DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
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 .
Status of Claims
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 03/12/2025. Claims 10-21 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) submitted on 03/12/2025 and 07/09/2026 were filed and are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the Information Disclosure Statement is being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 11 and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 11 line 4 reads “the other”, --another-- is suggested.
Claim 17 line 5 reads “the other”, --another-- is suggested.
Claim 17 line 7 reads “pin”, --pins-- is suggested.
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 14-21 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 14 line 2 recites the limitation “the accommodation portion”. First, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Second, it is unclear if this limitation is referring to the accommodation portion recited in claim 12 and should be dependent on claim 12, or if this limitation is to be introducing an accommodation portion.
Claim 15 line 2 recites the limitation “the accommodation portion”. First, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Second, it is unclear if this limitation is referring to the accommodation portion recited in claim 12 and should be dependent on claim 12, or if this limitation is to be introducing an accommodation portion.
Claim 16 lines 14 and 16 recite the limitation “the clutch case”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 17 line 7 recites the limitation “the drive gear”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 18 lines 4-5 recite the limitation “the first case”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 20 lines 2-5 recite the limitations “the accommodation portion”, “the electric motor accommodation chamber”, “the first case” and “the fixing member”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 21 lines 2-3 recite the limitations “the accommodation portion” and “the electric motor accommodation chamber”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-13 are allowed.
Claim 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: The closest prior art of record, Minami (US 20190338811 A1), does not anticipate that “a plurality of electric motors are provided and drive shafts of the electric motors are parallel to each other in the axial direction and axial centers are arranged on the straight line as seen in the axial direction…a drive gear projecting into the second gear accommodation chamber is provided on the drive shaft of each of the plurality of electric motors, wherein the reduction gear mechanism includes a single input gear arranged between two or more drive gears in the second gear accommodation chamber and configured to mesh with the two or more drive gears…and the first case and the second case are mutually positioned via a plurality of knock pins arranged on outer sides of the plurality of drive shafts, and wherein the plurality of knock pins have axial centers arranged on the straight line as seen in the axial direction” or “a machine cover attached to the clutch case and configured to cover the clutch device from one side of the machine in a width direction, wherein a joint surface between the machine cover and the clutch case is inclined with respect to a plane orthogonal to the width direction in a top view of the machine, and wherein, in the top view, the clutch actuator is arranged to fit between a first virtual line along the joint surface and a second virtual line parallel to the first virtual line and passing through an outer side end of the machine cover in the width direction” as recited in claims 10 and 16. The prior art of record does not provide any teaching, suggestion or motivation to modify toward the entirety of applicant's claimed invention. Further, there was no cogent reasoning elsewhere available to one of ordinary skill that was unequivocally independent of improper hindsight of applicant's invention and that would have led one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date to modify the prior art to obtain the applicant' s invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached PTO-892.
US 20190338811 A1, US 20090084224 A1, US 20190277400 A1, US 20110239805 A1, US 20210147035 A1 and US 10890254 B2 discloses geared clutch actuators.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH BROWN whose telephone number is (313)446-6568. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs: 8:00am - 5:00pm EST.
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/JOSEPH BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
