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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because in Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, element 11 should be pointing the primary side circuit but instead seems to be pointing the power switch 110 (see example below with error and suggested drawing). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “S14” (see Fig. 4) has been used to designate both driving signal and feedback signal. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 16, line 1 –“…the second terminal…” should be “…a second terminal..”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-3, 7-9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Morong et. al. US RE47031 (Morong).
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Regarding claim 1, Morong discloses a bias voltage generator (i.e., see reference character added BV) (Fig. 4) for a power converter (see Fig. 4), the power converter comprising
a transformer (i.e., 100d) (Fig. 4), the bias voltage generator (i.e., BV) (Fig. 4) comprising: an auxiliary winding (i.e., 102d) (Fig. 4); a switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) coupled to the auxiliary winding (i.e., 102d) (Fig. 4) at a first node (i.e., see reference character added FN) (Fig. 4) and controlled (i.e., 234d) (Fig. 4) by a control signal (i.e., Qb) (Fig. 4);
an inductor (i.e., 102d) (Fig. 4) comprising a first terminal coupled to the switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) at a second node (i.e., see reference character added SN) (Fig. 4) and controlled (i.e., 234d) (Fig. 4) and a second terminal coupled to a ground;
a first diode (i.e., 236d) (Fig. 4) comprising an anode coupled to the second node (i.e., SN) (Fig. 4) and a cathode coupled to a voltage output (i.e., Vo) (Fig. 4) terminal; and a capacitor (i.e., 237d) (Fig. 4) coupled between the voltage output terminal (i.e., 232d) (Fig. 4)and the ground,
wherein in response to that the switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) is turned on, the inductor (i.e., 235d) (Fig. 4) is charged by a charging current flowing through the switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) and the auxiliary winding (i.e., 102d) (Fig. 4), wherein in response to that the switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) is turned off, the inductor (i.e., 235d) (Fig. 4) is discharged through a discharge current flowing through the first diode (i.e., 236d) (Fig. 4) and the capacitor (i.e., 237d) (Fig. 4), and wherein an output voltage (i.e., for example voltage supply at voltage output terminal Vo) (Fig. 4) is generated at the voltage output terminal (i.e., 232d) (Fig. 4), and the output voltage changes according to the control signal (i.e., Qb) (Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 2, Morong, as applied above, discloses the control signal (i.e., Qb) (Fig. 4) comprising a plurality of pulses that are generated at a pulse repetition frequency, each of the plurality of pulse has a pulse width, and the output voltage changes according to the pulse widths of the plurality of pulses.
Regarding claim 3, Morong, as applied above, discloses the control signal comprising a plurality of pulses, and the output voltage increases in response to the pulses (for example see column 6, lines 64-66)
Regarding claim 7, Morong, as applied above, discloses the auxiliary winding is part of the transformer (i.e., 100d) (Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 8, Morong discloses a power converter (i.e., 10d) (Fig. 4) comprises:
a transformer (i.e., 100d) (Fig. 4) comprising a primary winding (i.e., 101d) (Fig. 4), a secondary winding (i.e., 104d) (Fig. 4), and an auxiliary winding (i.e., 102d) (Fig. 4), wherein the auxiliary winding comprises a first terminal and a second terminal;
a primary-side circuit, coupled to the primary winding (i.e., 101d) (Fig. 4), receiving an input voltage (i.e., 5d) (Fig. 4) and a driving signal (i.e., Qa) (Fig. 4), wherein the primary-side circuit comprises a first switch (i.e., 200d) (Fig. 4) coupled to the primary winding (i.e., 101d) (Fig. 4), the first switch (i.e., 200d) (Fig. 4) is controlled by the driving signal (i.e., Qa) (Fig. 4) to convert the input voltage to energy, and the energy is stored in the transformer (i.e., 100d) (Fig. 4);
a secondary-side circuit, coupled to the secondary winding (i.e., 100d) (Fig. 4), generating a first output voltage at a first voltage output terminal (i.e., 13d) (Fig. 4) according to the energy stored in the transformer (i.e., 100d) (Fig. 4);
a controller (i.e., 220d, 234d) (Fig. 4) generating the driving signal (i.e., Qa) (Fig. 4) according to the first output voltage (i.e., 13d) (Fig. 4) and further generating a control signal (i.e., Qb) (Fig. 4);
and a bias voltage generating circuit (i.e., BV) (Fig. 4) coupled to the first terminal and the second terminal of the auxiliary winding (i.e., 102d) (Fig. 4) and controlled by the control signal (i.e., Qb) (Fig. 4) to generate a second voltage (i.e., for example see voltage at Vo) (Fig. 4)at a second voltage output terminal (i.e., Vo) (Fig. 4) according to the energy stored in the transformer (i.e., 100d) (Fig. 4), wherein the bias voltage generating circuit adjusts the second output voltage (i.e., voltage at terminal Vo) (Fig. 4) according to the control signal (i.e., Qb) (Fig. 4), and the second output voltage (i.e., voltage at terminal Vo) (Fig. 4) is provided to the controller (i.e., 220d, 234d) (Fig. 4) as a supply voltage of the controller, and wherein the bias voltage generating circuit comprises:
a switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) coupled to the first terminal of the auxiliary winding (i.e., 102d) (Fig. 4) at a first node (i.e., FN) (Fig. 4) and controlled by the control signal (i.e., Qa) (Fig. 4); an inductor (i.e., 235d) (Fig. 4) comprising a first terminal coupled to the switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) at a second node (i.e., SN) (Fig. 4) and a second terminal coupled to a ground;
a first diode (i.e., 236d) (Fig. 4) comprising an anode coupled to the second node (i.e., SN) (Fig. 4) and a cathode coupled to the second voltage output terminal (i.e., Vo) (Fig. 4); and a capacitor (i.e., 237d) (Fig. 4) coupled between the second voltage output terminal and the ground, wherein in response to that the first switch (i.e., 200d) (Fig. 4) and the switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) are turned on at the same time, the inductor (i.e., 235d) (Fig. 4) is charged by a charging current flowing through the switch circuit (i.e., 241d, 233d) (Fig. 4) and the auxiliary winding (i.e., 102d) (Fig. 4), and wherein in response to that the switch circuit is turned off, the inductor (i.e., 235d) (Fig. 4) is discharged through a discharge current flowing through the first diode (i.e., 236d) (Fig. 4) and the capacitor (i.e., 237d) (Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 9, Morong, as applied above, discloses the control signal comprising a plurality of first pulses that are generated at a pulse repetition frequency, each of the plurality of first pulses has a first pulse width, and the output voltage changes based on the first pulse widths of the plurality of first pulses (for example see column 6, lines 64-66).
Regarding claim 18, Morong, as applied above, discloses the power converter (i.e., 10d) (Fig. 4) is a flyback power converter, a forward power converter, an asymmetric half bridge flyback power converter, or an LLC power converter.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 and 10-17 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 4, Morong, as applied above, fail to disclose, alone or in combination, “the plurality of pulses of the control signal are concentrated in a first period and a second period that are not continuous in time” in combination with all the elements of linking claims.
Regarding claim 5, Morong, as applied above in linking claims, discloses the switch circuit comprising a second diode 241d and the auxiliary winding comprising a first terminal coupled to the first node and a second terminal coupled to a third node, but fail to disclose “the switch circuit comprising: a second diode having a cathode coupled to the first node and an anode coupled to the second node; and a switch coupled between the third node and the ground and controlled by the control signal” in combination with all the elements of linking claims.
Regarding claim 6, Morong, as applied above in linking claims, fail to disclose, alone or in combination, “the auxiliary winding comprising a first terminal coupled to the first node and a second terminal coupled to the ground, and the switch circuit comprises: a switch coupled between the first node and the second node and is controlled by the control signal” in combination with all the elements of linking claims.
Regarding claim 10, Morong, as applied above in linking claims, fail to disclose, alone or in combination, “the control signal changing the first pulse widths of the plurality of first pulses according to the input voltage” in combination with all the elements of linking claims.
Claims 11-12 are dependent of claim 10.
Regarding claim 13, Morong, as applied above in linking claims, fail to disclose, alone or in combination, “the driving signal comprises a plurality of first pulses, the controller determines whether the second output voltage is lower than a threshold voltage during a pulse period of one of the plurality of first pulses, and in response to that the controller determines that the second output voltage is lower than the lower threshold voltage during the pulse period of one of the plurality of first pulses, the controller causes the control signal to have a second pulse so that the bias voltage generating circuit increases the second output voltage according to the second pulse of the control signal” in combination with all the elements of linking claims.
Claims 14-15 are dependent of claim 13.
Regarding claim 16, Morong, as applied above in linking claims, fail to disclose, alone or in combination, “wherein a second terminal of the auxiliary winding is coupled to a third node, and the switch circuit comprises: a second diode comprises a cathode coupled to the first node and an anode coupled to the second node; a second switch coupled between the third node and a ground and controlled by the control signal” in combination with all the elements of linking claims.
Regarding claim 17, Morong, as applied above in linking claims, fail to disclose, alone or in combination, wherein the second terminal of the auxiliary winding is coupled to the ground, and the switch circuit comprises: a second switch coupled between the first node and the second node and controlled by the control signal.
Conclusion
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/YAHVEH COMAS TORRES/Examiner, Art Unit 2838
/THIENVU V TRAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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