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 .
This final office action is responsive to Applicants' response filed on 04/15/26. Claims 1-3, 5-6, 8-14, 17-29 are presented for examination and are pending for the reasons indicated herein below.
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 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant' s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-2, 5, 12, 14, 18, 20-21 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Saggini et al. (US 20220263410 A1 and hereinafter as Sag) in view of Ge et al. (US 20230396144 A1)
Regarding claim 1. Sag teaches an apparatus [fig 8] comprising: a flying capacitor [Cres1]; a first circuit path [elements in series to form path from VN1 to W2] including first windings and a first resonant capacitor [Cc1] connected in series, each of the first windings magnetically coupled to each other [see W1/W2];
a second circuit path [elements in series to form path from VN2 to W3] including second windings and a second resonant capacitor [Cc2] connected in series, each of the second windings magnetically coupled to each other [see W3/W4].
However, Sag does not explicitly mention a circuit comprising: switch circuitry operative to selectively switch between electrically connecting the flying capacitor in series with the first circuit path and electrically connecting the flying capacitor in series with the second circuit path.
Ge teaches a circuit comprising: switch circuitry [switches in stages, fig 7] operative to selectively switch [abstract, ¶49 circuit w/ interleaving stages] between electrically connecting the flying capacitor [C1, ¶31] in series with the first circuit path [1st phase] and electrically connecting the flying capacitor in series with the second circuit path [2nd phase].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the features of Ge in order to provide a circuit that can carry more current while smoothing ripple at the intermediate node, thus, providing different power requirements while yielding reasonable efficiency.
Regarding claim 2. Sag as modified teaches the apparatus as in claim 1 further comprising: an output node [Vout] operative to: i) receive a first output current [is1] from a first tap node [Vx] of the first windings and a second output current [is2] from a second tap node [Vy] of the second windings, and ii) output [iout] a combination of the first output current and the second output current from the output node to power a load.
Regarding claim 5. Sag as modified teaches the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the switch circuitry includes a first switch and a second switch [Q1/Q2], the apparatus further comprising: a controller [140] operative to switch between a first mode and a second mode of controlling the first switch and the second switch;
wherein the first mode includes activation of the second switch to an ON-state and deactivation of the first switch to an OFF-state [see mode fig 15, Q2]; and wherein the second mode includes activation of the first switch to an ON-state and deactivation of the second switch to an OFF-state [see mode in fig 12, Q1].
Regarding claim 12. Sag as modified teaches the apparatus as in claim 1 further comprising: a controller operative to control the switch circuitry in accordance with a first mode [fig 12 mode], the control of the switch circuitry in the first mode operative to cause: i) a first flow of current from an input voltage source through the first circuit path to a reference voltage [ICRES1 all the path leading to ground reference which Iout includes IS2], and ii) a second flow [Iout] of current through a combination of the flying capacitor and the second circuit path to the reference voltage.
Regarding claim 14. Sag teaches an apparatus [fig 8] comprising: a first circuit path [elements in series to form path from VN1 to W2] including a series combination of a first resonant capacitor and first inductive windings [Cc1 w/ W1/W2], the first inductive windings operative to output a first output current [is1];
a second circuit path [elements in series to form path from VN2 to W3] including a series combination [Cc2 w/ W3/W4] of a second resonant capacitor [Cc2] and second inductive windings, the second inductive windings operative to output a second output current [is2].
However, Sag does not explicitly mention a circuit comprising: a controller operative to control switch circuitry in a first mode and a second mode, the first mode including activation of a first switch (Q3) of the switch circuitry to an on state to electrically couple a first node of a flying capacitor to the second circuit path, the second mode including activation of a second switch of the switch circuitry to an on state to electrically couple the first node of the flying capacitor to the first circuit path.
Ge teaches a controller [controller of Ge] operative to control switch circuitry in a first mode and a second mode [i.e. different conversion ratios], the first mode [i.e. 1st conversion mode] including activation of a first switch [Ph2] of the switch circuitry to an on state to electrically couple a first node [upper terminal of C1] of the flying capacitor to the second circuit path [abstract, ¶49 circuit w/ interleaving (by alternating between phases) stages, thus, Ph1 being open and Ph2 being close], the second mode [i.e. 2nd conversion mode] including activation of a second switch [Ph1] of the switch circuitry to an on state to electrically couple the first node of the flying capacitor to the first circuit path [abstract, ¶49 circuit w/ interleaving (by alternating between phases) stages, thus, Ph2 being open and Ph1 being close].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the features of Ge in order to provide a circuit that can carry more current while smoothing ripple at the intermediate node, thus, providing different power requirements while yielding reasonable efficiency.
Regarding claim 20. Sag teaches the apparatus as in claim 12, wherein the controller is further operative to control the switch circuitry coupled to the first circuit path and the second circuit path in accordance with a second mode [modes in fig 12 and fig 15], the control of the switch circuitry in the second mode operative to: i) electrically connect the first capacitor and the flying capacitor in series to create a first circuit loop including a combination of the first circuit path and the flying capacitor [see mode in fig 15 CRES1 indirectly connected to VN21], and ii) electrically connect a node [VN11] of the second capacitor to a node [i.e. VN11] of the second windings to create a second circuit loop.
Regarding claim 21. Sag teaches the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the switch circuitry includes a first switch and a second switch [Ph1-Ph2]; and wherein a circuit node directly couples the first switch, the second switch, and the flying capacitor to each other [output node of 154].
Regarding method claims 18, note that under MPEP 2112.02, the principles of inherency, if a prior art device, in its normal and usual operation, would necessarily perform the method claimed, then the method claimed will be considered to be anticipated by the prior art device. When the prior art device is the same as a device described in the specification for carrying out the claimed method, it can be assumed the device "inherently performs the claimed process. In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 231 USPQ 136 (Fed Cir. 1986). Therefore the previous rejections based on the apparatus will not be repeated.
Claim 3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Saggini et al. (US 20220263410 A1 and hereinafter as Sag) in view of Ge et al. (US 20230396144 A1) and further in view of Chakraborty (US 20190199334 A1 and hereinafter as Chakra)
Regarding claim 3. Sag as modified teaches the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the first windings are disposed in a first autotransformer [¶45].
However, Sag as modified does not explicitly mention a circuit wherein the second windings are disposed in a second autotransformer, the second autotransformer magnetically separated from the first autotransformer.
Chaka teaches a circuit wherein the second windings are disposed in a second autotransformer, the second autotransformer magnetically separated from the first autotransformer [¶136].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the features of Chaka in order to provide secondary isolation which allows for better protection between circuit sides.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 8-11,13,17, 19, 22-29 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, and if the claim objections stated above were overcome.
Examiner Note
The examiner cites particular columns and lines numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Bryan Perez whose telephone number is (571)272-8837. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon.-Fri. (7:30 – 5:00).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Crystal Hammond, can be reached on (571) 270-1682. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRYAN R PEREZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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