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 Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 1 and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hijikata US 2019/0190415 A1 in a view of Hayes 4,103,216.
Regarding claim 1, Hijikata discloses
A motor drive control device (figs. 1 and 2, item 100) comprising: a control unit (item 110) configured to generate a control signal for controlling driving of a two-phase stepping motor (item 120); and a drive unit (item 20) configured to drive coils (124Y and 124X) of two phases of the two-phase stepping motor based on the control signal [0030-0034], and a second commutation control mode for commutating the coils based on a detection result of a zero crossing point of a back electromotive voltage of the coils, and generates the control signal in the second commutation control mode when the detection result of the zero crossing point satisfies a predetermined condition [0040, 0041].
Hijikata does not disclose but Hayes disclose wherein the control unit (fig. 1, item 17) has, as control modes, a first commutation control mode (a preliminary step period) for commutating the coils according to a target energization time (Tst) based on a preset commutation condition (until velocity hits VN) (column 3, lines 60-68, column 7, lines 58-66) and the control unit generates the control signal (via step pulses as shown in fig. 3) in the first commutation control mode at start of activation (When velocity starts accelerating as shown in fig. 2) of the two-phase stepping motor (item 21) ( column 4, lines 4-17, column 7, lines 58-66, the motor is a four phase which has at least two-phase).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective fling date of the claimed invention to use a first commutation control mode as taught by Hayes in Hijikata teachings to perform a preliminary step control because at lower speed there won’t be much acceleration to achieve target velocity.
Regarding claim 10, Hijikata discloses
, wherein the predetermined condition includes a threshold value related to the number of times of detection of the zero crossing point, and when the number of times of detection of the zero crossing point is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the control unit switches the control mode from the first commutation control mode to the second commutation control mode [0040, 0041]. Hijikata and Hayes do not mention “the number of times of detection of the zero crossing point”. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective fling date of the claimed invention to check the detection number of times of the zero crossing point to prevent false zero crossings.
Regarding claim 11, Hijikata and Hayes disclose
A motor unit (fig. 1) comprising: the motor drive control device according to claim 1; and the two-phase stepping motor (see claim 1 rejection for detail).
Regarding claim 12, Hijikata and Hayes disclose
A motor drive control method for controlling driving of a two-phase stepping motor, the motor drive control method comprising the steps of: commutating coils of two phases of the two-phase stepping motor according to a target energization time based on a preset commutation condition at start of activation of the two-phase stepping motor; determining whether a detection result of a zero crossing point of a back electromotive voltage of the coils satisfies a predetermined condition; and commutating the coils based on the detection result of the zero crossing point when the detection result of the zero crossing point satisfies the predetermined condition (see claim 1 rejection for detail).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 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. Claim 2 discloses details about determining the target energization time.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
KARAWAWA et al. (US 2019/0379309 A1) disclose energization of motor during different periods.
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/BICKEY DHAKAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896