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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 10, 11, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
“the branches” in claims 10 and 20 lacks antecedent basis, as “a plurality of branches” is recited in claims 7 and 18 rather than claims 1 or 2, which claims 10 and 20 respectively depends. The claims are indefinite, as it is unclear whether the scope of each claim is intended to include all of the limitations of claims 7 or 18 or different “branches”. The examiner suggests amending claim 10 to instead be dependent upon claim 7 and claim 20 to be dependent upon claim 18.
Regarding claim 11, the phrase "e.g.", meaning “for example”, renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d). Further, “etc.” is undefined and the scope of the term is unclear. The examiner suggests “wherein the insulation means is an insulation layer comprising an insulating paper or coating.”
Further, “the insulating means” in claim 11 lacks proper antecedent basis, as the limitation is not recited in claim 1 of which claim 11 depends. As “insulating means” is recited in multiple different previous claims, it is unclear whether “the insulating means” is directed to one of the previously recited “insulating means” or a different insulating means.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3, 7-8, 10-15, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bohmer et al. (US 2019/0036461, hereinafter “Bohmer”) in view of Carastro et al. (DE 102018219879 A1, hereinafter “Carastro”).
Claim 1: Bohmer discloses a switching cell (2; see Figs.1, 11, and 14, 2 being a “semiconductor module” with switches; see Fig.14 and [0068]) for an automotive vehicle (an intended use of the switching cell, thus holding no patentable weight within the context of the preamble), comprising
at least one power module (2),
a DC link capacitor (4; see [0036]), and
a connecting device (13, Fig.11) between the power module (2) and the DC link capacitor (4; see Figs.1 and 11), the power module having at least one connecting tab of a first polarity and at least one connecting tab of a second polarity (51, where a positive and negative polarity connection tab is provided; see Fig.14), the connecting tabs being in a same connection plane (see Fig.1, which shows 51 on a same connection plane) and being separated by a space (between terminals of 51), the connecting device comprising at least one connecting part (21) in contact with the connecting tab of the first polarity (one of 21 connected to a tab of the first polarity; see Figs.11 and 14) and a covering part (portions of 20 and 19, provided over the space between terminals; see Fig.11) covering at least the space between the connecting tabs (the raised portion of 19, which covers space between terminals in light of Fig.1), the covering part being offset from the connecting part perpendicularly to the connection plane (see Fig.11).
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Bohmer does not explicitly disclose “the connecting tabs extending from a face of the power module facing the DC link capacitor”. Carastro discloses a known technique (Figs.1A,1B) of connecting a similar power module (6) and a DC link capacitor (4), where the terminals of the power module extend from a face of the power module (see Figs.1A and 1B) facing the DC link (4). As the use of extending tabs from a power converter in place of the tabs on the surface of the power converter of Bohmer would have the same functionality in providing an electrical and mechanical connection, the results of substituting one connecting tab design for another would have been predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to have provided the connecting tabs of Carastro that extend from a face of the power module towards the DC link capacitor as the simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results.
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Claim 2: the combination discloses wherein the DC link capacitor has at least one linking tab extending from one of its sides facing the power module, the linking tab being in contact with the connecting tab of the second polarity of the power module (e.g. the bottom part of 13 of Bohmer, which extends from the DC link capacitor 4 to the connecting tab of the second polarity, e.g. the terminal on the right in Fig.1).
Claim 3: the combination discloses wherein the covering part of the connecting device is at a non-zero distance from the linking tab of the DC link capacitor (see Fig.11 of Bohmer, which shows the top connector structure separated from the bottom connector structure; further, the examiner notes that the connectors must be separated to prevent a short circuit).
Claims 7 and 18: Bohmer discloses a plurality of power modules (see Fig.1, where multiple power modules 2 are shown), the connecting device having a shared body (see Fig.11) and a plurality of branches extending from the shared body (Bohmer implies an additional branch for the other power module in Fig.11), each branch being in contact with the connecting tab of the first polarity of a given power module and covering at least the space between the connecting tabs of the given power module (see Figs.1 and 11).
Claims 8, 10, 19, and 20: although Bohmer does not disclose “insulating means … covering at least a part of the covering part of the connecting device” of each respective branch with respect to the embodiment of Fig.11, Bohmer discloses providing an insulating means in Figs.3-4 (15) in order to guarantee a consistent spacing between busbars while imparting rigidity to the structure (see [0055]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to have provided an insulating means between the busbars of Fig.11, thus covering a least a part of the covering part, in order to have provided a consistent spacing between busbars while imparting additional rigidity to the structure.
Claim 11: the combination discloses wherein the insulating means is an insulation layer, e.g. an insulating paper, coating, etc (layer 15 of Bohmer; see discussion of claim 8 above and [0056]).
Claim 12: the combination discloses wherein the DC link capacitor has at least one positioning pin and the connecting device has at least one positioning hole, the positioning pin and the positioning hole cooperating together (see 10 and 14 of Carastro and 21 of Bohmer).
Claims 13: the combination discloses wherein the connecting device is made out of metal (Bohmer discloses the structure as a busbar, which is implicitly metal; see also pg.9 of Carastro, which discloses providing copper contacts for good electrical contact).
Claim 14: although Bohmer does not explicitly disclose the specific thickness of the connecting device being between 0.3 and 0.9 millimetre, it has previously been held that “where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device.” See MPEP 2144.04.IV.A.
Claim 15: Bohmer does not explicitly disclose wherein the connecting device is welded to at least one of the connecting tabs of the power module. However, Carastro discloses the welding contacts is a well-known alternative means of mechanical and electrical connection in the art. See pg.1, 5th paragraph. As both means provide the same function of mechanical and electrical connection, substituting one for the other would have provided predictable results. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to have welded the connecting device of Bohmer to the connecting tabs as the substitution of one known element (a screw) for another (a weld) to obtain predictable results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 9, and 16-17 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: the following limitations could not be found in the prior art within the overall context of the claims:
wherein the linking tab is layered between the connecting tab of the second polarity and the connecting device (claims 4 and 16; the “linking tab” as applied to Bohmer is offset from the connecting tab, thus they cannot reasonably be considered “layered” with the connecting tab and connecting device).
wherein the power module comprises one connecting tab of the first polarity and two connecting tabs of the second polarity, the connecting tab of the first polarity being arranged between the two connecting tabs of the second polarity (claims 5 and 17).
the insulating means covering at least partly each of the lower side, the upper side and the edge of the covering part of the connecting device (claim 9).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Schmid et al. (US 2020/0281087), Okaura et al. (US 2020/0021202), and Holbrook et al. (US 2010/0173509) disclose other connector designs for power modules and dc link capacitors.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN JOHNSON whose telephone number is (571)270-1264. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Menna Youssef can be reached at (571)270-3684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RYAN JOHNSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2849