CTNF 18/044,096 CTNF 91503 DETAILED ACTION The instant action is in response to application 6 March 2023. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Allowable Subject Matter 07-50 The indicated allowability of the previous claims are withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference(s) on applicant’s IDS. Rejections based on the newly cited reference(s) follow. Response to Arguments Applicant’s remarks on the merits have been considered but are moot for not considering the new reference. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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 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. For method claims, note that under MPEP 2112.02, the principles of inherency, if a prior art device, in its normal and usual operation, would necessarily perform the method claimed, then the method claimed will be considered to be anticipated by the prior art device. When the prior art device is the same as a device described in the specification for carrying out the claimed method, it can be assumed the device will inherently perform the claimed process. In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 231 USPQ 136 (Fed. Cir. 1986). Therefore the previous rejections based on the apparatus will not be repeated. (The claims have been condensed.) 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-20-aia AIA 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 of this title, 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. 07-21-aia AIA 2. Claim s 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 20180367024) in view of Kawahara (US 5481451) and Ogawa (US 10511233) . As to claim 1, Kim discloses (see annotated Figure below) A power conversion apparatus comprising: a rectification and boost unit rectifying a first alternating-current power supplied from a commercial power supply and boosting a voltage of the first alternating-current power; a capacitor connected to output terminals of the rectification and boost unit; an inverter that is connected across the capacitor, converts power output from the rectification and boost unit and the capacitor into a second alternating-current power, and outputs the second alternating-current power to a load including a motor a voltage and current detection unit provided between the commercial power supply and the rectification and boost unit, and detecting a voltage value and a current value of the first alternating-current power supplied from the commercial power supply; a voltage detection unit provided between the rectification and boost unit and the capacitor, and detecting a voltage value of power output from the rectification and boost unit; a current detection unit provided between the inverter and the load, and detecting a current value of the second alternating-current power output from the inverter; and a control unit configured to obtain, as detection values, the voltage value and the current value of the first alternating-current power from the voltage and current detection unit, the voltage value of the power output from the rectification and boost unit from the voltage detection unit, and the current value of the second alternating-current power from the current detection unit, perform operation control on the rectification and boost unit on the basis of the detection values, and perform operation control only on the inverter on the basis of the detection values to cause the second alternating-current power that includes a pulsation to be output from the inverter to the load such that a current on which pulsating current whose main component is a frequency component of a current flowing from the rectification and boost unit is superimposed flows into the inverter, to restrain a current that flows into the capacitor, the pulsation being based on a pulsation of power flowing into the capacitor from the rectification and boost unit,wherein a maximum value of voltage ripple generated across the capacitor is less than twice a minimum value of the voltage ripple. PNG media_image1.png 415 865 media_image1.png Greyscale Kim does not disclose and perform operation control only on the inverter on the basis of the detection values to cause the second alternating-current power that includes a pulsation to be output from the inverter to the load such that a current on which pulsating current whose main component is a frequency component of a current flowing from the rectification and boost unit is superimposed flows into the inverter, to restrain a current that flows into the capacitor, the pulsation being based on a pulsation of power flowing into the capacitor from the rectification and boost unit,wherein a maximum value of voltage ripple generated across the capacitor is less than twice a minimum value of the voltage ripple. Kawahara teaches and perform operation control only on the inverter on the basis of the detection values to cause the second alternating-current power that includes a pulsation to be output from the inverter to the load such that a current on which pulsating current whose main component is a frequency component of a current flowing from the rectification and boost unit is superimposed flows into the inverter (See Fig. 1, item 30 divides the sensed frequency to a reference frequency), to restrain a current that flows into the capacitor (abstract “An AC-to-AC power inverter apparatus and a control method thereof are described in which the effects of AC ripple contained in an intermediate DC voltage produced in the apparatus are eliminated from the output AC voltage, thereby enabling the inverter apparatus to function without a large-capacitance smoothing capacitor.”). the pulsation being based on a pulsation of power flowing into the capacitor from the rectification and boost unit (Fig. 1, item 24 input into item 30) 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 device above to above to use the capacitive feedforward technique in the inverter as disclosed in to reduce DC ripple. Though the ripple is minimized, and the limitation wherein a maximum value of voltage ripple generated across the capacitor is less than twice a minimum value of the voltage ripple is heavily implied by the combination, a quantitative amount of ripple is not shown. Ogawa teaches wherein a maximum value of the voltage ripple across the capacitor is less than twice a minimum value of the voltage ripple (see Fig. 9/10 and 13. Since Figs. 9 and 10 are derived from equation 5, the ripple is less than 2x max. See also Col. 9, describing the inverter and reactor circuits). 