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 § 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 1-19 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 line 8 “ , claim 7 line 11 and claim 14 line 9 “the motor speed “ lacks antecedent basis.
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) 1, 7, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by 2017/012569 cited by Applicant .
2017/012569 discloses a method of operating a dual channel permanent magnet motor drive system a drive control method for electric motor equipped with plurality of energization system , paragraph 33 , a permanent magnet rotator 201 , wherein each channel comprises a respective power inverter fig 2 1A , 1B , the power inverter being controlled to produce torque based on a certain reference torque value ( fig 11 “total target asset torque “) the method comprising when it is determined that one of the channels of the dual channel permanent magnet motor drive system has one switch short circuit “OSSC” fault (paragraph 73 more specifically it refers to a fault such as a short circuit in ay of high potential side switching elements or low potential side switching elements constituting inverters 1A and 1B, a short to ground of any of the three phase drive liens or short to supply any of the three phase drive liens ), the dual permanent magnet motor drive system thus having a healthy channel and a faulty channel ( fig 11 “normal”, failed cha 1”), during startup of the motor drive system whilst the motor speed is below a certain threshold motor speed ( see paragraph 163 it is possible to increase the target asset torque of system having completed the initial diagnosis ahead of other at startup), controlling both channels of the dual channel permanent magnet motor drive system to provide torque wherein the healthy channel is controlled to provide desired output torque based on first reference torque ( see fig 4 ), and wherein faulty channel is controlled to provide an output torque based on a second reference torque wherein the second reference torque is varied according to a certain function of motor speed ( see paragraph 148 calculate braking torque generated in the second energization system based on motor rotational speed and in subsequent step S513 make correction to increase the total target assist torque according to the braking torque generated in the second energization system herby setting the resultant as a final target assist torque). Claim 14 non transitory program is disclosed in paragraph 28 and 75 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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(s) 5, 6, 12, 13, 18, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 2017/012569 in view of EP3131198 both cited by Applicant .
2017/012569 as disclosed above lacks disclosing when motor speed exceeds threshold , three phase short circuit is applied . EP3131198 discloses when motor speed exceeds threshold , short circuit is applied to motor terminals , see abstract and claim 1 . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the operating dual channel permanent magnet of 2017/012569 with speed exceeding threshold of EP3131198 for improved control.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 8-11, 15-17 are 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.
Prior art does not disclose when mot speed is below a certain threshold motor speed , the second reference torque used for control of faulty channel is varied relative to nominal maximum load torque as a function of motor speed according to a certain relationship that has been determined based on characterizing manet motor drive system .
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAREN MASIH whose telephone number is (571)272-2068. The examiner can normally be reached m-f 8-5 with second Friday off.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Colon Santana can be reached at 571-272-2060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KAREN MASIH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846
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