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 .
Claims 1-9 are pending in this application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 07/09/2024. 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
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 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.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yabe (JP 2004148869 A; Translation attached).
Regarding claim 1, Yabe teaches electrical equipment configured to be mounted in a vehicle (abstract, provide a vehicle power control device), comprising:
a first connection unit (e.g. first connection unit, fig.1 below) configured to be connected to a body of the vehicle (e.g. ground, fig.1 below) ([0047], battery and the ground, and a trunk opener);
a second connection unit (e.g. second connection unit, fig.1 below) configured to be connected to external equipment (e.g. equipment comprising MOSFET 11, fig.1 below);
a switch (e.g. transistor Q2, fig.1 below) configured to be connected between the first connection unit and the second connection unit (e.g. Q2 is connected between first connection unit and second connection unit, fig.1 below); and
a switching circuit (e.g. circuit comprising transistor Q1, fig.1 below) configured to switch the switch on or off ([0053], transistor Q1 is turned off … so that the transistor Q2 is turned off),
wherein, when the switch is on ([0055], so that the MOS-FET 11 is turned on) (it is necessarily true that the gate of 11 is connected to high voltage via Q2, which implies Q2 is on), a current flows through the second connection unit, the switch, and the first connection unit in this order ([0055], the transistor Q1 is turned on … so that the MOS-FET 11 is turned on) (it is necessarily true that Q2 and Q1 are on and current flows from collector of Q2 to ground via Q1 and Q3),
the switching circuit switches the switch from on to off ([0056], the MOS-FET 13 is turned off) when a voltage between the first connection unit and the second connection unit is greater than or equal to a predetermined voltage ([0056], when the power supply electrode is reversely connected),
a power supply terminal of the electrical equipment (e.g. power supply terminal, fig.1 below) and an input terminal of the external equipment (e.g. drain of MOSFET 11, fig.1 below) are both connected to a positive electrode of a direct current power supply (e.g. VBATT 12V, fig.1 below),
a ground terminal of the electrical equipment (e.g. ground, fig.1 below) and an output terminal of the external equipment (e.g. VOUT, fig.1 below) are both connected to the body of the vehicle ([0001], a vehicle power control device that controls driving of an inductive load such as a motor for a trunk opener mounted on a vehicle), and
the electrical equipment and the external equipment form a parallel circuit (e.g. gate control circuit 2 is connected between 12V and ground, and circuit of MOSFET 11 is connected between 12V and ground, fig.1 below).
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Fig. 1: Annotated fig.7 of prior art Yabe (JP 2004148869 A).
Regarding claim 2, Yabe teaches the electrical equipment according to claim 1, further including an electronic component (e.g. MOS-FET 13, fig.1 above) configured to output or detect a voltage with respect to a potential of the first connection unit as a reference potential ([0056], the power supply electrode is reversely connected, the MOS-FET 13 is turned off).
Regarding claim 3, Yabe teaches the electrical equipment according to claim 1, further comprising
a substrate on which the switch and the switching circuit are disposed (e.g. substrate for gate control circuit 2 and MOSFETS 12 and 13, fig.1 above),
wherein the substrate is connected to the external equipment (e.g. 2 and MOSFET 13 are connected to circuit of MOSFET 11, fig.1 above).
Regarding claim 4, Yabe teaches the electrical equipment according to claim 1,
wherein the switch is switched from on to off when a voltage between an output end from which a current is output, and a control end is less than a threshold (it is necessarily true that transistor Q2 is turned off, if a voltage difference between collector and base, or voltage difference between emitter and base is less than a threshold voltage),
the switching circuit includes a second switch (e.g. transistor Q1, fig.1 above) configured to be connected between the output end and the control end of the switch (e.g. Q1 is connected between VOUT and base of Q2, fig.1 above), and
the second switch is switched from off to on when the voltage between the first connection unit and the second connection unit is greater than or equal to the predetermined voltage ([0055], the transistor Q1 is turned on, and the voltage at the connection point p2 becomes substantially 0 volt).
Regarding claim 5, it is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, Yabe substantially teaches the claim limitations as stated above in claim 3. Yabe further teaches, the second electrical equipment includes a second substrate (e.g. substrate of MOSFET 11, fig.1 above).
Regarding claim 7, it is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claim 3.
Regarding claim 8, it is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claim 4.
Regarding claim 9, it is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claim 4.
Conclusion
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/SREEYA SREEVATSA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838 02/20/2026