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 .
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tani et al (JP 2012076502).
Tani et al teaches an actuator that includes an electric motor 90 and applies torque to a steering shaft 24 rotatable from a neutral position to a right direction and a left direction; a sensor 41, 410 that detects a vehicle turning value, which is a rotation angle of the steering shaft or a roll angle of a vehicle body 10; and a control device 224 that calculates resistive torque (see block 400 of figure 6) and controls the actuator based on the resistive torque, which is directed in a direction opposite to a direction in which the steering shaft is rotated from the neutral position and corresponds to the vehicle turning value (see figures 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14-17).
For claims 2-3 (see figure 6 blocks 200, 400).
For claim 4 (see figure 16).
For claims 11-12 (see figure 6 block 400).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10, 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAI H HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)272-4844. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 AM-4:00 PM.
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/HAI H HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3747