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 Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: In line 6 of claim 1, “disconnected” should be changed to --disconnect--. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 2, 5-7, 11, 12, 14-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Eastman (USPub 2014/0054124).
With respect to claim 1, Eastman discloses a vehicle wheel end assembly method comprising: installing an axle (34) into a disconnect (30), the disconnect comprising a disengaged state (Fig 6) permitting relative rotation between the axle and a hub (2)[0035], and an engaged state (Fig 7) preventing relative rotation between the axle and the hub [0036]; mounting the disconnect on a knuckle (via tabs 10) comprising a wheel-facing side and a vehicle-facing side, wherein the disconnected is mounted on the wheel facing side of the knuckle ([0031], inside of tabs 10 would be mounted to outside of an axle since the hub with wheel bolts 11 are located on the outside); and mounting a hub (2) to the disconnect (Fig 5).
With respect to claim 2, wherein the hub is supported by a bearing assembly (1).
With respect to claim 5, comprising installing the knuckle on a vehicle before mounting the disconnect on the knuckle (because disconnect is located outside of the knuckle, if could be mounted on the knuckle after the knuckle is already mounted on the vehicle).
With respect to claim 6, wherein the disconnect comprises an inner drive gear (6) and a clutch ring (4), and wherein the inner drive gear is configured to translate axially to shift the disconnect between the engaged state and the disengaged state [0035-0036].
With respect to claim 7, wherein the inner drive gear is engaged to a plurality of splines (9) on the axle (8), and wherein the clutch ring (33 of ring 4) is engaged to a plurality of splines (32) on the hub.
With respect to claim 11, wherein mounting the disconnect on the knuckle comprises aligning a perimeter of a vehicle-facing surface (tabs 10) of the disconnect housing with a perimeter of the wheel-facing side of the knuckle.
With respect to claims 12, 14, 15, the methos discussed above meets the apparatus limitations.
With respect to claim 16, wherein the knuckle comprises a cavity, wherein the cavity is sufficiently large to allow the axle to pass entirely through the knuckle (since the wheel hub with axle is integrally assembled [0007] separately, it would have to have a cavity for the axle (8) to pass through in order to mount with tabs (10)).
With respect to claim 17, wherein the hub is coupled to the disconnect using a retaining ring (21).
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 9-10 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eastman.
With respect to claim 9, Eastman discloses the claimed invention discussed above and an actuator (5) installed on the disconnect but does not disclose further comprising installing a motor assembly into the disconnect. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to try using a motor configured to drive a worm gear, wherein the worm gear rotates a cam gear rather than a solenoid or any form of actuator, since one having ordinary skill would have expected it to yield nothing more than predictable results, namely, that the drive gear could be moved between the engaged and disengaged positions. With respect to claim 10, it would have been obvious to use snap-fit connectors to mount the motor to the disconnect, since snap-fit connectors are an old and well-known means for mounting vehicle components together.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 8, and 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 DREW J BROWN whose telephone number is (571)272-1362. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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DREW BROWN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3616
/DREW J BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
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