DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 10/03/2023. Claims 1-5 are pending.
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
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because
the length of the Abstract exceeds the range of 50 to 150 words.
The Abstract is objected for containing claim language, such as "means" and "comprises".
Applicant’s correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Drawing
The drawing submitted on 10/03/2023 is acknowledged and accepted by the examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 10/03/2023, 10/27/2023, and 06/05/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
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.
(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.
Claims 1-2, 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or (a)(2) as being anticipated by Kyono (US Patent or PG Pub. No. 20110051468, hereinafter ‘468).
Claim 1, ‘468 teaches an inverter circuit (e.g., see Fig. 6-10) comprising:
a primary-side circuit (e.g., the primary side circuits of Fig. 6-10) including a plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits (e.g., see Fig. 6-10) connected to a DC power supply (e.g., Vin, see Fig. 6-10); and
a secondary-side circuit (e.g., Ns11, Ns12, Ns21, Ns22) configured to output multi-phase AC power having phases different from each other according to oscillation of the plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits (e.g., see [0052], Fig. 6-10);
wherein each of the plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits includes: a power transmission coil (e.g., the coils comprising Np1, Np2, Nb1, Nb2, L1, L2); a resonant capacitor constituting a resonant circuit (e.g., C1, C2, L1, L2) together with the power transmission coil (e.g., see [0052], Fig. 6-10);
a pair of switching elements (e.g., Q11, Q12, Q21, Q22) connected to the power transmission coil (e.g., see Fig. 6-10);
a drive coil (e.g., Nb1, Nb2, L1, L2) configured to generate an induced electromotive force having a frequency corresponding to a resonance frequency of the resonant circuit, the drive coil applying a voltage (e.g., the voltage across Nb1, Nb2) to each control electrode of the pair of switching elements of another self-excited oscillator circuit according to the induced electromotive force (e.g., see Fig. 6-10); and
a phase-shift filter (e.g., C1, L1, C2, L2, see [0052], Fig. 6-10);
the secondary-side circuit includes a plurality of power reception coils (e.g., Ns11, Ns12), each of which is magnetically coupled to the power transmission coil of each of the plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits (e.g., see Fig. 6-10);
a voltage (the gate voltage of Q21, Q22) is applied to each control electrode of the pair of switching elements from the drive coil of another self-excited oscillator circuit (e.g., see Fig. 6-10), and
the phase of the voltage applied to each of the control electrodes of the pair of switching elements of said another self-excited oscillator circuit is shifted by a phase- shift amount (e.g., the corresponding phase shifted amount between Q21/Q22 and Q11/Q12, see Fig. 7) corresponding to a number of phases of the output power for each self- excited oscillator circuit according to at least an action of the phase-shift filter (e.g., see Fig. 6-10).
Claim 2, ‘468 teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein a first drive coil (e.g., Nb1, Nb2, L1. L2) of at least one of the plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits is magnetically coupled to the power transmission coil in the same self-excited oscillator circuit (e.g., see Fig. 6-10); and a first phase-shift filter (e.g., (e.g., 1, 2) in the same self-excited oscillator circuit as the first drive coil is provided between the first drive coil and each control electrode of the pair of switching elements of said another self-excited oscillator circuit (e.g., see Fig. 6, 8).
Claim 5, ‘468 teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. It further teaches that an electric field coupling non-contact power feeding device (e.g., the isolated power ground between the primary side and the secondary side, see Fig. 6, 8) including the inverter circuit according to claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matters:
For claim 3, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily,… wherein at least one of the plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits further includes a drive control coil connected in parallel to the power transmission coil or the resonant capacitor in the same self-excited oscillator circuit, or to the power reception coil magnetically coupled to the power transmission coil; a second drive coil of at least one of the plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits is magnetically coupled to the drive control coil in the same self-excited oscillator circuit; and a second phase-shift filter in the same self-excited oscillator circuit as the second drive coil is provided between the second drive coil and each control electrode of the pair of switching elements of said another self-excited oscillator circuit.
For claim 4, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily,… wherein at least one of the plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits further includes a drive control coil connected in parallel to the power transmission coil or the resonant capacitor in the same self-excited oscillator circuit, or to the power reception coil magnetically coupled to the power transmission coil; a second drive coil of at least one of the plurality of self-excited oscillator circuits is magnetically coupled to the drive control coil in the same self-excited oscillator circuit; and the phase-shift filter in the same self-excited oscillator circuit as the second drive coil is connected to the drive control coil.
Examiner's Note:
Examiner has cited particular columns 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUE ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1263. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 8:30AM-5:00PM
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached on 571-272-2838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUE ZHANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838