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 15 is objected to there are two consecutive commas in line 14. 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) 1-4 and 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang et al. (CN 112943908 A). Huang discloses an electric vehicle comprising a reducer (fig. 1) comprising:
Re claims 1, 15, a vehicle body, a motor (background section of the specification describes an electric driving system of a vehicle with a motor system), and a reducer (fig. 1), wherein the vehicle body is configured to fasten the motor and the reducer, a motor shaft (fig. 2: shaft is below 8 having splines to engage with the motor) of the motor is configured to be in transmission connection to an input shaft (9) of the reducer, and the reducer comprises an input gear (gear associated with 9), an intermediate gear set (gear set associated with 10), an output gear (5), and an oil sump (2), wherein the input gear is configured to drive, via the intermediate gear set, the output gear to rotate forward or backward, a rotation direction of the intermediate gear set is opposite to a rotation direction of the output gear (see gear train in fig. 2), the oil sump comprises: a radial sump opening (annotated fig. 1 below: 101), wherein an orientation (annotated fig. 1 below: arrow of 101) of the radial sump opening is away from the intermediate gear set along a radial direction of the intermediate gear set; and a circumferential sump opening (annotated fig. 1 below: 102), wherein an orientation (annotated fig. 1 below: arrow of 102) of the circumferential sump opening faces the output gear along a circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, and the radial sump opening is connected to the circumferential sump opening (fig. 1: connected at the bottom).
Re claims 2, 16, wherein the oil sump further comprises: two circumferential sump walls (annotated fig. 1 below: 103,104), wherein the two circumferential sump walls are arranged oppositely along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 1), and a length of a first circumferential sump wall (annotated fig. 1 below: 103) is longer than a length of a second circumferential sump wall (annotated fig. 1 below: 104) along an axial direction of the intermediate gear set; and two axial sump walls (annotated fig. 1 below: 105,106), wherein the two axial sump walls are arranged oppositely along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 1), and a length of a first axial sump wall (annotated fig. 1 below: 105) is shorter than a length of a second axial sump wall (annotated fig. 1 below: 106) along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set.
Re claims 3, 17, wherein a spacing between the first circumferential sump wall and the output gear is greater than a spacing between the second circumferential sump wall and the output gear (fig. 1), the first axial sump wall, the first circumferential sump wall, the second axial sump wall, and the second circumferential sump wall are sequentially connected to form the radial sump opening of the oil sump (fig. 1), and the first axial sump wall is spaced from the second circumferential sump wall to form the circumferential sump opening of the oil sump (annotated fig. 1 below: the spacing between 105 and 104 forms part of the circumferential sump opening).
Re claims 4, 18, wherein the intermediate gear set further comprises: an intermediate driven gear (fig. 2: top gear of 10); and an intermediate shaft (10), the intermediate shaft is configured to: fasten the intermediate driven gear, and engage with the input gear (fig. 2), the output gear is configured to engage with an intermediate drive gear (fig. 2: bottom gear of 10) of the intermediate shaft, and the intermediate driven gear and the output gear have an overlapping part along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set (overlap shown in fig. 2), the first axial sump wall is stacked on the intermediate gear set along the radial direction of the intermediate gear set, the second axial sump wall and the output gear are arranged on a same side of the intermediate driven gear along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, and the second axial sump wall and the output gear are arranged at intervals along the radial direction of the intermediate gear set (figs. 1-2).
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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(s) 5-8 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN 112943908 A) in view of Yu et al. (US 10859152 B2). Huang discloses the reducer (as cited above). Huang does not disclose:
Re claims 5, 19, wherein the oil sump further comprises: a sump bottom that comprises a shallow sump bottom and a deep sump bottom, the shallow sump bottom and the deep sump bottom are arranged along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, and a distance between the shallow sump bottom and the radial sump opening is shorter than a distance between the deep sump bottom and the radial sump opening.
Re claims 6, 20, wherein, along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, a length of the shallow sump bottom is shorter than a length of the deep sump bottom, the shallow sump bottom is adjacent to the circumferential sump opening along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, and the deep sump bottom is spaced from the circumferential sump opening along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set.
Re claim 7, wherein, along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, a distance between the shallow sump bottom and the output gear is longer than a distance between the deep sump bottom and the output gear.
