DETAILED ACTION
This application is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Drawings
The drawings are acceptable.
Claim Objections
Claims 3-4 and 8-9 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 3 and 4: Applicant is advised that should claim 3 be found allowable, claim 4 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m). In this case, an “acute angle” (claim 3) and an “angle having a value between 0-90 degrees” (claim 4) are so close in content that they both cover the same thing.
Claim 8: The Office recommends re-writing Claim 8 to recite, e.g.:
The shifting mechanism according to Claim 7, wherein the first toothed section (6) of the sliding sleeve (0) engages with the first shift position (10) or with the second shift position (11) of the sliding gear section of the shift partner (1), and the second toothed section (7) of the sliding sleeve (0) engages with gearshift teeth of a further shift partner.
Claim 9: The Office recommends deleting the word “with” (Line 2 and Line 3).
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 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 5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 5: The “switching edge (12)” (Line 4) is a double inclusion. It is unclear if the “switching edge (12)” introduced in Claim 5 is the same “switching edge (12)” introduced in Line 3 of Claim 2, or a different “switching edge (12).”
Further, it is unclear which “axial side” of “each tooth of the internal teeth” the “axial side” (Line 4) relates to.
It is further unclear if the “two axial sides” (Line 5) relate to “two axial sides” of a same gear “tooth,” or if these “two axial sides” belong to two different gear “teeth.”
It is further unclear how many “switching edges” are required by Claim 5.
Claim 8: The “first toothed section (10)” lacks clear antecedent basis. It is unclear if this element relates to the “first toothed section (6),” the “first shift position (1),” or some other element.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 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 1-5 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0120941 A1 to Renner, which discloses:
Claim 1: A shifting mechanism of a transmission gearset of a vehicle, comprising:
an axially displaceable sliding sleeve 2 configured and arranged for transmitting torque between shift partners 7, 16, 17, 18 in order to produce various gear-step transmission ratios;
wherein the sliding sleeve 2 and the shift partners 7, 16, 17, 18 are in the form of gear-step gearwheels arranged coaxially with a rotation axis;
wherein the sliding sleeve 2 has a first toothed section 12 and a second toothed section 9 for the transmission of torque between the shift partners 7, 16, 17, 18;
wherein at least one of the shift partners 17 has a sliding gear section 47 configured to be brought into engagement with one of the toothed sections 9 of the sliding sleeve 2; and
wherein at least the first toothed section 12 and the second toothed section 9 of the sliding sleeve 2 are in the form of gearshift teeth.
Claim 2: The shifting mechanism according to Claim 1, wherein the gearshift teeth of the toothed sections 12, 9 of the sliding sleeve 2 have a switching edge that extends obliquely at a predetermined angle relative to the rotation axis of the sliding sleeve 2 (see FIG. 3).
Claim 3: The shifting mechanism according to Claim 2, wherein the predetermined angle is an acute angle (see FIG. 3).
Claim 4: The shifting mechanism according to Claim 2, wherein the size of the predetermined angle is in a value range larger than 0° and smaller than 90° (see FIG. 3).
Claim 5, as best understood: The shifting mechanism according to Claim 4, wherein the sliding sleeve 2 has respective internal teeth for its toothed sections 12, 9, wherein on each tooth of the internal teeth a switching edge extends on the axial side at the predetermined angle starting from a tooth root to the tooth crown, in such manner that the switching edges on the two axial sides of each tooth face toward one another in cross-section (see FIG. 3).
Claim 10: A transmission gearset having the shifting mechanism according to claim 1.
Claims 1-2 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by German Patent Publication No. 10 2014 215 144 A1 to Kettlitz, which discloses:
Claim 1: A shifting mechanism of a transmission gearset of a vehicle, comprising:
an axially displaceable sliding sleeve 5 configured and arranged for transmitting torque between shift partners 3, 7, 9 in order to produce various gear-step transmission ratios;
wherein the sliding sleeve 5 and the shift partners are in the form of gear-step gearwheels arranged coaxially with a rotation axis 44;
wherein the sliding sleeve 5 has a first toothed section 5 and a second toothed section 21 for the transmission of torque between the shift partners;
wherein at least one of the shift partners 3 has a sliding gear section configured to be brought into engagement with one of the toothed sections 5 of the sliding sleeve 5; and
wherein at least the first toothed section 5 and the second toothed section 21 of the sliding sleeve are in the form of gearshift teeth.
Claim 2: The shifting mechanism according to Claim 1, wherein the gearshift teeth of the toothed sections of the sliding sleeve have a switching edge that extends obliquely at a predetermined angle relative to the rotation axis of the sliding sleeve (see FIG. 1).
Claim 9: The shifting mechanism according to Claim 1, wherein with the first toothed section the sliding sleeve 5 engages with gearshift teeth of a shift partner 3, and with the second toothed section the sliding sleeve engages with gearshift teeth of a further shift partner 7.
Claim 10: A transmission gearset having the shifting mechanism according to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 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 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over German Patent Publication No. 10 2014 215 144 A1 to Kettlitz, as applied to Claims 1-2 above.
Claim 6: Kettlitz discloses the shifting mechanism according Claim 2, wherein the sliding gear section on one of the shift partners 3 has at least a first shift position and a second shift position for the associated toothed section of the sliding sleeve 5.
Kettlitz does not disclose wherein at least in an area of each of the first and second shift positions the gearshift teeth (where second shaft 3 is meshed with coupling element 5) have at least one switching edge extending at a predetermined angle relative to the rotation axis. However, coupling element/sliding sleeve 5 does include at least one switching edge proximate where it is meshed with gears 7 and 9.
In view of this teaching, the Office finds that it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective date of filing to modify the axial ends of the portion of sliding sleeve 5 which is in mesh with shift partner 3 and the axial ends of the shift partner 3 which is in mesh with sliding sleeve 5, such that these axial ends comprise at least one switching edge extending at a predetermined angle relative to the rotation axis, in order to make it easier to assemble the transmission.
Claim 7: According to the modification proposed above in the rejection of Claim 6, the axial ends of the section of shift partner 3 which is in mesh with sliding sleeve 5 and the corresponding toothed area of sliding sleeve 5 includes an edge similar to the edges shown in FIG. 1 between the gears 7, 9 and sliding sleeve 5, which are characterized by acute angles. Thus, the shifting mechanism of Claim 7, in which the predetermined angle is larger than 0° and smaller than 90°, is rendered obvious over Kettlitz, as characterized in the rejection of Claim 6 above.
Claim 8: Kettlitz, as characterized above in the rejection of Claim 6, discloses the shifting mechanism according to Claim 7, wherein the sliding sleeve, with the first toothed section, engages with the first shift position or with the second shift position of the sliding gear section of the shift partner, and the sliding sleeve, with the second toothed section, engages with gearshift teeth of a further shift partner.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RANDELL J KRUG whose telephone number is (313) 446-6577. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 9:00-14:00 AZ time.
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/RANDELL J KRUG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618