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 § 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.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Williams (2021/0281103) (hereinafter referred to as ‘Williams’).
Williams teaches
Regarding claim 18,
a SCC of a power system, the SCC comprising:
a capacitor (capacitor 502) coupled to a PV panel (photovoltaic module 104) and is configured to store current from the PV panel; and
a HB module coupled to the capacitor and comprising a set of switches, wherein the SCC is coupled to a set of rechargeable batteries and is configured to supply an amount of current to charge the set of rechargeable batteries, and wherein the amount of current is based on an operating mode (see Paragraphs 0006 and 0050);
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-17 are allowable over prior art.
Claims 19 and 20 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 prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest either alone or in combination thereof:
Regarding claim 1,
a satellite comprising:
a power source comprising a set of photovoltaic (PV) panels; and
a power system comprising:
a set of rechargeable batteries; and
a set of switching capacitor converters (SCCs), each SCC coupled to the set of rechargeable batteries and at least one PV panel of the set of PV panels, wherein each SCC of the set of SCCs comprises:
a capacitor that is connected to the at least one PV panel in parallel; and
a half-bridge (HB) module that is connected to the capacitor in parallel, wherein the HB module is connected to the set of rechargeable batteries and is configured to supply a current that charges the set of rechargeable batteries;
regarding claim 11,
a power system comprising:
a set of rechargeable batteries; and
a set of switching capacitor converters (SCCs) connected in series, each SCC coupled to the set of rechargeable batteries and a power source, wherein each SCC of the set of SCCs comprises:
a capacitor; and
a HB module coupled to the capacitor and comprising a set of switches, wherein the HB module is configured to supply a current that charges the set of rechargeable batteries;
regarding claim 19, the SCC of claim 18, wherein the operating mode is a bypass mode, the bypass mode comprising:
providing, by the PV panel, current to the capacitor; and
wherein the HB module does not discharge any current to charge the set of rechargeable batteries;
regarding claim 20, the SCC of claim 18, wherein the operating mode is an insertion mode, the insertion mode comprising:
providing, by the PV panel, current to the capacitor; and
wherein the HB module discharges the amount of current to charge the set of rechargeable batteries.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMARA ALZAIDA FRANKLIN whose telephone number is (571)272-2389. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm
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August 04, 2026
/JAMARA A FRANKLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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