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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “body comprises an axial flange projecting axially outward with respect to said axial end face and having a beveled portion as said material removal portion at the intersection part between said radial outer circumferential face and said axial flange” of claim 17 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 7 recites “polyphenylene ether”. The specification recites “polyphenylene oxide” in paragraph [0037]. Although these are the same compound, Applicant should avoid using different names for the same material.
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.
Claims 13 and 17 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 13 recites “an insulating layer”. It is unclear if this is the same layer previously recited in claim 1 or if it is a new and separate layer.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 8-9, 13, 17 and 20-21 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kunikata WO-2024071187.
Re clm 1, Kunikata discloses an insulating bearing (Fig. 1) comprising: an outer ring (3); an inner ring (2); and rolling elements (4) arranged between the outer ring and the inner ring; at least one of the outer ring and the inner ring is configured as an insulated ring (outer ring) comprising a body and an insulating layer (6) overmolded on a surface of the body the insulating layer having a dielectric constant lower than 5 @ 1 MHz (line 463; PPS has a dielectric constant of 3 at 1 MHz).
Re clm 2, Kunikata further discloses the dielectric constant of the insulating layer is lower than 4 @ 1 MHz (line 463; PPS has a dielectric constant of 3 at 1 MHz).
Re clm 3, Kunikata further discloses the dielectric constant of the insulating layer is lower than 3.5 @ 1 MHz (line 463; PPS has a dielectric constant of 3 at 1 MHz).
Re clm 4, Kunikata further discloses the insulating layer is formed by a polymer, said polymer being polyphenylene sulfide (PPS; line 463).
Re clm 8, Kunikata further discloses the insulating layer further comprises glass fibers (lines 330-334).
Re clm 9, Kunikata further discloses the insulating layer further comprises a thermal conductive material (lines 330-334).
Re clm 13, Kunikata further discloses the body further comprises: a raceway (where ball meets outer ring, Fig. 1); an axial end face (left or right facing surfaces of 3); a radial outer circumferential face (radially outer surface of 3), disposed radially away from the raceway; wherein a surface of the body comprises a material removal portion (either of grooves or beveled top corners), and an insulating layer (6) is overmolded on the body and molded into the material removal portion.
Re clm 17, Kunikata further discloses the body further comprises a beveled portion (beveled corner) as the material removal portion provided at the intersection part between the radial outer circumferential face and the axial end face.
Re clm 20, Kunikata further discloses the glass fibers are E- glass fibers, D-glass fibers and/or quartz glass fibers (lines 270-272), and wherein the content of the glass fibers is 20-60 wt% in the insulating layer (line 283-287).
Re clm 21, Kunikata further discloses said thermal conductive material is one or more of hexagonal boron nitride, A1203, AIN, BeO, Si3N4, MgO and SiO2 (lines 97-98), wherein the content of the thermal conductive material is 20-60 wt% in the insulating layer (lines 92-95).
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 5-7, 10-12, 18-19 and 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kunikata WO-2024071187 as applied to claims 1 above, and further in view of Ko JP 2009-179766.
Kunikata discloses all the claimed subject matter as described above.
Re clm 5, Kunikata does not disclose the insulating layer is formed by a polymer alloy comprising a continuous phase and a dispersed phase.
Ko teaches an insulating film ([0050]) comprising a polymer alloy comprising a continuous phase (polyphenylene sulfide known as PPS; [0008]) and a dispersed phase (polyphenylene ether; [0008]) for the purpose of providing a resin film with excellent mechanical properties and heating dimensional stability ([0007]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to substitute the PPS resin of Kunikata with the polymer alloy composition of Ko comprising a polymer alloy comprising a continuous phase and a dispersed phase for the purpose of providing a resin film with excellent mechanical properties and heating dimensional stability.
Re clm 6, the improvement of Ko further discloses wherein the continuous phase comprises polyphenylene sulfide, the polyphenylene sulfide is linear polyphenylene sulfide and/or cross-linked polyphenylene sulfide ([0009]).
Re clm 7, the improvement of Ko further discloses said dispersed phase is polyphenylene ether ([0008]).
Re clm 10, Kunikata further discloses the insulating layer further comprises glass fibers (lines 330-334).
Re clm 11, Kunikata further discloses the insulating layer further comprises a thermal conductive material (lines 330-334).
Re clm 12, Kunikata further discloses the polymer comprises 25-95 wt% (line 330-334), 20-60 wt% of glass fibers (line 92-95), the remainder being thermal conductive material (line 92-95).
Kunikata does not disclose the insulating layer is formed by a polymer alloy comprising 20-70 wt% of a continuous phase, 5-25 wt% of a dispersed phase.
Ko teaches an insulating film ([0050]) comprising a polymer alloy comprising 20-70 wt% of a continuous phase (polyphenylene sulfide known as PPS; [0008] and [0012]) and 5-25 wt% of a dispersed phase (polyphenylene ether; [0008] and [0012]) for the purpose of providing a resin film with excellent mechanical properties and heating dimensional stability ([0007]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to substitute the PPS resin of Kunikata with the polymer alloy composition of Ko comprising a polymer alloy comprising a continuous phase and a dispersed phase for the purpose of providing a resin film with excellent mechanical properties and heating dimensional stability.
Re clm 18¸ the improvement of Ko further discloses the continuous phase of the polymer alloy is polyphenylene sulfide (PPS; [0012]), or aromatic nylon, or a mixture of polyphenylene sulfide and aromatic nylon, wherein the content of the continuous phase is 20-70 wt% in the polymer alloy ([0012]).
Re clm 19, the improvement of Ko further discloses the content of the dispersed phase is 5-25 wt% in the polymer alloy ([0012]).
Re clm 22, Kunikata further discloses the glass fibers are E- glass fibers, D-glass fibers and/or quartz glass fibers (lines 270-272), and wherein the content of the glass fibers is 20-60 wt% in the insulating layer (line 283-287).
Re clm 23, Kunikata further discloses said thermal conductive material is one or more of hexagonal boron nitride, A1203, AIN, BeO, Si3N4, MgO and SiO2 (lines 97-98), wherein the content of the thermal conductive material is 20-60 wt% in the insulating layer (lines 92-95).
Re clm 24, Kunikata in view of Ko further discloses the continuous phase is polyphenylene sulfide (PPS; [0012] of Ko), or aromatic nylon, or a mixture of polyphenylene sulfide and aromatic nylon; the dispersed phase is polyphenylene ether ([0008] of Ko); the glass fibers are E-glass fibers, D-glass fibers and/or quartz glass fibers (lines 270-272); and the thermal conductive material is one or more of hexagonal boron nitride, Al2O3, AIN, BeO, Si3N4, MgO and SiO2 (lines 97-98).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. DE 102021109281 discloses a similar geometry to that recited in claim 17. U.S. 2021/0140479 discloses a beveled portion in Fig. 3A and 3B.
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/ALAN B WAITS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
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