DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 21-25, 28-31, 33-40, 42-43 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Zarinetchi (US 6,442,434) in view of Salmet (US 3,828,335) and further in view of Baarman et al. (US 2008/0079392)
Re Claim 21; Zarinetchi discloses an inductive power outlet (Fig. 2, the entire circuit before and including the inductor 32) configured to be coupled with at least one secondary inductive coil (34 and all the circuits afterwards), the inductive power outlet comprising:
at least one primary inductive coil (32) inductively coupling at a resonant frequency with the at least one secondary inductive coil (34) and
a reception circuit (control circuit) detecting control signals originated at the at least one secondary inductive coil, the control signals comprising one or more feedback signals comprising a set of first signals or a set of second signals, wherein the inductive power outlet continually adjusts the driving voltage for regulating power across an electric load (44) to maintain uninterrupted inductive power transfer (“Accordingly, the system of FIG. 5 is capable of regulating the load voltage 45 in response to changes in the load and/or changes in relative position of the primary and secondary windings because regardless of either or both of these changes, the primary circuit 22 continuously seeks to adjust the primary amplitude 46 based on the detectable indications 76 (i.e., such that the load voltage 45 approaches and approximates the threshold voltage 88 in the secondary circuit 42).” This citation discloses a uninterrupted inductive power transfer) within a voltage range based on the detection of the control signals by incrementally increasing the transmission frequency upon receipt of each first signal and incrementally decreasing the transmission frequency upon receipt of each second signal. (Col. 15 line 39-67 and Col 16 line 1-30)
Zarinetchi does not disclose receiving a driving voltage that oscillates at a transmission frequency higher than the resonant frequency and increasing the transmission frequency to increase the power into the voltage range and incrementally decreasing the transmission frequency to decrease the power into the voltage range
However, Salmet discloses receiving a driving voltage that oscillates at a transmission frequency higher than the resonant frequency. (Col. 3 line 17-33).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have the driving voltage oscillates at a transmission frequency highly than the resonant frequency motivated by the efficiently transfer power generated to the load so that maximum power is transferred.
However, Baarman discloses increasing the transmission frequency to increase the power into the voltage range and incrementally decreasing the transmission frequency to decrease the power into the voltage range (Par 0015).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the filing of the invention to have increase or decrease the voltage applied to the load in order to maintain optimum power required for the load to operate effectively so that the longevity of the load is preserved.
Re Claim 22; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the driving voltage is received from a power supply (20 )via a driver (70) wired to the at least one primary inductive coil (32).(Fig. 2)
Re Claim 23; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the driver (70) comprises a switching unit (the detail of the switches are shown in Fig 3d (1)) for intermittently connecting the at least one primary inductive coil to the power supply. (Col 11 line 36-45)
Re Claim 24; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the transmission frequency lies within a range in which induced voltage varies approximately linearly with the resonant frequency. (Voltage is an electrical signal and frequency defines the behavior of signal, thus voltage varies approximately linearly with frequency)
Re Claim 25; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the control signals (72) are used for transferring one or more feedback signals (76, Fig. 4) originated at the at least one secondary inductive coil to the at least one primary inductive coil (32) for regulating power transfer across the coupling. (Col. 13 line 20-45)
Re Claim 28; Zarinetchi discloses, wherein the one or more feedback signals carries data pertaining to operational parameters of the electric load. (Col. 13 line 20-45)
Re Claim 29; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the reception circuit comprises a voltage monitor for monitoring amplitude across the at least one primary inductive coil. (Col. 3 line 20-45)
Re Claim 30; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the voltage monitor is configured to detect increases in a primary voltage. (Col 3 line 20-45)
Re Claim 31; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the voltage monitor comprises a voltage peak detector (amplitude 46) configured to detect increases in a transmission voltage between the at least one primary inductive coil and the at least one secondary inductive coil.(Col. 8 line 40-67)
