DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the Response to Election/Restriction 09/24/2025.
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 .
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 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 10/03/2014 and 09/23/2015 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d).
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 5 – 7 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Specie, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 09/24/2025.
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 of this title, 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 459 (1966), that are applied 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(s) 1 and 4 – 6 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over US Pub. No. 2024/0014742; (hereinafter Xu) in view of US Pub. No. 2023/0402932; (hereinafter Xiao) and further in view of US Pub. No. 2022/0103080; (hereinafter Yang).
Regarding claim 1, Xu [e.g. Figs. 1, 3 and 6] discloses a switching power supply device usable for charging a battery, the switching power supply device comprising: a transformer [e.g. Fig. 3; 306]; a bridge circuit [e.g. Fig. 3; 310] including a first switching element [e.g. 312], a second switching element [e.g. 318], a third switching element [e.g. 314], and a fourth switching element [e.g. 316]; a resonant circuit [e.g. Fig. 3; 330] connected between a primary side of the transformer and an output side of the bridge circuit; a synchronous rectifier circuit [e.g. Fig. 3; 340] connected to a secondary side of the transformer; and a control unit [e.g. Fig. 1; 140 and Fig. 3; 320, 350], wherein the control unit is configured to: provide a predetermined phase difference [e.g. Fig. 6; φP2] between a timing at which the first switching element is turned on and a timing at which the second switching element is turned on [e.g. paragraph 049 recites “Waveform 616 includes a rising transition at time 626. A time interval between time 622 corresponding to the rising transition of waveform 610 and time 626 corresponding to the rising transition of waveform 616 represents a phase-shift angle (e.g., Φ.sub.P2) between switching control signals provided by the controller 140 to control operation of different switches (e.g., transistor 312 and transistor 318) of the second phase converter 126”], and provide the predetermined phase difference between a timing at which the third switching element is turned on and a timing at which the fourth switching element is turned on [e.g. paragraph 049 further recites “waveform 612 includes a rising transition at time 628 and waveform 614 includes a rising transition at time 630. A time interval between time 628 corresponding to the rising transition of waveform 612 and time 630 corresponding to the rising transition of waveform 614 also represents a phase-shift angle (e.g., Φ.sub.P2) between switching control signals provided by the controller 140 to control operation of different switches (e.g., transistor 314 and transistor 316) of the second phase converter 126”].
Xu fails to disclose fix a frequency of an on-off operation of the switching elements on the primary side of the transformer; control the synchronous rectifier circuit to rectify a current flowing through the secondary side of the transformer at a timing when an absolute value of a first current flowing in a first direction to the primary side of the transformer when the first switching element and the second switching element are turned on is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold or at a timing when an absolute value of a second current flowing in a second direction opposite to the first direction to the primary side of the transformer when the third switching element and the fourth switching element are turned on is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold.
Xiao [e.g. Figs. 1 - 2] teaches control the synchronous rectifier circuit [e.g. Fig. 1; SR1-SR2] to rectify a current flowing through the secondary side [e.g. Fig. 2; ISR1-ISR2] of the transformer [e.g. Fig. 1; T] at a timing when an absolute value of a first current [e.g. Figs. 1-2; ir] flowing in a first direction [e.g. Figs. 2; ir between t1-t2] to the primary side of the transformer when the first switching element and the second switching element are turned on [e.g. Q1, Q3] is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold [e.g. iLm at t1] or at a timing when an absolute value of a second current flowing in a second direction opposite to the first direction to the primary side of the transformer when the third switching element and the fourth switching element are turned on is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Xu by control the synchronous rectifier circuit to rectify a current flowing through the secondary side of the transformer at a timing when an absolute value of a first current flowing in a first direction to the primary side of the transformer when the first switching element and the second switching element are turned on is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold or at a timing when an absolute value of a second current flowing in a second direction opposite to the first direction to the primary side of the transformer when the third switching element and the fourth switching element are turned on is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold as taught by Xiao in order of being able to reduce the power loss and improve the efficiency, Abstract.
Yang [e.g. Fig. 1] teaches fix a frequency of an on-off operation of the switching elements on the primary side of the transformer [e.g. paragraph 023 recites “the frequency adjustment unit 166 sets the switching frequency fsw of the control signals Sc1, Sc2, Sc3, Sc4 to be the fixed frequency threshold value fmax”].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify Xu by fix a frequency of an on-off operation of the switching elements on the primary side of the transformer as taught by Yang in order of being able to reduce the voltage ripple of the output voltage and reduce the voltage and current stress, paragraph 08.
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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 4 and 8 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 primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 2 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “the control unit is configured to: control both the fifth switching element and the sixth switching element to be turned on at a timing at which the absolute value of the first current is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold; and control both the seventh switching element and the eighth switching element to be turned on at a timing at which the absolute value of the second current is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold”.
The primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 8 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “a battery, wherein the charging system charges the battery by: a constant current charging using an output current of the switching power supply device; and a constant voltage charging using an output voltage of the switching power supply device, wherein the constant current charging is performed while a battery voltage of the battery is equal to or higher than a first voltage value and equal to or lower than a second voltage value, and wherein the constant voltage charging is performed after the battery voltage of the battery reaches a third voltage value equal to or higher than the second voltage value.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alex Torres-Rivera whose telephone number is (571)272-5261. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:30 ET.
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/ALEX TORRES-RIVERA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838