DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. The specification, the abstract and the drawings are all acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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)(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.
4. Claims 1-7, 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2024/0383348 to Feng.
As to claim 1, Feng teaches a powertrain ( see figure 1), wherein the powertrain comprises a motor controller and a drive motor (see figure 1, element 13; see [0035]:11 A power supply circuit included in embodiments of this disclosure maybe disposed in an motor control unit in the electric vehicle 11), the motor controller comprises three bridge arms connected in parallel (see figure 1 illustrating three bridge arms in parallel), each bridge arm comprises an upper bridge arm switching transistor and a lower bridge arm switching transistor ( see the upper and lower bridge arms in figure 1), one end of each bridge arm is configured to connect one end of a direct current power supply and one end of a power battery (see figure 1 illustrating the upper part of the bridge arms connected to the positive of the DC current supply and the positive of the battery), the other end of each bridge arm is configured to connect to the other end of the power battery (see figure 1, lower part connected to the negative of the battery), bridge arm midpoints of the three bridge arms are configured to connect to three phase windings of the drive motor ( see figure 1), and a bridge arm midpoint of one of the three bridge arms is configured to connect to the other end of the direct current power supply ( see figure 1 wherein the middle bridge arm is connected to the negative of the DC power supply); and in response to that the direct current power supply switches from outputting a direct current to stopping outputting the direct current ( see figures 2A and 2B illustrating the DC power supply providing current to the motor windings; see figure 3 illustrating the battery providing current to the motor windings once the DC power supply no longer provides current since switch Kn is open), an upper bridge arm switching transistor of one of the other two bridge arms of the three bridge arms connects a positive electrode of the power battery to one phase winding of the drive motor (see figure 3 illustrating the connection of the positive electrode of the battery to one of the upper bridge arms; see accompanying [0054-0056] which define that when the DC power supply stops, the battery outputs a current which passes through Q121 or through Q131), and a lower bridge arm switching transistor of the other bridge arm of the t11,10 bridge arms connects a negative electrode of the power battery to another phase winding of the drive motor ( see figure 3 and accompanying [0056] which defines that the current passes through Q112, which is connected to the negative electrode of the battery), wherein the power battery is configured to supply power to the one phase winding and the another phase winding ( see figure 3 illustrating the current passing through the phase windings of the motor; see [0056] which defines the current passing through two of the phases of the motor depending on which upper switching transistors are turned on).
As to claim 2, Feng teaches the powertrain according to claim 1, wherein the upper bridge arm switching transistors and the lower bridge arm switching transistors of the second and third bridge arms are configured to be turned off in a process in which the power battery is configured to supply supplies the power to the one phase winding and the another other phase winding(paragraph [0049]).
As to claim 3, Feng teaches the powertrain according to claim 1, wherein in a process in which the power battery is configured to supply the power to the one phase winding and the another phase winding, magnitudes of currents in the one phase winding and the another phase winding first remain unchanged and then decrease, or first rise and then decrease (see [0057-0058] which define the current slowly decreasing).
As to claims 4-6, Feng teaches all the claim limitations as claimed ( see figure 7 illustrating the inverter circuit receiving power from the first capacitor; see [0075] which defines that by increasing the duty cycle, the controller reduces a decreasing speed of the current of the motor; see figure 8 illustrating the decrease of the current in the motor; see [0079] which defines the current decrease to a rebound torque level).
As to claim 7, Feng teaches the powertrain according to claim 1, wherein after the direct current power supply switches from outputting the direct current to stopping outputting the direct current for second preset duration, the inverter circuit is configured to receive the power supplied by the power battery and output a current to the motor winding, wherein in the second preset duration, an upper bridge arm switching transistor of at least one bridge arm of the other two bridge arms is turned on, and the three phase windings of the motor form a freewheeling loop ( see figure 17 and accompanying [0103]).
As to claim 11, it is rejected as the same reason as claim 1.
As to claims 12-14, they are rejected as the same reason as claims 4, 6-7.
As to claim 15, it is rejected as the same reason as claim 1.
As to claims 16-20, they are rejected as the same reason as claims 2-7.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 8-10 are objected to as being dependent upon the rejected base claim 1, but could be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claims and any intervening claims for the following reasons: No prior art of record discloses the features as claimed in the noted claims.
6. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter. The non-obvious features are:
In comparison with the closest prior art as cited in this Office action and any previous Office actions, no prior art of record discloses the following features as claimed in the following claim limitations:
As per claim 8: A third bridge arm respectively, wherein in a process in which the inverter circuit is configured to receive the power supplied by the direct current power supply, in response to that a rotor angle of the motor is within a first angle range, an upper bridge arm switching transistor of the second bridge arm is turned on; in response to that the rotor angle of the motor is within a second angle range, an upper bridge arm switching transistor of the third bridge arm is turned on; the first angle range comprises 330°<θ<30° and 150°<θ<210°; and the second angle range comprises 30°<θ<90° and 210°<θ<270°.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2024/0283385 to Li discloses a motor control system.
USPN 10,658,965 to Minegishi discloses a motor control system for a vrhicle.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID S LUO whose telephone number is (571)270-5251. The examiner can normally be reached 8AM-5PM.
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/DAVID LUO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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