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 Objections
1. Claims 1, 2, 10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1, line 2, the term “the safe disconnect circuit” changes to “the safety circuit”.
Claims 2, 10, “The safety disconnect circuit” changes to “The apparatus”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
2. Claims 1, 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Takuma et al (USPN 2019/0123541).
Regarding claim 1, Takuma discloses an apparatus (such as an apparatus shown in figure 1), comprising:
a safety circuit (a safety circuit 1) having a power input (such as an internal power input Vreg) and a fault output (a fault notification output S0), the safe disconnect circuit configurable to:
detect a fault condition (such as an overcurrent condition, an open fault condition, an overtemperature condition, and an undervoltage condition, see par. 0067);
responsive to a number of occurrences of the fault condition reaching a pre- determined number (when the occurrence of the fault conditions exceeds fault threshold value, see par. 0071-0074), setting the fault output (S0) to a first state (at an abnormality state, the fault out S0 is set a high state at V90 during a time internal t14-t15); and
responsive to a state change of the power input (the internal power input changes to an operating state, see par. 0067), setting the fault output (the fault signal S0) to a second state (the operating state, the signal S0 is set a low state at V80, see par. 00780-0079).
Regarding claim 6, Takuma discloses an external voltage supply (VBB) coupled to the fault terminal output (S0) through a resistor (a resistor 4) (see figure 1).
Regarding claim 7, Takuma discloses a battery (a battery VBB) coupled to the power input.
Regarding claim 8, Takuma discloses a fault detection circuit (a fault detection circuit 70) coupled to the safety circuit (1) and configurable to provide a signal indicative (such as S71-S74) of the fault condition to the safety circuit.
Regarding claim 9, Takuma discloses a power converter (a regulator 60) including the safety circuit (1), the power converter having a power output (Vreg), the safety circuit (1) is configurable to disconnect the power output from the power input responsive to the fault output having the first state (the abnormality state) (see par. 0067).
Allowable Subject Matter
3. Claims 11-21 are allowed over prior art of record.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
The prior art of record neither anticipates nor renders obvious the claimed subject matter of the instant application as a whole either taken alone or in combination, in particular, prior art of record does not teach:
An apparatus, comprising: a safety circuit including: a latch having a latch input, a latch power input, and a latch output, wherein the latch input is coupled to a validation terminal; a counter having a counter input, a counter supply terminal and a counter output, wherein the counter input is coupled to the validation terminal; a first switch coupled between a fault terminal and a ground terminal and having a first switch control terminal, wherein the first switch control terminal is coupled to the latch output; a second switch coupled between a terminal and the latch power input, and having a second switch control terminal, wherein the second switch control terminal is coupled to the counter output; and a third switch coupled between a power input and the latch power input, and having a third switch control terminal, wherein the third switch control terminal is coupled to the counter output as recited in claim 11.
4. Claims 2-5, 10 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.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANNY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2054. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached at 571-271-1838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANNY NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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