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 . 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.
This office action is in response to the application filed on 05/31/2024.
Drawing
The drawings filed on 05/31/2024 are acceptable.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/31/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 C.F.R. § 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has been considered by the examiner.
Claims 1-20 are pending and have been examined.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Rana et al. (US 2017/0264206 A1), hereinafter ‘Rana.
In re to claim 1, Rana disclose a method for operating an active clamp flyback converter (i.e. 100, fig. 1, circuits and methods, see pars. [0025, 0027 and 0077]), the method comprising: sensing a reverse current sensing signal (i.e. negative current sense at CS, see fig. 1) during a conduction phase of a high-side switch (i.e. S2) of the active clamp flyback converter (i.e. 100, fig. 1), the reverse current sensing signal corresponding to a reverse current flowing at the high-side switch (i.e. S2) during the conduction phase (i.e. when S2 is active); comparing the reverse current sensing signal to a threshold (i.e. comparing CS/319 to the threshold 318 by comparator 312, fig. 10); setting a first dead time duration between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON a low-side switch of the active clamp flyback converter in response to the reverse current sensing signal exceeding the threshold (i.e. when the high-side switch S2 turns off, the low-side switch S1 turns on after a dead time indicated by the turn-on dead-time signal, see fig. 2 and par. [0032-0033]), the first dead time duration being a function of a reverse recovery time of a body diode of the low-side switch (i.e. a turn-on dead-time signal, ON_DT, fig. 2); and setting a second dead time duration between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON the low-side switch of the active clamp flyback converter in response to the reverse current sensing signal falling below the threshold (i.e. the low-side switch S1 turns on after a dead time indicated by the turn-on dead-time signal, see fig. 2 and par. [0033]), the second dead time duration being less than the first dead time duration (i.e. see the graph of ON_DT, fig. 2).
In re to claim 2, Rana disclose the method (i.e. 100, fig. 1, circuits and methods, see pars. [0025, 0027 and 0077]) of claim 1, wherein sensing the reverse current sensing signal comprises sensing the reverse current flowing at the high-side switch (i.e. S2) through a capacitive current divider (i.e. capacitor C2) formed by a sense resistor (i.e. RCS) and a sense capacitor (i.e. C2) coupled to the high-side switch (i.e. S2, see fig. 1, see par. [i.e. 0033]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In re to claim 3, None of the cited prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach the claimed inventions in which “wherein a monostable multivibrator is configured to generate a dead time between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON the low-side switch corresponding to the first dead time duration or the second dead time duration based on a comparison of the reverse current sensing signal to the threshold”.
The art of record does not disclose the above limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify the art of record to include either of the above limitations.
In re to claims 4-7, claim 4-7 depend on claim 3, thus are also objected for the same reasons provided above.
Claims 8-20 are allowed over the art of record.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: -
In re to claim 8, None of the cited prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach the claimed inventions in which “a multiplexer configured to select between a first input signal and a second input signal based on the output signal of the comparator, the first input signal corresponding to a first dead time duration between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON a low-side switch of the active clamp flyback converter, the second input signal corresponding to a second dead time duration between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON the low-side switch of the active clamp flyback converter; and a monostable multivibrator configured to set a time duration between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON the low-side switch of the active clamp flyback converter based on an output of the multiplexer”.
In re to claim 15, None of the cited prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach the claimed inventions in which “a multiplexer configured to select between a first input signal and a second input signal based on the output signal of the comparator, the first input signal corresponding to a first dead time duration between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON the low-side switch, the second input signal corresponding to a second dead time duration between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON the low-side switch of the active clamp flyback converter, the first dead time duration being a function of a reverse recovery time of a body diode of the low-side switch; and a monostable multivibrator configured to set a time duration between turning OFF the high-side switch and turning ON the low-side switch of the active clamp flyback converter based on an output of the multiplexer”.
The art of record does not disclose the above limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify the art of record so as to include either of the above limitations.
In re to claims 9-14, claims 9-14 depend on claim 8, thus are also allowed for the same reasons provided above.
In re to claims 16-20, claims 16-20 depend on claim 15, thus are also allowed for the same reasons provided above.
Remarks
The examiner has cited columns, line numbers, paragraph numbers, references, or
figures in the references applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses to fully consider the reference in entirety, as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2141.02 and § 2123.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEMANE MEHARI whose telephone number is (571)270-7603. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM TO 6 PM.
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/YEMANE MEHARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838