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 .
Status of the Claims
In the communication filed on 03/28/2024 claims 1-3 are pending. Claim 1 is independent.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: “The Initial Check of the Reverse Connection Protection Relay of a Power Supply Device for Fault Detection via Voltage Boost”.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: in line 21 add --is not included, the power supply relay-- after “a power supply relay” and in line 23 delete “is not included” for improved reading comprehension to more accurately reflect the negative limitation. For examination purposes below this will be interpreted as “a power supply relay is not included, the power supply relay configured to interrupt the current flow from the battery side to the power converter side through the power supply line between the battery and the reverse connection protection relay in an off state”, however, appropriate correction is required.
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: in line 25 replace “the boost circuit” with --the booster circuit-- to avoid a lack of antecedent basis issue. For examination purposes below this limitation will be interpreted as “the booster circuit”, however, appropriate correction is required.
Claims 1-3 are objected to because of the following informalities: in line 30 replace “an abnormal” with --the abnormal state-- to avoid a lack of antecedent basis. Claims 2-3 are objected to for the same reason as claim 1. For examination purposes below these limitations will be interpreted as “the abnormal state”, however, appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe et al. (Japanese Patent JP-2021052530-A), in view of Takezoe (Japanese Patent JP-2007014165-A), and further in view of Hatakeyama et al. (WIPO Patent WO-2005006344-A1).
With respect to independent claim 1, Watanabe teaches a power supply device (Figs. 1-2; ECU 15), comprising a power converter (Fig. 2; inverter unit 20) including one or more sets of switching elements in upper and lower arms connected in series between a power supply line connected to a battery and a ground line (Fig. 2; six switching elements 21-26 in upper and lower arms connected in series between an upper bus 37 connected to a battery 105 and a lower bus 38 connected to ground), and being configured to convert a DC power of the battery and supply the converted power to a load (Fig. 2; inverter unit 20 is configured to convert a DC power of the battery 105 and supply the converted power to motor 80).
Watanabe teaches an input capacitor (Fig. 2; a capacitor 35) connected in parallel to the battery on the battery side of the power converter (Fig. 2; connected in parallel to the battery 105 on the battery side of the inverter unit 20).
Watanabe teaches a booster circuit (Fig. 3; a booster circuit 41) configured to boost an input voltage supplied from the battery to a target voltage (Fig. 3; configured to boost an input voltage Vb from the battery 105 to a booster voltage Vcp).
Watanabe teaches a precharge circuit (Fig. 3; a precharge circuit 43) configured to apply a voltage to an electrode on a high potential side of the input capacitor and to precharge (¶[30]; configured to apply a voltage to an electrode on a high potential side of the capacitor 35 to precharge).
Watanabe teaches a reverse connection protection relay (Figs. 2-3; a reverse connection protection relay 32) provided in the power supply line between the battery and the input capacitor (Figs. 2-3; provided in the power supply line between the battery 105 and the capacitor 35) and being parallel connected with a diode that allows current flow from the battery side to the power converter side (Fig. 3; a diode connected in parallel with relay 32 allowing current to flow from the battery side to the power converter side), and configured to interrupt the current flow from the power converter side to the battery side when the reverse connection protection relay is turned off (¶[23]; the parallel diode prevents reverse current from flowing towards the battery).
Watanabe teaches a monitoring circuit (Fig. 2; an abnormality detection unit 72) configured to detect an abnormal state due to being stuck in an ON state or in an OFF state of the reverse connection protection relay during an initial check of the power supply device (¶[36]; open circuit and short circuit abnormalities of the reverse connection protection relay 32 are initially checked when the vehicle is turned on).
Watanabe teaches a power supply relay (Figs. 2-3; a power supply relay 31) configured to interrupt the current flow from the battery side to the power converter side through the power supply line between the battery and the reverse connection protection relay in an off state (¶[23]; relay 31 interrupts the current flow from the battery 105 and the relay 32 when in an off state).
Watanabe teaches at a time of the initial check, the boost circuit performs an overboost process in which the voltage is temporarily raised above a value during normal operation (¶[32]; ¶[37]; ¶[45]; during a normal startup, an initial check is performed wherein the boosted voltage Vcp is applied to the midpoint P thus boosting the voltage Vm at midpoint P).
Watanabe teaches the monitoring circuit detects an abnormal due to being stuck in the ON state or due to being stuck in the OFF state of the reverse connection protection relay according to a post-relay voltage that is a voltage on the power converter side of the reverse connection protection relay (¶[38]; ¶[41]; the abnormality determination unit 72 detects a short-circuit or an open circuit of the reverse connection protection relay 32 according to Vm being compared to Vth, wherein Vm is a voltage on a the power converter side of the reverse connection protection relay 32).
However, Watanabe fails to explicitly teach the precharge circuit configured to apply a boosted voltage outputted by the booster circuit; the power supply relay is not included; and the precharge circuit applies the boosted voltage resulting from the overboost process to the electrode on the high potential side of the input capacitor.
