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 .
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(s) 1 and 3-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doring et al (EP 3 609 030 B1 from IDS of 7-18-25).
Doring discloses a system, the system comprising: a circuit protection device (CPD) 15 having an input 17 coupled to an power source 29 and an output coupled to an electrical load 11; a shorting switch 7 coupled to the input 17 of the CPD, wherein the shorting switch 7, when closed, provides a fault current path that returns to the power source and avoids passing through the CPD and the electrical load (see claim 1); and a controller 19 coupled to the CPD 15, the shorting switch 7, at least one voltage sensor 37, and at least one current sensor (see claim 6), the controller 19 configured to: receive voltage measurements from the at least one voltage sensor and current measurements from the at least one current sensor (see claim 6 and 45); and based upon the voltage measurements and the current measurements, selectively open and close one or more of the CPD and the shorting switch (see last 10 lines of claim 1).
The device taught by Doring only differs from the claims by not being said to have the power source be an aircraft power source and also by not being said to have the load be an aircraft electrical load.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use the teachings of Doring to meet the claims because persons of ordinary skill would be able to use the Doring teachings with an aircraft power system as a matter of conventional practice in the art of electrical systems, with the combination of a CPD and a shorting switch providing a useful enhanced fault response that would increase operational safety.
With regard to claim 3, Doring makes use of an IGBT as part of CPD switch 15 and it is well known in the art to use MOSFET devices in response to cost, switching time or current handling design considerations.
With regard to claim 4, power convertor 29 of Doring is usable in an aircraft environment without any inventive step by persons of ordinary skill.
With regard to claim 5, use of Doring with the recited load types does not require any inventive step by persons of ordinary skill in the art.
With regard to claim 6, the Doring shorting switch 7 is shown to be an IGBT in figure 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-20 are allowed.
Claims 2 and 7 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: The use of a MEMS device (micro electrical mechanical system (or switch)) in the above-mentioned claims and the voltage sensor configuration of claim 7, have not been taught or been fairly suggested by the prior art of record.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEPHEN W JACKSON whose telephone number is (571)272-2051. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-3:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached at 571-272-1838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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SWJackson
March 5, 2026
/STEPHEN W JACKSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838