Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor tfile provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kitanaka US publication no.: US 2011/0043149 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Kitanaka teaches, An AC rotary machine controller that controls an AC rotary machine having a stator provided with one set or a plurality of sets of three-phase windings (motor 6, figure 1 and paragraph 53) via one set or a plurality of sets of inverters (inverter 2, figure 1), the AC rotary machine controller comprising at least one processor configured to implement: a voltage command calculator (voltage command calculator 55, figure 2) that, for each set, calculates voltage command values of three-phase applied to the three-phase windings (see paragraph 70, where it is explained that the voltage command values are generated by the voltage command calculator 55); and a PWM calculator (see voltage command/ PWM generating unit 50, figure 1) that, for each set, controls on/off a plurality of switching devices of the inverter, based on a comparison result between each of the voltage command values of three-phase and a carrier wave signal (see figure 2, where it can be seen that comparators 61-63 are utilized to compare values from the carrier generating unit 58 and the voltage command calculator 55 values); wherein, for each set, the voltage command calculator switches a first control mode (asynchronous mode, figures 3-7), a second control mode (synchronous mode, figures 3-7), and a third control mode (one pulse mode, figures 3-7) , based on an operating state of the AC rotary machine; in the first control mode (see paragraph 18, where it is explains the switch between the asynchronous and synchronous modes and avoids ripples and current oscillations in the motor by utilizing this mode), the voltage command calculator executes a phase current ripple suppression control that calculates the voltage command values of three-phase by applying a modulation to basic voltage command values of three-phase so that a ripple component of current flowing into the winding of each phase decreases less than a case where the basic voltage command values of three-phase of sine waves are set as the voltage command values of three-phase; in the second control mode (see paragraph 18, where it is explains the switch between the asynchronous and synchronous modes and avoids ripples and current oscillations in the motor by utilizing this mode and further keeps “positive/negative symmetricity of the voltage”), the voltage command calculator executes a bus current ripple suppression control that calculates the voltage command values of three-phase by applying a modulation to the basic voltage command values of three-phase so that a ripple component of current flowing between a DC power source and the inverter decreases less than a case where the basic voltage command values of three-phase of sine waves are set as the voltage command values of three-phase; and in the third control mode (see paragraph 13 - one-pulse mode in which the speed is equal to or higher than the base speed, the inverter output voltage is constantly fixed at the maximum value regardless of the level of the output torque; therefore, no need to regulate the level of the inverter output voltage; the number of pulses included in a half cycle of the inverter output voltage is always 1; for example- decreasing the number of switching events reduces the switching losses) , the voltage command calculator executes a switching loss suppression control that calculates the voltage command values of three-phase by applying a modulation to the basic voltage command values of three-phase so that a loss of the switching devices decreases less than a case where the basic voltage command values of three-phase of sine waves are set as the voltage command values of three-phase.
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.
Claims 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kitanaka US publication no.: US 2011/0043149 A1 in view of Suzuki US publication no.: US 2012/0049782 A1.
Regarding claim 14, Kitanaka is silent on specifically teaching, the AC rotary machine controller according to claim 1, wherein the voltage command calculator executes the bus current ripple suppression control also in the third control mode.
Suzuki teaches: wherein the voltage command calculator executes the bus current ripple suppression control also in the third control mode
In view of Suzuki’s teachings, it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, with the apparatus as taught by Kitanaka to include; wherein the voltage command calculator executes the bus current ripple suppression control also in the third control mode
Regarding claim 15, Kitanaka teaches, a vehicle driving apparatus (see paragraph 1) comprising: the AC rotary machine controller according to claim 1, the AC rotary machine (see rejection of claim 1 above).
Kitanaka is silent on specifically teaching: a driving force transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force of the AC rotary machine to wheels of a vehicle.
Suzuki teaches: a driving force transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force of the AC rotary machine to wheels of a vehicle (see figures 1-2 and paragraph 200) .
In view of Suzuki’s teachings, it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, with the apparatus as taught by Kitanaka to include; a driving force transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force of the AC rotary machine to wheels of a vehicle, for the purpose of providing a variant apparatus to be controlled.
Regarding claim 16, Kitanaka teaches, the AC rotary machine controller according to claim 1,
Kitanaka is silent on specifically teaching: An electric power steering apparatus comprising and a driving force transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force of the AC rotary machine to a steering apparatus of a vehicle.
Suzuki teaches: An electric power steering apparatus comprising and a driving force transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force of the AC rotary machine to a steering apparatus of a vehicle (see figures 1-2 and paragraph 200) .
In view of Suzuki’s teachings, it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, with the apparatus as taught by Kitanaka to include; An electric power steering apparatus comprising and a driving force transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force of the AC rotary machine to a steering apparatus of a vehicle, for the purpose of providing a variant apparatus to be controlled.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13 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
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/ZOHEB S IMTIAZ/Primary Examiner , Art Unit 2846
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