DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the amendment filed on 02 April 2026.
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 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02 April 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that the “primary-side control unit 332”, the “secondary-side control unit 334” and the “opto-isolation unit 336” as recited in claim 1 are “distinct from the control unit structure disclosed in Tao (US Patent 11,689,113). See Remarks at p. 11. Applicant further argues that the functional language associated with the “inner loop control unit 3322”, “pulse width modulation generation unit 3324”, “outer loop control unit 3342”, “output current feedforward compensation unit 3344” and “opto-isolation unit 336” as recited in claim 1 differ from any teachings in Tao. Id. at pp. 11-12. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
In general, the above-cited arguments amount to mere conclusory statements that the cited elements in Tao do not correspond to the elements recited in claim 1. However, the elements of amended claim 1 are drawn from the original claims 1-10. In the non-final Office action dated 02 January 2026, the rejections of claims 1-10 over Tao were supported by careful mapping of elements in the prior art to those in the claim, together with explanations specifically pointing out how the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim language corresponded to the teachings in Tao. The presented arguments fail to specifically rebut those findings.
Therefore, Examiner maintains that the claimed primary-side control unit, secondary-side control unit and opto-isolation unit reasonably read onto the primary control circuit 13, secondary control circuit 14, and isolated transmission circuit 12, respectively in Tao, for the same reasons as presented in the non-final Office action and repeated below in this Office action.
In addition, Examiner likewise maintains that the functional language in claim 1 associated with the inner loop control unit, pulse width modulation generation unit, outer loop control unit, output current feedforward compensation unit and opto-isolation unit reasonably corresponds to the associated functionality of the cited elements in Tao. See the Examiner’s comments provided in the rejection of claim 1, below in this Office action.
It is also noted that the functional language that has been added to claim 1, associated with the inner loop control unit (i.e., “said inner loop control unit 3322 owning a function of improving and simplifying a dynamic characteristics of a feedback control system, effectively reducing a design complexity of an outer loop control unit 3342”), is subjective and indefinite. This issue has been addressed in the new rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), presented below.
Finally, Applicant argues that the “adder” of claim 1 is “substantially different” than the cited AND gate in Tao. Remarks at p. 12. Specifically, Applicant states that Tao’s AND gate is a basic component performing a single logical operation, while the claimed adder is a functional module and a combinational logic element comprising multiple logic gates such as “AND, OR, XOR and such”. Id.
This argument is not persuasive because, for one, it is not seen how an AND gate, per se, is distinct from a “functional module”, because an AND gate has a function (performing the Boolean logical AND operation). Further, regardless of this alleged distinction, it is respectfully pointed out the amended claim 1 does not specifically recite anything about a functional module, a combinational logic circuit, or multiple logic gates with respect to the adder. Indeed, the specification as originally filed has been searched and such a description of the adder (Fig. 3B: 360) was not found. Absent an explicitly narrower definition for the claimed adder in Applicant’s specification, the claim term must be given its broadest reasonable interpretation, and as such it is respectfully asserted that the AND gate in Tao falls under such reasonably broad interpretation of the component, for the reasons specified in the rejections, both in the previous Office action and below.
Claim Objections
The claims are objected to because they include reference characters which are not enclosed within parentheses.
Reference characters corresponding to elements recited in the detailed description of the drawings and used in conjunction with the recitation of the same element or group of elements in the claims should be enclosed within parentheses so as to avoid confusion with other numbers or characters which may appear in the claims. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
In addition, claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
At lines 11-13: the added text, “wherein said output terminal of said secondary-side power stage unit being connected to a load resistor, to generate an output voltage and an output current” is redundant as the original claim language already specifies this limitation in the immediately preceding lines.
At line 20: “a control unit” should be changed to “the control unit”.
At line 21: “a primary-side control unit” should be changed to “the primary-side control unit”.
At line 37, “a secondary-side control unit” should be changed to “the secondary-side control unit”.
At line 57, “an adder unit” should be changed to “the adder unit”.
At line 67, “outputting said output current feedforward compensation unit output signal” should be deleted as being redundant, as it is repeated more fully immediately following this instance.
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.
Claims 1 and 11-17 are 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.
Claim 1 recites, “an inner loop control unit 3322, said inner loop control unit 3322 owning a function of improving and simplifying a dynamic characteristics of a feedback control system, effectively reducing a design complexity of an outer loop control unit 3342” (see claim set, last two lines of p. 2 and first two lines of p. 3). The functional language, “owning a function of improving and simplifying a dynamic characteristics of a feedback control system, effectively reducing a design complexity of an outer loop control unit” is vague and subjective. Further, because the specification does not describe the manner in which one of ordinary skill in the art may ascertain whether or not any particular inner loop control unit meets the criteria of “improving and simplifying a dynamic characteristics of a feedback control system” or “effectively reducing a design complexity of an outer loop control unit”, the metes and bounds of the claim scope are left undefined.
Independent claims 11 and 14 contain the same language quoted above, and are therefore indefinite for the same reasons. Claims 12-13 depend from claim 11, and claims 15-17 depend from claim 14, and thus these dependent claims inherit the deficiencies of their parent claim and are likewise indefinite for the same reasons.
For purposes of examination, any inner loop control unit which otherwise fulfills the requirements recited in the claims will be considered as meeting the subjective functional requirements as quoted above.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 11-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tao et al. (US Patent 11,689,113; hereinafter “Tao”).
