DETAILED ACTION
1. This office action is a response to communication submitted on 07/05/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
3. Claims 1-6 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
4. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “a control circuit configured to output a PWM drive signal to the inverter circuit” while further recites “a motor control section configured to control the switching element…”. It is unclear and vague if the control of the switching is actually executed by said control circuit or motor control section since a person skilled in the art would think that PWM is a control action for inverter switches, specially associated to motor control, however, the claim recites two different control units to perform said switch control, leading to confusion. For aspect of office action, these control units will be interpreted as the same (PWM or main system controller associated to motor control).
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hibino (US 20120163046 A1) in view of CHO et al. (DE 102016118092 A1).
In regards to 1, Hibino shows (Figs. 1-11) a control device, comprising:
an inverter circuit (10, Fig. 1) including a plurality of switching elements (Su, Sv, Sw) constituting three upper and lower arms corresponding one-to-one to each phase of a three-phase motor (6), and configured to output a drive voltage to the motor (6) by switching the switching elements based on a PWM drive signal (pars. 46-47);
a shunt resistor (R) provided between a ground-side potential line of the inverter circuit (10) and a ground (not specified but implicit);
a control circuit (4) configured to output a PWM drive signal to the inverter circuit (10); and
an amplifier circuit (5a, Fig. 2) configured to amplify the voltage converted from current by the shunt resistor (R) and output the amplified voltage to the control circuit (4);
wherein the control circuit (4) includes a current value acquisition section configure to calculate a current value based on a signal input through the amplifier circuit (i.e. The control section 4 obtains the detection result of the phase current from a detection section corresponding to a current acquisition section of the present application having a differential amplifier 5a and an A/D converter 5b, pars. 43, 48-50, 57-58),
an offset correction section (see pars. 87-90, i.e. offset compensation is performed using a detected value (offset detection value)) configured to cancel an offset voltage from the output voltage of the amplifier circuit (5a), and
a motor control section (inherent as be executed by control section 4 which controls the switching states of the switching elements, PWM) configured to control the switching element (Su, Sv, Sw) so as to satisfy a target number of revolutions and perform a regular control of the motor (implicit as it is a conventional technique, thus needless to exemplify, to determine the current command value so as to satisfy the target rotation speed and control the motor3), and
during the regular control, the motor control section (4) sets the switching element (Su, Sv, Sw) included in the arm located on a potential line side to which the shunt resistor (R) is connected to a state in which current does not flow by changing a pulse signal configured to control switching of the plurality of switching elements (i.e. control section 4 corresponds to a motor control section, and controls the motor so as to be synchronized with the carrier signal by repeating an inverter control period T2 of a predetermined length corresponding to the periodic control of the present application… A phase current detection period T1 having a wide pulse width is provided at a predetermined interval between predetermined inverter control periods T2 to perform phase current detection. When offset compensation is performed at this time, a switching pattern (V0, V7) in which no phase current flows is selected, and the voltage at that time can be detected as an offset), pars. 45-58, 71, 74, 77, 79, 88-89, 93-94 and Figs. 3-5 and 7-10), and in this state, the current value acquisition section acquires the offset voltage converted by the shunt resistor (R).
Although, Hibino implicitly discloses a shunt resistor provided between a potential line of the inverter circuit and low potential side the ground is not explicitly specified. Hibino also does not explicitly disclose that the motor control section is configured to control the switching element so as to satisfy a target number of revolutions and perform a regular control of the motor.
However, CHO discloses (see abstract) and shows (Figs. 1-3) an apparatus (100) for controlling an electric motor (160/260) comprising an inverter (140/240) that controls the electric motor (160/260), a shunt resistor (SHUNT1 1 to SHUNT 3) provided between a ground-side potential line of the inverter circuit (140/240) and a ground (see ground at end of SHUNTS 1-3), and discloses a motor control section (105/205) is configured to control the switching element (PWM of 141-146) so as to satisfy a target number of revolutions and perform a regular control of the motor (i.e. The control 105/205 may use the first current and the second current to a position of one in the electric motor 160 Estimating the rotor contained, can derive a change of position (differentiate) to the speed of the electric motor 160 can detect the detected speed of the electric motor 160 at a target speed (eg, target speed) of the electric motor 160 to obtain the velocity deviation and calculate a 3-phase voltage vector corresponding to the velocity deviation, and may correspond to the calculated 3-phase voltage vector pulse width modulation (PWM) signal at the inverter 140 provide… The device 100 can differentiate (derive) a change in the rotor position (eg determine the time derivative of the (changing) rotor position), the rotational speed (eg speed) of the electric motor 160/260 The detected speed (eg, speed) of the electric motor may be detected at the target speed (eg, target speed) (eg, target speed, eg, target speed) of the electric motor 160 to derive the speed deviation (in other words, the deviation of the speed (eg, rotational speed) of the electric motor from the target speed (eg, target speed)) and the 3-phase voltage vector corresponding to the speed deviation and can apply a pulse width modulation (PWM) voltage corresponding to the calculated 3-phase voltage vector to the inverter 140/240 supply, whereby the electric motor phase current is generated as a sine wave through the stator coil of the electric motor 160 flows. The electric motor 160/260 can be driven by the sine wave, see DETAILED DESCRIPTION).
