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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 6-7 and 9-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on February 5, 2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of species A, species 1, and species Y in the reply filed on February 6, 2026, is acknowledged. Note that claim 9 reads on species 2 of FIG. 4-6 and is withdrawn.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on July 18, 2023. These drawings are acceptable.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-5, 7, and 13-17 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 line 11, “first termination” should be, “first electrical termination” (see line 10).
Claim 1 line 14, “second termination” should be, “second electrical termination” (see line 13).
Claim 1 line 18, “control termination” should be, “electrical control termination” (see line 17).
Claim 17 line 4, “the module” should be, “the power module”.
The remaining claims are objected to by reason of their dependency.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4, 8, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Publication 2021/0125903 to Tani et al. (hereinafter Tani).
Claim 1
Tani (FIG. 1-7) discloses a power module for a current converter for an electric axle drive of a motor vehicle, the power module comprising:
a termination substrate (FIG. 6-7: 10; paragraph 44) having electrical contact portions that are electrically isolated from one another;
a plurality of power semiconductor elements (22; paragraph 38) arranged on the termination substrate (10), each power semiconductor element (22) having a first terminal (for 11; paragraph 38), a second terminal (301; paragraph 38), and a control terminal (110) for controlling a flow of current between the first terminal and the second terminal, the first terminals of all power semiconductor elements (22) being electrically connected to a first contact portion (for 11) of the termination substrate (10);
a first electrical termination (11; paragraph 38) for terminating the power module to a first electrical potential (paragraph 38-39), the first termination (11) being electrically connected (paragraph 38) to the first contact portion (for 11) of the termination substrate (10; see also paragraph 23-24: semiconductor elements are joined to contact portion by solder or silver sinter);
a second electrical termination (12; paragraph 38) for terminating the power module to a second electrical potential (paragraph 38-39), the second termination being (12) electrically connected to the second terminals (301) of all power semiconductor elements (22), the second termination (12) being arranged centrally between and/or above the power semiconductor elements (22); and
an electrical control termination (6) for terminating the power module to an electrical control potential, the control termination (6) being electrically connected to the control terminals (110) of all power semiconductor elements (22).
Claim 2
Tani discloses the power module according to claim 1, wherein each power semiconductor element (22) comprises a field-effect transistor or a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (paragraph 2), and wherein, for each power semiconductor element (22) the first terminal (for 11) is a drain terminal (paragraph 39), the second terminal (301) is a source terminal (paragraph 39), and the control terminal (6) is a gate terminal (paragraph 28).
Claim 4
Tani discloses the power module according to claim 1, wherein the second electrical termination (12) is directly connected to the second terminals (301) of all power semiconductor elements (22) via a material bond (see paragraph 24: joining by solder or liquid phase diffusion welding).
Claim 8
Tani discloses the power module according to claim 1, wherein the control terminals (110) of all the power semiconductor elements (22) are directly connected to the control termination (6) via electrical lines (6a, 6c, 6h, 6j; see FIG. 6).
Claim 17
Tani (FIG. 1-7) discloses a method for operating a power module, the method comprising:
applying (paragraph 38-39) a first electrical potential, via a first electrical termination (11) of the power module and a first contact portion (for 11) of a termination substrate (10) of the module, to first terminals (for 11) of a plurality of power semiconductor elements (22) arranged on the termination substrate (10);
applying a second electrical potential (paragraph 38-39), via a second electrical termination (12) of the power module, to second terminals (301) of the plurality of power semiconductor elements (22); and
applying an electrical control potential (paragraph 38-39), via an electrical control termination (6), to control terminals (110) of the plurality of power semiconductor elements (22), in order to control a flow of current between the first terminals and the second terminals of each of the plurality of power semiconductor elements (22).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tani.
Tani (FIG. 6) discloses the power module according to claim 1, comprising up to four power semiconductor elements (22), as recited in claim 3.
Tani does not expressly disclose each power semiconductor element having a base area of up to 30 square millimeters, as recited in claim 3.
Where the only difference between the prior art and the claim is a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device is not patentably distinct from the prior art device. See MPEP 2144.04 citing In Gardner v. TEC Syst., Inc., 725 F.2d 1338, 220 USPQ 777 (Fed. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 225 USPQ 232 (1984).
Accordingly, as a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the cited prior art device, such a change to Tani to adjust the footprint of the semiconductor modules would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention as a common practice which normally requires only ordinary skill in the art and hence is considered a routine expedient. Additionally, Applicant has not demonstrated the criticality of the specific limitation (see MPEP 2144.04).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tani in view of US Publication 2021/0313243 to McPherson.
Tani discloses the power module according to claim 4, wherein the second electrical termination (12) comprises at least one terminal finger per power semiconductor element (22), the material bond being formed between the terminal fingers and the second terminals (301) of the power semiconductor elements (22), as recited in claim 5.
Tani does not expressly disclose the second electrical termination being deep-drawn and/or bent over, as recited in claim 5.
McPherson (FIG. 1) teaches electrical terminations being deep-drawn and/or bent over.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of McPherson with Tani to incorporate deep-drawn and/or bent over terminations as taught by McPherson in the structure taught by Tani, as one having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this with a reasonable expectation of success because such a combination and/or modification allows for increasing clearance between the power semiconductor element and the body of the electrical termination, allowing for a heat dissipation path while maintaining a wide current path.
Claims 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tani in view of US Publication 2018/287510 to Saha et al. (hereinafter Saha).
Claim 13
Tani discloses a plurality of power modules according to claim 1, as shown above.
Tani does not expressly disclose a current converter for an electric axle drive of a motor vehicle, the current converter comprising: DC terminals for a DC electric current from an electric energy store of the motor vehicle; a DC link capacitor electrically connected to the DC terminals; AC terminals for providing an AC electric current for an electric machine of the electric axle drive; and the plurality of power modules configured to convert the DC electric current into the AC electric current, as recited in claim 13.
Saha (FIG. 1, paragraph 18) teaches a current converter for an electric axle drive of a motor vehicle, the current converter comprising:
DC terminals (for 11) for a DC electric current from an electric energy store of the motor vehicle (paragraph 19);
a DC link capacitor (12; paragraph 20) electrically connected to the DC terminals (of 11);
AC terminals for providing an AC electric current for an electric machine of the electric axle drive (80; paragraph 21); and
a plurality of power modules (2; paragraph 21), the plurality of power modules configured to convert the DC electric current into the AC electric current.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the power module taught by Tani in the current converter taught by Saha, as one having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this with a reasonable expectation of success because such a combination and/or modification allows for converting between AC power and DC power, to provide power from a power supply to an electric motor but also using the electric motor as a generator (Saha paragraph 18) while using the power module teachings of Tani that allow for reduced size and cost of the power module (Tani paragraph 9).
Claim 14
Tani with Saha teaches an electric axle drive for a motor vehicle, comprising at least one electric machine, a transmission, and the current converter according to claim 13 (Saha FIG. 1, paragraph 18-21).
Claim 15
Tani with Saha teaches a motor vehicle comprising the electric axle drive according to claim 14 (Saha paragraph 18-21, 69). Claim 16
Tani with Saha teaches a motor vehicle comprising the current converter according to claim 13 (Saha paragraph 18-21, 69).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN MILAKOVICH whose telephone number is (571) 270-3087. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Dole can be reached at (571) 272-2229. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NATHAN MILAKOVICH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2848