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
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 9, 13, 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Partovi et al. (US 2013/0249479 A1) in view of Mercer et al. (US 6,141,193).
In regards to claim 9, Partovi discloses, in figure 2, a system (120) comprising: a power device (charger) and a portable device (receiver) for wireless charging of a battery of the portable device (Par 0084; “The receiver can also include a switch between the DC output of the receiver coil and the rectification and smoothing stage and its output or the output of the regulator stage to a device or battery or a device case or skin and in cases where the receiver is used to charge a battery or device”), wherein the power device (charger) comprises: an antenna (L1) to receive power adjustment information from the portable device (receiver) to increase or to decrease a power (Pp) of a magnetic field emitted by the antenna of the power device (Par 0127, 0138); and an antenna (L2) exposed to the magnetic field and connected via a matching stage (Par 0090; “The charger and/or receiver can also include impedance matching circuits to optimize/improve power transfer between the charger and receiver”) to a rectifier stage (bridge rectifier), to rectify an antenna signal (Par 0101); and a voltage limiter (Par 0103; regulator), to limit the rectified antenna signal, and to provide an input voltage (UI) at an input pin of a charger IC (input pin of charger IC chip (not shown)) (Par 0122, 0127), which provides a first charge current (Ic) at an output pin (output pin of charger IC chip (not shown)) connected to the battery to charge the battery for a first period of time (T1) as a power source with a constant first charge current (Ic) (Par 0138, 0143; the charger can provide a constant output power, and the receiver can regulate the power through a regulator to a charger IC chip and connected to the battery at first period of time with a constant first charge current), the portable device (receiver) further comprises a charge voltage control stage (MCU 2), that is built to generate the power adjustment information for the power device to increase or to decrease the power of the magnetic field emitted by the antenna (L1) of the power device (charger) (Par 0106, 0138).
Partovi does not disclose wherein, the voltage limiter comprises a current sensor positioned in series to the voltage limiter to sense a waste current (Iw) deducted from the rectified antenna signal to limit the input voltage (Ui) of the charger IC and to steer the waste current (Iw) within an upper limit and a lower limit.
However, Mercer discloses, in figure 2B, wherein, the voltage limiter (120) comprises a current sensor (126) positioned in series to the voltage limiter (Col 2; lines 39-41; lines 55-58) to sense a waste current (Iw) (current Ibleed) (Col 7, lines 15-25) deducted from the rectified antenna signal to limit the input voltage (Ui) of the charger IC (rectified antenna signal of Partovi) and to steer the waste current (Iw) (current Ibleed) within an upper limit and a lower limit (Col 6, lines 65-67, Col 7, lines 1-13; In response to a change in the analog signal, current sink 125 changes the magnitude of current Ibleed in the appropriate manner, thus the current Ibleed is within a upper limit and lower limit).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Partovi’s system by including wherein, the voltage limiter comprises a current sensor positioned in series to the voltage limiter to sense a waste current (Iw) deducted from the rectified antenna signal to limit the input voltage (Ui) of the charger IC and to steer the waste current (Iw) within an upper limit and a lower limit as taught by Mercer in order to prevent excessive power dissipation, thereby avoiding a potentially flammable situation (Mercer; Col 3, lines 29-31).
In regards to claim 13, Partovi and Mercer disclose a system according to claim 9. Partovi further discloses, in figure 2, wherein the current path from the rectifier stage to the charger IC is free of a serial ohmic resistance component (Par 0102).
In regards to claim 15, Partovi and Mercer disclose a system according to claim 9. Partovi further discloses, in figure 2, wherein the power device (charger) is powered by a battery power pack (Par 0059).
In regards to claim 16, Partovi and Mercer disclose a system according to claim 9. Partovi further discloses, in figure 2, a method of a power device (charger) and a portable device (receiver) for wireless charging of a battery of the portable device (Par 0084; “The receiver can also include a switch between the DC output of the receiver coil and the rectification and smoothing stage and its output or the output of the regulator stage to a device or battery or a device case or skin and in cases where the receiver is used to charge a battery or device”), wherein the sensed waste current (Iw) (current Ibleed sensed from current sensor 126 as taught by Mercer) deducted from the rectified antenna signal to limit the input voltage (U,) of the charger IC (charger IC chip (not shown in receiver)) is used in a feedback loop (Par 0127, 0138) to the power device (charger) to increase or to decrease the power (Pp) of the magnetic field emitted by the antenna (L1) of the power device (charger) (Par 0106, 0138).
Partovi does not disclose a sensed waste current (Iw) and to steer the waste current (Iw) within an upper limit and a lower limit.
However, Mercer discloses, in figure 2B, a sensed waste current (Iw) (current Ibleed sensed from current sensor 126) (Col 7, lines 15-25) and to steer the waste current (Iw) (current Ibleed) within an upper limit and a lower limit (Col 6, lines 65-67, Col 7, lines 1-13; In response to a change in the analog signal, current sink 125 changes the magnitude of current Ibleed in the appropriate manner, thus the current Ibleed is within a upper limit and lower limit).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Partovi’s system by including a sensed waste current (Iw) and to steer the waste current (Iw) within an upper limit and a lower limit as taught by Mercer in order to prevent excessive power dissipation, thereby avoiding a potentially flammable situation (Mercer; Col 3, lines 29-31).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-12, 14 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Mao et al. (US 2020/0076249 A1) discloses an apparatus having a wireless power receiver comprising a receiver coil used to receive power wirelessly and to communicate wirelessly. The wireless power receiver outputs power to a bus based on the wirelessly received power. The apparatus has an open-loop DC-DC converter and a linear regulator. The apparatus has a controller configured to enable the open-loop DC-DC converter to use the power on the bus to charge a battery. The controller is further configured to control the linear regulator to stabilize a current in the bus at the output of the wireless power receiver to reduce interference to the wireless communication when using the receiver coil to wirelessly communicate from the wireless power receiver to the transmitter of the power while the open-loop DC-DC converter is being used to charge the battery.
Lee et al. (US 2020/0203980 A1) discloses an electronic device includes a battery, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor configured to be operatively coupled with the at least one transceiver. The at least one processor is configured to detect a charging event for the battery, to determine difference value between first communication quality before detection of the charging event and second communication quality after detection of the charging event, to determine a charge current, based on the difference value, and to charge the battery according to the determined charge current value.
Fukunaga et al. (US 11,207,990 B2) discloses a wireless power transmission device that enables wireless power receiving device to identify wireless communication circuit without using communication of the wireless communication circuit of wireless power transmission device. A wireless power transmission device for wirelessly transmitting power to a wireless power receiving device includes a power transmission coil, a power transmission circuit configured to supply alternating current (AC) power to the power transmission coil, and a power transmission side communication circuit configured to communicate with the wireless power receiving device. The power transmission circuit is configured to supply a first AC power to the power transmission coil. The first AC power is an AC power having an intermittent supply period in an intermittent pattern representing identification information of the power transmission side communication circuit. The power transmission coil is configured to receive the first AC power and generate a first AC magnetic field corresponding to the intermittent pattern.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEX WONG LAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3409. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30-5:00.
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/ALEX W LAM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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