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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claims 12 and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nakata et al. (US 2022/0282784 A1).
RE claim 12, Nakata teaches a collecting component 70 (Figs.1, 4 and 5) for an oil guiding arrangement 6, the oil guiding arrangement 6 comprising a wall section 61 defining a main oil channel 91, the collecting component 70 comprising:
a body 71 defining:
an input opening (S, 74) (Fig.4), the input opening (S, 74) being defined at an upper side of the collecting component 70, the input opening (S, 74) being configured for both receiving oil dripping from the wall section 61 and oil flowing out of the main oil channel 91 (see Fig.1 and ¶ oil being scoop via path 95. If there is oil on the top surface of the housing 51, the input opening S is capable of receiving dripping of oil from housing 6. See ¶ 86 for portion 74 of input opening receive oil from channel 91);
a supply section 74, the input opening (S, 74) being at least partially defined by the supply section 74);
an output opening 71k, the output opening 71k being defined at an underside of the collecting component 70 (Fig.4), the output opening 71k being defined in the collecting component 70 opposite the supply section 74 in an axial direction (along y-axis, see Fig.4);
a guide section 71e, the guide section 71e being configured for (capable to) guiding oil from the wall section 61 and the main oil channel 91 to the output opening 71k in the axial direction; and a fastening section (85), the fastening section 75 being configured for fastening the collecting component 70 to the wall section 61 (Fig.5 and ¶ 85).
RE claim 14/12, Nakata teaches axial surfaces 71a, 71e of the body 71 are arranged laterally in the axial direction (Y) are substantially parallel to each other.
RE claim 15/12, Nakata teaches the guide section 71e (Fig.4) defines at least one step (Figs.4, 5).
RE claim 16/12, Nakata teaches the supply section 74 bulges outwardly in the axial direction (y-direction) from the guide section 71e such that the supply section 74 is aligned with the main oil channel 91 (Fig.5).
RE claim 17/12, Nakata teaches the guide section 71e defines an oil volume (space inside the body 71), an upper end of the oil volume being delimited by the input opening (S, 74) and a bottom end of the oil volume being delimited by the output opening 71k.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13 and 18-22 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.
RE claim 13/12, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, the guide section (83) defines a first radial surface (86) and a second radial surface (87), the first radial surface (86) and the second radial surface (87) being opposite each other in a circumferential direction and tapering toward each other at an angle in a radial direction, wherein the first radial surface (86) is configured to receive slung oil, and wherein the first radial surface (86) is steeper than the second radial surface (87).
RE claim 18/12, the prior-art does not teach, inter alia, an oil guiding arrangement for a drive unit comprising an electric drive with a rotor (71), a rotor bearing (44), and a first gearset, the oil guiding arrangement comprising: the collecting component (80) of claim 12; and the wall section (61), the wall section (61) defining the main oil channel (90), the wall section (61) including a bearing seat for the rotor bearing (44) within the rotor (71) in the axial direction, the output opening (84) being adjacent to the bearing seat in the axial direction.
Claims 19-22 are allowable for their dependency on claim 18.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THOMAS TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-5532. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-6PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at (571) 270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THOMAS TRUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
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