parallel or coaxial planetary gear sets (YG) to form a reduction gear according to claim 1 (see claim 1 above), the fixed ring gear of which is held against rotation by said motor housing (at least partially, see claim 1 above); so that the damping device is compressed radially and/or axially between said brake housing and the fixed ring gear or its support (see claim 1 above).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, and if rewritten to overcome any 112(b) rejections, as appropriate.
Reasons for allowance, if applicable, will be the subject of a separate communication to the Applicant or patent owner, pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.104 and MPEP § 1302.14.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure. The documents listed on the PTO-892 disclose various motor driven brake devices related to the instant application.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID MORRIS whose telephone number is (571)270-3595. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
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/DAVID MORRIS/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
/DAVID R MORRIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3616
