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 .
The examiner acknowledges applicant’s amendments to claims 1-3 and 5-15 and the cancellation of claim 4 filed on May 26, 2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because applicant has amended Figure 1 such that the indicator line for the housing 324 points to the structure of the activator member 31. There is no support in the specification that the activator member 31 is also the housing 324. 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: In line 10, the phrase “on said second flat half-shell” should be changed to “in said second flat half-shell.” 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 1-3 and 5-15 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.
In regards to claim 1, it is unclear what structure of the device applicant considers as the housing. Specifically, applicant amended Figure 1 to show the housing to be equivalent to the activator member, however, there is no support in the specification for the activator member to also be the housing and the claim recites the activator member as a separate component from the housing. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the housing of claim 1 could be a bottom portion of the containment casing 5 in which the first cycloidal seat 513 is located, but again the specification is unclear as to what structure applicant considers as the “housing” since the specification only states that “the cycloidal reducer 32 has a housing 324 and a bushing 323, arranged in the housing 324” without any further explanation.
In regards to claims 2, 3, and 5-15, these claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) because they depend from claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 and 5-15 would be allowable if rewritten or amended 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Although the references of record show some features similar to those of applicant’s device, the prior art fails to teach or make obvious the claimed invention.
In regards to claim 1, Yao et al. (CN 108590357 A) in view of Dong (CN 2401730 Y) fails to teach an activator member having a moving pin and a cycloidal seat, wherein a cycloidal disk of a cycloidal reducer is configured to fit into the cycloidal seat of the activator member such that rotation of a bushing coupled to an output shaft of an electric motor drives the activator member via the cycloidal disk. The combination of Yao et al. in view of Dong was to replace the gear reducer of Yao et al. (see annotated Figure 1 on Page 13 of the Non-Final Office Action dated February 24, 2026) with the cycloidal reducer of Dong, however, this replacement would not place a cycloidal disk of Dong within a cycloidal seat of the activator member 2 of Yao et al. as required by the claim. The examiner can find no motivation to modify the device Yao et al. without employing improper hindsight reasoning and without destroying the intended structure and operation of the device.
Response to Arguments
In light of applicant’s amendments to the drawings, the drawing objections set forth in the previous Office Action are withdrawn, however, new objections are set forth in the current Office Action based on applicant’s amendments to the drawings.
In light of applicant’s amendments to the specification, the objection to the specification set for the in the previous Office Action is withdrawn.
In light of applicant’s amendments to the claims, the claim objections and rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in the previous Office Action are withdrawn, however, a new claim objection and new rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) are set forth in the current Office Action based on applicant’s amendments to the claims and the drawings.
Conclusion
15. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
16. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALYSON MERLINO whose telephone number is (571)272-2219. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7 AM to 3 PM.
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, Christine Mills can be reached at 571-272-8322. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALYSON M MERLINO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3675 August 11, 2026
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