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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities: In claim 2, line 3, “a bypass direction of a loop formed by the DC positive terminal, the first switch device, the second switch device and the DC negative terminal” has already been recited in claim 1, so both “a bypass” and “a loop” should have antecedent basis.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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(s) 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Xu (US 2018/0152113).
With respect to claim 1, Xu discloses a power module capable of resisting driving interference, comprising at least one half-bridge power module (Fig. 4 60), wherein the at least one half-bridge power module comprises a first switch device (Fig. 1 11), a second switch device (Fig. 1 12), a DC positive terminal (Fig. 1 DC+) and a DC negative terminal (Fig. 1 DC-), the first switch device is electrically connected (Fig. 1 13) with the DC positive terminal, the second switch device is electrically connected (Fig. 1 14) with the DC negative terminal, the first switch device and the second switch device are connected in series to form a half-bridge arm (Fig. 1 11,12), and a middle point (Fig. 1 15) of the bridge arm is led out to be an SW terminal (Fig. 1 AC), wherein the first switch device and the second switch device are arranged on a substrate (Fig. 4 61), wherein the second switch device comprises a second switch body (Fig. 4 68), a second source terminal (Fig. 4 74) and a second gate terminal (Fig. 4 73), wherein a bypass direction of a loop (Fig. 4 counterclockwise loop) formed by the DC positive terminal (Fig. 4 DC+), the first switch device (Fig. 4 65), the second switch device (Fig. 4 68) and the DC negative terminal (Fig. 4 DC-) in sequence is the same as the bypass direction of a loop (Fig. 4 counterclockwise loop) formed by the second source terminal (Fig. 4 74) , the second switch body (Fig. 4 68) and the second gate terminal (Fig. 4 73).
With respect to claim 2, Xu discloses the power module of claim 1, wherein the first switch device comprises a first switch body (Fig. 4 65), a first source terminal (Fig. 4 71) and a first gate terminal, wherein a bypass direction of a loop formed by the DC positive terminal, the first switch device, the second switch device and the DC negative terminal in sequence is opposite to a bypass direction of a loop (Fig. 4 clockwise loop) formed by the first source terminal (Fig. 4 71), the first switch body (Fig. 4 65) and the first gate terminal (Fig. 4 72).
Claim(s) 1, 3-4 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Miyazaki (US 2020/0035656).
With respect to claim 1, Miyazaki discloses a power module capable of resisting driving interference, comprising at least one half-bridge power module (Fig. 8 2), wherein the at least one half-bridge power module comprises a first switch device (Fig. 9 Q1), a second switch device (Fig. 9 Q4), a DC positive terminal (Fig. 9 P) and a DC negative terminal (Fig. 9 N), the first switch device is electrically connected with the DC positive terminal, the second switch device is electrically connected with the DC negative terminal, the first switch device and the second switch device are connected in series to form a half-bridge arm (Fig. 9 Q1,Q2), and a middle point (Fig. 9 O) of the bridge arm is led out to be an SW terminal (Fig. 9 O), wherein the first switch device and the second switch device are arranged on a substrate (Fig. 8 8), wherein the second switch device comprises a second switch body (Fig. 8 Q4), a second source terminal (Fig. 8 SW4) and a second gate terminal (Fig. 8 GW4), wherein a bypass direction of a loop (Fig. 8 counterclockwise loop) formed by the DC positive terminal (Fig. 8 P), the first switch device (Fig. 8 Q1), the second switch device (Fig. 8 Q4) and the DC negative terminal (Fig. 8 N) in sequence is the same as the bypass direction of a loop (Fig. 8 counterclockwise loop) formed by the second source terminal (Fig. 8 SW4) , the second switch body (Fig. 8 Q4) and the second gate terminal (Fig. 8 GW4).
With respect to claim 3, Miyazaki discloses the power module of claim 1, wherein the at least one half-bridge power module further comprises a filter capacitor (Fig. 8 CPN), wherein the filter capacitor (Fig. 9 CPN) and the half-bridge arm (Fig. 9 Q1,Q4) are connected in parallel.
With respect to claim 4, Miyazaki discloses the power module of claim 3, wherein the filter capacitor, the second switch body and the first switch body are sequentially arranged on the substrate in sequence (Fig. 8 sequence as shown in Figure 8), the DC positive terminal and the DC negative terminal are arranged on one side (Fig. 8 side P,N), close to the filter capacitor (Fig. 8 CPN), of the substrate, and the SW terminal is arranged on another side (Fig. 8 side O), close to the first switch body (Fig. 8 Q1), of the substrate.
With respect to claim 7, Miyazaki discloses the power module of claim 1, wherein a number of the at least one half-bridge power module is at least two (Fig. 20A LPC,Q2,Q5) , and the at least two half-bridge power modules are electrically connected through the DC positive terminal to form a full-bridge module (Fig. 20A Q1,Q2,Q4,Q5).
With respect to claim 8, Miyazaki discloses the power module of claim 1, wherein a number of the at least one half-bridge power module is at least three (Fig. 34A Q1-Q4, Q2-Q5,Q3-Q6), and the at least three half-bridge power modules form a three-phase bridge module by electrically connecting the DC positive terminals (Fig. 34A PL).
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.
Claim(s) 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US 2018/0152113) in view of Tracy (US 2005/0265059).
With respect to claim 9, Xu discloses the power module of claim 1, with at least one half-bridge module and remains silent as to implementing at least 4 half-bridge modules.
Tracy discloses a power module (Fig. 1 100) wherein a number of the at least one half-bridge power modules is at least four (Fig. 1 shows 4 half bridges), and the at least four half-bridge power modules are electrically connected to form a four-phase bridge module, two full-bridge modules or a three-phase bridge module-half-bridge module assembly structure (Fig. 4 using the 4 phase outputs 130). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement wherein a number of the at least one half-bridge power modules is at least four, and the at least four half-bridge power modules are electrically connected to form a four-phase bridge module, two full-bridge modules or a three-phase bridge module-half-bridge module assembly structure, in order to reduce the size and cost by reducing the number of modules.
Claim(s) 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (US 2018/0152113) in view of Mao (US 2023/0308027).
With respect to claim 10, Xu discloses the power module of claim 1, and remains silent as to the type of substrate. It was well known before the time of filing of the claimed invention to implement wherein the substrate is a copper-clad ceramic substrate.
Mao discloses a power module (Fig. 1 6) wherein the substrate is a copper-clad ceramic substrate (Fig. 1 5). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement wherein the substrate is a copper-clad ceramic substrate, in order to improve the thermal and electrical conductivity.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6 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:
With respect to claim 5, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the filter capacitor and the first switch device are electrically connected by an electrical connector bypassing a left side of the second switch body, a first source terminal and a first gate terminal of the first switch device are arranged on at least one side of the first switch body, the second source terminal and the second gate terminal are arranged on a right side and a lower side of the second switch body, and positions of the first gate terminal and the second gate terminal are closer to positions of the first source terminal and the second source terminal.
With respect to claim 6, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the filter capacitor and the first switch device are electrically connected by an electrical connector bypassing a right side of the second switch body, the first source terminal and the first gate terminal are arranged on at least one side of the first switch body, the second source terminal and the second gate terminal are arranged on a left side and a lower side of the second switch body, and positions of the first gate terminal and the second gate terminal are closer to positions of the first source terminal and the second source terminal.
The aforementioned limitations in combination with all remaining limitations of the respective claims are believed to render the aforementioned indicated claim and any dependent claims thereof patentable over the art of record.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Xu (US 2018/0056795) discloses a half bridge.
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/HARRY R BEHM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838