Re claim 8, wherein the oil sump further comprises: two groups of lubricating oil holes, each group of lubricating oil holes comprises at least one lubricating oil hole, the at least one lubricating oil hole is arranged at intervals along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, a first group of lubricating oil holes is configured to lubricate an engagement position between the intermediate gear set and the input gear, and a second group of lubricating oil holes is configured to lubricate an engagement position between the output gear and the intermediate gear set, along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, a distance between the first group of lubricating oil holes and the output gear is longer than a distance between the second group of lubricating oil holes and the output gear; the first group of lubricating oil holes and the circumferential sump opening are arranged oppositely along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, and the second group of lubricating oil holes is spaced from the circumferential sump opening along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set.
However, Yu teaches a lubricating assembly:
Re claims 5, 19, wherein the oil sump (2) further comprises: a sump bottom that comprises a shallow sump bottom (fig. 4: top left quadrant, above 24 and left of 24, of the sump bottom and containing 23) and a deep sump bottom (fig. 4: generally bottom right quadrant, below 24 and right of 24, of the sump bottom and containing 22), the shallow sump bottom and the deep sump bottom are arranged along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 2-3), and a distance between the shallow sump bottom and the radial sump opening is shorter than a distance between the deep sump bottom and the radial sump opening (fig. 3-4).
Re claims 6, 20, wherein, along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, a length (measured in the vertical direction when view from fig. 4) of the shallow sump bottom is shorter than a length (measured in the vertical direction when view from fig. 4) of the deep sump bottom, the shallow sump bottom is adjacent to the circumferential sump opening along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 2-4), and the deep sump bottom is spaced from the circumferential sump opening along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 2-4).
Re claim 7, wherein, along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, a distance between the shallow sump bottom and the output gear is longer than a distance between the deep sump bottom and the output gear (fig. 2 shows the deep sump bottom, right side of 2, is closer to the output gear of 6).
Re claim 8, wherein the oil sump further comprises: two groups of lubricating oil holes (22,23), each group of lubricating oil holes comprises at least one lubricating oil hole, the at least one lubricating oil hole is arranged at intervals along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 4 shows the holes being axially spaced apart), a first group of lubricating oil holes (23) is configured to lubricate an engagement position between the intermediate gear set and the input gear (figs. 2,4), and a second group of lubricating oil holes (22) is configured to lubricate an engagement position between the output gear and the intermediate gear set (fig. 2,4), along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, a distance between the first group of lubricating oil holes and the output gear is longer than a distance between the second group of lubricating oil holes and the output gear (fig. 2); the first group of lubricating oil holes and the circumferential sump opening are arranged oppositely along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, and the second group of lubricating oil holes is spaced from the circumferential sump opening along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 4).
Regarding claims 5 and 19, it would have been obvious to person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ a shallow pump bottom and a deep sump bottom, as taught by Yu, to better guide and store the oil to the area of the transmission that requires a varying amount of oil.
Regarding claim 8, it would have been obvious to person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ lubricating oil holes, as taught by Yu, to direct the oil to the areas of the transmission with high friction.
Claim(s) 9-11 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (CN 112943908 A) in view of Schmidt et al. (DE 102019102078 B3). Huang discloses the reducer (as cited above). Huang does not disclose:
Re claim 9, wherein the oil sump further comprises: a plurality of nozzles configured to convey lubricating oil in the oil sump to a reducer housing and distributed on sump walls of the oil sump that are arranged along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, each nozzle protrudes, away from the inside of the oil sump, from a sump wall on which the nozzle is located, and an opening of each nozzle faces away from the inside of the oil sump.
Re claim 10, wherein the oil sump further comprises: a plurality of fastening protrusions configured to fasten the reducer housing, each fastening protrusion extends away from the inside of the oil sump along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, at least one fastening protrusion and at least one nozzle are arranged along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set, and at least one fastening protrusion and at least one nozzle are arranged along the radial direction of the intermediate gear set.
Re claim 11, further comprising: the reducer housing and a reducer end plate, wherein a space between the reducer housing and the reducer end plate is configured to accommodate the reducer and the oil sump, the reducer housing comprises: a housing input shaft bearing groove, a housing intermediate shaft bearing groove, a housing output shaft bearing groove, and at least one housing fastening hole configured to fasten the oil sump, along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, the reducer end plate, the first axial sump wall, the second axial sump wall, and any housing fastening hole of the reducer housing are sequentially arranged, a bottom of the space between the reducer housing and the reducer end plate is configured to store lubricating oil, the at least one housing fastening hole is arranged on a side of the housing intermediate shaft bearing groove away from the bottom of the space, and the at least one housing fastening hole is arranged between the housing input shaft bearing groove and the housing output shaft bearing groove.
