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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7, 10, 11, 13, 15-18, 21 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1/a2 as being anticipated by Laili et al. (CN109687719B – cited on IDS).
Claim 1; Laili et al. disclose a power conversion device (FIG. 1: see illustration below) comprising: a first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) connected to a primary coil of a transformer (T) and configured to perform full bridge switching; a first resonance circuit (Lr1, Cr1) comprising a first capacitor (Cr1) and a first inductor (Lr1) connected between the primary coil of the transformer (T) and the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4); a second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4) connected to a secondary coil of the transformer (T) and configured to perform full bridge switching; a second resonance circuit (Lr2, Cr2) comprising a second capacitor (Cr2) and a second inductor (Lr2) connected between the secondary coil of the transformer (T) and the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4); and a controller (not shown; see fig. 3) configured to control the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) and the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4) to generate a rectified resonance voltage (e.g. at VL on CL) by changing a voltage direction through the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) or to generate a rectified regenerative voltage (e.g. VH on CH) by changing a voltage direction through the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4), wherein the controller is configured to control the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) or the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4) to perform a phase modulation mode for modulating a phase and a frequency modulation mode for modulating a frequency (see cited Laili et al. disclosure paragraph infra), wherein the controller is configured to, when converting power from the primary coil of the transformer (T) to the secondary coil of the transformer (T) or converting power from the secondary coil of the transformer to the primary coil of the transformer (i.e. the circuit is disclosed as bidirectional), control the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) and the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4) to perform the phase modulation mode for modulating the phase to a target value (i.e. to zero), and, when the phase is modulated to the target value (zero), perform the frequency modulation mode.
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LAILI et al. disclose: “As a further improvement of the present invention, in the step (2), the phase shifting to the frequency conversion switching mode is: stopping the use of the phase shifting compensator, the frequency is fixed, the phase is adjusted to zero, and the frequency conversion compensator is started after the stabilization; the soft switching mode is: The compensator is switched from the phase shift compensator to the variable frequency compensator, and the phase shift angle is slowly adjusted from the current value to zero in the form of a linear function.”
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Claim 2; First and second switch (SL1 & SL2); third and fourth switch (SL3 & SL4); 1st inductor Lr1 connected to SL1/SL2, 1st capacitor Cr1 connected to SL3/SL4. Switch timing see figure 3.
Claim 3; Switch SL1 and SL2 are not turned ON at the same time as that would cause a short circuit between the high side bus and low side bus. The same is true for switches SL3 and SL4. See also switch timing figure 3.
Claim 4; Lr1, primary winding and Cr1 are connected in series as shown in figure 1.
Claims 5 and 15-18; the body diodes are uncontrolled, the fifth switch SH1, sixth switch SH2 are in series. Seventh switch SH3, eighth switch SH4 in series; second resonant circuit: 2nd inductor Lr2, 2nd capacitor Cr2. Lr2 connected to SH1 & SH2, Cr2 connected to SH3 & SH4 as claimed and synchronized as shown in switch timing figure 3. Morover, Laili et al. also discloses:
A modulation method for a CLLC bidirectional isolated DC-DC converter includes the following steps:
(1)In the CLLC bidirectional isolated DC-DC converter circuit, the phase shift modulation is adopted during the light load step-down operation: when the converter operates at the resonant frequency, the upper and lower switching tubes of each bridge arm are complementarily turned on…,
Claim 6; Switch SH1 and SH2 are not turned ON at the same time as that would cause a short circuit between the high side bus and low side bus. The same is true for switches SH3 and SH4. See also switch timing figure 3. However, Laili et al. also discloses:
A modulation method for a CLLC bidirectional isolated DC-DC converter includes the following steps:
(1)In the CLLC bidirectional isolated DC-DC converter circuit, the phase shift modulation is adopted during the light load step-down operation: when the converter operates at the resonant frequency, the upper and lower switching tubes of each bridge arm are complementarily turned on…,
Claim 7; Lr2, secondary winding and Cr2 are connected in series as shown in figure 1.
Claim 10; perform the frequency modulation mode to decrease an input frequency to the target value within a preset range is disclosed by Laili et al. by reducing the frequency to the resonant frequency.
Claims 11 and 13; Laili et al. disclose turning on the diagonal switches SL1 and SL4 as is known in the art to operate a full bridge. See fig. 3. That is, Laili et al. disclose the s1 tube and the s2 tube are complementarily turned on, the s3 tube and the s4 tube are complementarily turned on, the p1 tube and the p2 tube are complementarily turned on, and the p3 tube and the p4 tube are complementarily turned on.
