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
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claims 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (US 2019/0157910), hereinafter Choi,
As to claim 10, Choi discloses in figures 1-19, a method of operating an inverter circuit in a wireless power transmission device, [see figure 3, inventor circuit (360); see ¶0083] wherein the inverter circuit includes at least one half-bridge with two switching units that each have a parasitic capacitance and that each include a freewheeling element, in a respective half-bridge of the at least one half-bridge [see figure 19; the high frequency inventor (360) includes, parasitic element across the switches (S1-S4), parasitic diode across the switches (S!-S4) and have bridge switches circuits S2 and S4] , a first switching unit [S2] of the two switching units links a plus potential (V+) of a DC source to a half-bridge node and a second switching unit [S4] of the two switching units links the half-bridge node to a minus potential (V-) of the DC source, and wherein a resonant circuit [circuit includes C1 and Tx] for the wireless power transmission is connected as a load to the half-bridge node, the resonant circuit includes a transmission coil [Tx] and at least one capacitive element [C1] , so that for providing a switched voltage at the half-bridge node, a switching cycle is repeatedly performed at a power transfer frequency (f), and the switching cycle includes a control circuit [controller unit (350); controls the switching inverter] alternatingly connecting the half-bridge node to the plus potential (V+) in a first half-cycle and to the minus potential (V-) in a second half-cycle by setting the first switching unit into an on state while keeping the second switching unit in an off state, and for alternating between the first half-cycle and the second half-cycle [the inverter operates half cycle by turning on and off switches S1-S4; see also ¶0085] a transient phase is performed so that the first switching unit that is currently in the on state and provides an electric load current to the load is set into the off state which commutates the load current to the freewheeling element of the second switching unit such that each of the parasitic capacitances of the first switching unit and the second switching unit are charged and/or discharged, resulting in a shift in electric potential of the half-bridge node from the plus potential and the minus potential (V+, V-) to which the half-bridge node has been connected, to the minus potential and the plus potential (V-, V+), and the transient phase is finished by a zero-voltage switching (ZVS) [see figure 8, element 370 and ¶0096], of the second switching unit into the on state, wherein a support circuit is connected in parallel to the load ,the support circuit includes at least one energy storing element that is charged with energy by a charging current during the first half-cycle and the second half-cycle, respectively, and in the transient phase the support circuit drives a support current using the stored energy from the at least one energy storing element ,the support current adds to the commutated load current in the inverter circuit and contributes to the charging and/or discharging of the parasitic capacitances of the two switching units to shift the plus potential and the minus protentional of the half-bridge node, a ground potential by at least one Y-capacitor of the support circuit [noted that the support circuit (370) has y-capacitor connected to the ground protentional].
Choi does not disclose explicitly, the method comprising: leading high frequency signal components of the load current with a frequency of at least twice the power transfer frequency (f) to a ground potential.
However, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to use different value of capacitance values to produce a desire higher frequency signal in order to effectively transmit power, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).
As to claim 11, Choi discloses in figures 1-19, wherein the at least one half bridge comprises two half-bridges that each comprise a half-bridge node and that are operated as an H-bridge for providing the switched voltage between the two half-bridge nodes and the load and the support circuit are connected to the two half-bridge nodes [see figure 19 and ¶0147].
As to claim 12, Choi discloses in figures 1-19, wherein a DC current through the support circuit is blocked by at least one DC-blocking capacitor of the support circuit and/or a fundamental component of the current through the support circuit is out of phase with regard to the load current [blocking capacitor CZVS and ¶0096].
As to claim 13 , Choi discloses transfer frequency.
Choi does not disclose explicitly, wherein the power transfer frequency (f) is in a range from 20kHz to 150 kHz.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to choose appropriate transfer frequency range for power transfer frequency in order to efficiently transfer power , since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-18 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
For Claim 14: primarily, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest in the claimed combination: the control circuit is to repeatedly perform a switching cycle at a power transfer frequency (f), the switching cycle includes two half-cycles separated by a respective transient phase where the two switching units are set to an off state and the load current commutates to at least one freewheeling element; a support circuit connected to the at least one half-bridge node in parallel to the resonant circuit, the support circuit includes at least one energy storing element to receive electric energy and store the received energy during a respective half-cycle of the two half-cycles and to drive a support current using the stored energy during a respective next transient phase, the support current adds to the load current in the inverter circuit and contributes to charging and/or discharging parasitic capacitances of the two switching units to support shifting a potential of at least one of the half-bridge node between the plus potential (V+) and the minus potential (V-) in the transient phase, the at least one energy storing element of the support circuit includes at least one inductor that interconnects the respective half-bridge node of two half-bridges of the at least one half-bridge of the inverter circuit to receive an electric charging current from the inverter circuit in the respective half-cycle for getting charged with energy and to drive the support current by inducing a voltage using the stored energy, the power transmission device comprising: two windings provided for the at least one inductor of the support circuit, the two windings connected in series between the at least one half-bridge nodes of the inverter circuit and an electric connection between the two windings includes at least one electric and/or electronic element, wherein the electric connection between the two windings is connected to a ground potential by at least one circuit branch that includes a respective Y-Capacitor, and/or the resonant circuit is connected to the inverter circuit and to the support circuit over a shielded cable and an electric shielding of the cable is connected to the ground potential at a ground connection point that is at a distance that is smaller than 50 cm to a ground connection point of the support circuit.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL BERHANU whose telephone number is (571)272-8430. The examiner can normally be reached M_F.
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/SAMUEL BERHANU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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