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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on 10/23/2024, 04/10/2025 and 01/28/2026 has been considered. An initialed copy of form 1449 is enclosed herewith.
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 9, 14- 20 are 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
The claims recite the limitation “determine a first feed forward term and a second feed forward term based on a signal from a stator current sensor and the output signals from the one or more position sensors.” It’s not clear how the feed forward term is configured while incorporating signals from the sensors as feedback terms; thus, rendering the claims indefinite, because the claims includes elements and functions not actually disclosed (those encompassed by feed forward term), thereby rendering the claims confusing, vague, and indefinite.
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- 6, 9- 15 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nakahara et al. (WO 2021100843 A1)
Re. claims 1, 10 and 15, Nakahara discloses a power tool/method (Figs. 1 and 2) comprising:
a housing (tool housing);
a brushless motor (15) disposed in the housing, the brushless motor including a rotor (13) and a stator (14), the rotor is coupled to a motor shaft arranged to rotate about a longitudinal axis (output shaft 16), the longitudinal axis extending through the motor shaft, the motor shaft arranged to produce a rotational output to a drive mechanism (23);
one or more position sensors (motor rotation measuring unit 27) disposed adjacent to the brushless motor (15), the one or more position sensors configured to generate output signals corresponding to a rotational position of the brushless motor (signal 𝜃1);
a power switching circuit (inverter circuit 51) configured to provide a supply of power from a battery pack (32) to the brushless motor (15); and
an electronic controller (control unit 4) connected to the one or more position sensors (27) and the power switching circuit (51), the electronic controller configured to implement field-oriented control (“FOC”) of the brushless motor (magnetic field components d-axis and q-axis),
the electronic controller configured to:
receive the output signals from the one or more position sensors (signal 𝜃1),
determine a parameter of the brushless motor based on the output signals from the one or more position sensors (𝜃1 and ω1),
determine drive parameters (duty cycle CVu1, CVv1 and Cvw1 control signal of the control unit 4 to the inverter circuit 51) for the brushless motor (15) based on the parameter (𝜃1 and ω1) of the brushless motor using FOC (vector control ¶. [0013]),
generate drive commands (cid1 and ciq1) based on the drive parameters (ω1), and
drive the brushless motor (15) based on the drive commands (cid1 and ciq1).
Re. claim 2, Nakahara discloses wherein the parameter of the brushless motor includes at least one of a rotational position, a speed, or an acceleration (optional embodiments, they do not limit the scope of the claim) of the brushless motor (𝜃1 and ω1).
Re. claim 3, Nakahara discloses wherein the drive parameter of the brushless motor is a plurality of duty cycles for each phase of the motor (duty cycle CVu1, CVv1 and Cvw1 control signal of the control unit 4 to the inverter circuit 51).
Re. claims 4, 11 and 18, Nakahara discloses wherein the electronic controller (4) is further configured to: generate, with a speed regulator (speed control unit 42) and the output signals from the one or more position sensors (ω1), a current command (cid1 and ciq1).
Re. claims 5, 12 and 19, Nakahara discloses wherein the electronic controller is further configured to: determine a rotor speed (ω1) based on the output signals from the one or more position sensors (𝜃1); and generate a current command using a speed regulator (a speed control unit 42), the current command (cid1 and ciq1) based on the rotor speed (ω1) and a target speed (cω1).
Re. claims 6, 13 and 19, Nakahara ¶. [0049]- [0062] and fig. 3 describe the operating modes and the switching conditions.
Re. claims 9 and 14, Nakahara Fig. 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7 and 8 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.
Claims 16 and 17 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection 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 SAID BOUZIANE whose telephone number is (571)272-7592. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00-15:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eduardo Colon-Santana can be reached at Colon-Santana. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SAID BOUZIANE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
Prosecution Insights