DETAILED ACTION
This is the first Office action on the merits of Application No. 19/283,594 filed July 29, 2025. Claims 1-5 are currently pending.
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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 29, 2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on July 29, 2025. These drawings are acceptable.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2024/0392844 A1 (Kurematsu).
Regarding claim 1, Kurematsu discloses a parking lock clutch (selectable clutch 100 in Fig. 1 which as described in lines 1-3 of paragraph [0121] is “significantly useful for building a vehicle parking lock system”) comprising: an outer ring (outer race 120) and an inner ring (inner race 110) arranged coaxially so as to be rotatable relative to each other; a plurality of rollers (130) arranged between the outer ring (120) and the inner ring (110); a biasing member (resilient member 140) radially biasing the roller (130) toward a roller accommodating portion (pocket part 125, best seen in Fig. 5) provided on accommodating portion (paragraph 0063, lines 2-14). The selector (150) has a pocket (roller-receiving recess 152) formed so that the roller can be accommodated in the roller accommodating portion when the operating mode is switched to the free mode (paragraph [0065]). As can been seen by comparing Fig. 6B or Fig. 6C with Fig. 6A, the pocket (152) is formed to extend in the circumferential direction so that the selector (150) can be rotated further in an unlocking direction (clockwise in these figures) of the selector (150) from a rotational angle position (i.e. the rotational angle position assumed by the roller in Figs. 6A-6C) at which the roller (130) is accommodated in the roller accommodating portion (125).
Regarding claim 2, the pocket (152) is configured so that the rotational angle position of the selector (150) can be switched in multiple stages (i.e., the stages shown in 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D, respectively).
Regarding claim 3, the pocket (152) is configured as a recess formed on an inner circumferential surface
Regarding claim 4, the parking lock clutch of Kurematsu further comprises a selector drive mechanism (105, see Fig. 1) for rotating the selector (150), wherein the selector drive mechanism comprises a drive rod (165) connected to the selector and capable of reciprocating in one direction, and a standby spring (delay spring 170) provided so as to be elastically deformable in a compression direction when the selector is rotated in the locking direction (paragraph [0069]).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2024/0392844 A1 (Kurematsu) in view of JP 2011-84187 A (Shunpei).
Kurematsu does not disclose the selector 150 being “configured to be connectable to a shift cable for mechanically connecting a shift lever and a transmission in a vehicle”. Instead, rotation of the selector is controlled by means of a linear actuator or a rotary actuator (160). Shunpei provides evidence that it was known before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to actuate a parking lock by means of a cable 16 connecting a shift lever 15 to a transmission 1 (see Figs. 1 and 3). It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to control the rotation of the selector 150 of Kurematsu by means of a cable connected to the shift lever in order to permit manual actuation of the parking lock while eliminating the need for a more expensive linear or rotary actuator in view of the suggestion of Shunpei.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 8,118,149 B2 discloses a vehicle parking brake including rollers 4 disposed between a shaft 6 and an outer ring 2.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Richard M. Lorence whose telephone number is 571-272-7094. The examiner can normally be reached Tuesday-Thursday from 11:00 AM-7:00 PM.
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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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/RICHARD M LORENCE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3617
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