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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/19/24 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kohei et al. (JP 2015-136218).
Regarding claim 1,
Kohei discloses (Fig. 1):
A control device for an alternating-current electric motor that controls an alternating-current electric motor (Fig. 1, 15, ¶0017) via an inverter (13) based on angle information of a position sensor (16) that detects an angular position of the alternating-current electric motor (¶0016), wherein the position sensor is set such that a ratio between a number of polar pairs of the alternating-current electric motor and an axial double angle X of the position sensor is an integer multiple (¶0019), and the control device (20) includes, an electrical angle phase calculation unit (22) that multiplies angle information of the alternating-current electric motor detected by the position sensor (from 16 and 21) by the integer multiple and converts the multiplied angle information into electrical angle phase information of the alternating-current electric motor (¶0019-¶0021),
an electrical angle rotation number calculation unit (23) that calculates an electrical angle rotation number of the alternating-current electric motor based on the electrical angle phase information of the alternating-current electric motor calculated by the electrical angle phase calculation unit (from 22, ¶0022), and a vector control unit (30) that calculates a voltage command value (V*) to be output to the inverter(13) based on the electrical angle phase information of the alternating-current electric motor calculated by the electrical angle phase calculation unit (22 feeds into 30) and the electrical angle rotation number of the alternating-current electric motor calculated by the electrical angle rotation number calculation unit (23 also feeds into 30 via 24, ¶0030).
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) 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kohei et al. (JP 2015-136218) in view of Chen (US 2019/0074751).
Regarding claim 6,
Kohei discloses the above elements from claim 1.
Kohei does not disclose:
An electric vehicle including a control device for an alternating-current electric motor that is disposed on a wheel in the alternating-current electric motor and controls the alternating-current electric motor, the electric vehicle comprising a control device for alternating-current electric motor according to claim 1.
However, Chen teaches:
An electric vehicle including a control device for an alternating-current electric motor that is disposed on a wheel in the alternating-current electric motor and controls the alternating-current electric motor, the electric vehicle comprising a control device for alternating-current electric motor (¶0106) according to claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the motor control device from Kohei that drives a motor based on a detected rotation angle (¶0030) and use it to drive a wheel or a propeller of an electric vehicle as taught by Chen (¶0106) using a motor controller with a position sensor (¶0039). This would improve the efficiency of an electric vehicle with more precise motor control.
Regarding claim 7,
Kohei discloses the above elements from claim 1.
Kohei does not disclose:
An electric aircraft including a control device for an alternating-current electric motor that is disposed on a propulsion fan in the alternating-current electric motor and controls the alternating-current electric motor, the electric aircraft comprising a control device for the alternating-current electric motor according to claim 1.
However, Chen teaches:
An electric aircraft including a control device for an alternating-current electric motor that is disposed on a propulsion fan in the alternating-current electric motor and controls the alternating-current electric motor, the electric aircraft comprising a control device for the alternating-current electric motor (¶0106) according to claim 1.
Regarding claim 7, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the motor control device from Kohei that drives a motor based on a detected rotation angle (¶0030) and use it to drive a wheel or a propeller of an electric vehicle as taught by Chen (¶0106) using a motor controller with a position sensor (¶0039). This would improve the efficiency of an electric vehicle with more precise motor control.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2-5 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lu et al. (US 2018/0346099) – programable motor controller
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/C.S.L./ Examiner, Art Unit 2837 /KAWING CHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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