DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-3 of U.S. Application 18/864574 filed on November 11, 2024 are presented for examination.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on November 11, 2024, November 25, 2025, January 27, 2026 and September 15, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hildinger (US 20150001983) in view of Umemoto (US 20190109507).
Regarding claim 1, Hildinger teaches (see figs. 2 and 3 below) a rotating electric machine (Abstract) comprising:
a coil conductor (13) which is accommodated in a slot (12) provided in a core (10) while leaving out an end part (¶ 22; ¶ 23), and
has an insulating layer (14) on an outer periphery (¶ 24; ¶ 25);
a corona shield layer (16) formed on an outer peripheral surface of the insulating layer of the coil conductor (13), and extending from inside to outside of the slot (12) (fig. 2; ¶ 25; ¶ 26);
a nonlinear resistance layer (17, nonlinear resistance since it is formed of a insulating resin [such as polyurethane] with SiC particle to produce limited conductivity just like the instant application, see ¶ 26) provided so as to partially overlap with an outer end of the corona shield layer (16) (fig. 3; ¶ 26 to ¶ 28); and
a protective layer (18) provided so as to cover the corona shield layer (16) outside the slot (12) and the nonlinear resistance layer (17), wherein the protective layer (18) includes a nonlinear resistance material and a resin (figs. 2 and 3; ¶ 29 to ¶ 31).
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Hildinger does not explicitly teach the corona shield layer provided in contact with the core inside the slot.
However, Umemoto teaches (see figs. 2 and 3 below) the corona shield layer (10) provided in contact with the core (4) inside the slot (5) (¶ 32) in order to suppress the effect of partial discharge in the stator coil (Umemoto, ¶ 32).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Hildinger and provide the corona shield layer provided in contact with the core inside the slot as taught by Umemoto in order to suppress the effect of partial discharge in the stator coil (Umemoto, ¶ 32).
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Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 2 and 3 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
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER A SINGH whose telephone number is (571)270-0243. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at 571-270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDER A SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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