DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
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 7-12 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.
Claims 7-12 recite “a multiple lane motor circuit” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear to the examiner whether it is referring to the same circuit from claim 6 or another one.
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.
Claims 1-6, 8-9, 11 and 13 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koikegami et al. US publication no.: US 2020/0247464 A1 in view of Park US publication no.: US 2024/0136957 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Koikegami et al. teach, A method of controlling an electric steering system that includes a multiple phase permanent magnet electric motor (see motor 200, figure 1) having a plurality of motor phases that in normal operation applies a torque to a part of the system connected to the road wheels to control a steering angle of the road wheels (see figure 10 and paragraphs 153-155), the motor being driven by a bridge circuit that includes a set of switches that can be opened and closed to selectively connect each phase to a supply voltage of a power supply or to a ground in response to signals outputted from a bridge driver circuit (see inverter 120 and inverter 130 which contains plurality of upper and lower switches, figure 1), the method comprising, in an event of a fault that prevents the electric motor from applying a torque that enables the roadwheels to be steered, operating switches of the bridge circuit independent of the bridge driver to short each phase of the electric motor so as to dampen a rotation of the electric motor and, at the same time, turn of the power supply to the bridge circuit (see figure 4 and paragraphs 63-114, where it is explained that the switches are effectively controlled based on the failure detection of the power steering system which effectively dampen the rotation of the motor).
Koikegami et al. is silent on specifically teaching: “dampen the rotation of the electric motor”
However, Park is in the same field of art and teach: “dampen the rotation of the electric motor” by utilizing the switching operations as seen in paragraphs 54-57 and figure 2.
Therefore, in view of Park’s teachings, it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skiills in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, with the apparatus as taught by Koikegami et al. to include; “dampen the rotation of the electric motor”, for the purpose of enhancing the control of motor drive system.
Regarding claim 2, Koikegami et al. teach, a method according to claim 1 in which the bridge circuit comprises for each phase, an upper switch (121U-133H, figure 1) , which when closed connects a phase to the power supply, and a lower switch (121L-133L, figure 1), which connects the phase to a ground, the method comprising shorting each phase by closing the lower side switch of each phase of the bridge circuit (see paragraph 90 and figure 4).
Regarding claim 3, Koikegami et al. teach, A method according claim 2, comprising overriding the operation of lower bridge switches by the bridge driver to prevent the bridge driver from opening the lower switches (see paragraphs 26-30).
Regarding claim 4, Koikegami et al. teach, A method according to claim 2, in which the switches comprise transistors which are turned ON and OFF by the bridge driver circuit applying a non-zero valued voltage drive signal to a gate of the switch and the method comprises shorting a phase by connecting the gate or base of each switch to a non-zero value voltage to turn the switch (see figure 4 and paragraph 63-113).
Regarding claim 5, Koikegami et al. teach, A method according to claim 1, comprising monitoring the control circuit, generating a bridge driver disable signal in the event of a fault of the control circuit, and monitoring the bridge driver disable signal to determine when to short the phases of the electric motor to damp rotation of the motor (see paragraphs 60-62).
Regarding claim 6, Koikegami et al. teach, A multiple lane motor circuit for driving a multiple lane motor of an electric steering system (see power steering system in figure 1 and 10) , each lane of the motor comprising a plurality of motor phase windings and permanent magnets, the multiple lane motor circuit comprising: a first motor lane comprising: a first bridge circuit (first inverter 120, figure 1) comprising a set of top switches (see switches 121H-123H, figure 1) that each selectively connect a respective phase of the multiple lane motor to a supply voltage of a power supply and a set of bottom switches (see bottom switches 121L-123L, figure 1) that each selectively connect a respective phase of the multiple lane motor to ground; a first bridge driver circuit which outputs respectively drive signals for each of the switches of the bridge so as to control the voltage applied to each phase over time in response to a set of control signals thereby controlling the current flowing through each phase of the multiple lane motor (see paragraph 34), a first control circuit (controller 340, figure 1) which is configured to output control signals to the bridge driver; and a first fault detection circuit that outputs a bridge driver disable signal in the event of a fault in the lane to disable the bridge driver associated with the lane (see paragraph 61), a second motor lane comprising: a second bridge circuit (second inverter 130, figure 1) comprising a set of top switches (see switches 131H-133H, figure 1) that each selectively connect a respective phase of the motor to a supply voltage of a power supply and a set of bottom switches (see bottom switches 131L-133L, figure 1) that each selectively connect a respective phase of the motor to ground; a second bridge driver circuit which outputs respectively drive signals for each of the switches of the bridge so as to control the voltage applied to each phase over time in response to a set of control signals thereby controlling the current flowing through each phase of the motor (see figure 1), and a second controller (controller 340, figure 1 – they share the controller) which is configured to output control signals to the bridge driver; and a second fault detection circuit that outputs a bridge driver disable signal in the event of a fault in the lane to disable the bridge driver associated with the lane, and further comprising a monitoring arrangement arranged to monitor the bridge driver disable signals see paragraph 61), and a safety damping circuit (inherently disclosed in the controller 340, figure 1) configured so that in the event that the monitoring arrangement determines that the bridge driver disable signals indicate that the control circuits of both lanes are faulty the safety damping circuit causes the bottom switches of the bridge driver to short each phase of at least one lane of the and at the same time isolates the top switches of the bridge circuit from the power supply (see figure 4 and paragraphs 26-30).
Koikegami et al. is silent on specifically teaching: “dampen the rotation of the electric motor”
However, Park is in the same field of art and teach: “dampen the rotation of the electric motor” by utilizing the switching operations as seen in paragraphs 54-57 and figure 2.
Therefore, in view of Park’s teachings, it would’ve been obvious to one with the ordinary skiills in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, with the apparatus as taught by Koikegami et al. to include; “dampen the rotation of the electric motor”, for the purpose of enhancing the control of motor drive system.
Regarding claim 8, Koikegami et al. teach, a multiple lane motor circuit according to claim 6 in which each of the two switches of the safety damping circuit comprises a transistor MOSFET, the safety damping circuit being adapted to cause the switch to close by applying a positive voltage to a base of the switch to turn on the transistor, thereby allowing current to flow between the source and the drain (see switches 112-115, figure 1).
Regarding claim 9, Koikegami et al. teach, a multiple lane motor circuit according to claim 6, additionally including an isolation circuit (power-cur off circuit 110, figure 1) comprising a set of isolating switches, one isolating switch being located in series between the bridge circuit and each motor phase, each isolating switch being normally closed.
Regarding claim 11, Koikegami et al. teach, A multiple lane motor circuit according to claim 6 in which the bridge disable signal or signals are input to a power supply isolation block that isolates the top switches of the bridge from the supply to prevent the phases receiving the positive voltage from the power supply (see paragraphs 26-30).
Regarding claim 13, Koikegami et al. as modified each, A front axle assembly for a steer by wire vehicle including a motor circuit of claim 6 (see rejection of claim 6 above) and a multi phase dual lane permanent magnet electric motor which is operable to steer the front wheels of the vehicle (see abstract and figure 9 of Park).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 10 and 12 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZOHEB S IMTIAZ whose telephone number is (571)272-4308. The examiner can normally be reached 11am-730pm.
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/ZOHEB S IMTIAZ/Primary Examiner , Art Unit 2837
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