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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 5, 8-10, 12-13, 15-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected claims, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/28/2025. It is noted that claims 8, 9 and 15 are directed to non-elected FIGURE 10 and detected current/current detector, 14, comprising both a voltage and current sensor whereas election was made to FIGURE 7 comprising a voltage detector only.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“voltage detector to detect output voltage of the power receiving circuit…” should be “a voltage detector to detect the output voltage of the power receiving circuit…”
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 6, 7 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.
Regarding Claim 6
There is lack of antecedent basis for the claim term “the semiconductor switches”.
The claim will be examined as best understood as “wherein the semiconductor switch comprises a plurality of semiconductor switches”
Regarding Claim 7
The claim limitation “using, as a unit, a half cycle of the voltage detected by the voltage detector” is unintelligible. It is unclear what the claimed function is and therefore what structure said function is intended to impart on the controller. “Using, as a unit” is not a known term/phrase in the art nor does the claim set forth the steps to clarify what is meant or intended by “using, as a unit”.
Because of the great deal of confusion and uncertainty as to the proper interpretation of the limitations of the claim(s) 7, it is not proper to reject the present claim(s) on the basis of prior art. (See MPEP 2173.06 and In re Steele, 305 F.2d 859, 134 USPQ 292 (CCPA 1962).
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 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jang et al. US 6,301,128.
Jang teaches:
1. A power receiving device of a wireless power transfer system (read inductive wireless power transfer, see col.1 lines 5-40), the power receiving device comprising:
a power receiving circuit (see secondary side of contactless inductive transformer, FIG8) which has a power receiving coil and receives AC power transmitted from a power transmitting circuit (see primary side);
a power converter (Rectifier, FIG8) for converting AC power received by the power receiving circuit to DC power and has a semiconductor switch (Ss);
a voltage detector to detect the output voltage of the power receiving circuit (see “Differential voltage sensing, scaling, and level shifting circuit, FIG8); and
a controller to control the semiconductor switch on the basis of the voltage detected by the voltage detector (see at least PWM Modulator and associated pulse control circuitry, FIG8), wherein
the semiconductor switch for performing switching between a conductive state and an opened state of a circuit between the power receiving circuit and the power converter, and by performing ON/OFF control of the semiconductor switch, the controller performs switching between a power transfer period in which the power receiving circuit and the power converter are conductive with each other and a non-power-transfer period in which the power receiving circuit and the power converter are open-circuited from each other, and the controller performs control of power to be outputted, using a ratio between the power transfer period and the non-power-transfer period per a repetition cycle of ON/OFF switching of the semiconductor switch (read on by said PWM performed by said PWM modulator on said switch Ss, FIG8).
14. A wireless power transfer system comprising:
a power transmitting circuit connected to a power source and having a power transmitting coil; and
the power receiving device according to claim 1, where
power is transmitted from the power transmitting circuit to power the receiving device in a contactless manner (See FIG3 depicting the contactless power transfer manner and FIG8, primary power transfer power transmitting circuit).
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) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang et al. US 6,301,128.
Jang teaches PWM operation however fails to teach:
2. The power receiving device according to claim 1, wherein a time when the semiconductor switch is switched between ON and OFF is set to be a time when an absolute value of the voltage detected by the voltage detector is 20% or less of a maximum value thereof.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to set a time when the semiconductor switch is switched between ON and OFF is set to be a time when an absolute value of the voltage detected by the voltage detector is 20% or less of a maximum value thereof., since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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 and rewritten to overcome the above 112 rejection(s) as provided for above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL CAVALLARI whose telephone number is (571)272-8541. The examiner can normally be reached on The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 10:00-18:30.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rexford Barnie can be reached at (571)272-7492. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANIEL CAVALLARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836