Patent Application 18364861 - INTEGRATED AXLE DRIVE AND MOTOR VEHICLE - Rejection

Patent Application 18364861 - INTEGRATED AXLE DRIVE AND MOTOR VEHICLE

Title: INTEGRATED AXLE DRIVE AND MOTOR VEHICLE

Application Information

• Invention Title: INTEGRATED AXLE DRIVE AND MOTOR VEHICLE
• Application Number: 18364861
• Submission Date: 2025-05-12T00:00:00.000Z
• Effective Filing Date: 2023-08-03T00:00:00.000Z
• Filing Date: 2023-08-03T00:00:00.000Z
• National Class: 310
• National Sub-Class: 06800B
• Examiner Employee Number: 97316
• Art Unit: 2834
• Tech Center: 2800

Rejection Summary

• 102 Rejections: 0
• 103 Rejections: 5

Cited Patents

The following patents were cited in the rejection:

• US 0345008🔗
• US 0072864🔗
• US 0252950🔗
• US 0190348🔗
• US 0333600🔗
• US 0031215🔗

Office Action Text

    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 § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA  35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA  35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA  to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.  
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.

Claims 1, 4-5, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0190348 to Verbridge (cited by Applicant on 8/3/2023) in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0031215 to Feier (cited by Applicant on 8/3/2023).
Regarding claim 1, Verbridge teaches an integrated axle drive for an at least partially electrically driven motor vehicle (FIG. 7, 710; Paragraph [0092]), comprising:
	an electric machine (FIG. 7, 711) further comprising:
		a rotor which is mounted so as to be rotatable about a rotor axis (Paragraph [0002]);
	a transmission (FIG. 7, 712) which is coupled to the electric machine;
	an inverter (FIG. 7, 713) which is arranged on the transmission and is electrically conductively connected to the electric machine, and the transmission is arranged between the electric machine and the inverter (Paragraph [0084]).
	Verbridge does not teach a multi-part rotor position sensor, further comprising:
	a sensor target which is arranged and/or formed on the rotor in a rotationally fixed manner;
	an end shield; and
	a sensor board which is arranged, with an air gap to the sensor target, on the end shield of the electric machine;
	wherein the end shield carrying the sensor board is arranged between the transmission and the rotor, and the sensor board is electrically conductively connected to the inverter.
	However, Feier teaches a multi-part rotor position sensor (FIG. 1, 35), further comprising:
	a sensor target (FIG. 1, 26) which is arranged on the rotor in a rotationally fixed manner;
	an end shield (FIG. 1, 43); and
	a sensor board (FIG. 1, 37) which is arranged, with an air gap to the sensor target, on the end shield of the electric machine;
	wherein the end shield carrying the sensor board is arranged between the transmission and the rotor, and the sensor board is electrically conductively connected to the inverter (FIG. 1, 57; Paragraph [0028]).
	Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the integrated axle drive of Verbridge with the position sensor of Feier to provide a feedback system for more responsively controlling the electric machine.
Regarding claim 4, Verbridge in view of Feier teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 1, wherein Feier further teaches the sensor board being arranged on the end shield in a materially bonded manner (Paragraph [0023]).
Regarding claim 5, Verbridge in view of Feier teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 1, wherein Feier further teaches the rotor further comprising a rotor shaft (FIG. 1, 21), wherein the sensor target is arranged on the rotor shaft in a rotationally fixed manner (Paragraph [0021]).
Regarding claim 12, Verbridge teaches a motor vehicle (Paragraph [0092]) comprising:
	an integrated axle drive (FIG. 7, 710), further comprising:
an electric machine (FIG. 7, 711) further comprising:
		a rotor which is mounted so as to be rotatable about a rotor axis (Paragraph [0002]);
	a transmission (FIG. 7, 712) which is coupled to the electric machine;
	an inverter (FIG. 7, 713) which is arranged on the transmission and is electrically conductively connected to the electric machine, and the transmission is arranged between the electric machine and the inverter (Paragraph [0084]).
	Verbridge does not teach a multi-part rotor position sensor, further comprising:
	a sensor target which is arranged and/or formed on the rotor in a rotationally fixed manner;
	an end shield; and
	a sensor board which is arranged, with an air gap to the sensor target, on the end shield of the electric machine;
	wherein the end shield carrying the sensor board is arranged between the transmission and the rotor, and the sensor board is electrically conductively connected to the inverter.
	However, Feier teaches a multi-part rotor position sensor (FIG. 1, 35), further comprising:
	a sensor target (FIG. 1, 26) which is arranged on the rotor in a rotationally fixed manner;
	an end shield (FIG. 1, 43); and
	a sensor board (FIG. 1, 37) which is arranged, with an air gap to the sensor target, on the end shield of the electric machine;
	wherein the end shield carrying the sensor board is arranged between the transmission and the rotor, and the sensor board is electrically conductively connected to the inverter (FIG. 1, 57; Paragraph [0028]).
	Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the vehicle of Verbridge with the position sensor of Feier to provide a feedback system for more responsively controlling the electric machine.
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verbridge in view of Feier and in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0333600 to Nakano et al. (hereinafter Nakano).
Regarding claim 2, Verbridge in view of Feier teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 1, wherein Feier further teaches a cable (FIG. 1, 57) for the electrically conductive connection of the inverter to the sensor board.
	Verbridge in view of Feier does not teach the cable being guided through a transmission housing of the transmission.
	However, Nakano teaches a cable (FIG. 1, 21) for an electrically conductive connection of an inverter (FIG. 1, 200) to a sensor board (FIG. 1, 20) guided through a housing (FIG. 1, 16).
	Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the integrated axle drive of Verbridge in view of Feier with the cable routing of Nakano to achieve a more compact connection design and better support the cable.
Regarding claim 3, Verbridge in view of Feier and Nakano teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 2, wherein Nakano further teaches a cable leadthrough (FIG. 1, 22) formed within the housing such that the cable leadthrough is separated from a transmission chamber of the transmission in a media-tight manner (Paragraph [0044]); wherein the cable is guided through the cable leadthrough between the inverter and the sensor board (Paragraph [0044]).
Claims 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verbridge in view of Feier and in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0072864 to Nguy et al. (hereinafter Nguy).
Regarding claim 6, Verbridge in view of Feier teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 1.
	Verbridge in view of Feier does not teach the rotor having at least one end disk, and the sensor target being arranged on the end disk or being an integral part of the end disk.
	However, Nguy teaches a rotor having an end disk (FIG. 2, 22) with a sensor target (FIG. 2, 10) arranged on the end disk.
	Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the integrated axle drive of Verbridge in view of Feier with the end disk of Nguy as it provides a more secure connection of the sensor target to the rotor.
Regarding claim 7, Verbridge in view of Feier and Nguy teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 6, wherein Nguy further teaches the end disk being formed from a metal (Paragraph [0014]).
Regarding claim 8, Verbridge in view of Feier and Nguy teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 7, wherein Nguy further teaches the end disk being formed from aluminum (Paragraph [0014]).
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verbridge in view of Feier and in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0345008 to Ruppert et al. (hereinafter Ruppert).
Regarding claim 9, Verbridge in view of Feier teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 1, wherein Feier further teaches the electric machine further comprising a stator (FIG. 1, 17), the stator arranged spaced apart from the rotor.
Verbridge in view of Feier does not teach a stator winding head; a temperature sensor arranged on the sensor board and/or electrically conductively connected thereto; wherein the temperature sensor is in thermal contact with the stator winding head.
	However, Ruppert teaches a temperature sensor (FIG. 7, 13) electrically connected to a sensor board (FIG. 1, 6); wherein the temperature sensor is in thermal contact with a stator winding head (FIG. 1, 5; Paragraph [0033]).
	Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the integrated axle drive of Verbridge in view of Feier with the temperature sensor of Ruppert as it would allow for safer and more efficient operation of the electric machine.
Regarding claim 10, Verbridge in view of Feier and Ruppert teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 9, wherein Ruppert further teaches the temperature sensor being pressed onto the stator winding head (Paragraph [0041]) by way of a spring element (FIG. 7, 27).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verbridge in view of Feier and in further view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0252950 to Buchinger.
Regarding claim 11, Verbridge in view of Feier teaches the integrated axle drive of claim 1.
	Verbridge in view of Feier does not teach the multi-part rotor position sensor further comprising an inductive sensor.
	However, Buchinger teaches a rotor position sensor (FIG. 1C, 106) having an inductive sensor (FIG. 1D, 140).
	Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the integrated axle drive of Verbridge in view of Feier with the inductive sensor of Buchinger as the inductive sensor can provided more accurate rotor position sensing.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA KIEL MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-9881. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30am - 7:00pm ET.
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/JOSHUA KIEL M RODRIGUEZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2834 

/TULSIDAS C PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2834