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 Objections
Claims 2 and 15 is objected to because of the following informalities: the phrase “one phase phase current” in lines 7 and 11 in claim 2 should be re-written as “one phase current”. Similarly, the phrase “processor” in line 5 in claim 15 should be re-written as “processor”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 14, 15, 1, 2, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by LUO CN109443573A.
Regarding claim 14, LUO discloses
An electric motor control system (fig. 1) comprising: an electric motor (item 150); a three-phase inverter bridge (item 120) connected between direct current buses (high and low lines between the inverter) and driving the electric motor to operate; a current detection unit (Idc via a shunt) disposed corresponding to a negative electrode of the direct current bus and configured to detect a direct current bus current; a first voltage detection unit (item 130) disposed corresponding to a lower tube of a U-phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge and configured to detect a lower tube voltage drop of the U-phase bridge arm; a second voltage detection unit (item 130) disposed corresponding to a lower tube of a V-phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge and configured to detect a lower tube voltage drop of the V-phase bridge arm; a third voltage detection unit (item 130) disposed corresponding to a lower tube of a W-phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge and configured to detect a lower tube voltage drop of the W-phase bridge arm; and a control unit (item 110) configured to: determine, according to the direct current bus current, a turn-on current when a lower tube of at least one phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge is turned on, obtain a tube voltage drop when a lower tube of at least one phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge is turned on, determine, according to the tube voltage drop and the turn-on current, a turn-on resistance when the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm is turned on, and determine, according to the turn-on resistance, a junction temperature of the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm.
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220
878
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564
916
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450
893
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Regarding claim 15, LUO discloses
An electric motor control system comprising: an electric motor; a three-phase inverter bridge connected between direct current buses and driving the electric motor to operate; and at least a hardware procesor (item 110 is a microprocessor) configured to: detect a direct current bus current; detect a lower tube voltage drop of a U-phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge; detect a lower tube voltage drop of a V-phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge; detect a lower tube voltage drop of a W-phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge; determine, according to the direct current bus current, a turn-on current when a lower tube of at least one phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge is turned on; obtain a tube voltage drop when a lower tube of at least one phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge is turned on; determine, according to the tube voltage drop and the turn-on current, a turn-on resistance when the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm is turned on; and determine, according to the turn-on resistance, a junction temperature of the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm (see claim 14 rejection for detail).
Regarding claim 1, LUO discloses
A method for detecting a junction temperature of a switch tube in an electric motor control system, the electric motor control system comprising a three-phase inverter bridge configured to drive an electric motor to operate, the method comprising: determining a tube voltage drop and a turn-on current when a lower tube of at least one phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge is turned on; determining, according to the tube voltage drop and the turn-on current, a turn-on resistance when the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm is turned on; and determining, according to the turn-on resistance, a junction temperature of the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm (see claim 14 rejection for detail).
Regarding claim 2, LUO discloses
, wherein said determining the tube voltage drop and the turn-on current when the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm in the three-phase inverter bridge is turned on comprises: determining, according to a turn-on time sequence of the switch tube in the three-phase inverter bridge, a sampling duration of the tube voltage drop and a sampling duration of a phase current of the electric motor; obtaining the tube voltage drop and at least one phase phase current of the electric motor when the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm is turned on by respectively performing voltage sampling and current sampling at the sampling duration of the tube voltage drop and the sampling duration of the phase current of the electric motor; and determining, according to the at least one phase phase current of the electric motor, the turn-on current when the lower tube of the at least one phase bridge arm is turned on.
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638
908
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Regarding claim 12, LUO discloses
An electric motor controller comprising: a memory (a memory is inherently present inside a microcontroller); one or more processors; and a switch-tube junction-temperature detection program in an electric motor control system that is stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors, the switch-tube junction-temperature detection program, when executed by the one or more processors, implementing the method for detecting the junction temperature of the switch tube in the electric motor control system according to claim 1.
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482
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Regarding claim 13, LUO discloses
A computer-readable storage medium, having a switch-tube junction-temperature detection program in an electric motor control system stored thereon, the switch-tube junction-temperature detection program, when executed by one or more processors, implementing the method for detecting the junction temperature of the switch tube in the electric motor control system according to claim 1.
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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 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LUO in a view of Rui, “Research on IGBT…….driver, 2020.
Regarding claim 8, LUO does not disclose but Rui discloses, subsequent to determining the junction temperature of the lower tube: performing instantaneous over-temperature protection and inverse-time-limit overload protection according to the junction temperature of the lower tube (Introduction section, pages 3 and 4).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the junction temperature of the lower tube: performing instantaneous over-temperature protection and inverse-time-limit overload protection as disclosed by Rui in LUO’s teachings to provide overload protection.
Regarding claim 9, LUO does not disclose but Rui discloses, said performing instantaneous over-temperature protection according to the junction temperature of the lower tube comprises: controlling the three-phase inverter bridge to stop outputting when the junction temperature of the lower tube is greater than a predetermined maximum protection temperature (see figure 3. The drive stops upon exceeding junction temperature).
Regarding claim 10, LUO does not disclose but Rui discloses, wherein said performing inverse-time-limit overload protection according to the junction temperature of the lower tube comprises: determining an inverse-time-limit protection curve and performing overload protection timing according to a relationship between the junction temperature of the lower tube and the inverse-time-limit protection curve; and controlling, when a timing time arrives, the three-phase inverter bridge to stop outputting (Introduction section, pages 3 and 4).
Regarding claim 11, LUO does not disclose but Rui discloses, wherein the timing time is inversely related to the junction temperature of the lower tube (section 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 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 3 discloses details about the sampling duration.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
SHENG (CN106788050A) discloses controls for power device with over-temperature protection system.
Thorgen (EP 2568268 A1) discloses method for estimating the temperature of a semiconductor chip.
MORITA (JPH07234162A) discloses detecting the temperature of a semiconductor chip.
TULANE at al. (US 2022/0018720 A1) disclose a method for estimating a junction temperature of a power transistor.
Mingyao (Method of junction……power modules) discloses a method of junction temperature estimation and over temperature protection.
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/BICKEY DHAKAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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