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 .
Status of Claims
This is the first action on the merits for application 19/152780 filed on 07/31/2025. Claims 1-4 are pending.
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 07/31/2025, 04/23/2026 have been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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- 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OGINO (US 20180287467 A1 cited from ids) in view of YAMASHITA (US 20220186823 A1)
Claim 1: OGINO discloses a unit (1, Fig.1-2) comprising:
a housing (40,50,72)
a rotating electrical machine (4), a shaft (Sc) connected downstream of the rotating electrical machine (4),
grounding body (8) in contact with the shaft (Sc), and the grounding body (8) is located at an inner side (e.g. space inward. NOTE: “located at inner side” does not have any special definition in the specification. Thereof, the term is interpreted under BRI as “inward facing surface or the space inward of that wall”) of the peripheral wall (72) (¶[0072]-[0074]).
OGINO does not disclose a housing configured to accommodate an inverter; the peripheral wall surrounding the inverter
YAMASHITA teaches a unit (100; Fig.7-10) having a housing (1) configured to accommodate an inverter (INV).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify OGINO by relocating the inverter into the housing interior surrounds by peripheral wall of OGINO , as suggested by Yamashita’s teaching for the purpose of compact integrated drive unit while retaining the shaft grounding function for suppressing inverter generated electromagnetic noise.
Claim 2: OGINO as modified by YAMASHITA discloses the unit according to the shaft (Sc- OGINO) being connected downstream of the rotating electrical machine (4- OGINO) via a first gear pair (Gi, Gcl- OGINO) (see OGINO: ¶0046]), the unit (1- OGINO) further comprising: a differential gear (65, Gp1, Gp2, Gsl, Gsr- OGINO) connected downstream of the shaft (Sc- OGINO) via a second gear pair (Gcr, Gr) (see OGINO: ¶[0051]).
Claim 3: OGINO as modified by YAMASHITA discloses the unit according to claim 1, further comprising: a differential gear (65, Gp1, Gp2, Gsl, Gsr- OGINO) connected downstream of the shaft (Sc-OGINO); and a drive shaft (6R-OGINO) connected downstream of the differential gear (65, Gp1, Gp2, Gsl, Gsr- OGINO), wherein the drive shaft (6R-OGINO) has a portion (Note: the term "portion" does not have any specification definition of the term in the specification. Therefore, the phrase should be given its ordinary meaning, which is "a part or portion of something") that overlaps a space surrounded by the peripheral wall (72- OGINO) when viewed in an intersection direction intersecting an axial direction (see fig.2-the shaft 6R overlaps a portion of wall 72, which surrounds space R2 when viewed in radial direction).
Claim 4: OGINO as modified by YAMASHITA discloses the unit according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral wall (72- OGINO) has an opening (OGINO: e.g. the opening where shaft Sc penetrates, see Fig.2), and the shaft (OGINO -Sc) is sealed by a sealing member (OGINO -Oc) at the opening (OGINO -e.g. the opening where shaft Sc penetrates, see Fig.2).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
JINNAI (US 20220190679 A1) discloses housing with inverter 90.
Maeda (US 12680605) discloses the same structure by same assignee and inventors, the reference is after filing date.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lillian T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-5404. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ernesto Suarez can be reached at (571)270-5565. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LILLIAN T NGUYEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3655a
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