Thus, given the teaching of CHO, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the circuit/system of Hibino in order to employ a shunt resistor between a potential line of the inverter circuit and the ground and to execute motor control of the switching element so as to satisfy a target number of revolutions and perform a regular control of the motor so as to separately measure the three-phase currents to compare the phase currents, thereby determining the unbalanced state, and where the phase current supplied to the electric motor can be controlled to perform supersaturation driving of the electric motor, at a maximum value of the phase current supplied to the electric motor, hence, the output of the electric motor can be controlled so that It increases up of a rated output, consequently improving the system reliability.
In regards to 2, Hibino shows (Figs. 1-11) wherein the motor control section changes a pulse signal for controlling switching of the switching element when a trigger for offset correction is established during the regular control (i.e. the inverter control is repeated in units of the inverter control period T2, the phase current detection period T1 is provided between the inverter control period T2 and the inverter control period T2 at predetermined intervals (for example, 200 .mu.sec). In this example, the phase current detection period T1 is a period corresponding to one carrier cycle, and two consecutive phase current detection periods T1 are inserted between the inverter control periods. The control section 4 controls switching states of the switching elements (Sup, . . . , Swn) so that in a first half (a first period) of the two phase current detection periods T1, a voltage pulse corresponding to a U-phase current Iu is output from the shunt resistor R, and in a latter half (a second period) thereof, a voltage pulse corresponding to a V-phase current Iv is output from the shunt resistor R, hence corresponding to the trigger establishment of the offset correction of the present application).
7. Claims 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hibino (US 20120163046 A1) in view of CHO et al. (DE 102016118092 A1) and further in view of JIAN (US 20210159829 A1).
In regards to claims 2 and 5, Although CHO discloses controlling switching of the switching element (within 140/240) on the basis of the number of revolutions (i.e. The control 205 may use the first current, the second current and the third current to a position of one in the electric motor 260 Estimating the rotor contained, can derive a change of position (differentiate) to the speed of the electric motor 260 can detect the detected speed of the electric motor 260 at a target speed (eg, target speed) of the electric motor 260 to obtain the velocity deviation and calculate a 3-phase voltage vector corresponding to the velocity deviation, and may correspond to the calculated 3-phase voltage vector pulse width modulation (PWM) signal at the inverter 240 provide).
Hibino as modified by CHO does not explicitly discloses wherein the motor control section changes a pulse signal for controlling switching of the switching element when the number of revolutions of the motor exceeds a reference value during the regular control, or wherein during the regular control, when a trigger for offset correction is established and it is detected that the number of revolutions of the motor has decreased by a predetermined number of revolutions, the motor control section changes the pulse signal for controlling switching of the switching element.
However, JIAN further discloses motor controller includes a power constant controller configured to receive a target power of a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) and generate a first target speed based on the target power; a first signal generator configured to generate a second target speed; a speed constant controller switchably coupled to the power constant controller and the first signal generator, where the speed constant controller is configured to switchably receive the first target speed and the second target speed, and regulate a motor speed of the PMSM based on the received first target speed or the received second target speed (see abstract) and wherein the motor control section changes a pulse signal for controlling switching of the switching element when the number of revolutions of the motor exceeds a reference value during the regular control wherein during the regular control, when a trigger for offset correction is established and it is detected that the number of revolutions of the motor has decreased by a predetermined number of revolutions, the motor control section changes the pulse signal for controlling switching of the switching element (see pars. 48, 64, 108-109, 114-123, i.e. the first switch controller is configured to, while in the normal running state, monitor the motor speed by comparing the motor speed to a first motor speed threshold and trigger the fail-safe state on a condition that the motor speed is equal to or greater than the first motor speed threshold, wherein the first switch is maintained in the first switch state while the first switch controller is in the normal running state, and wherein the first motor speed threshold is greater than the first target speed).
Thus, given the teaching of JIAN, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the circuit/system of Hibino as modified by CHO in order to monitor the revolution (speed) of the motor and control the switching control when the speed is over or under a permissible ideal values so as to maintain it under ideal maximum efficiency, consequently improving the system reliability by having power constant control.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 4 and 6 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Related Prior Arts
9. The following related prior arts made of record are considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure to further show the general state of the art and may be applied alone or in combination for rejection of the claims.
SUZUKI (US 20150214882 A1) discloses wherein the controller acquires the current detection value when the sensor is not energized through the energization device in the first state, in which all of the high potential side switching elements are in the off state, or in the second state, in which all of the low potential side switching elements are in the off state, in the predetermined cycle of the PWM reference signal.
Kurosawa et al. (US 20050189891 A1) discloses a motor drive device which controls a spindle output pre-driver unit and power MOSFETs of an output stage associated with it to form a PWM signal in such a manner that a detection current formed by a DC shunt resistor and a sense amplifier and a current instruction signal coincide with each other, generates a regenerative signal obtained by giving dead times to the PWM signal, generates an energizing timing signal from the result of BEMF (back electromotive voltage) zero cross detection and generates signals for controlling on/off of power MOSFETs of three phases to thereby drive a three-phase motor (see abstract) and wherein the motor control section changes a pulse signal for controlling switching of the switching element when the number of revolutions of the motor exceeds a reference value during the regular control.
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE L CARRASQUILLO whose telephone number is (571)270-7879. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday (9am to 5pm).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Colon-Santana can be reached on (571) 272-2060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JORGE L CARRASQUILLO/Primary Examiner Engineer, Art Unit 2846