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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori et al. (US 2024/0011559; hereinafter “Mori”) in view of Magg et al. (US 3,308,686; hereinafter “Magg”).
Claim 1
Mori discloses a drive unit, comprising:
an electric motor (2);
a planetary gear mechanism (18, 20, 22, 24) including a sun gear (22), a planet gear (18), a ring gear (24), and a planet carrier (20);
an input member (10) coupling the electric motor (2) and one (22) of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough to each other;
an output member (6-5) coupled to the planet carrier (20);
a first clutch (26) coupling the input member (10) and the output member (6-5) therethrough to each other in a manner capable of decoupling the input member and the output member therethrough from each other;
a stationary member (14) disposed to be non-rotatable;
a second clutch (28-1 and 28-2) coupling the stationary member (14) and the other (24) of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough to each other in a manner capable of decoupling the stationary member and the other of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough from each other.
Mori does not disclose a first urging member urging the second clutch to turn the second clutch to an engaged state. However, Magg discloses a second clutch (10) that is a brake in a simple planetary gearset that includes a lock-up clutch and a brake to perform two gear ratios, where the brake (10) is biased closed (see e.g., FIG. 1). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Mori to include a normally closed spring on the second clutch (Mori, 28-1 and 28-2) in order to provide one of the two gears engaged in the event of a full clutch actuator failure.
Claim 2
Mori discloses a one-way clutch (27) allowing the other (24) of the ring gear and the sun gear to rotate in a forward moving rotational direction (the direction in which the clutch allows the one way rotation is interpreted as forward).
Claim 11
Mori discloses A transmission device configured to change a rotational speed of a mechanical power transmitted thereto from an electric motor (2), the transmission device comprising:
a planetary gear mechanism (18, 20, 22, 24) including a sun gear (22), a planet gear (18), a ring gear (24), and a planet carrier (20);
an input member (10) coupling the electric motor (2) and one (22) of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough to each other;
an output member (6-5) coupled to the planet carrier (20);
a first clutch (26) coupling the input member (10) and the output member (6-5) therethrough to each other in a manner capable of decoupling the input member and the output member therethrough from each other;
a stationary member (14) disposed to be non-rotatable;
a second clutch (28-1 and 28-2) coupling the stationary member (14) and the other (24) of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough to each other in a manner capable of decoupling the stationary member and the other of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough from each other.
Mori does not disclose a first urging member urging the second clutch to turn the second clutch to an engaged state. However, Magg discloses a second clutch (10) that is a brake in a simple planetary gearset that includes a lock-up clutch and a brake to perform two gear ratios, where the brake (10) is biased closed (see e.g., FIG. 1). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Mori to include a normally closed spring on the second clutch (Mori, 28-1 and 28-2) in order to provide one of the two gears engaged in the event of a full clutch actuator failure.
Claim(s) 1, 9, 10, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Magg in view of Mori.
Claim 1
Magg discloses a drive unit, comprising:
a planetary gear mechanism (3, 4, 8, 9) including a sun gear (3), a planet gear (4), a ring gear (9), and a planet carrier (8);
an input member (1) coupled to one (3) of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough to each other;
an output member (6) coupled to the planet carrier (8);
a first clutch (21) coupling the input member (1) and the output member (6) therethrough to each other in a manner capable of decoupling the input member and the output member therethrough from each other;
a stationary member (17) disposed to be non-rotatable;
a second clutch (10) coupling the stationary member (17) and the other (9) of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough to each other in a manner capable of decoupling the stationary member and the other of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough from each other;
a first urging member (14) urging the second clutch to turn the second clutch to an engaged state (see e.g., FIG. 1).
Magg does not disclose what drive unit inputs torque to the input shaft and therefore does not disclose an electric motor coupled to the input shaft. It is well known to provide an electric motor as a drive source to an input shaft. For example, Mori discloses an electric driving motor (2) connected to an input shaft (2-1) which directly provides input to a sun gear (22) (see FIG. 1). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Magg to have added an electric motor as the drive source to provide torque to the input shaft in order to provide an efficient manner of providing rotation to the device.
Claim 9
Mori discloses a controller (e.g., 47) executing a low-speed forward traveling mode (brake engaged, clutch disengaged while motor rotates in forward), a high-speed forward traveling mode (brake disengaged, clutch engaged for a 1:1 ratio while motor rotates in forward), and a rearward traveling mode (motor 2 rotating in reverse),
wherein the controller causes the electric motor to rotate in a forward moving rotational direction, turns the first clutch to a disengaged state, and turns the second clutch to the engaged state when executing the low-speed forward traveling mode (see paragraph [0076]),
the controller causes the electric motor to rotate in the forward moving rotational direction, turns the first clutch to the engaged state, and turns the second clutch to the disengaged state when executing the high-speed forward traveling mode (see paragraph [0075]), and
the controller causes the electric motor to rotate in a rearward moving rotational direction, turns the first clutch to the disengaged state, and turns the second clutch to the engaged state when executing the rearward traveling mode (see e.g., paragraph [0071]).
