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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDSes filed 12/19/23 and 6/24/26 have both been considered and placed of record. The initialed copies are attached herewith.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 1-7 and 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by IEEE paper entitled “Startup Strategy with Constant Peak Transformer Current for Solid-State Transformer in Distribution Network” (referred to as “the paper” hereinafter).
Re claim 1, the paper discloses an initial driving device of a solid-state transformer (figs 2 and 9; solid state transformer or SST) having, inter alia, an ac/dc converter (fig 9; ac/dc module) configured to convert system power to direct current; a high voltage converter (fig 9; HV part/dc-ac converter) configured to convert an output of the AC/DC converter to a high voltage; a medium frequency transformer (MFT) (fig 9; transformer) configured to convert an output of the high voltage converter to a low voltage; a low voltage converter (fig 9; LV part/ac-dc converter) configured to convert an output of the MFT to a charging voltage of an electric vehicle or battery; and a controller (fig 9; LV controller) configured to control operations of the AC/DC converter, the high voltage converter, the MFT, and the low voltage converter. See figure 9.
Re claim 2, the paper further discloses a first power supply configured to supply power to the AC/DC converter (figs 9 and 10: associated with HVac port and supplies ac/dc converter); a second power supply configured to supply power to the high voltage converter (figs 9 and 10: supplied the HV converter on the primary side of transformer); and a third power supply configured to supply power to the low voltage converter and the controller (figs 9 and 10: supplied the circuit on the secondary side of the transformer including the LV converter and LV controller). See figures 9 and 10.
Re claim 3, the paper further discloses the first power supply and the second power supply operate with a voltage of a capacitor charged in the high voltage converter.
Re claim 4, the paper further discloses the third power supply operates with a voltage of a capacitor charged in the low voltage converter configured to charge the battery (description of figs 4a and 4b where C2 is a capacitor on LV side and is charged by C11 and C12 and is providing voltage for the third power supply LVac and LVdc within converter LV).
Re claim 5, the paper further discloses the third power supply operates with a voltage charged in the battery during an initial operation (paragraph labeled as “B. LV to HV on page 4).
Re claim 6, the paper further discloses the controller charges capacitors in the high voltage converter and the low voltage converter using the low voltage converter connected to the battery on the basis of the voltage charged in the battery during an initial operation, and charges the capacitors in the high voltage converter and the low voltage converter from system power during a normal operation (paragraph starts with “normally, a startup process…” on page 2 right column).
Re claim 7, the paper further discloses the controller charges a voltage of a high voltage converter capacitor and a voltage of a low voltage converter capacitor to an initial operating voltage in an initial charging section (paragraph labeled as “A. HV to LV” on page 3 and paragraph labeled as “B. LV to HV on page 4).
Re claims 9 and 10, the paper further discloses the controller performs a normal operation in a normal state control section to charge a voltage of a high voltage converter capacitor and a voltage of a low voltage converter capacitor; and maintains a normal operation in a normal state reaching section (paragraph starts with “no matter which port… on page 7, left column).
Re claim 11, method steps performing from apparatus of claim 1. Same reasoning applied to claim 1 is applicable here.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over IEEE paper entitled “Startup Strategy with Constant Peak Transformer Current for Solid-State Transformer in Distribution Network” (referred to as “the paper” hereinafter).
The paper is silent on having the controller waits before charging and discharging of the high voltage converter capacitor. Official notice is taken of the fact that delaying the charging/discharging until a stable initial operating condition would allow for a more efficient charging/discharging. Therefore, It would have been well within the skill of one versed in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have delayed the charging of the capacitors until the controller recognized the stable initial operating condition to ensure the charging performed efficiently.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to the Examiner at the below-listed number. The Examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Thu from 7:00am-5:00pm.
The Examiner’s SPE is Drew Dunn and he can be reached at 571.272.2312. The fax number for the organization where this application is assigned is 571.273.8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866.217.9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800.786.9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571.272.1000.
/EDWARD TSO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 571.272.2087
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