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 device above to use the ripple limit taught by Ogawa in the device above to further limit capacitor stress. As to claim 2, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches wherein the control unit performs power factor improvement control on the first alternating- current power supplied from the commercial power supply and average voltage control for the capacitor through operation control of the rectification and boost unit (using boost converters as PFCs is old and well known, and not patentable per MPEP 2144.03.). As to claim 3, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa teaches teaches wherein the control unit performs operation control on the inverter to cause a pulsation included in the second alternating-current power that is output from the inverter to become smaller than a pulsation of power that is output from the rectification and boost unit (this would be taught by the combination,with the inverter logic of Kawahara). As to claim 4, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches teaches wherein the control unit performs amplitude and phase control on a pulsation included in the second alternating-current power that is output from the inverter to cause voltage ripple generated across the capacitor to be smaller than voltage ripple that is generated across the capacitor if the second alternating-current power that is output from the inverter does not include a pulsation based on a pulsation of power that flows into the capacitor (in order to provide three phase power, the voltage, frequency, phase degree and phase rotation must be set. The combination teaches using the inverter to control current and voltage ripple). As to claim 5, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches teaches wherein the control unit performs amplitude and phase control on a pulsation included in the second alternating-current power that is output from the inverter to cause current ripple that flows into and out of the capacitor to be smaller than current ripple that is generated through the capacitor if the second alternating-current power that is output from the inverter does not include a pulsation based on a pulsation of power that flows into the capacitor (in order to provide three phase power, the voltage, frequency, phase degree and phase rotation must be set. The combination teaches using the inverter to minimize current and voltage ripple). As to claim 6, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches teaches wherein the rectification and boost unit includes 4 a rectification unit including a plurality of rectifier elements, and a boost unit including a rectifier element and a switching element that is turned on and off under control of the control unit, and the rectification unit and the boost unit are connected in series or parallel (see image above). As to claim 7, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches teaches wherein the rectification and boost unit includes a plurality of switching elements that are turned on and off under control of the control unit, and a plurality of rectifier elements connected in parallel with the plurality of switching elements, respectively (see image above). As to claim 8, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches teaches the wherein the control unit performs operation control further on the rectification and boost unit to cause the power that includes a variable frequency component among pulsations included in the second alternating-current power that is output from the inverter to be output from the rectification and boost unit, the variable frequency component being other than a frequency component that is double a frequency of the first alternating-current power if the first alternating- current power is single-phase or six times a frequency of the first alternating-current power if the first alternating-current power is three-phase. (The combination is designed to mitigate 2 nd order harmonics) As to claim 9, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches discloses wherein the control unit controls the variable frequency component with a command value for the commercial power supply(this would be determined by the V/Hz value or flux of the motor). As to claim 11, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches wherein the capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor or a film capacitor (both are well known and not patentable). As to claim 13, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches wherein the rectification and boost unit performs full-wave rectification, and a voltage generated across the capacitor assumes a shape that is not a full-wave rectified waveform of the commercial power supply (it is modified by the boost circuit). As to claim 14, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches wherein a motor drive apparatus comprising the power conversion apparatus according to claim 1 (see image above). As to claim 15, Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.teaches A refrigeration cycle apparatus (a compressor is described )comprising the power conversion apparatus according to claim 1 . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 20180367024) in view of Kawahara (US 5481451), Ogawa (US 10511233).and Wei (US 20180145602) . As to claim 10, the Kim in view of Kawahara and Ogawa.does not explicitly teach wherein the variable frequency component is controlled by the control unit to be prevented from being up to a 40th order component that is an integer multiple of a frequency of the first alternating-current power or to be less than or equal to a specified value. Wei teaches wherein the variable frequency component is controlled by the control unit to be prevented from being up to a 40th order component that is an integer multiple of a frequency of the first alternating-current power or to be less than or equal to a specified value (Claim 4). 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 device above to use the switching frequency limits in the device above to prevent capacitive shorts. Conclusion Examiner has cited particular column, paragraph, and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention. Applicant's IDS necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER M NOVAK whose telephone number is (571)270-1375. The examiner can normally be reached on 9AM-5PM,Monday through Thursday, EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sean Kayes can be reached on 571-272-8931. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /PETER M NOVAK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2839 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 2 Art Unit: 2838 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 3 Art Unit: 2838 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 4 Art Unit: 2838 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 5 Art Unit: 2838 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 6 Art Unit: 2838 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 7 Art Unit: 2838 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 8 Art Unit: 2838 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 9 Art Unit: 2838 Application/Control Number: 18/044,096 Page 10 Art Unit: 2838
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