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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 3 and 9-11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on July 16, 2026.
Applicant's election with traverse of Species A in the reply filed on July 16, 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that “differences from Katsuhide is a feature commonly shared by Species A, B, and C”. This is not found persuasive because what Applicant asserts to be the shared technical feature, “by the magnetic force generated by the electromagnet of the motor section, the gear of the rocking gear is in contact with the gears of the fixed gear and the output gear both on the normal rotation side and the reverse rotation side, and the backlash can be extremely suppressed” has been established a posteriori in view of the prior art reference relied upon elsewhere below.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 March 28, 2025 has been considered by the Examiner.
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims filed on July 16, 2026 does not comply with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) because the amendment reverting the claims to original text does not include the required marking, see (c2) elsewhere below. Amendments to the claims filed on or after July 30, 2003 must comply with 37 CFR 1.121(c) which states:
(c) Claims. Amendments to a claim must be made by rewriting the entire claim with all changes (e.g., additions and deletions) as indicated in this subsection, except when the claim is being canceled. Each amendment document that includes a change to an existing claim, cancellation of an existing claim or addition of a new claim, must include a complete listing of all claims ever presented, including the text of all pending and withdrawn claims, in the application. The claim listing, including the text of the claims, in the amendment document will serve to replace all prior versions of the claims, in the application. In the claim listing, the status of every claim must be indicated after its claim number by using one of the following identifiers in a parenthetical expression: (Original), (Currently amended), (Canceled), (Withdrawn), (Previously presented), (New), and (Not entered).
(1) Claim listing. All of the claims presented in a claim listing shall be presented in ascending numerical order. Consecutive claims having the same status of “canceled” or “not entered” may be aggregated into one statement (e.g., Claims 1–5 (canceled)). The claim listing shall commence on a separate sheet of the amendment document and the sheet(s) that contain the text of any part of the claims shall not contain any other part of the amendment.
(2) When claim text with markings is required. All claims being currently amended in an amendment paper shall be presented in the claim listing, indicate a status of “currently amended,” and be submitted with markings to indicate the changes that have been made relative to the immediate prior version of the claims. The text of any added subject matter must be shown by underlining the added text. The text of any deleted matter must be shown by strike-through except that double brackets placed before and after the deleted characters may be used to show deletion of five or fewer consecutive characters. The text of any deleted subject matter must be shown by being placed within double brackets if strike-through cannot be easily perceived. Only claims having the status of “currently amended,” or “withdrawn” if also being amended, shall include markings. If a withdrawn claim is currently amended, its status in the claim listing may be identified as “withdrawn—currently amended.”
(3) When claim text in clean version is required. The text of all pending claims not being currently amended shall be presented in the claim listing in clean version, i.e., without any markings in the presentation of text. The presentation of a clean version of any claim having the status of “original,” “withdrawn” or “previously presented” will constitute an assertion that it has not been changed relative to the immediate prior version, except to omit markings that may have been present in the immediate prior version of the claims of the status of “withdrawn” or “previously presented.” Any claim added by amendment must be indicated with the status of “new” and presented in clean version, i.e., without any underlining.
(4) When claim text shall not be presented; canceling a claim.
(i) No claim text shall be presented for any claim in the claim listing with the status of “canceled” or “not entered.”
(ii) Cancellation of a claim shall be effected by an instruction to cancel a particular claim number. Identifying the status of a claim in the claim listing as “canceled” will constitute an instruction to cancel the claim.
(5) Reinstatement of previously canceled claim. A claim which was previously canceled may be reinstated only by adding the claim as a “new” claim with a new claim number.
Since the reply filed on July 16, 2026 appears to be bona fide, applicant is given a TIME PERIOD of ONE (1) MONTH or THIRTY (30) DAYS from the mailing date of this notice, whichever is longer, within which to submit an amendment in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121 in order to avoid aban-donment. EXTENSIONS OF THIS TIME PERIOD MAY BE GRANTED UNDER 37 CFR 1.136(a).
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 2, 4-8 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities: Applicant may wish to review the claims for proper translation. 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, 2, 4-8 and 12 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.
Claim 1 requires, “an output shaft whose axial direction is in a vertical direction”, “upper magnetic pole piece and lower magnetic pole piece facing an upper surface and a lower surface of the permanent magnet in a vertical direction”, and “the upper and lower surfaces of the permanent magnet forming a magnetic gap in the vertical direction”. If those items are arranged in a horizontal direction, does that infringe on the actuator and/or robot claim(s)? Please clarify.
There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitations in the following claims:
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the fixed gear side” in line 7.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “the output gear side” in line 8.
Claim 2 recites the limitation “the other polarity” in line 4.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Newell (US Re. 29,411).
