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 non-final office action is responsive to Applicants' application filed on 05/08/24. Claims 1-20 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.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 12, 14-15, 18, 20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Saggini et al. (US 20220263410 A1 and hereinafter as Sag)
Regarding claim 1. Sag teaches an apparatus [fig 8] comprising: a first circuit path [elements in series to form path from 213 to W3] including first windings coupled in series, each of the first windings magnetically coupled to each other [see W4/W3];
a second circuit path [elements in series to form path from 214 to W2] including second windings [see W2/W1] coupled in series, each of the second windings magnetically coupled to each other;
and switch circuitry [see Q1-Q4] operative to selectively switch between electrically connecting a flying capacitor [Cres1] in series with the first circuit path [switches controlled in fig 12] and electrically connecting the flying capacitor in series with the second circuit path [switches controlled in fig 14, Cres1 connected to 214 through Q4’s capacitor].
Regarding claim 2. Sag 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 4. Sag teaches the apparatus as in claim 1 further comprising: a first capacitor [Cc2]; a second capacitor [Cc1]; wherein the first circuit path is a first resonant circuit [Cc2 is connected to the first path with W3 making a resonant circuit] path including the first capacitor disposed in series with the first windings; and wherein the second circuit path is a second resonant circuit [Cc1 is connected to the first path with W2 making a resonant circuit] path including the second capacitor disposed in series with the second windings.
Regarding claim 5. Sag 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 teaches the apparatus as in claim 1 further comprising: a first capacitor [CC2] disposed [see VN21 in fig 15] in series with the first windings in the first circuit path;
a second capacitor [CC1] disposed in series with the second windings in the second circuit path;
and 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 213 to W3] including a series combination of a first capacitor and first inductive windings [Cres1 w/ W4/W3], the first inductive windings operative to output a first output current [is2];
a second circuit path [elements in series to form path from 214 to W2] including a series combination [Cres2 w/ W1/W2] of a second capacitor and second inductive windings, the second inductive windings operative to output a second output current [is1]; and a controller [140] operative to control switch circuitry in a first mode and a second mode [see modes in fig 15 and 12], the first mode [i.e. fig 15] including activation of a first switch [Q2] (Q3) of the switch circuitry to an on state to electrically couple a first node [see 213] of a flying capacitor to the second circuit path [CRES1 connected to W2 through Q2 and CC1], the second mode [i.e. fig 12] including activation of a second switch (Q2) [Q1] of the switch circuitry to an on state to electrically couple the first node of the flying capacitor to the first circuit path [CRES1 connected to W3 through W2].
Regarding claim 15. Sag teaches the apparatus as in claim 14, wherein the first inductive windings and the second inductive windings are inductively coupled to each other in a multi-tapped autotransformer [¶143].
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 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 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 3, 16 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 Chakraborty (US 20190199334 A1 and hereinafter as Chakra)
Regarding claim 3. Sag teaches the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the first windings are disposed in a first autotransformer [¶45].
However, Sag 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.
Regarding claim 16. Sag teaches the apparatus as in claim 14, wherein the first inductive windings are disposed in a first autotransformer [¶143].
Chaka teaches a circuit wherein the second inductive windings are disposed in a second 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 6-11,13,17 and 19 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
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