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 .
This action is in response to the amendments filed on 07/30/2025, in which claim 1 is currently pending.
Response to Amendment
Applicant has amended the specification to overcome the objections to the drawings. Accordingly, the previous drawing objections have been withdrawn.
Applicant has amended the title to be sufficiently descriptive. Accordingly, the objection to the title has been withdrawn.
Applicant has amended the claims to overcome the claim objections. Accordingly, the previous claim objections have been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement submitted on 07/08/2025 has been received and considered.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoshiba, JP 2007137373 A, provided in the 06/18/2024 IDS, in view of Tsukamoto, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0216437 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Hoshiba discloses an in-vehicle controller to be installed in a vehicle (see at least Hoshiba [0019]: “FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a hybrid vehicle 20 equipped with a power output device according to one embodiment of the present invention.”);
the vehicle comprising an engine with a crankshaft (see at least Hoshiba [0012]: “The vehicle of the present invention is a power output device according to any one of the first or second aspects of the present invention described above, i.e., basically a power output device that outputs power to a drive shaft, comprising an internal combustion engine”; [0019]: “As shown in FIG. 1, a hybrid vehicle 20 of the embodiment includes an engine 22, a three-shaft power distribution integration mechanism 30 connected via a damper 28 to a crankshaft 26 serving as an output shaft of the engine 22…”),
a motor capable of generating electricity and connected to the crankshaft (see at least Hoshiba [0019]: “As shown in FIG. 1, a hybrid vehicle 20 of the embodiment includes an engine 22, a three-shaft power distribution integration mechanism 30 connected via a damper 28 to a crankshaft 26 serving as an output shaft of the engine 22, a motor MG1 capable of generating electricity connected to the power distribution integration mechanism 30, a motor MG2 connected via a reduction gear 35 to a ring gear shaft 32a serving as a drive shaft connected to the power distribution integration mechanism 30”),
a high voltage battery connected to the motor by a high voltage power line, a low voltage battery (see at least Hoshiba [0023]: “Therefore, by controlling the on/off of transistors T31, T32, the voltage of the DC power of battery 50 can be boosted and supplied to inverters 41, 42, or the DC voltage acting on the positive bus bar 54a and the negative bus bar 54b can be reduced to charge battery 50. A smoothing capacitor 57 is connected between the reactor L and the negative bus bar 54b, and a low voltage battery 68 capable of supplying power to auxiliary equipment (not shown) via a DC / DC converter 66 is also connected between the reactor L and the negative bus bar 54b.”; battery 50 is a high voltage battery because the battery voltage is boosted),
a DC/DC converter connected to the high voltage power line and connected to a low voltage power line connected to the low voltage battery (see at least Hoshiba [0023]: “Therefore, by controlling the on/off of transistors T31, T32, the voltage of the DC power of battery 50 can be boosted and supplied to inverters 41, 42, or the DC voltage acting on the positive bus bar 54a and the negative bus bar 54b can be reduced to charge battery 50. A smoothing capacitor 57 is connected between the reactor L and the negative bus bar 54b, and a low voltage battery 68 capable of supplying power to auxiliary equipment (not shown) via a DC / DC converter 66 is also connected between the reactor L and the negative bus bar 54b.”),
a relay attached to a high voltage battery side of the high voltage power line from the DC/DC converter (see at least Hoshiba [0027]: “Next, the operation of the hybrid vehicle 20 of the embodiment thus configured will be described, in particular, the operation when the vehicle is traveling in a state where an abnormality occurs in the battery 50 and the system main relay 56 is turned off to disconnect the battery 50 from the inverters 41, 42.”; [0025]: “In addition, the hybrid electronic control unit 70 outputs, via an output port, a drive signal to the system main relay 56, a switching control signal to the switching elements of the boost circuit 55, a switching control signal to the switching elements of the DC/DC converter 66, and the like.”),
an inverter configured to drive the motor (see at least Hoshiba [0019]: “As shown in FIG. 1, a hybrid vehicle 20 of the embodiment includes… inverters 41, 42 capable of converting DC to AC and supplying the AC to the motors MG1 and MG2”),
and a capacitor attached to a DC/DC converter side of the high voltage power line from the relay (see at least Hoshiba [0023]: “A smoothing capacitor 57 is connected between the reactor L and the negative bus bar 54b, and a low voltage battery 68 capable of supplying power to auxiliary equipment (not shown) via a DC / DC converter 66 is also connected between the reactor L and the negative bus bar 54b.”; Hoshiba Fig. 1 shows capacitor 57 is on the high voltage power line of DC/DC converter 66 because the capacitor is on the opposite side of converter 66 compared to low voltage battery 68),
wherein, the in-vehicle controller is programmed to, when completing batteryless driving after driving the vehicle off of the motor with the batteryless driving due to the high voltage battery being disconnected with the relay turned off, stop driving the inverter (see at least Hoshiba [0027]: “Next, the operation of the hybrid vehicle 20 of the embodiment thus configured will be described, in particular, the operation when the vehicle is traveling in a state where an abnormality occurs in the battery 50 and the system main relay 56 is turned off to disconnect the battery 50 from the inverters 41, 42. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a battery cut-off control routine executed by the hybrid electronic control unit 70. This routine is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals (for example, every few msec) when the battery 50 is disconnected from the inverters 41, 42.”; [0035]: “When the deviation (Ne * −Ne) is equal to or greater than a predetermined value N1, the gates of the inverters 41, 42 of the motors MG1, MG2 are shut off (step S160)”),
…and then stop driving the DC/DC converter (see at least Hoshiba [0035]: “Therefore, the gates of the inverters 41 and 42 are shut off with priority over the stopping of the DC/DC converter 66…In addition, the reason why the gates of the inverters 41, 42 are shut off before the DC/DC converter 66 is stopped is to suppress a voltage drop in the low voltage system and to avoid the low voltage battery 68 from running down or the auxiliary equipment from malfunctioning”).
Hoshiba fails to expressly disclose discharging a capacitor after stopping the inverter. However, Tsukamoto teaches
when completing batteryless driving after driving the vehicle off of the motor with the batteryless driving due to the high voltage battery being disconnected with the relay turned off, stop driving the inverter, then discharge electric charge of the capacitor (see at least Tsukamoto [0064]: “The vehicle controller 12 causes the discharge circuit 45 to discharge the electric charge accumulated in the capacitor 43 in the state where the battery 2 is disconnected from the inverter 41.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to modify the controller disclosed by Hoshiba with the discharging the capacitor taught by Tsukamoto with reasonable expectation of success. Tsukamoto is directed towards the related field of a power source system control method. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine Hoshiba with Tsukamoto to prevent charge from the capacitor inadvertently flowing into the inverter (see at least Tsukamoto [0064]: “The vehicle controller 12 causes the discharge circuit 45 to discharge the electric charge accumulated in the capacitor 43 in the state where the battery 2 is disconnected from the inverter 41. Accordingly, it can be avoided that the electric charge accumulated in the capacitor 43 flows into the inverter 41 during the program change process of the motor controller 9.”).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH J SLOWIK whose telephone number is (571)270-5608. The examiner can normally be reached MON - FRI: 0900-1700.
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/ELIZABETH J SLOWIK/Examiner, Art Unit 3662
/ANISS CHAD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3662
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