Hasegawa discloses and shows an actuator comprising:
a housing (110) pivotally supporting an output shaft (135) whose axial direction is in a vertical direction;
an output gear (1195) rotating with the output shaft;
a fixed gear (114) fixed to the housing and provided facing the output gear;
a rocking gear (119) arranged between the output gear and the fixed gear, a first teeth (118) provided on a surface of the fixed gear side meshing with the fixed gear, and a second teeth (119) provided on a surface of the output gear side meshing with the output gear;
a permanent magnet (143) fixed concentrically to the rocking gear on an outer circumferential side of the rocking gear (119),
a plurality of electromagnets (125,127) fixed to the housing concentrically with the output shaft, having upper magnetic pole piece (127) and lower magnetic pole piece (125) facing an upper surface and a lower surface of the permanent magnet in a vertical direction so as not to come into contact with the permanent magnet rocking due to rock of the rocking gear, and the upper magnetic pole piece and the lower magnetic pole piece, and the upper and lower surfaces of the permanent magnet forming a magnetic gap in the vertical direction,
wherein the electromagnet is controlled so that the upper magnetic pole piece and the upper surface of the permanent magnet, and the lower magnetic pole piece and the lower surface of the permanent magnet act in a direction in which the first teeth of the rocking gear is pressed against the teeth of the fixed gear at a first position (col. 5:55-58), and act in a direction in which the second teeth of the rocking gear against the teeth of the output gear at a second position of half around a circumference from the first position (Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 7, the plurality of electromagnets are arranged at equal intervals on a circumference centered on the axis, and the electromagnets arranged at positions facing 180 degrees in a plan view are configured to be provided with the same phase current and direct opposite polarities to the rocking gear (see Fig. 5, for example).
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.
Claims 2, 4-6, 8 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Newell as applied to claim 1 in view of Hasegawa (US 2015/0209966).
Cl. 2 – Newell further discloses the permanent magnet (143) is fixed concentrically to the rocking gear, and a magnetic attraction force generated by the permanent magnet sandwiched therebetween having different polarities on the upper surface and the lower surface acts in a direction of pushing the first teeth of the rocking gear against the teeth of the fixed gear in the first position, and acts in a direction of pushing the second teeth of the rocking gear against the teeth of the output gear at the second position of half around a circumference from the first position (col. 10:37-50).
Newell does not include the upper side becomes one polarity and the lower side becomes the other polarity, and where the plurality of electromagnets have same magnetic poles on the upper magnetic pole piece and the lower magnetic pole piece. Hasegawa discloses and shows an actuator where an upper side (62) of a permanent magnet (60) becomes one polarity and the lower side (63) becomes the other polarity, and where the plurality of electromagnets have same magnetic poles on the upper magnetic pole piece and the lower magnetic pole piece (Fig. 2A, para. 0056, 0060), which allows for a powerful, low-speed, high torque actuator having a lightweight and reduced form factor with low-cost from a reduced number of components (para. 0066).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Newell actuator to where the permanent magnet includes an upper side having one polarity and the lower side having the other polarity, and where the plurality of electromagnets have same magnetic poles on the upper magnetic pole piece and the lower magnetic pole piece so as to yield an actuator having a powerful, low-speed, high torque actuator having a lightweight and reduced form factor with low-cost from a reduced number of components as disclosed by Hasegawa.
Regarding claim 4, Newell discloses and shows the invention of claim 1 as described elsewhere above but neither discloses nor shows the teeth as claimed. Hasegawa discloses and shows an actuator where first teeth and second teeth of a rocking gear, teeth of a fixed gear, and teeth of an output gear are formed radially from the center position of each of the gears and are formed so as to become deeper as they move away from the center position (see Fig. 2C) to ensure the rocking gear remains engaged with the fixed gear and output gear as the rocking gear rocks about its axis.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Newell actuator to where the first teeth and the second teeth of the rocking gear, the teeth of the fixed gear, and the teeth of the output gear are formed radially from the center position of each of the gears and are formed so as to become deeper as they move away from the center position to ensure the rocking gear remains engaged with the fixed gear and the output gear as the rocking gear rocks about its axis.
Regarding claim 5, Hasegawa discloses a waveform of forward and reverse currents is a sine wave (Fig. 2E).
Regarding claim 6, Neither Newell nor Hasegawa disclose a waveform of forward and reverse currents as a rectangular wave. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have substituted the sine wave waveform with a rectangular waveform since sine waveforms and rectangular waveforms are equivalents in the art and the selection of either would have been well within the level of skill in the art.
Regarding claim 8, Newell and Hasegawa shows the permanent magnets are an even number of permanent magnets arranged at equal intervals on a circumference centered on the central axis line (Figs. 5 and 2C, respectively).
Regarding claim 12, Newell and Hasegawa, in combination, disclose and show a workpiece delivery robot comprising: an arm body to which a plurality of arms are connected so as to be rotatable about their respective central axis lines; a finger rotatably attached to the tip of the arm body (Hasegawa, Fig. 1), and an actuator according to claim 1 (Newell) that rotates the plurality of arms and the finger.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BOBBY RUSHING, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-0501. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8AM-5PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minnah Seoh can be reached at (571) 270-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BOBBY RUSHING, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
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