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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 19 November 2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2015/0373805 by Lian in view of US 2019/0103863 by Inada et al. (Inada hereinafter).
Regarding claim 13, Lian discloses a switching element operation detection device [see at least Figure 3] comprising: a sensing unit configured to sense a current [see at least Figure 3, (305)] and a driving circuit [see at least Figure 3, (302)]; an amplification unit configured to amplify the current sensed by the sensing unit [see at least Figure 3, “AMP” in (305)]; a hysteresis unit configured to output a high or low signal according to output of the amplification unit [see at least Figure 3, “CMP”]; and a switching element operation detection signal output unit configured to output a switching element operation detection signal using output signal of the hysteresis unit [see at least Figure 3, “LOG”].
Lian fails to disclose a sensing unit configured to sense a current, wherein the current is flowing in a driving circuit that drives a switching element. However, Inada discloses a driving circuit [see at least Figure 1, (3)] with a current sensor [see at least Figure 1, (5a); paragraph 0026] which drives a switching element [see at least Figure 2, (6), driven by (7)].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the Applicant's invention to sense a current within the driving circuit in order to detect abnormalities within the driving circuit. Thus, allowing for the driving circuit to be controlled during abnormalities and prevent damage to components.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2015/0373805 by Lian in view of US 2019/0103863 by Inada et al. (Inada hereinafter) in further view of US 2022/0146577 by Koga.
Regarding claim 15, Lian in view of Inada teaches the switching element operation detection device according to claim 13.
Lian in view of Inada fails to teach wherein the hysteresis unit outputs a high signal if input voltage is above a first value when output signal is a low signal, and outputs a low signal if input voltage is equal to or less than a second value when output signal is a high signal. However, Koga discloses this limitation [see at least paragraph 0058].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the Applicant's invention to utilize a voltage threshold to determine output of the comparator as it is a common use of a comparator which enables it to perform as intended. Thus, creating a repeatable and consistent output to allow the system to perform as intended.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 14 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.
Claims 1-9, 11-12 and 16-21 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: claims 1-9, 11-12 and 16-21 are allowed as the prior art, alone or in combination, fails to disclose all of the limitations of the claims, especially a switching element operation detection signal output unit configured to output switching element operation detection signal when both outputs of the first hysteresis unit and output of the second hysteresis unit are high signals of independent claim 1 with similar language present in independent claim 16.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOEL BARNETT whose telephone number is (571)272-2879. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST.
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/JOEL BARNETT/Examiner, Art Unit 2836
/DANIEL CAVALLARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836