DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
Claims 1 – 22 are pending.
Claims 1, 19 and 20 are independent.
This office action is Non-Final.
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 .
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.
Claims 1 – 5, 7 – 16, and 19 - 22 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kuan (US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0359331 A1).
As per claim 1, Kuan teaches a server power supplying method, comprising:
connecting a first device in a server system based on a first power supply, and connecting a second device in the server system based on a second power supply, wherein the first power supply and the second power supply are electric power supplies of the server system; after the server system is powered on, acquiring power supply information of the server system and determining the power supply information [power supplies 110_1 – 110_N are connected to control unit 140 and RMC 130, fig. 1, 0035];
in response to the power supply information being first power supply information, configuring a power supply enable signal of the first power supply to enable the first power supply to supply power to the first device in the server system based on the power supply enable signal of the first power supply [0035: based on demand, power supply 110_1 is enabled]; and
in response to the power supply information being second power supply information, configuring a power supply enable signal of the second power supply to enable the second power supply to supply power to the second device in the server system based on the power supply enable signal of the second power supply [0038: power supply 110_5 is enabled], wherein the power supply enable signal of the first power supply is configured to be opposite to the power supply enable signal of the second power supply [0007: In order to reduce the power consumption of server nodes, a rack is designed to be capable of adjusting the operation states of power supplies according to the load level of each server node, that is, some power supplies power the server nodes but some power supplies do not. In this case, these power supplies are enabled according to a specific order….0008: reading state information of each of the power supplies to obtain a first sequence of the power supplies; and enabling at least two of the power supplies according to the power supply enabling demand and the first sequence, setting the enabled power supplies as at least one current master power supply and at least one current secondary power supply, and disabling the rest of the power supplies..0035 – 0038: power supplies 110_1 and 110_5 are oppositely enabled].
As per claim 2, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 1, wherein the configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply comprises: configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply to be active low; and as opposed to the configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply to be active low, the configuring the power supply enable signal of the second power supply comprises: configuring the power supply enable signal of the second power supply to be active high [0035 – 0038: either power supply 110_1 or 110_5 is enable at any instance, while the other is disabled].
As per claim 3, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 1, wherein the server power supplying method further comprises: enabling the power supply enable signal of the second power supply based on a complex programmable logic device to enable the second power supply to output a second voltage; and after the second power supply outputs the second voltage for a preset time, enabling the power supply enable signal of the first power supply based on a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor1 to enable the first power supply to output a first voltage [0035 – 0038: power supply usage of power supply 110_1 and 110_5 switches after a preset period].
As per claim 4, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 3, wherein the enabling the power supply enable signal of the second power supply based on the complex programmable logic device comprises: outputting a high level to the second power supply based on the complex programmable logic device to enable the power supply enable signal of the second power supply [0033: control unit 140 is a complex programming logic device].
As pe claim 5, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 3, wherein the enabling the power supply enable signal of the first power supply based on the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor comprises: obtaining a third voltage by dividing the second voltage; and regarding the third voltage as an enable signal of the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor to enable the metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor to output a low level to the first power supply to enable the power supply enable signal of the first power supply [desired power is achieved from combining various power supplies, 0032].
As per claim 7, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 1, wherein the server power supplying method further comprises: adding a first foolproof slot to a housing of the first power supply, and adding a first foolproof column corresponding to the first foolproof slot to a server chassis [design of the slots of the power supply housing only requires a person of skill in the art as long as the element fits and connects, 0013].
As per claim 8, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 7, wherein the server power supplying method further comprises: adding a second foolproof slot to a housing of the second power supply, and adding a second foolproof column corresponding to the second foolproof slot to the server chassis [design of the slots of the power supply housing only requires a person of skill in the art as long as the element fits and connects, 0013].
As per claim 9, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 8, wherein the first foolproof column and the second foolproof column have a position difference on the server chassis [design of the slots of the power supply housing only requires a person of skill in the art as long as the element fits and connects, 0013]..
As per claim 10, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 8, wherein the first foolproof slot and the second foolproof slot are gourd-shaped holes [design of the slots of the power supply housing only requires a person of skill in the art as long as the element fits and connects, 0013]..