Re Claim 33; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the at least one secondary inductive coil is wired to two inputs of a bridge rectifier and the electric load being wired to two outputs of the bridge rectifier. (Fig 10c)
Re Claim 34; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the inductive power outlet is incorporated into at least one application selected from the group consisting of inductive chargers, inductive power adaptors, power tools, kitchen appliances, bathroom appliances, computers, media players, office equipment, implanted devices, pacemakers, trackers, and RFID tags. (Abstract)
Re Claim 35; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the reception circuit is adapted to detect control signals originated at the at least one secondary inductive coil by connecting at least one electric element to at least one secondary inductive coil so as to increase the resonant frequency. (Fig. 9a shows the resistor in the circuit, thus increase resonant frequency)
Re Claim 36; Zarinetchi discloses wherein a resistor of the inductive power outlet draws power during one half of an alternating current (AC) cycle to reduce power loss. (Fig. 25)
Re Claim 37; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the reception circuit comprises a demodulator (26) configured to produce an output signal (72). (Fig. 2)
Re Claim 38; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the reception circuit is configured to receive from a transmission circuit one or more signal pulses or one or more coded signals. (Abstract)
Re Claim 39; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the reception circuit (42) is in communication (72) with a transmission circuit (24).
Re Claim 40; Zarinetchi discloses wherein a transmission circuit is wired to an input of a bridge rectifier (Q2) and an output of the bridge rectifier. (Fig. 3D(2))
Re Claim 43; Zarinetchi discloses wherein the one or more feedback signals provide real time power regulation across the electric load to maintain the uninterrupted inductive power transfer. (Col 15 line 50-55 When the primary amplitude 46 is reduced such that the load voltage 45 is less than the threshold voltage 88 in the secondary circuit 42, the secondary circuit 42 stops generating the detectable indications 76 and, accordingly, the detector 80 stops triggering the timer 82. The when in the sentences indicates the feedback is in real time)
Re Claim 42 and 43; The combination of Zarinetchi in view of Salmet has been disclosed above.
The combination does not disclose wherein the inductive power outlet incrementally increases the transmission frequency upon receipt of each first signal to increase the power into the voltage range and incrementally decreases the transmission frequency upon receipt of each second signal to decrease the power into the voltage range
wherein a positive incremental value for incrementally increasing the transmission frequency upon receipt of each first signal is greater than, less than, or equal to a negative incremental value for incrementally decreasing the transmission frequency upon receipt of each second signal.
However, Baarman discloses disclose wherein the inductive power outlet incrementally increases the transmission frequency upon receipt of each first signal to increase the power into the voltage range and incrementally decreases the transmission frequency upon receipt of each second signal to decrease the power into the voltage range
wherein a positive incremental value for incrementally increasing the transmission frequency upon receipt of each first signal is greater than, less than, or equal to a negative incremental value for incrementally decreasing the transmission frequency upon receipt of each second signal. (Par 0055-61)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing of the invention to have gradually increases and/or decrease the operating frequency based on a feedback signal in order to provide the required amount of power requested by the receiver, in order to maximize the amount of power needed by the receiver to operate effectively.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/08/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues
prior art, specifically references to Zarinetchi and Salmet, fails to disclose or suggest an wherein the inductive power outlet continually adjusts the driving voltage for regulating power across an electric load to maintain uninterrupted inductive power transfer within a voltage range based on the detection of the control signals by incrementally increasing the transmission frequency upon receipt of each first signal to increase the power into the voltage range and incrementally decreasing the transmission frequency upon receipt of each second signal to decrease the power into the voltage range," as recited by amended claim 21.
However, the examiner respectfully disagree, As shown above in the rejection, the combination of Zarinetchi and Salmet and further in view of Baarman discloses the amended limitation.
Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL KESSIE whose telephone number is (571)272-4449. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pmEst.
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/DANIEL KESSIE/
04/21/2026
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
Prosecution Insights