DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 08/01/2023. Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawing
The drawing submitted on 08/01/2023 is acknowledged and accepted by the examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 08/01/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-20 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.
Claims 1, 4-7, 11-12, 19-20, Applicants recite the limitations “… four switches …”, “… pairs of the switches …” at line 1 of claim 1, and “… the four switches …” lines 3-6 of claim 1. Applicants further recite “… the switches …” without proper antecedence basis at line 2 of claim 1 and in claims 4-7, 11-12, 19-20 respectively. It is not clear if these “the switches” Applicants intended to refer to are two or more of the same four switches or they are meant for different switches. Therefore, the metes and bounds of the claim are unclear. Applicant’s correction is required.
Claims 2, 3, 8-10, 13-18 are also rejected based on the dependency of the respective rejected claims they are depend on.
Applicants are reminded to consistently recite the limitations throughout the claims.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-13, 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or (a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US Patent or PG Pub. No. 20230291304, hereinafter ‘304). 20140184189
Claim 1, ‘304 teaches a flying-capacitor inverter (e.g., see Fig. 1-8), comprising a switch leg with four switches (e.g., S1-S4), a flying capacitor (e.g., Cf) connected to the switch leg, an output (e.g., SW2) between pairs of the switches, and a control device (e.g., 1-3, see Fig. 3-4) connected to each of the four switches, wherein the control device is configured to employ phase-shift modulation to switch the four switches such that switching signals for a first switch and a fourth switch of the four switches are phase shifted to the switching signals for a second switch and a third switch of the four switches (e.g., the respective phase shift between S1/S4 and S2/S3, see Fig. 2, 5-8), and wherein: * a switch-state of the first switch and the second switch being ON is defined as switch-state ET+ (e.g., corresponding switch-state of the first switch S1 and the second switch S2 being ON, see Fig. 2, 5-8); * a switch-state of the third switch and the fourth switch being ON is defined as switch-state ET- (e.g., corresponding switch-state of the third switch S3 and the S4 being ON, see Fig. 2, 5-8);
* a switch-state of the first switch and the third switch being ON is defined as switch-state FW+ (e.g., corresponding switch-state of the first switch S1 and the third switch S3 being ON, see Fig. 2, 5-8); and * a switch-state of the second switch and the fourth switch being ON is defined as switch-state FW- (e.g., corresponding switch-state of the second switch S2 and the fourth switch S4 being ON, see Fig. 2, 5-8);
* a transition from switch-state ET+ to ET- is defined as transition A; and * a transition from switch-state ET- to ET+ is defined as transition B; * the transition A with an interposed switch-state FW+ is defined as A+;* the transition A with an interposed switch-state FW- is defined as A-; * the transition B with an interposed switch-state FW+ is defined as B+; * the transition B with an interposed switch-state FW- is defined as B- (e.g., the respective transitions of corresponding switch-states, see Fig. 2)(Examiner Note: the “… switch-states” and “… transitions …” recited underlined above are simply defining names of switching states and switch-state transitions, do not further limit the scope of the claim).
Claim 2, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to employ phase-shift modulation comprising the transitions in order B+, A- (e.g., see Fig. 2b, 5-8) and/or comprising the transitions in order B-, A+.
Claim 3, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 2 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to employ phase-shift modulation comprising the transitions of any combination of followings: a repetition in order of B+, A- (e.g., see Fig. 2b, 5-8); a repetition in order of B-, A+; in order of B+, A-, B-, A+;* in order of B-, A+, B+, A-; repetitions thereof (e.g., the cycle repeat itself when D>0.5, see Fig. 2b, 5-8).
Claim 4, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 2 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to employ symmetrical phase-shift modulation in which turn ON interval lengths of the switches are equal (e.g., the ON time of Gs1, Gs2, or the ON time of Gs3, Gs4, see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim 5, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 4 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to, in the symmetrical phase-shift modulation, set turn ON interval lengths of the switches to (1-D)T/2 and DT/2 (e.g., the corresponding ON-time of Gs1 and Gs4, or the corresponding ON-time of Gs2 and Gs3), wherein D is a duty cycle and T (e.g., Ts) is a time period of a periodic voltage output by the flying-capacitor inverter (e.g., see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim 6, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 2 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to employ asymmetrical phase-shift modulation in which turn ON interval lengths of the switches differ from one another (e.g., the different ON time of Gs1, Gs2, or the ON time of Gs3, Gs4 during D<0.5 and during D>0.5, see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim 7, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 6 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to, in the asymmetrical phase-shift modulation, alter turn ON interval lengths of the switches between DT/2 and (2-D)T/2 (e.g., the corresponding ON-time of Gs1 and Gs4, or the corresponding ON-time of Gs2 and Gs3), wherein D is a duty cycle and T (e.g., Ts) is a time period of a periodic voltage output by the flying-capacitor inverter (e.g., see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim 8, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 6 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to employ alternating-asymmetrical phase-shift modulation in which comprises both the transitions in order B+, A- and the transitions in order B-, A+ (e.g., see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim 9, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 8 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to, in the alternating-asymmetrical phase-shift modulation, set turn ON intervals of the respective switches to (2-D)T/2, T/2, DT/2, and T/2 for two sequential time periods T with a duty cycle D (e.g., see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim 10, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to control one or more of transitions of switch-states in dependence of a measured current (ifc) flowing through the flying capacitor and/or control one or more of transitions of switch-states in dependence of a measured voltage (vfc) of the flying capacitor (e.g., Vcf, see Fig. 4).
Claim 11, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to control one or more transitions by adding a duty cycle control AD to the duty cycle D of the switches (e.g., see Fig. 2, 4-8).
