DETAILED ACTION
This is on the merits of Application No. 18/984560, filed on 12/17/2024. Claims 1-15 are pending. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 01/02/2025 and 05/27/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 4-5 and 7 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 4 and 5 state “for reversing a direction” and should state --for reversing the direction--.
Claim 7 line 9 states “a rotor drive shaft” and should state --the rotor drive shaft--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-5, 8, 11-12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 states “a planetary transmission”. This is a double inclusion as “a planetary transmission” is already established in claim 1. Is this a new planetary transmission or the same one of claim 1? A review of the specification and drawings show that this is a new planetary transmission. It is suggested applicant state “a second planetary transmission”.
Claim 8 states “the first clutch unit… is effective as the clutch device, which is part of the transmission stage for reversing a direction of rotation”. The term “the clutch device” and “the transmission stage for reversing a direction of rotation” lack antecedent basis. Claim 5 defines a clutch device and claim 3 defines a transmission stage for reversing, but claim 8 does not have any dependency on these claims.
Claim 11 states “a shift element for coupling two shift wheels”. This is a double inclusion, as “shift wheels” have already been established in claim 10. It is suggested applicant delete “for coupling two shift wheels”, as the claim later establishes that the shift wheel of the second gear set an the shift wheel of the third set are selectively coupled to the shift element.
Claim 11 states “at least one winding path gear ratio stage”. It is unclear what is considered a “winding path gear ratio stage” and how that differs from a regular gear ratio stage.
Claim 14 states “wherein the transmission unit comprises six gear ratio stages or the first and the sixth gear are implemented as a winding path gear ratio stage.” By using the alternative “or” it is unclear if the second option is meant to include six gears or not. Further, similar to claim 11, it is unclear what is considered a “winding path gear ratio stage”. There is no special definition of this phrase in the specification making it unclear how to interpret.
Claims 5 and 12 are rejected for depending on a rejected claim.
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 1-3, 6-8, and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2022/0032763 to Lang et al.
Lang discloses:
(Claim 1) A transmission arrangement (Fig. 2, see annotated Fig. 2 below for all reference numbers) for a drivetrain of an agricultural towing vehicle, comprising an input shaft (112), an output shaft (114), a transmission device (150), and a transmission unit (130) which is arranged downstream in the power flow and which comprises a first transmission input shaft (see annotated Fig. 2 below, element OUT) and a second transmission input shaft (OUT2), wherein the transmission device includes a mechanical transmission branch (24) and a variable transmission branch (118) with a magnetic-electrical epicyclic transmission stage (150) comprising an internal rotor (52), an external stator (54) and an interposed rotatable magnetic modulation ring (56), electrical power of an electric machine (16) coupled to the input shaft being able to be transmitted to the stator of the epicyclic transmission stage (shown in Fig. 1 as applied in Fig. 2), the stator of the epicyclic transmission stage being able to be actuated to achieve a rotation of the modulation ring (par. [0048]), and a coupling device having a planetary transmission (planetary gear set P in annotated Fig. 2) being arranged between the modulation ring and the two transmission input shafts in such a way that the modulation ring is rotationally conjointly connected to a planet wheel carrier (Ca) of the planetary transmission, the planet wheel carrier is rotationally conjointly connected or connectable in terms of drive to the first transmission input shaft (OUT is connected to Ca through clutch C1) and a first sun wheel (S1) of the planetary transmission is rotationally conjointly connected or connectable in terms of drive to the second transmission input shaft (OUT2 is connected to the first sun gear).
(Claim 2) wherein a second sun wheel (S2) of the planetary transmission is rotationally conjointly connected to the input shaft (S2 connects to 112 through C2), the planet wheel carrier carries planet wheels (Pw) of the planetary transmission, the first transmission input shaft and the planet wheel carrier are connectable in terms of drive via a clutch (C1), or the second transmission input shaft and the first sun wheel of the planetary transmission are connectable in terms of drive via another clutch.
