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 1-3, 5-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Omata (US 2017/0096031) in view of Ueyoko et al. (US 2003/0089440).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 5, 12-13, Omata discloses a tire comprising a power reception coil configured to receive an AC magnetic field from outside the tire to generate power ( page 5, [0059]; page 17, [0199]); the tire comprising: a power reception coil provided on a side inner surface of a side portion between a
tread portion and a bead portion, the side inner surface facing a tire cavity region of the tire (page 2, [0039]; page 5, [0059]); the power reception coil being configured to generate AC power by receiving an AC magnetic field transmitted through the side portion (page 17, [0199]), the power reception coil being a coil having a circular shape, the coil extending to make one round in a tire circumferential direction along the side inner surface (fig. 1; fig. 9; fig. 14; page 2, [0039]; page 5, [0059]). Claim 5, the electronic device being driven upon receipt of fed power converted from the AC power into DC power in the power reception unit (page 17, [0199]).
Omata discloses all the limitations set forth above but fails to explicitly disclose a ratio Ts/Tmin being from 1.0 to 5.5, where Ts is a thickness of the side portion at a position of the side inner surface where the power reception coil is provided, and Tmin is a minimum thickness among thicknesses of the side portion extending in a tire radial direction.
However, Ueyoko discloses a ratio Ts/Tmin being from 1.0 to 5.5, where Ts is a thickness of the side portion at a position of the side inner surface where the power reception coil is provided, and Tmin is a minimum thickness among thicknesses of the side portion extending in a tire radial direction (page 2, [0033-0038]; page 4, [0056-0062]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was first filed to incorporate the features of Ueyoko within the system of Omata in order to afford an advantage of enabling control of hysteresis loss near the contact surface of the tread member of the tire thereby increasing the reliability of the system.
Regarding claim 3, Omata discloses wherein the first power reception coil and the second power reception coil comprise an intermittent section, the intermittent section being formed such that both end portions of each of the first power reception coil and the second power reception coil extend to deviate from the tire circumferential direction and thus each of the first power reception coil and
the second power reception coil is intermittent in the tire circumferential direction, and an angle formed by the intermittent section of the first power reception coil and the intermittent section of the second power reception coil in the tire circumferential direction is 4 degrees or more (fig. 1; fig. 9; page 5, [0059]).
Regarding claim 6, Omata discloses wherein the power transmission coil comprises a power transmission region having a planar shape and disposed to face the side portion, the power transmission coil comprises a curved portion having an arc shape extending with a predetermined curvature in a plane of the power transmission region, and as viewed in a tire width direction, the curved portion forms a partial section of a circle in a circumferential direction, the circle being concentric with the circular shape of the power reception coil (fig. 1; fig. 9; page 5, [0059]).
Regarding claim 7, Omata discloses wherein the power reception coil comprises an intermittent section formed such that both end portions of the power reception coil extend to deviate from the tire circumferential direction and thus the power reception coil is intermittent in the tire circumferential
direction, and a ratio d/L is 1/3 or less, the ratio d/L being a ratio of a spacing d between both end
portions of the intermittent section in the tire circumferential direction with respect to a
length L of the curved portion along the tire circumferential direction (fig. 1; fig. 9).
Regarding claim 8, Omata discloses wherein the power reception coil is referred to as a first power reception coil, and the power reception unit further comprises a second power reception coil provided on the side inner surface, the second power reception coil being configured to generate an AC magnetic field by receiving the AC magnetic field transmitted through the side portion, and the second power reception coil is a coil having a circular shape, the coil extending to make one round in the tire circumferential direction along the side inner surface concentrically with the first power reception coil (fig. 1; fig. 9; page 5, [0059]).
Regarding claim 9, Omata discloses wherein a ratio R/G is from 0.1 to 1.2, the ratio R/G being a ratio of a spacing R between the first power reception coil and the second power reception coil in the tire radial direction with respect to an average value G of a distance between the power transmission region and the first power reception coil and a distance between the power transmission region and the second power reception coil (fig. 1, fig. 9; page 5, [0059]).
Regarding claim 10, Omata discloses wherein, in a cross section passing through the curved portion along the tire radial direction, a first radial region and a second radial region are not separated in the tire radial direction, the first radial region being a region where the curved portion is located, the second radial region being a region comprising both ends at positions of the first power reception coil and the second power reception coil in the tire radial direction, the first power reception coil and the second
power reception coil being located on a side opposite to a side of the curved portion with
respect to the side portion (fig. 1; fig. 9; page 5, [0059])
Regarding claim 11, Omata discloses wherein the power transmission unit further comprises a magnetic body disposed on a side opposite to a side of the side portion with respect to the power transmission coil, the magnetic body having a relative magnetic permeability of 30 to 300 at a frequency of the AC magnetic field generated by the power transmission coil (fig. 1; fig. 9; page 5, [0059]).
Regarding claim 14, Omata discloses wherein each of the power transmission coil and the power reception coil comprises one conductive wire made of monofilament, and a diameter of a conductor of the conductive wire of the power transmission coil is larger than a diameter of a conductor of the conductive wire of the power reception coil (fig. 1, fig. 9; page 5, [0059]).
Regarding claim 15, Omata discloses wherein, as viewed in the tire width direction, the power transmission coil is located within an angular range of 45 degrees on an individual side of both sides of a line in the tire circumferential direction, the line extending vertically upward from a center axis of
rotation of the tire (fig. 1; fig. 9; page 5, [0059]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 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 arts fail to teach or make obvious: wherein regarding a height along the tire radial direction relative to an end of the bead portion on an inner side in the tire radial direction, at least one of the following relationships is
satisfied: Ht - Sh X P/4 ≤ H1 ≤ Ht + Sh X P/4, and Ht - Sh X P/4 ≤ H2 ≤ Ht + Sh X P/4, where Sh is a cross-sectional height of the tire, Ht is a height of a position on the side inner surface where a thickness of the side portion is Tmin, H1 is a height of a position on the side inner surface where the first power reception coil is provided, H2 is a height of a position on the side inner surface where the second power reception coil is provided, and P X 100% is an aspect ratio of the tire.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Maruoka et al. (US 2004/0069392) discloses heavy duty tire.
Iwamura et al. (US 2016/0200144) discloses airless tire.
Ogawa (US 2010/0258225) discloses pneumatic tire.
Maekawa (US 2015/0352964) discloses power-supplying…bag unit.
Oyobe et al. (US 2010/0225271) discloses electrical….vehicle.
Eguchi et al. (US 2020/0381162) discloses transmission…..apparatus.
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DP
July 23, 2026
/DANIEL PREVIL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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