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 .
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 rolling device of claim 4 and the bearing device, outer member, inner member and rolling element of claim 5 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 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, 4, 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2022054352 and Ueno et al., U.S. Patent Publication 2006/0165328.
As per claims 1 and 7, WO2022054352 discloses a lubricant supply control method for a device (2) including a plurality of portions (3, 4, 5) [rolling elements, inner ring, outer ring] using a lubricant, the lubricant supply control method comprising:
measuring an impedance of an electric circuit including the plurality of portions (3, 4, 5) by applying an AC voltage to the electric circuit (steps S1003, S1004) (paras [0052, 0053]);
deriving an oil film thickness (h) (step S1005) (para [0054]) and a breakage rate (α) (para [0054]) of an oil film between the plurality of portions based on the impedance measured in the measurement step.
WO ‘352 does not disclose lubricating the plurality of portions and controlling at least one of a supply amount and a supply timing of the lubricant to the device based on the oil film thickness and the breakage rate of the oil film derived in the derivation so that a lubrication state between the plurality of portions becomes a predetermined lubrication state. However, Ueno et al. in their Bearing Device invention teach a bearing device (2, 3, 4) [outer ring, inner ring, rolling elements] and a sensor to detect conditions of the bearing and a pump functionally controlled based on the detection output from the sensor (para [0023]). Further, that sensor output is fed back to a control circuit to control an amount of lubricant discharged by the pump. Sensors continue to monitor the bearing (paras [0070, 0071]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of WO ‘352 with lubricant pump supply parameters based on sensor feedback, as taught by Ueno et al., for the purpose of optimal bearing performance and longevity.
As per claim 2, WO2022054352 and Ueno et al. as set forth above, WO ‘352 as modified, disclose the predetermined lubrication state is a state in which the breakage rate of the oil film is 0 or substantially 0, and the oil film thickness is smaller than a theoretical oil film thickness between the plurality of portions. WO ‘352 discloses an optimal film thickness and breakage rate is known and would be the desired predetermined lubrication state (paras [0020, 0025, 0058]). Ueno et al. further teach sensor information is used to determine lubrication addition parameters to result in a predetermined lubrication state of the bearing.
As per claim 4, WO2022054352 and Ueno et al. as set forth above, WO ‘352 discloses the device is a rolling device (paras [0014, 0015) .
As per claim 5, WO2022054352 and Ueno et al. as set forth above, WO ‘352 discloses the device (2) is a bearing device (paras [0014, 0015), and
the plurality of portions include an outer member (3), an inner member (4), and a rolling element (5).
As per claim 7, WO2022054352 and Ueno et al. as set forth above, WO ‘352 discloses a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor for causing a computer to execute a procedure (paras [0018, 00049]).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ueno et al., U.S. Patent Publication 2006/0165328 in view of WO2022054352.
As per claim 6, Ueno et al. disclose a lubricant supply control device (abstract) for a device (2, 3, 4) [inner ring, outer ring, rolling elements] that lubricates a plurality of portions using a lubricant, the lubricant supply control device comprising:
a control unit (70) configured to control at least one of a supply amount and a supply timing of the lubricant to the device (2, 3, 4) so that a lubrication state between the plurality of portions becomes a predetermined lubrication state. Ueno et al. use a sensor to detect conditions of the bearing and a pump functionally controlled based on the detection output from the sensor (para [0023]). Further, sensor output is fed back to a control circuit to control an amount of lubricant discharged by the pump. Sensors continue to monitor the bearing (paras [0070, 0071]. The resulting lubrication level from the control circuit is the predetermined lubrication state.
Ueno et al. do not disclose a measurement unit configured to measure an impedance of an electric circuit including the plurality of portions by applying an AC voltage to the electric circuit; a derivation unit configured to derive an oil film thickness and a breakage rate of an oil film between the plurality of portions based on the impedance measured by the measurement unit; and a control unit configured to control at least one of a supply amount and a supply timing of the lubricant to the device based on the oil film thickness and the breakage rate of the oil film derived by the derivation unit.
However, WO2022054352 in their Detection Method of State of Bearing Device, Detection Device, and Program invention teach a unit for measuring an impedance of an electric circuit including a bearing by applying an AC voltage to the electric circuit (para [0016]) and a derivation unit configured to derive an oil film thickness and a breakage rate of an oil film between the portions of the bearing based on the impedance measured by the measurement unit (para [0017]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Ueno et al. with the measurement and derivation units for deriving a film thickness and breakage rate, as taught by WO ‘352, for the purpose of more precisely regulating lubricant supplied to a bearing by actually measuring lubricant film thickness rather than relying on a resultant temperature variation from a sensor inside the bearing.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest a lubricant supply control method for a device that lubricates a plurality of portions using a lubricant, the lubricant supply control method comprising: measuring an impedance of an electric circuit including the plurality of portions by applying an AC voltage to the electric circuit; a deriving an oil film thickness and a breakage rate of an oil film between the plurality of portions based on the impedance measured in the measurement; and controlling at least one of a supply amount and a supply timing of the lubricant to the device based on the oil film thickness and the breakage rate of the oil film derived in the derivation so that a lubrication state between the plurality of portions becomes a predetermined lubrication state; controlling of at least one of the supply amount and the supply timing of the lubricant to the device, a measurement timing in the next measurement step of the impedance is controlled based on a difference between the oil film thickness derived in the derivation and the theoretical oil film thickness.
The closest art is considered to be WO2022054352. WO ‘352 discloses calculating an impedance of an electric circuit including a bearing and deriving an oil film thickness and a breakage rate. However, Applicants claim a measurement timing in the next measurement step of the impedance is controlled on a difference between the calculated oil film thickness and the theoretical oil film thickness. The theoretical oil film thickness being a maximum thickness possible where additional lubrication will not increase the oil film thickness. WO ‘352 does not use the theoretical oil film thickness in determining lubrication amounts.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK KENNETH BUSE whose telephone number is (571)270-3139. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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/M.K.B/Examiner, Art Unit 3654
/ROBERT W HODGE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3654