DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to the Application filed on 07/26/2024.
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 .
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 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.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/26/2024 and 05/12/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the 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.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Pub. No. 2015/0256089; (hereinafter Yamada), cited by Applicant(s).
Regarding claim 1, Yamada [e.g. Fig. Figs. 1 – 2, with bi-directional switch of Fig. 12 applied to Fig. 1; paragraph 0144 recites “The fifth auxiliary switch S5 and the sixth auxiliary switch S6 may also have another connection arrangement, provided that they are disposed in a current path extending between the intermediate node Nc and the first node Na. FIG. 12 illustrates an example of connections of the fifth auxiliary switch S5, the sixth auxiliary switch S6, and the first auxiliary inductor L1 between the intermediate node Nc and the first node Na…the fifth auxiliary switch S5 and the sixth auxiliary switch S6 illustrated in FIG. 12 may be implemented by one bidirectional switch. In other words, the arrangement may be such that one of the fifth auxiliary switch S5 and the sixth auxiliary switch S6 in any of the switching power-supply devices described in the first to fourth embodiments is eliminated and the other one may be used as a bidirectional switch”] discloses a power converter comprising: a first DC terminal and a second DC terminal [e.g. inputs of 10; upper E and lower E, respectively]; a power converter circuit including: a first switching element [e.g. S1] and a second switching element [e.g. S2] which are connected to each other in series; a first diode [e.g. D1] connected in antiparallel to the first switching element; and a second diode [e.g. D2] connected in antiparallel to the second switching element, the first switching element being connected to the first DC terminal, the second switching element being connected to the second DC terminal; a bidirectional switch [e.g. Fig. 12; S5, S6] having a first terminal [e.g. Fig. 12; collector of S5] and a second terminal [e.g. Fig. 12; collector of S6], the bidirectional switch having the first terminal connected to a connection node [e.g. collector of S5 to Na] between the first switching element and the second switching element [e.g. Fig. 12 applied to Fig. 1]; a resonant capacitor [e.g. Fig. 1; C2] connected between the first terminal of the bidirectional switch and the second DC terminal; a resonant inductor [e.g. Fig. 12; L1] connected to the second terminal of the bidirectional switch [e.g. Fig. 12; collector of S6]; a regenerative element [e.g. Fig. 1; C7] connected between the resonant inductor and the second DC terminal; a first control unit [e.g. Fig. 2; 261, 271, 231 and 262, 272, 232] configured to control the first switching element and the second switching element [e.g. Fig. 2; see signals S1 and S2]; a second control unit [e.g. 266, 276, 236, 265, 275, 235] configured to control the bidirectional switch [e.g. Fig. 2; see signals S5 and S6]; and a limiter [e.g. gate resistor of S6; paragraph 089 recites “An output terminal of the second gate buffer 236 is connected to a gate terminal of the sixth auxiliary switch S6 via a current-limiting element (not illustrated). The current-limiting element is, for example, a gate resistor”; paragraph 093 recites with respect to the driver of switch S5 “The third driver drives the fifth auxiliary switch S5 and the seventh auxiliary switch S7. The constituent elements in the third driver can also be explained, for example, in the same manner as for the first driver”, therefore the gate of S5 also has a gate resistor] configured to limit an absolute value of a voltage variation rate of a voltage applied between the first and second terminals of the bidirectional switch to a threshold value or less [e.g. the gate resistors impose a limitation to reduce the absolute value of the relative voltage change of the voltage between the first end and the second end of the bidirectional switch when the bidirectional switch changes from off to on and from on to off. It can be said that, with respect to a predetermined threshold value that corresponds to the resistance values of the gate resistors, the relative voltage change when the bidirectional switch changes from off to on becomes equal to or less than said predetermined threshold value].
Examiner's Note
Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 8 is/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:
The primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 2 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “wherein the bidirectional switch includes a third switching element and a fourth switching element, each of the third switching element and the fourth switching element having a first main terminal, a second main terminal, and a control terminal, the second control unit includes: a first drive circuit connected between the control terminal and the second main terminal of the third switching element; and a second drive circuit connected between the control terminal and the second main terminal of the fourth switching element, the limiter includes: a first resistor connected between the control terminal of the third switching element and the first drive circuit; and a second resistor connected between the control terminal of the fourth switching element and the second drive circuit; and the limiter is configured to determine in advance a resistance value of the first resistor and a resistance value of the second resistor to make the absolute value of the voltage variation rate when the bidirectional switch turns from OFF to ON equal to or less than the threshold value”.
The primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 3 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “wherein the bidirectional switch includes a third switching element and a fourth switching element, each of the third switching element and the fourth switching element having a first main terminal, a second main terminal, and a control terminal, the second control unit includes: a first drive circuit connected between the control terminal and the second main terminal of the third switching element; and a second drive circuit connected between the control terminal and the second main terminal of the fourth switching element, the limiter includes: a first capacitor connected between the control terminal and the first main terminal of the third switching element; and a second capacitor connected between the control terminal and the first main terminal of the fourth switching element; and the limiter is configured to determine in advance a capacitance of the first capacitor and a capacitance of the second capacitor to make the absolute value of the voltage variation rate when the bidirectional switch turns from OFF to ON equal to or less than the threshold value”.
The primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 4 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “wherein the limiter includes a capacitor connected to the bidirectional switch in parallel, and the limiter is configured to determine in advance a capacitance of the capacitor to make the absolute value of the voltage variation rate when the bidirectional switch turns from ON to OFF equal to or less than the threshold value”.
The primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 5 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “wherein the limiter includes a capacitor connected to the resonant inductor in parallel, and the limiter is configured to determine in advance a capacitance of the capacitor to make the absolute value of the voltage variation rate when the bidirectional switch turns from ON to OFF equal to or less than the threshold value
The primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 6 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “further comprising: a third diode having an anode connected to the connection node between the bidirectional switch and the resonant inductor and having a cathode connected to the first DC terminal; and a fourth diode having an anode connected to the connection node between the bidirectional switch and the resonant inductor and having a cathode connected to the second DC terminal, the limiter includes: a first capacitor connected to the third diode in parallel; and a second capacitor connected to the fourth diode in parallel, and the limiter is configured to determine in advance a capacitance of the first capacitor and a capacitance of the second capacitor to make the absolute value of the voltage variation rate when the bidirectional switch turns from ON to OFF equal to or less than the threshold value”.
The primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 7 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “wherein the resonant inductor has a nonlinear characteristic that makes inductance of the resonant inductor at a value equal to or less than a current threshold value larger than inductance of the resonant inductor at a current value of the resonant current, the current threshold value being less than the current value of a resonant current, and the resonant inductor is configured to serve as the limiter as well”.
The primary reason for the indication of the allowability of claim 8 is the inclusion therein, in combination as currently claimed as a whole, of the limitation of “wherein the bidirectional switch includes a third switching element and a fourth switching element which are connected to each other in anti-series, each of the third switching element and the fourth switching element having a first main terminal, a second main terminal, and a control terminal, each of the third switching element and the fourth switching element is a unipolar transistor, the second control unit is configured to turn the third switching element and the fourth switching element OFF at a timing when a current flowing through the resonant inductor goes zero, and the second control unit is configured to serve as the limiter as well”.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US Pub. No. 2014/0198542
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alex Torres-Rivera whose telephone number is (571)272-5261. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:30 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MONICA LEWIS can be reached at (571) 272-1838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEX TORRES-RIVERA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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