Claim 12, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device is configured to control timing of one or more transitions by adding a duty cycle control AD to the duty cycle D of the switches (e.g., see Fig. 2, 4-8).
Claim 13, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the control device comprises two pulse width modulation (PWM) counter units (e.g., CMPR1, COMPR2), each of which being configured to control a switch-state of two switches out of the four switches (e.g., see [0040]. Fig. 2, 4-8).
Claim 16, ‘304 teaches a phase-shift modulation method for controlling a flying-capacitor inverter according to claim 1 (e.g., see claim 1 rejection above), comprising: configuring the flying-capacitor inverter with modulation configuration in which: a switch-state of the first switch and the second switch being ON is defined as switch-state ET+ (e.g., corresponding switch-state of the first switch S1 and the second switch S2 being ON, see Fig. 2, 5-8); a switch-state of the third switch and the fourth switch being ON is defined as switch-state ET- (e.g., corresponding switch-state of the third switch S3 and the S4 being ON, see Fig. 2, 5-8); a switch-state of the first switch and the third switch being ON is defined as switch-state FW+ (e.g., corresponding switch-state of the first switch S1 and the third switch S3 being ON, see Fig. 2, 5-8); and a switch-state of the second switch and the fourth switch being ON is defined as switch-state FW- (e.g., corresponding switch-state of the second switch S2 and the fourth switch S4 being ON, see Fig. 2, 5-8);
a transition from switch-state ET+ to ET- is defined as transition A; and a transition from switch-state ET- to ET+ is defined as transition B; the transition A with an interposed switch-state FW+ is defined as A+; the transition A with an interposed switch-state FW- is defined as A-; the transition B with an interposed switch-state FW+ is defined as B+; the transition B with an interposed switch-state FW- is defined as B- (e.g., the respective transitions of corresponding switch-states, see Fig. 2) (Examiner Note: the “… switch-states” and “… transitions …” recited underlined above are simply defining names of switching states and switch-state transitions, do not further limit the scope of the claim).
employing a phase-shift modulation to switch the four switches such that switching signals for a first switch and a fourth switch of the four switches are phase-shifted to the switching signals for a second switch and a third switch of the four switches (e.g., see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim 17, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 16 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the phase-shift modulation comprises the transitions in order B+, A- (e.g., see Fig. 2b, 5-8) and/or the transitions in order B-, A+.
Claim 18, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 16 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the phase-shift modulation comprises the transitions of any combination of followings: a repetition in order of B+, A- (e.g., see Fig. 2b, 5-8); a repetition in order of B-, A+; in order of B+, A-, B-, A+; in order of B-, A+, B+, A-;
repetitions thereof (e.g., the cycle repeat itself when D>0.5, see Fig. 2b, 5-8).
Claim 19, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 17 as discussed above. It further teaches that further comprises: employing symmetrical phase-shift modulation in which turn ON interval lengths of the switches are equal, and setting turn ON interval lengths of the switches to (1-D)T/2 and DT/2 (e.g., the corresponding ON-time of Gs1 and Gs4, or the corresponding ON-time of Gs2 and Gs3), wherein D is a duty cycle and T (e.g., Ts) is a time period of a periodic voltage output by the flying-capacitor inverter (e.g., see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim 20, ‘304 teaches the limitations of claim 17 as discussed above. It further teaches that further comprises: employing asymmetrical phase-shift modulation in which turn ON interval lengths of the switches differ from one another; and altering turn ON interval lengths of the switches between DT/2 and (2-D)T/2 (e.g., the corresponding ON-time of Gs1 and Gs4, or the corresponding ON-time of Gs2 and Gs3), wherein D is a duty cycle and T (e.g., Ts) is a time period of a periodic voltage output by the flying-capacitor inverter (e.g., see Fig. 2, 5-8).
Claim Rejections - 35-8 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35-8 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1,148 USPQ 45-89 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35-8 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under 35-8 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.5-86 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35-8 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential 35-8 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under 35-8 U.S.C. 103(a).
Claims 14-15 are rejected under 35-8 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US Patent or PG Pub. No. 20230291304, hereinafter ‘304), in view of Liu et al. (CN 100405723 C, hereinafter Liu). A
Claim 14, ‘304teaches the limitations of claim 1 as discussed above. ‘304 does not explicitly disclose that further comprising: a transformer with a rectifier circuit; or a half-bridge LLC resonant converter.
Liu discloses a multi-level phase-shift converter having a flying-capacitor inverter and further comprising: a transformer (e.g., Tr1, Tr2) with a rectifier circuit (e.g., Dr1-Dr4); or a half-bridge LLC resonant converter (e.g., the circuits comprising Q1-Q4, Cd1, Cd2, C1-C4, Llk1,Llk2, Cs, see Abstract; Fig. 1-24).
Therefore, It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify ‘304 by including the half-bridge LLC resonant converter as taught by Lou in order of being able to reduces the voltage stress of rectifying devices (e.g., see Abstract).
Claim 15, ‘304teaches the limitations of claim 14 as discussed above. ‘304 does not explicitly disclose that wherein the transformer is provided with a blocking capacitor or the half-bridge LLC resonant converter is provided with a splitted resonant capacitor.
Liu further discloses that wherein the transformer is provided with a blocking capacitor (e.g., Cd1, Cd2) or the half-bridge LLC resonant converter is provided with a splitted resonant capacitor (e.g., Cd1, Cd2, and/or C1-C4, see Fig. 1).
Liu reads the same obviousness as discussed in the claim 14 rejection above.
Examiner's Note:
Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUE ZHANG whose telephone number is (5-871)270-1263. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 8:30AM-5-8:00PM
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached on 5-871-272-2838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 5-871-273-8300.
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/JUE ZHANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838