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 11/21/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
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 1-13 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 toothing system which engages in a manner of a spur gear mechanism in a toothing system of at least one of the screw drive elements, wherein the toothing system which is provided as an element of a spur gear mechanism” which is generally unclear and renders the claims indefinite. Specifically, there are multiple recitation of “a toothing system”, and it is unclear how many toothing systems are required, and which is being referenced by the recitation of “the toothing system”. Additionally, there are multiple recitations of “a spur gear mechanism” and it is unclear how many spur gear mechanisms are required by the claims, and how they differ from the claimed toothing system(s).
Claims 2 and 10 each recite “each rolling body extends up to pins of the rolling body” it is unclear which rolling body is being referenced by the recitation of “the rolling body”.
Claim 3 recites “a toothing system” which is unclear for the reasons given for claim 1 above.
Claim 4 recites “the toothing system” and is unclear for the reasons given for claim 1 above.
Claim 4 recites “provided as an element of a spur gear mechanism” which is unclear for the reasons given for claim 1 above.
Claim 5 recites “the roller” which lacks antecedent basis in the claims.
Claim 6 recites “a toothing system” which is unclear for the reasons given for claim 1 above.
Claim 7 recites “a toothing system” which is unclear for the reasons given for claim 1 above.
Claim 8 recites “the toothing” after multiple recitations of “a toothing” and is unclear for the same reasons given for claim 1 above.
Claim 11 recites “a toothing system” which is unclear and renders the claims indefinite. The claims previously define multiple instances of “a toothing” and it is unclear how the claimed toothing system relates to them.
Claims 12 and 13 recite “a toothing” which is unclear for the reasons given for claim 1 above.
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.
(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) 1-5 and 7, as best understood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sugitani (USPN 7,736,256).
Sugitani discloses a roller screw drive comprising: a plurality of roller-shaped rolling bodies (60) which roll between two screw drive elements including a threaded spindle (14) and a nut (42A), wherein each rolling body has in a middle portion a thread (58) which meshes with a thread (52) of the threaded spindle and with an internal thread (56) of the nut, and, at at least one of its two ends, a toothing system (90/92), which engages in a manner of a spur gear mechanism in a toothing system of at least one of the screw drive elements (nut via 94/96), wherein the toothing system which is provided as an element of a spur gear mechanism is configured as a pinion toothing in a portion (see each end of 60 in Fig. 9A), having a uniform diameter, of the thread of the rolling body; the thread (6) of the each rolling body (5) extends up to pins (60A/60B) of the rolling body; wherein at both ends of the a region provided with the thread of each rolling body, a toothing system attributable to a spur gear mechanism is formed in each case (see Fig. 9A); wherein an effective diameter of the toothing system of each rolling body provided as an element of a spur gear mechanism coincides with (see Fig. 9A) the effective diameter of the thread of the rolling body; wherein a flank (see Fig. 9A) of the pinion toothing extends from a first flank (see Fig. 9A) of a thread tooth of the thread of each rolling body to an opposite flank (see Fig. 9A) of the same thread tooth of the thread of the roller; and wherein only the nut has a toothing system (94/96) which interacts in the manner of a spur gear mechanism with the pinion toothing of each rolling body.
Claim(s) 8, 10, 11 and 13, as best understood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sugitani (USPN 7,736,256).
Sugitani discloses a roller screw drive comprising a plurality of roller-shaped rolling bodies (60) that roll between two screw-drive elements including a threaded spindle (14) and a nut (42A), each roller-shaped rolling body comprising a roller having, in a middle portion (see Fig. 9A), a thread (58) that meshes with a thread (52) of the threaded spindle and with an internal thread (56) of the nut and, at at least one of its two ends, a toothing (90/92) which, in a manner of a spur gear, engages with a toothing (94/96) of at least one of the screw-drive elements (nut), the toothing provided as a spur-gear element (see Fig. 9A-9C) being formed as a pinion toothing in a side portion (see Fig. 9A) of the thread of the roller that has a uniform diameter (see Fig. 9A), the side portion having a same diameter (see Fig. 9A) as the middle portion, and flanks of the toothing extending from a first flank (see Fig. 9A) of a thread tooth of the thread to an opposite flank (see Fig. 9A) of the same thread tooth, wherein an effective diameter (see Fig. 9A) of the toothing provided as the spur-gear element of each rolling body corresponds to an effective diameter (see Fig. 9A) of the thread, and wherein the toothing is formed by individual notches (see Fig. 9A) that partially interrupt the flanks of each thread tooth; wherein the thread of each rolling body extends up to pins (60A/60B) of the rolling body; wherein at both ends of an area provided with the thread of each rolling body, a toothing system (90/92) attributable to a spur gear mechanism is formed in each case; and wherein only the nut (see Fig. 8A/8B) has a toothing which, in the manner of a spur gear, cooperates with the pinion toothing of each rolling body.
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) 6 and 12, as best understood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugitani (USPN 7,736,256) in view of Sugitani (USPN ,7651,436, hereinafter Sugitani ‘436).
Sugitani discloses the claimed invention, except for wherein only the threaded spindle has a toothing system which interacts in the manner of a spur gear mechanism with the pinion toothing of each rolling body.
Sugitani ‘436 discloses a threaded spindle (25) having a toothing system (23) that interacts in the manner of a spur gear mechanism with pinion toothing (14) of each rolling body (13).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to have modified the device of Sugitani to have the spindle driven by the gear teeth of the rollers, as the selection of a nut driven or screw driven actuation system only requires routine skill in the art.
Claim(s) 9, as best understood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugitani (USPN 7,736,256) in view of Roantree (USPN 3,406,584)
Sugitani discloses the claimed invention, except for wherein the depth of the notches decreases from an end face of each roller body toward the middle portion of the roller.
Roantree discloses a depth of notches (at 34, see Fig 1) decreases from an end face of each roller body (12) toward a middle portion of the roller.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art a the time the application was filed to have modified the device of Sugitani to have the depth of the notches decrease from an end toward the middle of the rollers, in order to allow the notches to be cut quickly and efficiently with a circular cutter that rotates on an axis perpendicular to the rollers axis.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAKE COOK whose telephone number is (571)272-5968. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:00 PM.
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JAKE COOK
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3618
/Jake Cook/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3618
