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
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 18/729,712, filed on 07/17/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/25/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “a first component” and “a second component” and then renames these structures by reciting “the first component is the second housing component, and the second component is the first housing component” later in the claim.
While the claim is understood, the language is unnecessarily convoluted. The language would be improved if the claims removed recitations of “a first component” and “a second component” and instead directly recites a first housing component and a second housing component with other related revisions in the language.
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 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 recites “a linear motion portion that acts on linear motion of the piston by linearly moving according to the rotation of the rotation portion;”. It is unclear what “acts on linear motion” means. As best understood, this could mean that the linear motion portion causes the piston to move by linearly moving according to the rotation of the rotation portion? There appears to be some grammar/language issue.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art does not disclose nor render obvious an electric cylinder device wherein the housing includes a first housing component in which the cylinder is provided and a second housing component in which the rotation input component is disposed, and wherein the first and second housing components are allowed to undergo relative displacement in a radial direction that is a direction orthogonal to an axial direction of the piston, in combination with the rest of the limitations as recited in claim 1.
The specification states that the claimed electric cylinder device according to this embodiment with radially displaceable housing components has an effect of preventing uneven wear on components due to the deviation of the center position of the piston and the cylinder while changing little with the internal structures by merely dividing the housing.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hagspiel et al. (US 2024/0409078) discloses a first housing component 3 or 8 in which the cylinder is disposed and a second housing component 9 in which the rotation input component is disposed, but piston 6 does not appear movable in the bore 5
Platzer et al. (US 2013/0327606) discloses a first housing component 2 that the cylinder is disposed in and a second housing component 9 that the rotation input component is disposed in
Choi et al. (US 2023/0415719) discloses a first housing component 100 in which the cylinder is provided and a second housing component 310 in which the rotation input component 320 is disposed, the first and second housings appear movable relative to each other in the radial direction
Takahashi et al. (US 5348123) discloses a first housing component 2 in which the cylinder is provided and a second housing component in which the rotation input component 4 is disposed, but do not disclose these two housing components to be relatively movable in the radial direction
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 November 20, 2025