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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claims recite routine data gathering such as predicting rotor current . There is nothing else being done to the motor . The judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. The motor system is generic. Additional elements such as capacitive elements , and inductive element are generic and do not add significantly more than abstract idea. Additional element does not integrate abstract idea into practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea .
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) 1,4,7-14,17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2019053675 in view of 20110038190 both cited by Applicant .
WO2019053675 discloses motor system comprising a stationary side , a rotating side and stationary side comprising an excitation unit (122) including a resonant oscillator circuit including a tunable capacitor to tune a resonant frequency ( see pages 6-8,14 fig 2-3). WO2019053675 lacks disclosing , stationary side sensor system operable to detect current on stationary side and send current based sensor reading to controller, the controller operable to perform a rotor current predicting operation comprising predicting a rotor current associated with rotor of rotating side based at les in part on current based sensor reading and parameter of at least one component of compensation network of stationary side. 20110038190 discloses a measuring circuit (25) which measures voltage and /or currents at matching transformer (24) and/or primary side of rotating transformer (27) and function generator (26) which generates an estimate of current and /or voltage at load (122) in a secondary side of rotating transformer (27) ( see paragraph 26, fig 2 ) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention of to combine the motor system of WO2019053675 with controller of 20110038190 for improved control. Claim 11 discloses same as Claim 1 . Claims 2-3,12-13 disclose ac generator (23) producing an ac voltage from an intermediate dc voltage and the measuring circuit (25) in a stationary side of rotating transformer (27) , see paragraph 26, fig 2 of 20110038190. Claims 4,14 show oscillator circuit including tunable capacitor to tune the resonant frequency ( see page 14 , fig 2-3 of WO2019053675. Claims 7,17 are shown that stationary side comprises excitation unit (122) including a resonant oscillator circuit ( see page 14-15, fig 3 of WO2019053675 ). Claims 8,18 are shown considering that resonant oscillator circuit includes tunable capacitor , primary side of transformer, and push pull transistors and rotating side consist of rectifier (310) a load and secondary side of transformer ( see page 14-15 fig 3 in WO2019053675) . Claims 9,19 show oscillator circuit including tunable capacitor to tune resonant frequency ( see page 14 fig 2-3,in WO2019053675). Claims 10 and 20 are shown the stator coil arrangement (214A,214B) rotor coil arraignments (216A,216B) and stator coil arraignments (214A, 214B) that are operable to wirelessly transfer ac excitation signals to rotor coil arrangements (216A,216B) see pages 141-15 fig 2-3 in WO2109053675.
Claim(s) 5-6,15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2019053675 and 20110038190 as applied to claims 1-4,7-14,17-20 above, and further in view of 20170018974 .
WO2019053675 and 20110038190 as disclosed above lack inductor and tuning capacitor . 20170018974 discloses inductor (Li) and tuning capacitor (C1) , see paragraph 52-53 , 82 and fig 2. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to combine motor and controller of WO2019053675 and 20110038190 with inductor and capacitor of 20170018974 for improved control.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. 20110038190 discloses estimate current , 9509225 discloses LLC resonant filter transformer motor inverter and 2022/0306133 discloses estimation of torque .
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAREN MASIH whose telephone number is (571)272-2068. The examiner can normally be reached m-f 8-5 with second Friday off.
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/KAREN MASIH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846