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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-15 have been considered but are moot because of the new ground of rejection necessitated by the applicant’s amendment.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show “a planar inductor arrangement comprising a plurality of coil segments, each coil segment spanning across a respective area of a plurality of areas arranged at least partially inside each other” recited in claim 1; “a multi-layer printed circuit board” recited in claim 3; “the plurality of coil segments are placed in different layers of the multi-layer printed circuit board” recited in claim 4; “overlapping area” recited in claim 5. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art. The subject matter “a planar inductor arrangement comprising a plurality of coil segments, each coil segment spanning across a respective area of a plurality of areas arranged at least partially inside each other” recited in claim 1” was not described in such a way to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art. It is again noted that the specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
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.
Claims 1,7-8,11-13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ren (US 2020/0321809).
Regarding claims 1 and 13, Ren discloses (FIG 1-4) a method and a wireless power receiver arrangement (FIG 2, 24) for receiving an electromagnetic field (44 ¶[0019]) from a wireless power transmitter (12), the wireless power receiver arrangement comprising:
a load (58, ¶[0020]));
a planar inductor arrangement (¶[0018], 48 shown in FIG 3) comprising a plurality of coil segments (FIG 4 shows two inductors 48 that is each one is considered coil segment), each coil segment spanning across a respective area of a plurality of areas arranged at least partially inside each other (FIG 3); a reconfigurable switching network (SW 5, SW4, SW3, SW2, SW1), electrically coupled between respective coil segments (N1) of the plurality of coil segments (upper 48 and lower 48 shown in FIG 4) and the load (FIG 3), the reconfigurable switching network comprising: a plurality of switches (SW1-SW5) configured to interconnect one or more respective coil segments from the plurality of coil segments according to a switching configuration to obtain a closed electrical circuit for powering the load with electrical energy from the electromagnetic field (FIG 3 shows B1 and B2); and
a controller (30, ¶[0036]) configured to determine the switching configuration in order to reduce a variation of an electromagnetic coupling of the planar inductor arrangement to the wireless power transmitter (¶[0036]-[0043]).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement wherein the plurality of switches is further configured to connect the one or more respective interconnected coil segments to at least one capacitor (72) to create a resonant electrical circuit (¶[0037], ¶[0041]).
Regarding claim 8, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement wherein the resonant electrical circuit (¶[0041]) is created by the plurality of switches to have a resonance frequency determined based on an operating frequency of the wireless power transmitter (¶[0018]-[0020]), or wherein the resonance frequency of the resonant electrical circuit lies within a threshold range (¶[0042]) around the operating frequency of the wireless power transmitter (¶[0040]-[0042]).
Regarding claim 11, Ren discloses a wireless power transfer system (FIG 1 and FIG 2), comprising: a wireless power transmitter (12) configured to generate an electromagnetic field from a constant current source (¶[0018]); and at least one wireless power receiver arrangement (24), the wireless power receiver arrangement being configured to receive the electromagnetic field from the wireless power transmitter for powering the load with electrical energy from the electromagnetic field.
Regarding claim 12, Ren discloses the wireless power transfer system wherein an inductance of the planar inductor arrangement (FIG 3) is smaller for a wireless power receiver arrangement located closer to the wireless power transmitter than for a wireless power receiver arrangement located less close to the wireless power transmitter (FIG 3 in case of some misalignments).
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.
Claims 2-6, 9-10, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ren in view of Bojar (2014/0285299).
Regarding claim 2, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement except wherein the controller is configured to determine a mutual inductance of the inductor arrangement to the wireless power transmitter and to set the switching configuration based on the determined mutual inductance in order to interconnect the one or more respective coil segments to obtain the closed electrical circuit to reduce a variation of the mutual inductance. As known in the art, a controller configuring for determining a mutual inductance of the inductor arrangement is used in a planar inductor art, and therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the controller recited in the claim because such a modification would have been a mere substitution of art recognized equivalent controller.
Regarding claims 3 and 14, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement except wherein the plurality of areas are formed by conductive layers of a multi-layer printed circuit board. As known in the art, a multi-layer PCB is used in a planar inductor art, and therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use such PCB because such a modification would have been a mere substitution of art recognized equivalent PCB.
Regarding claim 4, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement except wherein the plurality of coil segments are placed in different layers of the multi-layer printed circuit board. As known in the art, coil segments being a different layer of the multi-layer PCB is used in a planar inductor art, and therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use such PCB because such a modification would have been a mere substitution of art recognized equivalent PCB.
Regarding claim 5, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement except wherein the plurality of areas are a plurality of partially overlapping areas. Although Ren does not explicitly show that the spanning areas of each coil segment are partially overlapping, such coverage is implied in the structure of Ren’s device or obvious to one to recognize such arrangement because of known in the art.
Regarding claim 6, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement except wherein the reconfigurable switching network is configured to increment or decrement a physical length of a receiver inductor formed by the one or more respective coils to account for mutual inductance variations to the wireless power transmitter while allowing the wireless power transmitter to have a constant current level. As known in the art, physical length adjustment is used in a planar inductor art, and therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use such adjustment because such a modification would have been a mere substitution of art recognized equivalent inductor arrangement.
Regarding claim 9, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement except wherein each coil segment of the plurality of coil segments comprises an integer number of turns. As known in the art, coil segment being an integer number of turns is used in a planar inductor art, and therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use such adjustment because such a modification would have been a mere substitution of art recognized equivalent inductor arrangement.
Regarding claim 10, Ren discloses the wireless power receiver arrangement except wherein each coil segment of the plurality of coil segments has one of the following shapes: a circular shape, an oval shape, a meander shape, or a polygonal shape. As known in the art, such shapes are used in a planar inductor art, and therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use such shapes because such a modification would have been a mere substitution of art recognized equivalent shaped inductors.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Joseph Chang whose telephone number is (571)272-1759. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00- 17:00.
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, Menatoallah M Youssef can be reached at 571-270-3684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSEPH CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2849
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