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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/23/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Juang et al. (US 2021/0126468) in view of Goto et al. (US 2019/0267896) and Mori et al. (US 2018/0006547).
Claims 1-2: Juang teaches a power supply system (Fig.5) comprising:
an alternating current sweep unit (110) for outputting alternating current power from a first battery string (110a), a second battery string (110b), and a third battery string (110c) that have been Y-connected (Fig.4) (Par.55);
a control device (140) for controlling the alternating current sweep unit (110) (Par.60), wherein: each of the first battery string (110a), the second battery string (110b), and the third battery string (110c) includes a plurality of battery circuit modules (112a-112c) connected in series (Fig.4) (Par.48); and
each of the battery circuit modules (112a-112c) includes a battery and a first output terminal and a second output terminal to which a voltage of the battery is applied (Fig.4) (Par.47, 62 and 64); and
Juang does not explicitly teach each of the battery circuit modules includes a battery, a first switch connected in parallel to the battery, a second switch connected in series to the battery, and a first output terminal and a second output terminal to which a voltage of the battery is applied when the first switch is in an OFF state and the second switch is in an ON state.
Goto teaches a plurality of battery circuit modules (10a-10c) (Fig.1); each of the battery circuit modules (10a-10c) includes a battery (B), a first switch (S1) connected in parallel to the battery (B), a second switch (S2) connected in series to the battery (B) (Par.22), and a first output terminal (OT on one end of S1) and a second output terminal (other end of S1) to which a voltage of the battery (B) is applied when the first switch (S1) is in an OFF state and the second switch (S2) is in an ON state (Fig.4B) (Par.31).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Goto in the device of Juang to have had switching element that allows for actively selecting bypassing or electrically connecting a battery circuit module (Par.30-31) providing a simple structure capable of easily designing a desired output voltage (Par.6).
Furthermore, Juang does not explicitly teach the control device is configured to set an offset voltage of an alternating current voltage output from each of the first battery string, the second battery string, and the third battery string based on a command voltage of the first battery string, the second battery string, and the third battery string; the control device sets the offset voltage based on an amplitude of the command voltage.
Mori teaches a control device (5) (Fig.1) (Par.51) configured to set an offset voltage (Voffset1) of an alternating current voltage output from each of a first phase, a second phase and a third phase based on an amplitude of a command voltage (Vu1, Vv1, Vw1) of the first phase, the second phase and the third phase (Par.53 and 225).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Mori in the device of Juang to have had reduced noise (Par.11) and have had avoided voltage saturation (Par.249).
Claim 3: Juang in view of Goto and Mori teach the limitations of claim 2 as disclosed above. Juang teaches wherein the control device (140) controls the alternating current sweep unit (110) such that an alternating current voltage having a phase difference by 120° from each of the first battery string (110a), the second battery string (110b), and the third battery string (110c) is output (Fig.4) (Par.55).
Juang does not explicitly teach the control device sets the offset voltage based on an offset component of the command voltage of the first battery string, the second battery string and the third battery string.
Mori teaches the control device (5) sets the offset voltage (Voffset1) based on an offset component of the command voltage of the first phase, the second phase and the third phase (Par.225).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Mori in the device of Juang to have had avoided voltage saturation (Par.249).
Claim 4: Juang in view of Goto and Mori teach the limitations of claim 1 as disclosed above. Juang does not explicitly teach wherein the control device sets the offset voltage based on a minimum voltage output from each of the first battery string, the second battery string, and the third battery string.
Mori teaches the control device (5) sets the offset voltage (Voffset1) based on a minimum voltage (Vmin1) of the first phase, the second phase and the third phase (Par.165 and 169-171).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have had the teachings of Mori in the device of Juang to have had improved heat generation balance between switching elements in the system (Par.175-176).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHALI ALEJANDRA TORRES RUIZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1262. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am-6:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julian D Huffman can be reached at 571-272-2147. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHALI A TORRES RUIZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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