In re claims 1 and 11-17, Tao discloses an isolated power supply unit (see Figs. 5-6, 8-11) having a control unit including a primary-side control unit (Fig. 5: 13), a secondary-side control unit (Fig. 5: 14, 11), and an adder unit (see Figs. 9 or 10: the AND gate is interpreted as performing said adding step; see col. 9:56-65), comprising:
a primary-side power stage unit (Fig. 5: Q1, Np; or Fig. 11: Q1, Rcs, Np), an input terminal of said primary-side power stage unit being connected to a DC voltage source (VIN), wherein said primary-side power stage unit, including:
a switching element (Q1); and
a filtering circuit (Np; also including, as shown in Fig. 12, magnetizing inductance thereof, Lm);
a secondary-side power stage unit (Figs. 5, 11: Q2, Ns, Rcc, Co), an output terminal of said secondary-side power stage unit being connected to a load resistor to generate an output voltage and an output current (load resistor not shown; see e.g., col. 4:9-10; the term “resistor” is understood to refer generically to any load which draws current based on applied voltage as per Ohm’s Law), wherein said output terminal of said secondary-side power stage unit being connected to a load resistor, to generate an output voltage and an output current (load resistor not shown; see e.g., col. 4:9-10; the term “resistor” is understood to refer generically to any load which draws current based on applied voltage as per Ohm’s Law), and being connected in series with an output current sensing circuit (Figs. 5, 11: Rcc), wherein said secondary-side power stage unit, including:
a rectifying element (Q2); and
a filtering circuit (Ns, Co);
an isolation transformer (Figs. 5, 11: T) as an energy transfer and an electrical isolation between said primary-side power stage unit to said secondary-side power stage unit (see col. 4:4-11; additionally it is noted that energy transfer and electrical isolation are understood as the functional purposes served by the isolation transformer in a flyback converter as in Tao);
a control unit (Figs. 5, 11: 1o), comprising:
a primary-side control unit (13), including:
an inner loop control unit (see Fig. 11 details: 131), said inner loop control unit owning a function of improving and simplifying a dynamic characteristics of a feedback control system, effectively reducing a design complexity of an outer loop control unit (the inner loop control unit 131 is considered as performing these subjective functions; see the interpretation made under the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection, above); and
a pulse width modulation generation unit (132), said pulse width modulation control signal (output of 131) is transmitted to said pulse width modulation generation unit (132), which generating a primary-side switch control signal (output of 1322); and
a secondary-side control unit Figs. 5, 11: 11, 14), said secondary-side control unit including:
said outer loop control unit (see Fig. 6 details: voltage control unit 111), an input terminal of said secondary-side control unit that receiving an output voltage feedback signal (as shown in Fig. 6), and an output terminal of said secondary-side control unit 334 that generating an outer loop control unit output signal (output of 1112), wherein said outer loop control unit output signal comprising a transient variation signal (col. 7:51-56; see Fig. 6 details), said outer loop control unit adjusting said transient response of an output voltage of an isolated power supply, enabling said output voltage of said isolated power supply to achieve said transient response (col. 7:51-56 and col. 11:29-43); and
an output current feedforward compensation unit (Fig. 8: 112), an input terminal of said output current feedforward compensation unit comprising an output current feedback signal (from terminal of current sense resistor Rcc), an output terminal of said output current feedforward compensation unit comprising an output current feedforward compensation unit output signal (output of 1122, for instance);
an opto-isolation unit (Figs. 5 or 11: 12; see col. 10:20-21) serving as said electrical isolation and transmitting a control signal between from said secondary- side control unit to said primary-side control unit (col. 5:42-48);
said output current sensing unit (Fig. 8: Rcc, 1121), said output current sensing unit being connected to said output terminal of said secondary-side power stage unit (see Fig. 8), generating an output current feedback signal based on an output current (col. 8:31-54); and
an adder unit (AND gate in Figs. 9 and 10 as explained above), said adder unit being connected to said optocoupler isolation unit (12), said outer loop control unit (11 or 111), and said output current feedforward compensation unit (112), said adder unit is used to add said output current feedforward compensation unit output signal (from 112), and an outer loop control unit output signal (from 111) to become said opto-isolation unit input signal (output of AND gate),
wherein, said output current feedforward compensation unit (Fig. 8: 112), an input terminal of said output current feedforward compensation unit receiving an output current feedback signal by using said output current feedforward compensation unit output signal (as explained above; see Fig. 8 and description at col. 8), which providing a steady-state operating point and a transient adjustment signal (col. 10: 26-32), via said output current feedforward compensation unit (Fig. 8: 112), outputting said output current feedforward compensation unit output signal (output of 1122, for instance), said output current feedforward compensation unit outputting said output current feedforward compensation unit output signal (output of 1122, for instance), adding said output current feedforward compensation unit output signal with an outer loop control unit output signal (see Figs. 9 or 10: the AND gate is interpreted as performing said adding step; see col. 9:56-65), to become an opto-isolation unit input signal (Figs. 9 and 10: output of AND gate is provided to the opto-isolation unit), and, said opto-isolation unit outputting an opto-isolation unit output signal (output of 12), for steady-state operation and transient adjustment (col. 10: 26-32), achieving a transient response of said isolated power supply (col. 11:29-43).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/FRED E FINCH III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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