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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 7/14/2026 is acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/22/24 has been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
A title such as the following is suggested: Power Supply Control Having Low Feedback Voltage Detection.
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, 5 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Okajima (US 2019/0058321).
With respect to claim 1, Okajima discloses a power supply control device comprising: a feedback terminal (Fig. 8 FBS); a feedback control circuit (Fig. 8 23-25) configured to control an output stage (Fig. 8 21-22,L1,C1) of a power supply device according to a feedback voltage (Fig. 8 FB) applied to the feedback terminal; and a terminal inspection circuit (Fig. 8 26) configured to forcibly stop (Fig. 2 AND H) driving the output stage when it is detected that the feedback voltage is lower than a first threshold and an output current flowing through the output stage is higher than a second threshold during a first period at start-up [the preceding first condition of the OR condition is not satisfied by the reference, but the claim limitation is satisfied by the following condition of the OR condition, that is, the limitation A OR B is satisfied because condition B is met], or when it is detected (Fig. 8 262) that the feedback voltage (Fig. 2 FB) is lower than the first threshold (Fig. 2 Vth2) at completion of the first period (Fig. 2 t1 to t5).
With respect to claim 2, Okajima discloses the power supply control device according to claim 1, further comprising: an overvoltage protection circuit (Fig. 8 27) configured to forcibly stop driving (Fig. 8 27 output active) the output stage when the feedback voltage exceeds an overvoltage protection threshold (paragraph 53, 90).
With respect to claim 5, Okajima discloses the power supply control device according to claim 1, wherein the feedback control circuit is configured to control the output stage so that the feedback voltage matches a lower voltage of a soft-start voltage (Fig. 8 output voltage from 35) that rises at a predetermined slope (Fig. 2 slope of FB follows Vss from time t1 to t3) at start-up and a predetermined reference voltage (Fig. 8 Vref).
With respect to claim 9, Okajima discloses the power supply device comprising: the power supply control device according to claim 1; the output stage (Fig. 8 21,22,L1,C1) configured to be controlled by the power supply control device (Fig. 8 23-25) to generate an output voltage (Fig. 8 Vout) from an input voltage (Fig. 8 Vin); and a resistive voltage divider circuit (Fig. 8 R1,R2) configured to generate a divided voltage (Fig. 8 FB) of the output voltage and output the divided voltage to the feedback terminal (Fig 8 FBS).
With respect to claim 10, Okajima discloses the power supply according to claim 9, wherein the output stage is of a switching type (Fig. 8 40) or a linear type (Fig. 1 ).
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) 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okajima (US 2019/0058321) in view of Lee (US 2012/0274235).
With respect to claim 7, Okajima discloses the power supply control device according to claim 1 as set forth above, and does not require overcurrent protection. It was well known before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement overcurrent protection.
Lee discloses further comprising: an overcurrent protection circuit (Fig. 5 411) configured to limit the output current to an overcurrent protection threshold (Fig. 5 V1’) or less, wherein the terminal inspection circuit (Fig. 5 410) is configured to set the overcurrent protection threshold to the second threshold (Fig. 5 V1’). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement an overcurrent protection circuit configured to limit the output current to an overcurrent protection threshold or less, wherein the terminal inspection circuit is configured to set the overcurrent protection threshold to the second threshold, in order to protect the power supply from overcurrent conditions.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 and 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 3, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the terminal inspection circuit is configured to pass a source current from a node having a higher potential than the overvoltage protection threshold to the feedback terminal over a second period at start-up.
With respect to claim 4, the prior art does not disclose or suggest, in combination with the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, primarily, wherein the terminal inspection circuit is configured to pass a sink current from the feedback terminal to a node having a lower potential than the first threshold during a second period at start-up.
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 terminal inspection circuit is configured to complete the first period when the soft-start voltage exceeds the reference voltage or a third threshold lower than the reference voltage.
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. Yasusaka (US 2017/0155315) and Lin (US 8,363,369) disclose open circuit protection. Nishino (US 2008/0030173) discloses over-voltage protection.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARRY RAYMOND BEHM whose telephone number is (571)272-8929. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8-5 EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thienvu Tran can be reached at 571-270-1276. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HARRY R BEHM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
Prosecution Insights