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 .
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oda (JP 2017-118641 A) in view of Uryu et al. (hereinafter Uryu, US 2019/0308657 A1).
For claim 1, Oda discloses a motor driver (Fig. 1 of Oda discloses a motor driver PSA – see Oda, Fig. 1, paragraphs [0019]-[0021]) comprising:
an inverter including pairs of an upper-arm switching element and a lower-arm switching element, the pairs of the upper-arm switching element and the lower-arm switching element being provided for respective phases of a multiphase motor, the upper-arm switching element and the lower-arm switching element being connected in series between a ground line and a power supply line, the power supply line being connected to a battery, the inverter configured to supply converted power to the multiphase motor by converting direct current power of the battery (Fig. 1 of Oda discloses an inverter “INV” including pairs of an upper-arm switching element (Sup, Svp and Swp) and a lower-arm switching element (Sun, Svn and Swn), the pairs of the upper-arm switching element and the lower-arm switching element being provided for respective phases (u, v and w) of a multiphase motor 34, the upper-arm switching element (Sup, Svp and Swp) and the lower-arm switching element (Sun, Svn and Swn) being connected in series between a ground line and a power supply line, the power supply line being connected to a battery 40, the inverter “INV” configured to supply converted power to the multiphase motor 34 by converting direct current power of the battery 40 – see Oda, Fig. 1, paragraphs [0022]-[0023]);
a multiphase pre-driver circuit configured to be powered by a voltage supplied from the battery (Figs. 1-2 of Oda discloses IC 60, capacitor 108 and 112 which all together constitute a multiphase pre-driver circuit 60, 108, 112 configured to be powered by a voltage supplied from the battery 40 – see Oda, Figs. 1-2, paragraphs [0026]-[0028] and [0031]);
a controller configured to control electrical conduction from the inverter to the multiphase motor via transmission of a drive signal to the multiphase pre-driver circuit (Figs. 1-2 of Oda disclose a controller 52 configured to control electrical conduction from the inverter “INV”to the multiphase motor 34 via transmission of a drive signal to the multiphase pre-driver circuit – see Oda, Figs. 1-2, paragraphs [0023] and [0025]-[0026]; and
motor relays being semiconductor switching elements corresponding to the respective phases, each of which is configured to be turned off to interrupt a current flowing from the multiphase motor to the inverter, each of the motor relays being connected between an inter-arm connection node and a corresponding one of phase windings of the multiphase motor, the inter-arm connection node being a connection node between the upper-arm switching element and the lower-arm switching element (Fig. 1 of Oda discloses motor relays RL being semiconductor switching elements corresponding to the respective phases (u, v, w), each of which is configured to be turned off to interrupt a current flowing from the multiphase motor 34 to the inverter “INV”, each of the motor relays RL being connected between an inter-arm connection node and a corresponding one of phase windings (u, v, w) of the multiphase motor 34, the inter-arm connection node being a connection node between the upper-arm switching element (Sup, Svp and Swp) and the lower-arm switching element (Sun, Svn and Swn) – see Oda, Fig. 1, paragraphs [0011], [0022], [0024], [0026], [0030] and [0036]), wherein:
the multiphase pre-driver circuit includes a charge pump configured to boost a voltage of the battery (Fig. 2 of Oda discloses the multiphase pre-driver circuit 50 includes a charge pump 100 configured to boost a voltage of the battery 40 – see Oda, Fig. 2, paragraph [0031]);
an output end of the charge pump is connected to respective gates of the motor relays corresponding to the respective phases of the multiphase motor (Figs. 1-2 of Oda disclose an output end of the charge pump 100 is connected to respective gates of the motor relays via signal Msr corresponding to the respective phases (u, v, w) of the multiphase motor 34 – see Oda, Figs. 1-2, paragraphs [0031]-[0035]) and
the motor relays are configured to be continuously turned on by an output voltage of the charge pump during an operation of the charge pump unless the controller provides an instruction to turn off the motor relays (see Oda, Figs. 1-2, paragraphs [0033]-[0036]).