Claim 10
Mori discloses wherein the controller is configured to turn the second clutch to the disengaged state and thereafter turn the first clutch to the engaged state in switching from the low-speed forward traveling mode to the high-speed forward traveling mode since the actuator moves from engaging one of the 26 and 28 to the other without simultaneously engaging both.
Claim 11
Magg discloses Magg discloses a drive unit, comprising:
a planetary gear mechanism (3, 4, 8, 9) including a sun gear (3), a planet gear (4), a ring gear (9), and a planet carrier (8);
an input member (1) coupled to one (3) of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough to each other;
an output member (6) coupled to the planet carrier (8);
a first clutch (21) coupling the input member (1) and the output member (6) therethrough to each other in a manner capable of decoupling the input member and the output member therethrough from each other;
a stationary member (17) disposed to be non-rotatable;
a second clutch (10) coupling the stationary member (17) and the other (9) of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough to each other in a manner capable of decoupling the stationary member and the other of the ring gear and the sun gear therethrough from each other;
a first urging member (14) urging the second clutch to turn the second clutch to an engaged state (see e.g., FIG. 1).
The preamble to interpreted as breathing life and meaning into the claim (see for example the reference back to the preamble for proper antecedent basis). Magg does not disclose what drive unit inputs torque to the input shaft and therefore does not disclose an electric motor coupled to the input shaft. It is well known to provide an electric motor as a drive source to an input shaft. For example, Mori discloses an electric driving motor (2) connected to an input shaft (2-1) which directly provides input to a sun gear (22) (see FIG. 1). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Magg to have added an electric motor as the drive source to provide torque to the input shaft in order to provide an efficient manner of providing rotation to the device.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Magg in view of Mori, and further in view of Zhang et al. (CN 114412972; hereinafter “Zhang”).
Claim 3
Magg does not a second urging member urging the first clutch to turn the first clutch to a disengaged state. However, Zhang discloses a lockup clutch that is biased by spring (602) into a disengaged state (see FIG. 3).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Magg to have added a return spring on the first clutch in order to prevent drag when the first clutch is disengaging. Furthermore, since Magg already has a biasing spring on the brake, any spring on the clutch would need to be in the opposite direction in order to avoid a full locking of the entire planetary gearset in the event of the failure of all clutch actuators.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Magg in view of Mori, and further in view of Cho et al. (US 2021/0016651; hereinafter “Cho”).
Claim 8
Magg does not disclose wherein the input member includes a first input portion, a second input portion, and an elastic member elastically coupling the first input portion and the second input portion therethrough to each other. However, Cho discloses wherein an input member (IS1 or IS2) includes a first input portion (input side of damper, MS or portion of damper integral with MS), a second input portion (output side of damper, outer portion of CL1 and CL2 or output portion of damper integral therewith), and an elastic member (portion providing the damper which in the torsional dampers such as these are typically coil springs but are always elastic) elastically coupling the first input portion and the second input portion therethrough to each other. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Magg to include a damper prior to the motor torque transferring to the input member in order to damper out any fluctuations in torque.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori in view of Magg, and further in view of Cho.
Claim 8
Mori does not disclose wherein the input member includes a first input portion, a second input portion, and an elastic member elastically coupling the first input portion and the second input portion therethrough to each other. However, Cho discloses wherein an input member (IS1 or IS2) includes a first input portion (input side of damper, MS or portion of damper integral with MS), a second input portion (output side of damper, outer portion of CL1 and CL2 or output portion of damper integral therewith), and an elastic member (portion providing the damper which in the torsional dampers such as these are typically coil springs but are always elastic) elastically coupling the first input portion and the second input portion therethrough to each other. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention with a reasonable expectation of success to have modified Mori to include a damper prior to the motor torque transferring to the input member in order to damper out any fluctuations in torque.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7 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.
With reference to claim 4, the prior art does not disclose or render obvious the combination of all of the structure that is recited. Choi is the closest reference to the combination that includes the first clutch being a centrifugal clutch. However, the first urging member is in the disengaging direction in Choi, and cannot be switched to be in the engaging direction because if a failure occurs at a high speed while the centrifugal clutch is engaged, the entire transmission would suddenly lock causing potential damage to the transmission as well as passengers.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
WO 2010144753 discloses a planetary gearset with the lockup clutch and brake/one-way brake combination. US 2009/0005205 discloses a planetary gearset with the lockup clutch and brake and a damper. US 2007/0111844 discloses a brake and one-way clutch at the same ring gear.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STACEY A FLUHART whose telephone number is (571)270-1851. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9AM-7PM.
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/STACEY A FLUHART/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655
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