DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to preliminary amendments 04/24/2024. Claims 1-24 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/26/2024 was filed after the filing date of the application. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 15-16, 18, 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Westerby et al. US 20220137147 A1 (Hereinafter “Westerby”).
The applied reference has a common applicant with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding Claim 15, Westerby teaches a power tool (Fig. 3, 300) comprising:
a housing (Fig. 3, 300);
a brushless motor (Fig. 4, 405) within the housing, the brushless motor including a rotor and a stator, the rotor coupled to a motor shaft arranged to rotate about a longitudinal axis, the longitudinal axis extending through the motor shaft, the motor shaft arranged to produce a rotational output to a drive mechanism;
a power switching circuit (Fig. 4, 450) that provides a supply of power from a battery pack interface to the brushless motor; and
an electronic controller (Fig. 4, 400) configured to:
determine a parameter associated with the battery pack (Fig. 7C, 750; [0111] /Fig. 14, 1405)/ Fig. 15B, 1510),
classify the battery pack based on the determined parameter (Fig. 7C, 755; [0111] / [0121]), and
control field weakening applied to the brushless motor based on the classification of the battery pack (Fig. 14, 1415).
Regarding Claim 16, Westerby teaches the power tool of claim 15, wherein the electronic controller is further configured to:
apply, in response to classifying the battery pack as a high-capacity battery pack, field weakening to the brushless motor ([0121]).
Regarding Claim 18, Westerby teaches the power tool of claim 15, wherein the electronic controller is further configured to:
adjust the field weakening applied to the brushless motor based the parameter associated with the battery pack ([0121]).
Regarding Claim 22, Westerby teaches the power tool of claim 15, wherein the parameter associated with the battery pack is an identification of the battery pack ([0111]).
Regarding Claim 23, Westerby teaches the power tool of claim 15, wherein the parameter associated with the battery pack is an impedance of the battery pack ([0111]).
Regarding Claim 24, Westerby teaches the power tool of claim 15, wherein the parameter associated with the battery pack is an ampere-hour capacity of the battery pack (Fig. 9B, 915).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
an electronic controller configured to: determine whether the driver blade is in the first position, and apply, in response to determining that the driver blade is in the first position, field weakening to the brushless motor while the driver blade is moved from the first position to the second position.
The closest prior art Zhu et al. CN 202011630527.4 via US 20230271305 A1 which teaches to control the driver circuit to change conduction states such that the three-phase stator windings of the motor are all on to access a power module when the rotor is at a first preset position and control the driver circuit to change the conduction states such that any two phases of the three-phase stator windings of the motor are on to access the power module when the rotor is at a second preset position. The prior does not expressly disclose field weakening to the brushless motor while the driver blade is moved from the first position to the second position.
Claims 17 and 19-21 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Shook et al. US 20210111649 A1 teaches individual battery pack ID, which as described above, is detected by the power tool to identify the battery pack capacity
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/CORTEZ M COOK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2846