As per claim 11, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 1, wherein the configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply comprises: configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply to be active high; and as opposed to the configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply to be active high, the configuring the power supply enable signal of the second power supply comprises: configuring the power supply enable signal of the second power supply to be active low [0035 – 0038: either power supply 110_1 or 110_5 is enable at any instance, while the other is disabled].
As per claim 12, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 1, wherein the server power supplying method further comprises: connecting each of the first power supply and the second power supply to a corresponding server card through a connector [0035 – 0038: power supplies are connected to server via connecters].
As per claim 13, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 1, wherein the second device comprises a graphics processing unit; and the first device comprises at least one of a central processing unit, a baseboard management controller and a memory [common components of servers, 0028 - 0029].
As per claim 14, Kuan teaches the method according to claim 11, wherein the second device further comprises a fan [common components of servers, 0028 - 0029].
As per claim 15, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 1, wherein a quantity of the first power supply is at least one, and a quantity of the second power supply is at least one [0037 – 0038: plurality of power supplies].
As per claim 16, Kuan teaches the server power supplying method according to claim 1, wherein an enable signal of a pin in a gold finger end of the first power supply is the power supply enable signal of the first power supply; and an enable signal of a pin in a gold finger end of the second power supply is the power supply enable signal of the second power supply [power supplies are enabled based on the signal sent to connectors, 0035 - 0038].
As per claim 19, Kuan teaches a computer device, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory storing computer programs executable on each of the at least one processor, wherein each of the at least one processor, in response to executing the computer programs, performs the steps of the server power supplying method according to claim 1 [0035 - 0038].
As per claim 20, Kuan teaches a computer non-transitory readable storage medium storing computer programs wherein in response to the computer programs being executed by a processor, the steps of the server power supplying method according to claim 1 are performed [0035 - 0038].
As per claim 22, Kuan teaches the computer device according to claim 19, wherein the operation of configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply comprises: configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply to be active low; and as opposed to the configuring the power supply enable signal of the first power supply to be active low, the configuring the power supply enable signal of the second power supply comprises: configuring the power supply enable signal of the second power supply to be active high [0035 – 0038: either power supply 110_1 or 110_5 is enable at any instance, while the other is disabled].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 21 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.
Ozawa et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0035591 A1) “Power Management System, Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment, Server, And Adjustment Method Of Power Supply And Demand Balance” is cited to teach a power management system that includes a first server configured to manage electric vehicle supply equipment in a microgrid and a second server configured to manage power supply and demand balance of a power system. The electric vehicle supply equipment is configured to execute a charging and discharging operation that suppresses a voltage fluctuation of the microgrid by exchanging power between the microgrid and a vehicle, and a reactive power compensation operation that suppresses a voltage fluctuation of the power system by controlling reactive power of the microgrid.
Koga; Fuminori. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0336844 A1)“Power Supply Apparatus And Power Receiving Apparatus” is cited to teach a power supply apparatus that supports USB-PD (Universal Serial Bus-Power Delivery) specification. A bus voltage V.sub.BUS is transmitted via a bus line. A first power supply circuit generates a first bus voltage having a first voltage level. A second power supply circuit generates a second bus voltage having a second voltage level that is higher than the first voltage level. A first switch is arranged between the bus line and an output terminal of the first power supply circuit. A second switch is arranged between the bus line and an output terminal of the second power supply circuit. A control circuit receives a control signal S1 via the bus line from a power receiving apparatus, which is a power supply target. The control circuit is structured to control the first switch and the second switch based on the control signal S1.
Welsko; Mark. (US Patent No. 11,622,468 B1) “Modular Data Center” is cited to teach a modular data center and a method of building a modular data center. The modular data center includes a site microgrid including at least one power converter connected to a direct current (DC) bus and a digital power system. The digital power system includes at least one digital power transmitter, a set of transmission lines, and at least one digital power receiver. The modular data center design uses an adiabatic cooling system to cool the modular data center.
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/TERRELL S JOHNSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2176
1 Well -known and conventional transistors used for switching.