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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Okamura et al (CN 114763192).
Okamura et al disclose a torque damper, comprising a torque shaft (10) and a first damping device for applying a force opposite to a rotational direction of the torque shaft (10), wherein the first damping device comprises at least one first magnet (432a) connected to the torque shaft (10) and at least one second magnet (432b) arranged on a motion trajectory of the first magnet (432a); and the first magnet (432a) and the second magnet (432b) have the same polarities at opposite positions thereof (see Fig 6).
Re claim 2, the first magnet (432a) is coaxially arranged on the torque shaft (10), and the second magnet (432b) is arranged inside a fixed ring and coaxially arranged with the torque shaft (10).
Re claim 3, a plurality of first magnets (432a) are uniformly arranged around a circumference of the torque shaft (10), and a plurality of second magnets (432b) are correspondingly arranged circumferentially in the fixed ring (22); and the first magnets (432a) and the second magnets (432b) are arranged in a staggered manner (see Fig 6), and a gap is formed between the first magnet (432a) and the second magnet (432b) adjacent to each other (see Fig 6).
Re claim 4, an axial distance between the torque shaft (10) and the fixed ring (22) can be changed to adjust a damping force (see Fig 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
CN 223191280 magnets
CN 118088623 magnets
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/VICKY A JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617