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 § 103
3. 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 of this title, 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.
4. Claims 1, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN 8,193,743 to Yamada, and in view of USPN 7,660,135 to Fang.
As to claim 1, Yamada teaches a system (col. 2: lines 66 – col. 4: lines 53) comprising: an inverter (fig. 1: “IV”) configured to convert DC power from a battery (fig. 1: “12”) to AC power to drive a motor(fig. 1: “10”), wherein the inverter includes: a low voltage phase controller in the low voltage area, the low voltage phase controller configured to adjust a pulse width modulation signal based on a feedback signal and a high voltage phase controller in the high voltage area, the high voltage phase controller configured to provide the adjusted PWM signal to a phase switch, and provide the feedback signal based on a measurement of the phase switch(col. 3: lines 22-25, col. 8: lines 3-20 and col. 25: lines 21-32 wherein apparatus and method are taught for an inverter voltage phase control and PWM control in a motor control system).
Yamada does not teach a galvanic isolator separating a high voltage area from a low voltage area.
Fang teaches a galvanic isolator separating a high voltage area from a low voltage area(col. 3: lines 19-25).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Fang into Yamada
since Yamada suggests an inverter control system and Fang suggests the beneficial
use of a galvanic isolator in an inverter system in the analogous art of inverter control
technology.
The motivation for this comes from the fact that Fang teaches a galvanic isolator which can be used to improve the inverter control system disclosed by Yamada.
As to claim 11, Yamada in view of Fang teaches the system of claim 1, further comprising: the battery (Yamada fig. 1: “12”) configured to supply the DC power to the inverter(Yamada fig. 1: “IV”) and the motor (Yamada fig. 1: “10”) configured to receive the AC power from the inverter(Yamada fig. 1: “IV”) to drive the motor(Yamada fig. 1: “10”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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.
6. Claims 12-13, 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by 8,193,743 to Yamada.
As to claim 12, Yamada teaches a method comprising: adjusting, by a phase controller, a pulse width modulation PWM signal based on a measurement of a phase switch and providing, by the phase controller, the adjusted PWM signal to the phase switch(col. 3: lines 22-25, col. 8: lines 3-20 and col. 25: lines 21-32 wherein apparatus and method are taught for an inverter voltage phase control and PWM control in a motor control system).
As to claim 13, Yamada teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the providing, by the phase controller, the adjusted PWM signal to the phase switch includes transmitting, by the phase controller, the adjusted PWM signal across a galvanic isolator from a low voltage area of the phase controller to a high voltage area of the phase controller(col. 3: lines 22-25, col. 8: lines 3-20 and col. 25: lines 21-32 wherein apparatus and method are taught for an inverter voltage phase control and PWM control in a motor/inverter control system).
As to claim 19, Yamada teaches the method of claim 12, wherein the adjusting, by the phase controller, the PWM signal based on the measurement further includes: adjusting, by the phase controller, a delay of the PWM signal based on a delay for multiple phase controllers, including the phase controller, for an inverter(col. 3: lines 22-25, col. 8: lines 3-20, col. 25: lines 21-32 and col. 19: lines 51- col. 20: lines 2 wherein apparatus and method are taught for an inverter voltage phase control , PWM control and PWM signal delaying controls in a motor/inverter control system).
As to claim 20, Yamada teaches a method for controlling a phase switch, the method comprising: controlling, by a phase controller, an operation of the phase switch based on an adjusted pulse width modulation PWM signal, wherein the adjusted PWM signal was adjusted based on a measurement of the phase switch(col. 3: lines 22-25, col. 8: lines 3-20 and col. 25: lines 21-32 wherein apparatus and method are taught for an inverter voltage phase control and PWM control in a motor/inverter control system).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 2-10, 14-18 are objected to as being dependent upon the rejected base claims 1, 12, 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.
8. 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 2: A phase switch on-time detector configured to determine an on-time measurement of the phase switch based on a gate to source voltage of the phase switch and provide the feedback signal to the low voltage phase controller based on the determined on-time measurement.
As per claim 6: The low voltage phase controller includes an on-time comparator configured to compare the feedback signal to the PWM signal as a feedback comparison.
As per claim 9: The high voltage phase controller includes a phase switch on-time detector configured to determine the on-time measurement of the phase switch based on a gate to source voltage of the phase switch and provide the feedback signal to the low voltage phase controller based on the determined on-time measurement.
As per claim 14: The adjusting, by the phase controller, the PWM signal based on the measurement further includes: determining, by the phase controller, an on-time measurement of the phase switch based on a gate to source voltage; and adjusting, by the phase controller, the PWM signal based on the determined on-time measurement.
As per claim 17: The adjusting, by the phase controller, the PWM signal based on the measurement further includes: determining, by the phase controller, an on-time measurement of the phase switch based on a gate to source voltage; and comparing, by the phase controller, the determined on-time measurement of the phase switch to the PWM signal as a feedback comparison.
Conclusion
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
USPN 10,771,005 to Kim discloses a motor control system.
10. 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.
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 571-272-2060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID LUO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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