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)(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, 14-15, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kreutz (EP3322632B1).
With respect to claim 1, Kreutz discloses a steering device (1) for a motor vehicle, for use in a steer-by-wire steering system, the steering device comprising: a steering handle (52) rotatable about an axis (21) of the steering device, and a restoring torque generating arrangement (5, 9) coupled to the steering handle and configured to generate a torque that at least partially counteracts rotation of the steering handle, the restoring torque generating arrangement comprising: a motor (8) having a hollow core coaxial to the axis of the steering device (Figs 4-5), and a gear (9) coupled to the motor and configured to transmit a torque produced by the motor to the steering handle, wherein the gear has a hollow central region (Figs 4-6) coaxial to the axis (21) of the steering device and a gear ratio within the range from 20:1 to 100:1 (Claim 2 of attached translation).
With respect to claim 2, wherein the gear ratio is in the range from 22:1 to 38:1, in the range from 25:1 to 35:1, or in the range from 28:1 to 32:1 (claim 2 of attached translation).
With respect to claims 14-15, Kreutz discloses at least one sensor (100) device configured to detect a steering input provided by a user via the steering handle and to generate a sensor signal indicative of the detected steering input (last paragraph of page 7 of attached translation).
With respect to claim 19, Kreutz discloses a steer-by-wire steering system, for use in a motor vehicle, comprising a steering device according to claim 1 (State of the art section of attached translation).
With respect to claim 20, Kreutz discloses a motor vehicle comprising a steer-by-wire steering system according to claim 19 (Abstract of attached translation).
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 3-7, 9, 11, 13, and 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kreutz in view of Wilske et al. (USPub 2020/0148248).
With respect to claims 3-4, Kreutz discloses the claimed invention discussed above but does not disclose further comprising an at least partially hollow steering column which extends through the hollow core of the motor and the hollow central region of the gear. Wilske et al., however, disclose a hollow [0049] steering column (60) which extends through the hollow core of a motor (30) and the hollow central region of a gear (20). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to modify the invention of Kreutz et al. in view of the teachings of Wilske et al. to use a hollow steering column in order to house electronic wiring and save weight while maintaining structural safety.
With respect to claim 5, the combination of Kreutz and Wilske et al. discloses the claimed invention discussed above but does not disclose wherein the stator is an inner stator and the rotor is an outer rotor. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to try switching the stator to an inner stator and the rotor to an outer rotor, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art, and it would also allow for increased torque density and leverage a larger radius for greater turning force.
With respect to claim 6, as modified, the inner stator (84) is part of the motor, and the gear (9) is arranged to at least partially overlap the motor stator (84) in a radial direction relative to the axis of the steering device and/or to at least partially overlap the motor in an axial direction along the axis of the steering device (Fig 4).
With respect to claim 7, wherein the gear comprises a strain wave gear (last paragraph of page 3 of attached translation of Kreutz) and/or a planetary gear (page 7 of the attached translation of Kreutz).
With respect to claim 8, wherein the gear comprises an inner gear member configured to be driven by means of the motor, at least one intermediate gear member and an outer gear member, the at least one intermediate gear member engaging with an outer surface of the inner gear member and with an inner surface of the outer gear member (Figs 4-5 of Kreutz).
With respect to claim 9, wherein the outer gear member (95) is arranged rotationally fixed with respect to the steering handle (fixed to outer column 54, so also fixed rotationally to steering wheel), and the intermediate gear member (93) is arranged rotationally and axially fixed with respect to the at least partially hollow steering column and/or the stator, respectively (Fig 4).
With respect to claim 11, wherein the intermediate gear member (93) and/or the inner gear member (91, 92) are arranged to at least partially enclose the motor in a radial direction and/or an axial direction (Figs 4-5).
With respect to claim 13, wherein the gear comprises a planetary gear and wherein the inner gear member comprises a sun gear (91), the intermediate gear member comprises an arrangement of one or more planet gears (92-93) rotatably attached to a carrier, and the outer gear member comprises a ring gear (95) of the planetary gear.
With respect to claims 16-17, Kreutz discloses at least one sensor (100) device configured to detect a steering input provided by a user via the steering handle and to generate a sensor signal indicative of the detected steering input (last paragraph of page 7 of attached translation).
With respect to claim 18, Kreutz discloses the claimed invention discussed above but does not disclose further comprising at least one electrical and/or optical interface functionality arranged at the steering handle, wherein an electrical wiring, an optical wiring and/or an optical path of the at least one electrical and/or optical interface functionality extends at least partially within the hollow core of the motor and/or within the hollow central region of the gear, wherein, the at least one electrical and/or optical interface functionality comprises at least one of a heating of the steering handle, a display, a lighting, an airbag, or a control. Wilske et al., however, disclose further comprising at least one electrical and/or optical interface functionality arranged at the steering handle, wherein an electrical wiring, an optical wiring and/or an optical path of the at least one electrical and/or optical interface functionality extends at least partially within the hollow core of the motor and/or within the hollow central region of the gear, wherein, the at least one electrical and/or optical interface functionality comprises at least one of a heating of the steering handle, a display, a lighting, an airbag, or a control [0049]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to modify the invention of Kreutz in view of the teachings of Wilske et al. to route wiring through a hollow core of the steering handle, motor, and gearing to prevent wire twisting, tangling, and mechanical fatigue as the steering wheel rotates.
Claim 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kreutz in view of Wilske et al., as applied to claims 1, 3, 5, 7, and 8 above, and further in view of Vaupel et al. (DE102017214530A1).
With respect to claim 12, the combination of Kreutz and Wilske et al. discloses the claimed invention discussed above but does not disclose wherein the gear comprises a strain wave gear and wherein the intermediate gear member comprises a flexspline, the inner gear member comprises a wave generator rotatably arranged within the flexspline, and the outer gear member comprises a circular spline of the strain wave gear. Vaupel et al., however, disclose wherein the gear comprises a strain wave gear and wherein the intermediate gear member comprises a flexspline (17), the inner gear member comprises a wave generator (end portion of 16a and 18 connecting to bearing 15) rotatably arranged within the flexspline (Fig 3), and the outer gear member (19) comprises a circular spline of the strain wave gear (first four paragraphs of page 5 of attached translation). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the invention was filed to further modify the invention of Kreutz in view of the teachings of Vaupel et al. to use a strain wave gear as discussed above to provide a zero-backlash, high-ratio gear reduction in an extremely compact and lightweight package.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 is 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: The prior art does not disclose in claim 10 that the outer gear member (95) is arranged rotationally and axially fixed with respect to the at least partially hollow steering column and/or the stator, respectively.
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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