Claim 21; Laili et al. disclose a power conversion device comprising: a first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) connected to a primary coil of a transformer (T) and configured to perform full bridge switching; a first resonance circuit comprising a first capacitor (Cr1) and a first inductor (Lr1) connected between the primary coil of the transformer (T) and the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4); a second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4) connected to a secondary coil of the transformer (T) and configured to perform full bridge switching; a second resonance circuit comprising a second capacitor (Cr2) and a second inductor (Lr2) connected between the secondary coil of the transformer (T) and the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4); and a controller (not shown in Laili et al.) configured to control the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) and the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4) to generate a rectified resonance voltage by changing a voltage direction through the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) or to generate a rectified regenerative voltage by changing a voltage direction through the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4), wherein the controller is configured to control the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) or the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4) to perform a phase modulation mode for modulating a phase and a frequency modulation mode for modulating a frequency (see cited Laili et al. disclosure paragraph supra), wherein the controller is configured to, when converting power from the primary coil of the transformer (T) to the secondary coil of the transformer (T) or converting power from the secondary coil of the transformer (T) to the primary coil of the transformer (T), control the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) and the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4) to perform the phase modulation mode for modulating the phase to a target value and perform the frequency modulation mode so as to overlap (e.g. Laili et al. disclose this as the Hybrid mode) with a part of sections in which the phase is modulated to the target value.
Claim 22; perform the frequency modulation mode to decrease an input frequency to the target value within a preset range is disclosed by Laili et al. by reducing the frequency to the resonant frequency.
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(s) 12, 14 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Laili et al. in view of Denzner et al. (US 20190319542)..
Claims 12 and 14; Laili et al. disclose the claimed subject matter in regards to claim 1 supra, except for to perform the phase modulation mode by, when generating the rectified resonance voltage, turning on the first switch and the third switch and turning off the second switch and the fourth switch in a second section of a period or, turning on the second switch element and the fourth switch element and turning off the first switch element and the third switch element in a fourth section of a period.
Denzner et al. teach that it is already known in the art to turn ON Q1 (see S1 below) and turn ON Q3 (see S3 below) of a full bridge at the same time (e.g. see T5 of Q3). Denzner et al. also teach that it is already known in the art to turn Q2 ON and Q4 ON at the same time (e.g. see T5 of Q4) in order to freewheel the transformer current.
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to modify Laili et al. to include turning on the first switch and the third switch and turning off the second switch and the fourth switch in a second section of a period as well as turning on the second switch element and the fourth switch element and turning off the first switch element and the third switch element in a fourth section of a period in order to freewheel the transformer current as taught by Denzner et al.
Claim 19; Laili et al. disclose a power conversion method for converting input direct current power (at CL) to be stepped up or stepped down, the power conversion method comprising: performing, by a controller (not shown by Laili et al.), a phase modulation mode by controlling a first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) or a second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4); and performing, by the controller, a frequency modulation mode by controlling the first bridge switch unit (SL1-SL4) or the second bridge switch unit (SH1-SH4), wherein the performing of the phase modulation mode comprises modulating a phase to a target phase value (e.g. the target disclosed by Laili et al. being zero), and wherein the performing of the frequency modulation mode comprises decreasing an input frequency to a target frequency value within a preset range (to the resonant frequency); performing the phase modulation mode comprises: by the controller, turning on a first switch (SL1) and a fourth switch (SL4) and turning off a second switch and a third switch in a first section of a period (see fig. 3); turning on the second switch element and the third switch element and turning off the first switch and the fourth switch in a third section of the period (see fig. 3).
However, Laili et al. does not disclose; by the controller, turning on the first switch and the third switch and turning off the second switch and the fourth switch in a second section of the period; and turning on the second switch and the fourth switch and turning off the first switch and the third switch in a fourth section of the period.
Denzner et al. teach that it is already known in the art to turn ON Q1 (see S1 below) and turn ON Q3 (see S3 below) of a full bridge at the same time (e.g. see T5 of Q3). Denzner et al. also teach that it is already known in the art to turn Q2 ON and Q4 ON at the same time (e.g. see T5 of Q4) in order to freewheel the transformer current.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to modify Laili et al. to include turning on the first switch and the third switch and turning off the second switch and the fourth switch in a second section of a period as well as turning on the second switch element and the fourth switch element and turning off the first switch element and the third switch element in a fourth section of a period in order to freewheel the transformer current as taught by Denzner et al.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY L LAXTON whose telephone number is (571)272-2079. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8 am-4 pm.
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/GARY L LAXTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838 9/22/2026
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