DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-10 of U.S. Application 19/021468 filed on January 15, 2025 are presented for examination.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on January 15, 2025, July 1, 2025 and February 5, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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.
6. Claims 1 and 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ohira (US 20190238023).
Regarding claim 1, Ohira teaches (see fig. 2 below) a rotor (10) of an electric motor (¶ 21 to ¶ 23; Abstract), comprising:
a shaft (20) extending in an axial direction (¶ 21 to ¶ 23; Abstract);
a rotor core (30) fixed to an outer peripheral surface of the shaft (20) (¶ 21 to ¶ 23; Abstract); and
a first end plate (50) fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the shaft (20) and abutting an end face of the rotor core (30) on a first axial side (Abstract; ¶ 21; ¶ 27 to ¶ 31),
wherein: the outer peripheral surface of the shaft (20) includes a first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 below) abutting an inner peripheral surface of the rotor core (30), a second outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 below) located on the first axial side with respect to the first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 below) and having a diameter larger than a diameter of the first outer peripheral surface (Abstract; ¶ 23), and
a first inclined surface (24) located between the first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 below) and the second outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 below) in the axial direction and abutting an inner peripheral surface of the first end plate (50); and the first inclined surface (24) has a diameter increasing from the first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 below) toward the second outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 below) (Abstract; ¶ 23).
PNG
media_image1.png
550
815
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Regarding claim 4/1, Ohira teaches (see fig. 2 above) a diameter of an outer peripheral surface of the first end plate (20) is equal to the diameter of the outer peripheral surface of the rotor core (30) (fig. 2; Abstract; ¶ 21 to ¶ 23).
Regarding claim 5/1, Ohira teaches (see fig. 2 above) an end edge of the inner peripheral surface of the first end plate (20) on the first axial side is located on the first inclined surface (24) of the shaft (20) (fig. 2; Abstract; ¶ 21 to ¶ 23).
Regarding claim 6/5/1, Ohira teaches (see fig. 2 above) the end edge of the inner peripheral surface of the first end plate (20) on the first axial side is located on a boundary between the second outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 above) and the first inclined surface (24) of the shaft (20) (fig. 2; Abstract; ¶ 21 to ¶ 23).
Regarding claim 7/6/5/1, Ohira teaches (see fig. 2 above) an axial dimension of the inner peripheral surface of the first end plate (20) is equal to an axial dimension of the first inclined surface (24) of the shaft (20) (fig. 2; Abstract; ¶ 21 to ¶ 23).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohira in view of Okamoto (US 20080174200).
Regarding claim 9, Ohira teaches (see fig. 2 above) a manufacturing method of a rotor (10) of an electric motor (Abstract; ¶ 21 to ¶ 23; ¶ 30; ¶ 31),
the rotor (10) including a shaft (20) extending in an axial direction, a rotor core (30) fixed to an outer peripheral surface of the shaft (20) (Abstract; ¶ 21 to ¶ 23), and
a first end plate (50) fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the shaft (20) and abutting an end face of the rotor core (30) on a first axial side (Abstract; ¶ 21; ¶ 27 to ¶ 31),
the outer peripheral surface of the shaft (20) including a first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 above), a second outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 above) located on the first axial side with respect to the first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 above) and having a diameter larger than a diameter of the first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 above) (Abstract; ¶ 23), and
a first inclined surface (24) located between the first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 above) and the second outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 above) in the axial direction and having a diameter increasing from the first outer peripheral surface (see annotated fig. 2 above) toward the second outer peripheral surface (Abstract; ¶ 23),
the manufacturing method comprising: fixing the first end plate (50) to the first inclined surface (24) of the shaft (20) (¶ 30; ¶ 31).
Ohira does not explicitly teach the manufacturing method comprising: temporarily expanding an inner peripheral surface of the rotor core radially outward and fixing the rotor core to the first outer peripheral surface of the shaft; and temporarily expanding an inner peripheral surface of the first end plate radially outward and fixing the first end plate to the surface of the shaft.
However, Okamoto teaches (see figs. 13A and 13B below) the manufacturing method comprising: temporarily expanding an inner peripheral surface of the rotor core (17) radially outward and fixing the rotor core (17) to the first outer peripheral surface of the shaft (15); and temporarily expanding an inner peripheral surface of the first end plate (20) radially outward and fixing the first end plate (20) to the surface of the shaft (since the rotor core 17 and end plate 20 are shrink-fitted onto the shaft 15, see ¶ 64) in order to provide ease of assembly while improving reliability and production quality of the device (Okamoto, ¶ 11).
PNG
media_image2.png
638
514
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Ohira and provide the manufacturing method comprising: temporarily expanding an inner peripheral surface of the rotor core radially outward and fixing the rotor core to the first outer peripheral surface of the shaft; and temporarily expanding an inner peripheral surface of the first end plate radially outward and fixing the first end plate to the surface of the shaft as taught by Okamoto in order to provide ease of assembly while improving reliability and production quality of the device (Okamoto, ¶ 11).
Regarding claim 10/9, Ohira in view of Okamoto teaches the method of claim 9 but does not explicitly teach fixing the first end plate is performed after fixing the rotor core.
However, Okamoto teaches (see figs. 2A and 2B below) fixing the first end plate (20) is performed after fixing the rotor core (17) (¶ 54) in order to provide ease of assembly while improving reliability and production quality of the device (Okamoto, ¶ 11).
PNG
media_image3.png
472
404
media_image3.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Ohira and provide fixing the first end plate is performed after fixing the rotor core as taught by Okamoto in order to provide ease of assembly while improving reliability and production quality of the device (Okamoto, ¶ 11).
Allowable Subject Matter
9. Claims 2, 3 and 8 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
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER A SINGH whose telephone number is (571)270-0243. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Seye Iwarere can be reached at 571-270-5112. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ALEXANDER A SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2834
Prosecution Insights