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 § 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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 7-8, 11, 14, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kollreider et al. (US 9,091,334 B2) in view of Tseng (US 9,400,040 B2).
Claim 1: Kollreider et al. discloses a lifting column transmission assembly, that includes a drive (7,8,10 of Figure 1), a first sleeve (23 of Figure 6), and a second sleeve (22 of Figure 6) disposed in the first sleeve, in the second sleeve being provided a first screw rod (3 of Figure 6) and a second screw rod (5 of Figure 6), wherein the transmission assembly further comprises a planetary gear set (7 of Figure 2) in transmission fit with a drive shaft (Col.4, Lines 39-48) of the drive; the first sleeve is in transmission fit with the planetary gear set (Col. 4, Lines 21-28); the first sleeve and the second sleeve are operable to rotate synchronously (Col. 5, Lines 5-19); the first sleeve and the second sleeve are operable to telescope axially relative to each other (Col. 4, Line 64 to Col. 5, Line 4); and one end of the second sleeve is connected to the first screw rod in a threaded transmission manner, and an opposite end of the second sleeve is connected to the second screw rod in a threaded transmission manner (the second sleeve is connected to the first screw rod to extend telescopically out of the first sleeve, and is connected to the second rod such that a third sleeve 21 can extend out telescopically from the second sleeve).
While Kollreider et al. discloses a that the lifting column is rotated and extended using a planetary gear set, Kollreider et al. fails to explicitly disclose that the planetary gear set including a planetary gear and an outer ring gear meshing with the planetary gear.
However, Tseng teaches that it is known in the art to extend a lifting column using a planetary gear set that includes a planetary gear (4 of Figure 3) and an outer ring (3 of Figure 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute a planetary gear set having a planetary gear and an outer ring gear for the planetary gear set of Kollreider et al. because it is prima facie obvious to substitute one known prior art element for another in order to achieve predictable results (MPEP 2143(B)).
Claim 2: Tseng further teaches that the first sleeve sleeves over the outer ring gear, an outer ring of the outer ring gear being spline-fitted with an inner wall of the first sleeve (as depicted in Figure 6).
Claim 5: Tseng further teaches that the planetary gear set further comprises a planetary carrier (5,41 of Figure 7) and a fixed shaft (21 of Figure 4) mounted on the planetary carrier, the planetary gear being rotatably mounted on the fixed shaft (as depicted in Figure 4), a coupling member (33 and boss formed in upper surface of 5) configurable to axially limit the planetary gear being provided on the planetary carrier.
Claim 7: Tseng further teaches that the one end of the outer ring gear abuts against the planetary carrier (upper end abuts against 33), and an opposite end of the outer ring gear abuts against the coupling member (lower end abuts again 411 which is in contact with 5).
Claim 8: Tseng further teaches that the planetary gear set includes a planetary carrier (5 of Figure 7), a coupling member (34 of Figure 7) being arranged on the planetary carrier, the planetary gear and the outer ring gear being disposed between the coupling member and the planetary carrier (as depicted in Figure 7 the planetary gear 42 and the outer surface of outer ring 33 are between 5 and 34), a first screw rod (11 of Figure 7) being connected to the coupling member (coupled via depicted fastener depicted in Figure 7), the second screw rod being operable to telescope axially relative to the first screw rod (as depicted in Figures 5 and 6 of Kollreider et al., 5 is telescoped axially relative to 3).
Claim 11: Kollreider et al. further discloses that the second screw rod (5 of Figure 6) is operable to telescope relative to the first screw rod (3 of Figure 6), a first nut (6 of Figure 2) being mounted on the first screw rod in a thread fitting manner, the second sleeve being connected to the first nut (as depicted in Figure 2), the first nut being spline-fitted with the first sleeve (as depicted in Figure 2), whereby the second sleeve is driven to telescope relative to the first sleeve (as depicted in Figures 5 and 6).
Claim 14: Kollreider et al. further discloses that the drive comprises a housing (10 of Figure 1) and an electric motor (8 of Figure 1) disposed in the housing, an axial centerline of an output shaft of the electric motor being parallel to an axial centerline of the first sleeve (as depicted in Figure 1), at least one planetary reduction gear set (7 of Figure 1) in transmission fit with the output shaft being arranged in the housing.
Claim 15: Kollreider et al. further discloses that an inner tube (20 of Figure 4) maintaining fixed relative to a drive (10 of Figure 4), an intermediate tube (22 of Figure 4) sleeving over the inner tube, and an outer tube sleeving (30 of Figure 4) over the intermediate tube, the outer tube being mounted on a first screw rod (3 of Figure 4) or a second screw rod (5 of Figure 4), the intermediate tube being mounted on a second sleeve and being in rotating fit with the second sleeve (Col. 5, Lines 5-24).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3-4, 6-7, 9-10, and 12-13 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. Shim (US 6,685,169 B2) discloses jack that includes a planetary gear transmission (see Figures 3 and 4).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON L VAUGHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5704. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday 8:30 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sunil Singh can be reached at (571) 272-3460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JASON L VAUGHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3726
