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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
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.
Claim 7 is 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 7 recites the limitation "the first strain gauge and the second strain gauge" in lines 14 and 15. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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, 2, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kubota et al (WO 2020213329).
Kubota et al disclose a system for identifying a failure of the primary Load path in an actuator, the actuator comprising: a screw shaft (2); a static portion (6) fixedly attached to the screw shaft (2); and a nut assembly (3) moveable along the screw shaft (2), wherein the nut assembly (3) is moveable relative to the static portion (6), wherein the nut assembly (3) comprises: a primary nut (4) for transmitting load through the actuator along a primary load path (see Fig 3); and a secondary nut (5) for transmitting load through the actuator along a secondary load path (see Fig 3); wherein the nut assembly (3) is configured such that, in normal operation, the secondary nut (5) is not engaged with the screw shaft (2) and load is transmitted through the actuator along the primary load path (see Fig 1), and such that, upon failure of the primary load path, the secondary nut (5) is configured to engage the screw shaft (2) and transmit load through the actuator along the secondary load path (see Fig 3), the system comprising :a first strain gauge (24) configured to be mounted to the static portion (6) and to measure vibrations of the static portion (6 ); a second strain gauge (24) configured to be mounted to the nut assembly (3) and to measure vibrations of the nut assembly (3); and a processor (see page 5 lines 12-15) configured to identify a failure of the primary load path by comparing the measured vibrations of the static portion (6) and the measured vibrations of the nut assembly (3).
Re claim 2, the processor (see page 5 lines 12-15) comprises a first comparator for comparing the measured vibrations of the static portion (6) and the measured vibrations of the nut assembly (3).
Re claim 9, a system or an actuator (1) as claimed in claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 and 10-15 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.
US 20180194454 screw shaft
US 10974846 screw shaft
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VICKY A JOHNSON whose telephone number is (571)272-7106. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, John R Olszewski can be reached at 571-272-2706. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VICKY A JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
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