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 .
This non-final office action is responsive to Applicants' application filed on 12/01/23. Claims 1-11 are presented for examination and are pending for the reasons indicated herein below.
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.
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.
Claims 1 and 9-11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fuku et al. (US 20130294040 A1 and hereinafter as Fuku)
Regarding claim 1. Fuku teaches a power module [fig 3] for a converter for use in an at least partly electrified vehicle [¶39], the power module comprising:
at least one power switch [fig 6, 300a] configured to be switched for converting an input current into an output current;
a plurality of power terminals [¶77, 315B/319B] electrically connected to current electrodes of the at least one power switch and configured to feed the input current [i.e. DC current] or to withdraw the output current;
a signal pin [325U/325L] configured to impress a control signal generated by a control device on a control electrode of the power switch [¶89];
and a shielding jacket [333, see fig 6 (a) w/ (b) 333 is isolated from signal terminals] which is potentially isolated from the signal pin and surrounds at least sections of the signal pin.
Regarding claim 9. Fuku teaches a converter for use in an at least partly electrified vehicle, comprising one or more of the power modules as claimed in claim 1 [as shown in fig 1].
Regarding claim 10. Fuku teaches an electric axle drive [axle drive shown in fig 1] for an at least partly electrified vehicle, comprising: an electric machine [192]; a gear device [118]; and the converter as claimed in claim 9 [i.e. 200].
Regarding claim 11. Fuku teaches an at least partly electrified vehicle [implicit from 114/112], comprising the electric axle drive as claimed in claim 10.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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, and if the claim objections stated above were overcome.
Examiner Note
The examiner cites particular columns and lines numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bryan Perez whose telephone number is (571)272-8837. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon.-Fri. (7:30 – 5:00).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Crystal Hammond, can be reached on (571) 270-1682. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRYAN R PEREZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2838