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 .
Claims 1-4 are pending in this application.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species 1, Figure 1 in the reply filed on 01/05/26 is acknowledged. Claim 3 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species 2, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 02/22/24. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 02/22/24. These drawings are acceptable.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 5, “DC” should be replaced with “Direct Current (DC)”. The first instance of an acronym should be defined.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, lines 4-6, the phrase “the power converter configured to convert a direct current (DC) power of the battery and then supply the converted DC power to a load” is confusing. The claim appears to require a DC power and the converted DC power is sent to the load. However, both the specification and the drawings do not support such claimed feature. It appears from para [0018] that a DC power is being converted to an AC power through the use of an inverter and the AC power is sent to the load. Therefore, for purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the phrase to mean that the power converter is configured to convert a DC power of the battery to an AC power and then supply the AC power to a load.
Regarding claim 1, lines 12-13, the phrase “a reverse-connection protective relay being located in midway through the power supply line” is unclear and indefinite. It appears it should be replaced with “a reverse-connection protective relay is located midway along the power supply line from the battery to the inverter”. This description is provided in par [0022] of the specification. However, the specification does not specify that midway is halfway between point A and point B, nor was there any mention of a specific measurement. For examination purpose, midway is interpreted to mean any point between point A and point B.
Regarding claim 1, lines 24-27, the phrase “wherein the power supply apparatus is free of a power supply relay, which cuts off a current from the battery to the power converter in an off state of the power supply relay, at the power supply line between the battery and the reverse-connection protective relay” is confusing. The claim appears to require that a power supply relay is not present in the power supply apparatus by stating the phrase “free of” but if the power supply relay is not required then how is it possible that the power supply relay be in “an off state” as required by the claim recitation. For purpose of examination the examiner interprets the above phrase to merely require that the power supply apparatus includes a power supply relay capable of being in the off state.
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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kozawa (US 20200321902 A1) and further in view of Yusuke et al. (JP 2015039256 A), hereinafter "Yusuke".
Regarding claim 1, Kozawa discloses a power supply apparatus (fig 2, ECU electronic control unit 10) comprising: a power converter (fig 2, inverters 601 and 602) including a set of an upper-arm switching element and a lower-arm switching element (fig 2, upper-arm switching elements 61-63 and lower arm switching elements 64-66) being connected in series between a power supply line and a ground line (fig 2, power supply line Lp and ground line Lg), the power supply line being connected to a battery (fig 2, see Lp connected to battery 15), the power converter configured to convert a DC power of the battery to an AC power and then supply the AC power to a load (par [0018] “The inverter converts a power of a DC power supply into three-phase AC power and supplies it to each phase winding of the motor.”); a pull-up resistor (fig 2, pull-up resistors Ruu, Ruv, Ruw) connected between an inter-arm connection node and the power supply line (fig 2, see connection of resistors between Lp and inter-arm connection points Nu, Nv and Nw), the inter-arm connection node being a connection node between the upper-arm switching element and the lower-arm switching element (fig 2, inter-arm connection points Nu, Nv and Nw between upper-arm switching elements 61-63 and lower arm switching elements 64-66); a pull-down resistor (fig 2, pull-down resistors Rdu, Rdv and Rdw) connected between the inter-arm connection node and a ground (fig 2, see connection of resistors between inter-arm connection points Nu, Nv and Nw and ground line ground); a reverse-connection protective relay (fig 2, reverse connection relay 52) is located midway along the power supply line from the battery to the inverter (fig 2, 52 appears to be located midway between battery and inverter 601 on the power supply line Lp), the reverse-connection protective relay being connected in parallel with a freewheeling diode, the freewheeling diode configured to conduct a current from the battery to the power converter (par [0026] “The reverse connection relay 52 has a free-wheeling diode that allows a current to flow toward the inverters 601 and 602”), the reverse-connection protective relay configured to cut off a current from the power converter to the battery in an off state of the reverse-connection protective relay (fig 2, the function of the MOSFET and diode connected in parallel 52 inherently discloses the described limitation. When the MOSFET is "off" (gate signal is low), the only path for current is through the diode. The diode's orientation allows current to flow from the battery (15) towards the converter section (right side), but blocks current attempting to flow from the converter back to the battery. This configuration effectively cuts off reverse current flow into the battery); a controller (fig 2, microcomputer 20) configured to control the power converter (fig 2, microcomputer 20 provides control signals Vua1, Vva1, Vwa1 to the gate terminals of the MOSFET switches within the power converter 601) and the reverse-connection protective relay (fig 2, 52 is a MOSFET and the gate terminal receives control signals therefore it is implicit that it is controlled by a controller though the direct connection is not shown).
Kozawa fails to disclose a dark current cut switch located between the reverse-connection protective relay and the pull-up resistor, the dark current cut switch configured to be turned off to cut off a dark current flowing to the ground through the pull-up resistor and the pull-down resistor in a case where the power supply apparatus stops driving, wherein the power supply apparatus is free of a power supply relay, which cuts off a current from the battery to the power converter in an off state of the power supply relay, at the power supply line between the battery and the reverse-connection protective relay.
Yusuke discloses an electric power steering device in fig 10 including an inverter circuit 42A connected to battery 22 and cut-off circuits 44C and 44A. Yusuke discloses a dark current cut switch (fig 10, QC1) located between the reverse-connection protective relay and the inverter (fig 10, 42A).
Kozawa’s power supply apparatus (fig 2, ECU electronic control unit 10) modified to include Yusuke’s dark current cut switch (fig 10, QC1) connected between Kozawa’s switch 52 and pull-up resistor Ruu. Kozawa and Yusuke’s modified power supply apparatus discloses the dark current cut switch configured to be turned off to cut off a dark current flowing to the ground through the pull-up resistor and the pull-down resistor in a case where the power supply apparatus stops driving (Yusuke’s dark current cut switch (fig 10, QC1) is configured to cut off any current flowing from the battery to any components beyond), wherein the power supply apparatus is free of a power supply relay, which cuts off a current from the battery to the power converter in an off state of the power supply relay, at the power supply line between the battery and the reverse-connection protective relay (Yusuke’s dark current cut switch (fig 10, QC1) is not connected between the battery and switch 44C).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kozawa and incorporate the power cut off switch as taught by Yusuke between Kozawa’s switch 52 and pull-up resistor Ruu. The advantage of this design is to stop any slow, unwanted leakage of current from the battery when the converter is inactive.
Regarding claim 2, Kozawa and Yusuke disclose the power supply apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the dark current cut switch includes an N-channel field-effect transistor (Yusuke fig 10, QC1 is a N-channel field-effect transistor).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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:
Regarding claim 4, Kozawa and Yusuke disclose the power supply apparatus according to Claim 1.
Kozawa and Yusuke fail to disclose wherein the controller is further configured to execute an initial check for the power supply apparatus, in which the controller checks whether the dark current cut switch is abnormally fixed to an on state or an off state based on a voltage of a connection node between the dark current cut switch and the pull-up resistor.
Kozawa and Yusuke have been found to be the closest prior art of reference.
However, none of the prior art, taken singly or in combination, teach “the controller is further configured to execute an initial check for the power supply apparatus, in which the controller checks whether the dark current cut switch is abnormally fixed to an on state or an off state based on a voltage of a connection node between the dark current cut switch and the pull-up resistor”.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lauren A Shaw whose telephone number is (571)272-3074. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7-5 EST.
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/LAUREN ASHLEY SHAW/Examiner, Art Unit 2838
/THIENVU V TRAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2838