Re claim 14, wherein the reducer end plate comprises: an end plate input shaft bearing groove, an end plate intermediate shaft bearing groove, and at least one end plate fastening hole configured to fasten the oil sump and arranged on a side of the end plate intermediate shaft bearing groove away from the bottom of the space, and, along the radial direction of the intermediate gear set, a distance between each end plate fastening hole and a shaft center of the intermediate shaft is longer than a radius of the intermediate gear set.
However, Schmidt teaches a lubricating assembly (fig. 9):
Re claim 9, wherein the oil sump further comprises: a plurality of nozzles (31,31’,31”) configured to convey lubricating oil in the oil sump (25) to a reducer housing (fig. 2: 5) and distributed on sump walls of the oil sump that are arranged along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 11), along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, each nozzle protrudes, away from the inside of the oil sump, from a sump wall on which the nozzle is located, and an opening of each nozzle faces away from the inside of the oil sump (fig. 9-11).
Re claim 10, wherein the oil sump further comprises: a plurality of fastening protrusions (41) configured to fasten the reducer housing, each fastening protrusion extends away from the inside of the oil sump along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 11), at least one fastening protrusion and at least one nozzle are arranged along the circumferential direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 11 shows the two are circumferentially spaced away from each other), and at least one fastening protrusion and at least one nozzle are arranged along the radial direction of the intermediate gear set (fig. 11 shows the two are radially spaced away from each other).
Re claim 11, further comprising: the reducer housing (fig. 2: 4) and a reducer end plate (fig. 2: 5), wherein a space between the reducer housing and the reducer end plate is configured to accommodate the reducer (6) and the oil sump (25), the reducer housing comprises: a housing input shaft bearing groove (figs. 5,7: right circular groove for receiving 10’), a housing intermediate shaft bearing groove (figs. 3, 5,7: center circular groove for receiving 12’), a housing output shaft bearing groove (figs. 3, 5,7: center circular groove for receiving 17’), and at least one housing fastening hole (fig. 5: holes shown on the vertical surface at the 10 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions of the housing intermediate shaft bearing groove; fig. 10 shows the corresponding fasteners 41) configured to fasten the oil sump, along the axial direction of the intermediate gear set, the reducer end plate, the first axial sump wall (wall at the foreground in fig. 9; Huang discloses the first axial sump wall above), the second axial sump wall (wall at the background in fig. 9; Huang discloses the second axial sump wall above), and any housing fastening hole of the reducer housing are sequentially arranged (fig. 2)), a bottom of the space between the reducer housing and the reducer end plate is configured to store lubricating oil (fig. 7-8 shows oil at the bottom being flung upward), the at least one housing fastening hole is arranged on a side of the housing intermediate shaft bearing groove away from the bottom of the space (fig. 5)), and the at least one housing fastening hole is arranged between the housing input shaft bearing groove and the housing output shaft bearing groove (fig. 5).
Re claim 14, wherein the reducer end plate comprises: an end plate input shaft bearing groove (figs. 6,8: left circular groove for receiving 10), an end plate intermediate shaft bearing groove (figs. 6,8: center circular groove for receiving 12), and at least one end plate fastening hole (holes shown in fig. 6 corresponding to the fasteners 41 in fig. 9) configured to fasten the oil sump and arranged on a side of the end plate intermediate shaft bearing groove away from the bottom of the space (fig. 6), and, along the radial direction of the intermediate gear set, a distance between each end plate fastening hole and a shaft center of the intermediate shaft is longer than a radius of the intermediate gear set (figs. 6 and 11).
Regarding claim 9, it would have been obvious to person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ a plurality of nozzles, as taught by Schmidt, to better guide the oil to a predetermined area of the reducer.
Regarding claim 11, it would have been obvious to person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ a plurality of nozzles, as taught by Schmidt, to better guide the oil to a predetermined area of the reducer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-13 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
The cited prior art(s) made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINH D TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-3014. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anna Momper can be reached at (571) 270-5788. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Minh Truong/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3654