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 § 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Nio (US 12503212 B2).
Nio discloses an outboard motor [2] comprising: a drive source [M]; a drive shaft [20] extending in an upper-lower direction and rotatable by the driving force of the drive source; a hollow tubular steering shaft [24] to surround an outer circumference of the drive shaft. A case [10B] is located lower than the drive source and including an oil chamber to store oil (see col. 3, lines 1-9; and col. 7, lines 57-64), wherein at least a portion of the steering shaft is housed in the oil chamber (Fig 3 and Fig 4). An angle detection sensor [80] is located higher than the oil chamber to detect a rotation angle of the steering shaft.
Re claim 2, the angle detection sensor is located at a level that is between the drive source and the oil chamber in the upper-lower direction (Fig 4).
Re claims 5-6, a rotatable body [39, 40] rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the steering shaft and at least a portion of which is located higher than the oil chamber, wherein the angle detection sensor is operable to detect the rotation angle of the steering shaft by measuring a rotation angle of the rotatable body.
Re claims 8-9, a portion of the steering shaft is located higher than the oil chamber; and the rotation of the steering shaft is transmitted to the rotatable body at a location [40] that is higher than the oil chamber (Fig 4 and Fig 5)
Re claims 11-12, the rotatable body includes an offset shaft [39] that is parallel or substantially parallel to the steering shaft; and the outboard motor further comprises a transmission [40, 41] located higher than the oil chamber, wherein the transmission is capable of transmitting the rotation of the steering shaft to the offset shaft.
Re claim 19, the outboard motor is mounted to a rear portion of a hull of a boat
Re claim 20, the angle detection sensor is disposed above a level of the oil chamber, and therefore considered as being surrounded by air.
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 13-14 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nio (US 12503212 B2).
Re claims 13 and 14, Nio discloses the drive source being an electric motor; wherein the outboard motor further comprises a case [10A+12] that is located higher than the oil chamber and houses the electric motor and the angle detection sensor.
Nio however does not disclose the case as being a waterproof case.
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to make the case of Nio as a waterproof structure. Having such an arrangement would have prevented water infiltration within the case, thereby avoiding any contamination/degradation of oil or damage to the electric motor.
Re claim 16, with the above modification in place, a rotatable body [39, 40] rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the steering shaft and at least a portion of which is located inside the waterproof case; wherein the angle detection sensor is operable to detect the rotation angle of the steering shaft by measuring a rotation angle of the rotatable body.
Re claim 17, an upper portion of the steering shaft is located inside the waterproof case; and the rotation of the steering shaft is capable of being transmitted to the rotatable body inside the waterproof case.
Re claim 18, the rotatable body includes an offset shaft [39] that is parallel or substantially parallel to the steering shaft; and the outboard motor further comprises a transmission [40, 41] located inside the waterproof case, wherein the transmission is capable of transmitting the rotation of the steering shaft to the offset shaft.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 7, 10 and 15 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.
Wiatrowski (US 9718525) and Wong (US 8007330) each shows an outboard motor with a steering position sensor.
JP 2020015346 shows an outboard motor with an angle detection sensor [63] surrounded by air to detect a rotation angle of a steering shaft [8], as set forth in claim 20.
Kawai (US 12234001), Jaszewski (US 9475560) and Fujimoto (US 5472361) each shows an outboard motor with a tubular steering shaft surrounding a drive shaft.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AJAY VASUDEVA whose telephone number is (571)272-6689. The examiner can normally be reached 6:00 am - 3:00 pm.
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/AJAY VASUDEVA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3615
