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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/21/24 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 1, 3, 4, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over May, US 20110103173 in view of Taylor et al., US 20070279138
Regarding claim 1, May discloses a position detection apparatus comprising: a moving body having an elongated shape, the moving body being disposed so as to be movable in its longitudinal direction (Fig. 72; ¶[0436]; reciprocating shaft 101), the moving body having plural detection object portions disposed along the longitudinal direction (Fig. 72; rings 501), the plural detection object portions having a conductivity (Fig. 72; rings 501 made of iron material); plural relative displacement detection parts for detecting a relative displacement of the moving body (Fig. 72; detection coils 104), the plural relative displacement detection parts being arranged along a moving direction of the moving body (Fig. 72; coils arranged along the same direction as the rings 501), the plural relative displacement detection parts being disposed so as to be capable of facing the respective detection object portions of the moving body with a predetermined interval therebetween (Fig. 72; coils 104 are facing the rings 501 with spacing between them); and a position calculation part for calculating a displacement of the moving body by processing output signals from the relative displacement detection parts (Fig. 72; determining unit 106 detects signal from coil 104 to determine position of shaft 101), the relative displacement detection parts including a winding coil (Fig. 72; coil 104).
May is silent in each of the relative displacement detection parts including a winding coil for forming an LC circuit and a capacitor connected between opposite end portions of the winding coil. However, Taylor teaches displacement detection parts including a winding coil for forming an LC circuit and a capacitor connected between opposite end portions of the winding coil (Fig. 1; reactive unit having coil 2 and capacitor 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to incorporate the teaching of Taylor into May since the arrangement would produce the predictable result of causing a signal change in the coil and a frequency difference based on the position of the shaft.
Regarding claim 3,May teaches wherein the number of the relative displacement detection parts provided is n, the winding coils of the n relative displacement detection parts have the same length, and provided that the length is L, the winding coils are arranged at an interval of (L±L/n) from one another, and each of the detection object portions of the moving body has a width in the longitudinal direction equal to the length of each of the winding coils of the relative displacement detection parts, and the detection object portions of the moving body are arranged at a distance from one another, the distance corresponding to the length of each of the winding coils of the relative displacement detection parts (Fig. 72; ¶[0436]).
Regarding claim 4, May teaches a position detection apparatus comprising: a moving body having an elongated shape, the moving body being disposed so as to be movable in its longitudinal direction (Fig. 72; ¶[0436]; reciprocating shaft 101), the moving body having plural detection object portions disposed along the longitudinal direction (Fig. 72; rings 501), the plural detection object portions having a conductivity (Fig. 72; rings 501 made of iron material); plural relative displacement detection parts for detecting a relative displacement of the moving body (Fig. 72; detection coils 104), the plural relative displacement detection parts being disposed so as to be capable of facing the respective detection object portions of the moving body with a predetermined interval therebetween (Fig. 72; coils 104 are facing the rings 501 with spacing between them), the plural relative displacement detection parts being arranged side by side in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the moving body (Fig. 72; coils arranged in a direction above the rings 501), the plural relative displacement detection parts being arranged one farther in forward direction than another in the moving direction (Fig. 72; coils arranged in different positions correlating to rings 501); and a position calculation part for calculating a displacement of the moving body by processing output signals from the relative displacement detection parts(Fig. 72; determining unit 106 detects signal from coil 104 to determine position of shaft 101), each of the relative displacement detection parts including a winding coil (Fig. 72; coil 104).
May is silent in each of the relative displacement detection parts including a winding coil for forming an LC circuit and a capacitor connected between opposite end portions of the winding coil. However, Taylor teaches displacement detection parts including a winding coil for forming an LC circuit and a capacitor connected between opposite end portions of the winding coil (Fig. 1; reactive unit having coil 2 and capacitor 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to incorporate the teaching of Taylor into May since the arrangement would produce the predictable result of causing a signal change in the coil and a frequency difference based on the position of the shaft.
Regarding claim 6, May teaches wherein the number of the relative displacement detection parts provided is n, the winding coils of the n relative displacement detection parts have the same length, and provided that the length is L, the winding coils are arranged one farther in the forward direction than another in the moving direction at a distance corresponding to (L±L/n) from one another, and each of the detection object portions of the moving body has a width in the longitudinal direction equal to the length of each of the winding coils of the relative displacement detection parts (Fig. 72).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2, 5 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 2, prior art does not disclose or suggest: “an absolute position detection part for detecting an absolute position of the moving body, the absolute position detection part being disposed on one or the other side of the relative displacement detection parts in the moving direction of the moving body, the absolute position detection part being disposed so as to be capable of facing the respective detection object portions of the moving body with the predetermined interval therebetween, wherein the absolute position detection part includes a winding coil for forming an LC circuit and a capacitor connected between opposite end portions of the winding coil, the winding coil having a length longer than that of each of the winding coils of the relative displacement detection parts, and the position calculation part is configured to detect a position of the moving body by processing output signals from the relative displacement detection parts and the absolute position detection part” in combination with all the limitations of claim 2.
Regarding claim 5, prior art does not disclose or suggest: “an absolute position detection part for detecting an absolute position of the moving body, the absolute position detection part being disposed on one or the other side of the relative displacement detection parts in the moving direction of the moving body, the absolute position detection part being disposed so as to be capable of facing the respective detection object portions of the moving body with the predetermined interval therebetween, wherein the absolute position detection part includes a winding coil and a capacitor, the winding coil being a planar coil for forming an LC circuit, the capacitor being connected between opposite end portions of the winding coil, the winding coil of the absolute position detection part having a length longer than that of each of the winding coils of the relative displacement detection parts, and the position calculation part is configured to detect a position of the moving body by processing output signals from the relative displacement detection parts and the absolute position detection part” in combination with all the limitations of claim 5.
Conclusion
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/FEBA POTHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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