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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more . The claim recited routine data gathering such as phase adjustment process , current calculator . There is nothing else being done to the motor . The judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application . Power converter and motor are generic and are not adding significantly more than abstract idea . Additional element does not integrate abstract idea into practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing abstract idea of calculating and executing.
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) 1-3, 5, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP2007267512 cited by Applicant .
JP2007267512 discloses motor controller comprising power converter (13) configured to supply alternating current power to each phase of multiphase motor (11) by converting input power of power converter and current command calculator (14) configured to calculate a current command value for a current supplied to the multiphase motor based on torque command value , the current command value being defined by current amplitude and current phase in dq axis coordinate system , wherein current command calculator is further configured to execute a phase adjustment process in case where multiphase motor is in locking energization state in which multiphase motor is being energized while multiphase motor has stopped rotation except when multiphase motor satisfied a predetermined exemption condition and phase adjustment process is process in which change in current phase of current command value is executed over time to prevent multiphase motor from being energized with same current phase for a predetermined time or longer , see translation paragraph 13-41 and fig 1-3. Current command value defined by current amplitude and current phase at dq axis coordinate according to torque command value T* wherein unless ac motor exceeds a predetermined rotational speed or torque command value T* is lower than predetermined torque , the inverter controller executes processing in energization when ac motor is locked to change the phase at dq coordinate on a constant torque curve C and on a current limit curve A. Claim 2 is constant torque curve is disclosed in paragraph 16 , Claim 3 constant amplitude circle is discloses in fig 2 , Claim 5 phase changing range is disclosed in paragraph 20 , Claim 9 of torque loads disclosed in paragraph 37 and claim 10 is the same as Claim 1 .
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) 4, 6, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP2007-267512 cited by Applicant in view of JP20010197798 cited by Applicant and CN116388642 .
JP2007-267512 as disclosed above lacks disclosing maximum phase and hysteresis . JP20010197798 discloses maximum phase , see paragraph 6 . CN116388642 discloses hysteresis , see abstract . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to combine the motor controller of JP2007-267512 with maximum phase of JP20010197798 and hysteresis of CN116388642 for improved control.
Conclusion
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/KAREN MASIH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846
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