Oda discloses control device powered by a voltage supplied from the battery to drive the pairs of the upper-arm switching element and the lower-arm switching element included in the inverter (Figs. 1-2 of Oda discloses control device 50 including controller 52 powered by a voltage VL supplied from the battery 40 via step-up/step-down circuit 70 and linear regulator 84 to drive the pairs of the upper-arm switching element (Sup, Svp and Swp) and the lower-arm switching element (Sun, Svn and Swn) included in the inverter “INV” – see Oda, Figs. 1-2, paragraphs [0026]-[0029]). Oda is silent for disclosing a multiphase pre-driver circuit configured to be powered by a voltage supplied from the battery to drive the pairs of the upper-arm switching element and the lower-arm switching element included in the inverter.
However, Uryu discloses a multiphase pre-driver circuit configured to be powered by a voltage supplied from the battery to drive the pairs of the upper-arm switching element and the lower-arm switching element included in the inverter (Fig. 7 of Uryu discloses a multiphase pre-driver circuit 130/140 configured to be powered by a voltage supplied from the battery 170 to drive the pairs of the upper-arm switching element (FET1-FET2/FET1B-FET3B) and the lower-arm switching element (FET4-FET6/FET4B/FET6B) included in the inverter 121A/121B – see Uryu, Fig. 7, paragraphs [0045]-[0047]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify teaching of Oda to incorporate teaching of Uryo for purpose of performing specific functions and achieving better control.
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oda (JP 2017-118641 A) in view of Uryu et al. (hereinafter Uryu, US 2019/0308657 A1), further in view of Nakagawa (US 2018/0138811 A1).
For claim 2, Oda in view of Uryu disclose all limitations as applited to claim 1 above. Oda and Uryu are silent for disclosing at least one gate interruption switch configured to interrupt the output voltage supplied from the output end of the charge pump to the respective gates of the motor relays, in response to receiving an interruption signal as the instruction being provided from the controller. However, Nakagawa discloses at least one gate interruption switch configured to interrupt the output voltage supplied from the output end of the charge pump to the respective gates of the motor relays, in response to receiving an interruption signal as the instruction being provided from the controller (Figs. 1 and 6 of Nakagawa discloses at least one gate interruption switch 17 configured to interrupt the output voltage supplied from the output end of the charge pump 16 to the respective gates of the motor relays 18, in response to receiving an interruption signal IN– see Nakagawa, Figs. 1 and 6, paragraphs [0021], [0025]-[0026] and [0054]-[0057]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Oda’ control device 50 to include at least one gate interruption switch 17 to interrupt the output voltage supplied from the output end of the charge pump 16 to the respective gates of the motor relays 18 as teaching of Nakagawa, , in response to receiving an interruption signal IN as the instruction being provided from Oda’s controller 52 for purpose of increasing reliability.
For claim 3, Oda in view of Uryu, further in view of Nakagawa disclose the motor driver according to claim 2, wherein:
the at least one gate interruption switch is at least one of gate interruption switches (Figs. 1 and 6 of Nakagawa disclose the at least one gate interruption switch 17 which is at least one of gate interruption switches 92-95 – see Nakagawa, Figs. 1 and 6, paragraphs [0055]-[0056]);
the gate interruption switches are provided for the respective phases of the multiphase motor (Figs. 1-2 of Oda in view of Uryu, further in view of Nakagawa disclose Nakagawa’s the gate interruption switches 92-95 which are provided for the respective phases of Oda’s the multiphase motor 34 via Oda’s motor relay RL/Nakagawa’s motor relay 18 – see Oda, Figs. 1-2, paragraphs [0026] and see Nakagawa, Figs. 1 and 6, paragraphs [0025]-[0026] and [0054]-[0057]); and
the gate interruption switches are configured to interrupt the output voltage supplied from the output end of the charge pump to the respective gates of the motor relays, respectively, based on interruption signals as instructions that are separately provided from the controller and correspond to the respective phases of the multiphase motor (Figs. 1-2 of Oda in view of Uryu, further in view of Nakagawa disclose at least one Nakagawa’s gate interruption switch 17 configured to interrupt the output voltage supplied from the output end of Oda’s the charge pump 100/Nakagawa’s the charge pump 16 to the respective gates of Oda’s The motor relays RL/Nakagawa’s the motor relays 18, in response to receiving Oda’s interruption signal MSr1/ Nakagawa’s interruption IN as the instruction being provided from Oda’s controller 52 – see Oda, Figs. 1-2, paragraphs [0026]; and see Nakagawa, Figs. 1 and 6, paragraphs [0021], [0025]-[0026] and [0054]-[0057]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI T DINH whose telephone number is (571)270-3852. The examiner can normally be reached (571)270-3852.
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/THAI T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846