Takezoe teaches the power supply relay is not included (Fig. 1; a power supply circuit with a reverse connection protection relay 3 and a power supply relay is not included).
A reverse connection protection relay is used without a main power supply relay to save energy and eliminate voltage drop during normal operation. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to have adapted Takezoe’s single relay circuit to Watanabe’s power supply device. The advantage being reducing circuit components as such improving costs and reducing energy consumption.
However, Watanabe fails to explicitly teach the precharge circuit is configured to apply a boosted voltage outputted by the booster circuit; and the precharge circuit applies the boosted voltage resulting from the overboost process to the electrode on the high potential side of the input capacitor.
Hatakeyama teaches that the precharge circuit is configured to apply a boosted voltage outputted by the booster circuit (Fig. 1; the precharge circuit PC1 is configured to apply a boosted voltage Vb1 outputted by booster circuit BC1).
Hatakeyama teaches the precharge circuit applies the boosted voltage resulting from the overboost process to the electrode on the high potential side of the input capacitor (Fig. 1; the precharge circuit PC1 applies the boosted voltage Vb1 to the electrode of the capacitor C1).
Placing a booster circuit before a precharge circuit allows the system to step up the lower battery voltage to match or exceed the bus voltage before charging the capacitor. As such, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have adapted Hatakeyama’s booster circuit supplementing the precharge circuit to Watanabe’s power supply device. The advantage being the time to generate a boosted voltage is shortened and power consumption of the boost circuit is reduced (see ¶[10] of Hatakeyama).
With respect to claim 2, Watanabe teaches the invention as discussed above in claim 1. Further, Watanabe teaches wherein the monitoring circuit
detects the abnormal due to being stuck in the ON state of the reverse connection protection relay based on the post-relay voltage after a predetermined boost time has elapsed from a time when an application of the boosted voltage was started due to the overboost process with the reverse connection protection relay turned OFF (Fig. 7; ¶[36]; ¶[45]; the abnormality detection unit 72 detects the abnormality due to the reverse connection protection relay 32 being short-circuited based on a comparison of Vcp with Vth after time x11 elapses from the start of the application of Vcp with the reverse connection protection relay 32 initially off).
Watanabe teaches thereafter, turns on the reverse connection protection relay and detects the abnormal due to being stuck in the OFF state of the reverse connection protection relay based on the post-relay voltage after a predetermined drop time has elapsed from a time when the application of the boosted voltage due to the overboost process has ended (Fig. 7; ¶[47]; at time x13 the reverse connection protection relay 32 is turned on and an abnormality is determined based on an open-circuit of the reverse connection protection relay 32 based on a comparison of Vcp with Vth after time x13 has elapsed from the time the application of Vcp to midpoint P due to the overboost has ended).
With respect to claim 3, Watanabe teaches the invention as discussed above in claim 1. Further, Watanabe teaches the monitoring circuit
detects the abnormal due to being stuck in the ON state of the reverse connection protection relay based on the potential after a predetermined potential expansion time has elapsed from a time when an application of the boosted voltage was started due to the overboost process with the reverse connection protection relay turned OFF (Fig. 7; ¶[36]; ¶[45]; the abnormality detection unit 72 detects the abnormality due to the reverse connection protection relay 32 being short-circuited based on a comparison of Vcp with Vth after time x11 elapses from the start of the application of Vcp with the reverse connection protection relay 32 initially off).
Watanabe teaches thereafter, turns on the reverse connection protection relay, and detects the abnormal due to being stuck in the OFF state of the reverse connection protection relay based on the potential after a predetermined potential reduction time has elapsed from the time when the application of the boosted voltage due to the overboost process has ended (Fig. 7; ¶[47]; at time x13 the reverse connection protection relay 32 is turned on and an abnormality is determined based on an open-circuit of the reverse connection protection relay 32 based on a comparison of Vcp with Vth after time x13 has elapsed from the time the application of Vcp to midpoint P due to the overboost has ended).
Although Watanabe fails to explicitly teach wherein a potential difference obtained by subtracting the voltage of the battery from the post-relay voltage is defined as a potential difference before and after the relay, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to utilize a potential difference of the voltages before and after the relay for determination purposes, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The additional prior art identified by the applicant in the Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) were considered by the examiner, however, for examination purposes were not relied upon for citation purposes.
Okanoe (USPGPN 20160301235) describes a power switch device used to turn power on and off for a functional circuit powered by a DC source. The device sits between the power source and power lines that feed the load. The circuit includes a capacitor that smooths voltage fluctuations, but that capacitor can draw a large inrush current when power is applied.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Frank A Silva whose telephone number is (703)756-1698. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 09:30 am -06:30 pm ET.
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/FRANK ALEXIS SILVA/Examiner, Art Unit 2859
/DREW A DUNN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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