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 16-20 are objected to because of the limitation “a shutdown situation”. It is suggested to amend the limitation to “the shutdown situation”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to abstract idea (e.g. mental processes and/or human activity) without significantly more.
Regarding claim 16, the limitation “in an occurrence of a shutdown situation” could be based on observation from a human (i.e. human activity) and determine a shutdown situation has occurred by mental process, and the limitation “bringing the inverter circuit into a safe state” could be a planning on how to bring the inverter circuit into certain operation mode by mental process since the recited limitation(s) does not clearly define “safe state”.
Additional element, such as “an inverter” and “the inverter circuit” are merely post-solution activity to perform the abstract tasks; however, these additional elements are not sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the courts have held that utilizing well-known and conventional tool to perform abstract tasks do not supply “significantly more”. Accordingly, the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Thus, the claim(s) is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Regarding claims 17-19, the claims further “detecting that a shutdown situation exists when a fault occurs” in different components of the inverter. The additional elements “safety disconnectors”, “the operating DC/DC converter”, “backup supply DC/DC converter” and “the high-side and low-side semiconductor switches” are merely post-solution activity to perform the abstract tasks; however, these additional elements are not sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the courts have held that utilizing well-known and conventional tool to perform abstract tasks do not supply “significantly more”. Accordingly, the claim does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application.
Thus, the claim(s) is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Regarding claim 20, similar to analysis for claim 16, the claimed method is directed to abstract idea (i.e. human activity and mental processes) without significantly more”. Thus, the claim(s) is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-2, 8-11 and 14-15 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/09/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s arguments with regard to rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101, the examiner disagrees with the arguments.
As explained in rejections set forth in current Office action, the limitation “in an occurrence of a shutdown situation” and/or “detecting that the shutdown situation exists” does not require controlling the inverter and/or the electrical machine as recited in claim 1.
In addition, “a shutdown situation” in the claims does not clearly define as related to “shutdown situation” as recited in claim 1.
Therefore, detecting and or in an occurrence of a shutdown situation could be merely an observation and determination by human. Thus, these limitations are considered as abstract idea directed mental processes and human activity. Since no additional elements are presented as explained in rejections set forth in current Office action, these claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/KAWING CHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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