DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the amendment filed on 15 May 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
In the reply filed 15 May 2026, Applicant has overcome the rejection of independent claim 1 and of its dependent claims, where applicable, by amending claim 1 to include the allowable subject matter of previous claims 11 and/or 12.
However, the response as a whole fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.111(b), which requires that Applicant “must reply to every ground of objection and rejection in the prior Office action,” because the response does not address the rejection of the independent method claim 17, which claim also has not been amended. While the response to the non-final Office action is considered a bona fide attempt to advance prosecution, nonetheless the rejection of claim 17 has been maintained and made final.
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.
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kuchipudi et al. (US Patent 11,018,595; “Kuchipudi”).
In re claim 17, Kuchipudi discloses a control method for an isolated power converter (see Figs. 3, 4, 6), the control method comprising:
at a secondary-side regulation signal generation module, receiving a feedback signal of an output voltage of the isolated power converter, generating a first primary-side power transistor control signal and coupling the first control signal to a primary-side regulator (see the citations for the corresponding secondary-side regulation signal generation module limitations within the device as claimed in claim 1, above in this Office action);
at a primary-side regulation (PSR) module, receiving a voltage signal across a winding in the isolated power converter and generating a second primary-side power transistor control signal for controlling a state of the primary-side power transistor, thereby executing a PSR mode (see the citations for the corresponding PSR module limitations within the device as claimed in claim 1, above in this Office action);
at a follow-up secondary-side regulation (SSR) module, receiving the first control signal and generating a third primary-side power transistor control signal for controlling the state of the primary-side power transistor, thereby executing an SSR mode (see the citations for the corresponding follow-up SSR module limitations within the device as claimed in claim 1, above in this Office action);
at a regulation switching module, receiving first control signal and executing a switching of the primary-side regulator between the PSR and SSR modes (see the citations for the corresponding regulation switching module limitations within the device as claimed in claim 1, above in this Office action); and
during startup of the isolated power converter, first executing the PSR mode by the PSR module and then executing a mode switching by the regulation switching module so that the SSR mode is executed by the follow-up SSR module (see Fig. 6: steps 602, 604, 606, 608 and see col. 8: 3-28; the converter starts up using the PSR primary side control until the first control signal is received from the secondary side, and then uses the SSR secondary side control).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 and 13-16 are allowed.
The reasons for allowability of the above claims are the same as were originally stated in the non-final Office action dated 18 February 2026 with respect to the previous dependent claims 11 and 12.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRED E FINCH III whose telephone number is (571)270-7883. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached at (571) 272-1838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FRED E FINCH III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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