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 .
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 08/22/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
Figures 1 and 2 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Response to Amendment
Acknowledgement is made of the preliminary amendment filed on 02/07/2023 in which claims 1-2, 4, 6-7, 9-13, and 16 were amended and claims 3 and 14-15 canceled. No new claims were added therefore claims 1-2, 4-13, and 16 are pending for examination below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2, 4-13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. For example, in claim 1 applicant is claiming first, second and third switching devices. Then in claim 2 applicant is claiming three more devices, first/second/third switching transistors, for a total of 6 switching devices. Two switching components on each of the positive, negative, and middle arms. The specification and drawings simply do not support both features of first through third switching devices and first through third switching transistors.
Claims 4-13 and 16 depend from claim 2 and are rejected for the same reasons.
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 4-9 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.
Claims 4 and 7 recite “a first inductor”, however claim 1 already recites “an inductor”. Therefore it is unclear how claim 4 can recited a first inductor. The metes and bounds of these claims cannot be determined in order to perform an adequate search (rejection) as the Examiner cannot guess as to how the circuitry structure is intended to be arranged.
Claims 5-6 depend from claim 4 and 8-9 depend from claim 7 and are rejected for the same reasons.
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) 1, 2, 10, 11, and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art (AAPA) in view of Santak Electronic Shenzhen Co LTD [CN 108809094]*.
*Note that a copy of the cited foreign reference has already been submitted of record with the IDS filed on 08/22/2023 and therefore a duplicate copy is not provided with this action.
With respect to claims 1 and 16, AAPA discloses a charger [Fig. 1], comprising: a positive side arm connected between a positive direct current bus [101] and a positive electrode of a battery [103] and comprising a first switching device [Q13]; a negative side arm connected between a negative direct current bus [102] and a negative electrode of the battery [104] and comprising a second switching device [Q14]; a middle arm connected to a neutral point [N]; and a unidirectional conduction circuit connected among the positive side arm, the middle arm, and the negative side arm and configured to constrain current to flow from the negative side arm to the positive side arm and/or the middle arm [D15/D16]; wherein at least one of the positive side arm and the negative side arm comprises an inductor [L13 and/or L14] and wherein the charger is alternately powered by the positive and negative direct current buses to charge the battery [Fig. 1 shows an “alternate buck charging circuit”], wherein the charger alternately connects one electrode of the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the battery to the neutral point and one of the positive and negative direct current buses that has the same polarity as the electrode [“buck circuit topology is that the positive and negative sides operate alternately”, see also graph of figure 2], however, AAPA fails to explicitly disclose the middle arm comprising a third switching device.
Santak relates to an uninterruptible power supply with DC-DC converter and teaches a third switching device [25] connected to a middle arm [N24] in order to form a loop circuit with the positive/negative branches and allow for switching from off to on before the associated switches on the positive/negative branches [page 8].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify AAPA to include the middle branch switch for allowing the loop circuits as taught by Santak for the benefit of controlling bus power flow by isolating one part of the system while the converter continues to operate with the other bus.
With respect to claim 2, AAPA further discloses the unidirectional conduction circuit comprises a first diode and a second diode connected in series [D15/D16]; and wherein a first terminal of the positive side arm is connected to the positive direct current bus and a second terminal of the positive side arm is connected to the positive electrode of the battery [101/103], a first terminal of the negative side arm is connected to the negative direct current bus and a second terminal of the negative side arm is connected to the negative electrode of the battery [102/104]. Furthermore, Santak as applied above further discloses wherein the positive side arm comprises a first switching transistor, the negative side arm comprises a second switching transistor, the middle arm comprises a third switching transistor [i.e. the switches are in pairs].
With respect to claims 10-11, Choosing a specific type of switch (i.e. mosfet or ibgt) is within the level or ordinary skill and would be an obvious design choice. For instance, Santak as applied above further discloses wherein the first, second and third switching transistors are insulated gate bipolar transistors or MOSFET/thyristors [“insulated gate bipolar transistors” and “thyristor” and “mosfet”]
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant’s Admitted Prior Art (AAPA) and Santak Electronic Shenzhen Co LTD [CN 108809094] as applied above, and further in view of Yamakawa et al. [US 2023/0028214].
With respect to claim 12, AAPA in view of Santak disclose the claimed invention/charger except for a PFC. However, PFC technology is routine in the art. For example, Yamakawa relates to charging a battery and teaches a charger with a PFC [104]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to modify AAPA and Santak as applied above to utilize a PFC unit as taught by Yamakawa for the benefit of improving efficiency of the electrical system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 13 would most likely be objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if the 112a and 112b issues above are corrected.
With respect to claim 13, the prior art of record does not suggest or disclose the claimed combination of elements or steps as recited, most particularly the claimed, “a fourth switching transistor and a fifth switching transistor which are connected in reverse series between a second terminal of the second inductor and the neutral point; a first capacitor connected between the positive direct current bus and the neutral point and a second capacitor connected between the neutral point and the negative direct current bus; and a third diode and a sixth switching transistor, wherein an anode of the third diode and a first terminal of the sixth switching transistor are connected in common to the second terminal of the second inductor, a cathode of the third diode is connected to the positive direct current bus, and a second terminal of the sixth switching transistor is connected to the negative direct current bus, wherein the battery hookup bridge arm is connected between the battery and the multiplexing bridge arm to control the battery to alternately supply power to the positive and negative direct current buses, wherein a middle bridge arm of the charger and the battery hookup bridge arm of the PFC and DC-DC multiplexing converter are multiplexed; wherein the control module is configured to control switching transistors or switches in the PFC and DC-DC multiplexing converter or the charger; and wherein the PFC and DC-DC multiplexing converter controls one electrode of the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the battery to be alternately connected to the neutral point and one of the positive and negative direct current buses that has the same polarity as the electrode, to enable a level of the electrode of the battery to synchronously and alternately rise or drop along with the alternate supply of power to the positive and negative direct current buses; or controls one electrode of the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the battery to be constantly connected to the neutral point.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHANIEL R PELTON whose telephone number is (571)270-1761. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
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, Julian Huffman can be reached at 571-272-2147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/NATHANIEL R PELTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859