(Claim 3) wherein a transmission stage (132) for reversing a direction of rotation is arranged between the input shaft and the magnetic-electrical epicyclic transmission stage.
(Claim 6) wherein a start-up module (C2, C3, 132, 120, G1-G3) for electric start-up is arranged between the input shaft and the magnetic-electrical epicyclic transmission stage, the start-up module being configured for the selective coupling and decoupling of a drive connection between the input shaft or the electric machine and the magnetic-electrical epicyclic transmission stage.
(Claim 7) wherein the start-up module comprises: a first clutch unit (C2 or C3) which is drive-connected to the input shaft (112) or to the electric machine (16) on the drive side and is rotationally conjointly connected to the rotor (52) of the magnetic-electrical epicyclic transmission stage by way of a rotor drive shaft (drive shaft of 52) on the output side, or a second clutch unit which along the power flow is rotationally conjointly connected on one side to the rotor of the magnetic-electrical epicyclic transmission stage by way of a rotor drive shaft and is rotationally conjointly connected on the other side to the modulation ring.
(Claim 8 as best understood) wherein that the first clutch unit (C3) of the start-up module which is drive-connected to the input shaft (112) or to the electric machine on the drive side is effective as the clutch device, which is part of the transmission stage for reversing a direction of rotation arranged between the input shaft and the magnetic-electrical epicyclic transmission stage.
(Claim 14 as best understood) wherein the transmission unit comprises six gear ratio stages or the first and the sixth gear are implemented as a winding path gear ratio stage (130 has two different gear ratios which are interpreted as a “winding path gear ratio stage”).
(Claim 15) An agricultural towing vehicle (par. [0002]) comprising a transmission arrangement (see claim 1) including: an input shaft, an output shaft, a transmission device, and a transmission unit which is arranged downstream in the power flow and which comprises a first transmission input shaft and a second transmission input shaft, wherein the transmission device includes a mechanical transmission branch and a variable transmission branch with a magnetic-electrical epicyclic transmission stage comprising an internal rotor, an external stator and an interposed rotatable magnetic modulation ring, electrical power of an electric machine coupled to the input shaft being able to be transmitted to the stator of the epicyclic transmission stage, the stator of the epicyclic transmission stage being able to be actuated to achieve a rotation of the modulation ring, and a coupling device having a planetary transmission being arranged between the modulation ring and the two transmission input shafts in such a way that the modulation ring is rotationally conjointly connected to a planet wheel carrier of the planetary transmission, the planet wheel carrier is rotationally conjointly connected or connectable in terms of drive to the first transmission input shaft and a first sun wheel of the planetary transmission is rotationally conjointly connected or connectable in terms of drive to the second transmission input shaft (see claim 1).
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-10 and 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.
Claims 4-5 and 11-12 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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 of record does not disclose nor render obvious the limitations of claims 4 and 9. Particularly in claim 4, the transmission stage for reversing a direction of rotation comprises a second planetary transmission. Particularly in claim 9, the transmission unit having at least four gear sets for establishing gear ratio stages, and fixed wheels of the gear sets are rotationally conjointly arranged on the first transmission input shaft and the second transmission input shaft.
While these limitations are known separately (see alternative embodiment Fig. 3 of Lang for a reverse transmission stage and see DE 102020122827 to Raisch et al cited in applicant’s IDS for the transmission unit having four gear sets), it is the combination with the previously claimed elements that these claims depend on that make these limitations novel. One would not combine these references with Lang to restructure the entire transmission without improper hindsight reasoning.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Miyazaki et al (US 6808468) discloses a composite power transmission mechanism and vehicle.
Calverley et al (US 2016/0359441) discloses a magnetic gear system and metho for reducing transmission of torque pulsation.
Doepke (US 2003/0013569) discloses an electromechanical transmission.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TIMOTHY HANNON whose telephone number is (571)270-1943. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10-6.
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/TIMOTHY HANNON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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