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 .
Claims 1-18 are pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 11/27/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-11 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 line 8 recites “a fire source”. It is unclear if the fire source is same as switching regulator or if there is an additional fire source separate from switching regulator. Specification paragraph [0050] indicates that switching regulator 32 is used for firing squib. For the purpose of examination, the above limitation is interpreted as –the switching regulator--.
Claims 2-11 are rejected for the same reasons as stated above in claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-15 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Plemons (US 20220397360 A1), and further in view of Freeman (US 20170133842 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Plemons teaches a fire source circuit (e.g. circuit card 166, fig.9) comprising:
an input (e.g. fire pin at firing lines 157, fig.9) and an output (e.g. firing pins 158, fig.9), wherein one or more signal pathways that extend downstream from the input to the output ([0078], the thirty firing lines 157);
a switching regulator electrically connected to a signal pathway (e.g. sequencer 118 connected to 157, fig.9), wherein the switching regulator creates squib fire pulses that are transmitted downstream along the signal pathway to a squib ([0078], the sequencer 118 is able to send first and second pulses to the first and second firing pins 158A, 158B in order to fire first and second expendables 116A, 116B).
Plemons does not teach, a voltage and current control connected to the switching regulator to control voltage and current settings of the switching regulator for the squib.
Freeman teaches in a similar field of endeavor of electrical circuit for delivering power, a voltage and current control (e.g. control circuit 103, fig.13) connected to a switching regulator (e.g. buck regulator 34, figs.13) to control voltage and current settings of the switching regulator ([0102], The control circuit 103 is configured to sense the load current … control circuit 103 senses the voltage across the resistor 109 and provides the sense current in a voltage format … modulates that duty cycle to small duty cycle or to a large duty cycle).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have optionally included the voltage and current control connected to the switching regulator to control voltage and current settings of the switching regulator for the squib in Plemons, as taught by Freeman, as it provides the advantage of regulating output efficiently and is flexible to generate a DC output signal having various current and/or voltage requirements.
Regarding claim 2, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 1, wherein the switching regulator is a buck-boost regulator (Freeman, [0217], a buck, a boost, or a buck-boost circuit).
Regarding claim 3, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 1, further comprising: a voltage loop operatively connecting the switching regulator and the voltage and current control (Freeman, e.g. loop comprising voltage sensing circuit 105 connects 34 and 103, fig.13).
Regarding claim 4, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 1, further comprising: a current loop operatively connecting the switching regulator and the voltage and current control (Freeman, e.g. loop comprising current sense circuit 107 connects 34 and 103, fig.13).
Regarding claim 5, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 1, wherein the voltage and current control includes (Freeman, [0108], power controller integrated circuit (Tronium PSSoC) 106 that may be used with the electrical power circuit 22): a dual digital to analog converter (DAC) (Freeman, [0111], 12-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) 118 for voltage and current monitoring, a 10-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) 120) that sets an operational current and voltage (Freeman, [0111], for feedback control), wherein the dual DAC generates a gradual ramp up in current or voltage over a ramp up time (Freeman, [0129], The 100 kHz clock is converted to a saw-tooth ramp inside the Tronium PSSoC 106).
Regarding claim 6, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 5, wherein the ramp up time is about 1 ms (Freeman, [0129], The 100 kHz clock is converted to a saw-tooth ramp inside the Tronium PSSoC 106).
Regarding claim 7, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 1, further comprising: a feedback loop connected to an output of the switching regulator and connected to the voltage and current control (Freeman, e.g. sense resistor 109 is connected to 34 and 103, fig.13); wherein feedback loop enables the voltage and current control to alter a voltage set point in or substantially near real time (Freeman, [0102], the resistor 109 is a 0.10 ohm resistor) (it is necessarily true that altering the resistor 109 value, alters the voltage set point).
Regarding claim 8, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 1, further comprising: an input protector located along at least one pathway between the input and the switching regulator (Freeman, [0075], short circuit and over-current protection).
Regarding claim 9, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 8, further comprising: an in-rush limiter in the input protector (Freeman, [0075], short circuit and over-current protection).
Regarding claim 10, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 1, further comprising: a squib multiplexer (MUX) (Plemons, [0083], the sequencer 218 includes a multiplexer); and an output current that exceeds a minimum fire current of a squib that is in electrical communication with the squib MUX (Plemons, [0084], circuit card 266 of the breechplate 212 expands the number of firing pins from thirty firing pins to fifty-four firing pins) (it is necessarily true that there is enough current to fire a squib).
Regarding claim 11, Plemons and Freeman teach the fire source circuit of Claim 1, further comprising: an output protector located along at least one pathway between the switching regulator and the output of the fire source circuit (Freeman, [0219], ample protection from over temperature situations exists).
Regarding claim 12, the method is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claims 1, 5 and 11. Plemons and Freeman further teach a countermeasure system (abstract, methods for leveraging legacy countermeasure dispensing systems (CMDSs)) and a processor (Plemons, [0083], the FPGA 267 includes additional electrical components such as a softcore processor).
Regarding claim 13, Plemons and Freeman teach the method of Claim 12, wherein after the fire source circuit is installed in the countermeasure system, the processor of the countermeasure system shall execute additional instructions to: transition to constant current after the dual DAC has slewed to the set voltage value (Freeman, [0129], with the final control signal being level shifted to drive the external high-voltage PMOSFET switch).
Regarding claim 14, the method is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claims 7 and 10.
Regarding claim 15, the method is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claims 8 and 9.
Regarding claim 17, the method is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claim 7.
Regarding claim 18, the method is rejected for the same reasons as stated above for claim 2.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 16 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 16, Plemons (US 20220397360 A1) and Freeman (US 20170133842 A1) teach the method of Claim 12.
Plemons and Freeman do not teach, wherein after the fire source circuit is installed in the countermeasure system, the processor of the countermeasure system shall execute additional instructions to: disable, after the squib has triggered, an input protector located upstream from the switching regulator and disabling an output protector located downstream from the switching regulator.
Prior art Bovee (US 5452640 A), Zaetterqvist (US 20190137220 A1) and Wangerin (US 20180299238 A1) have been found to be the closest prior art.
However, none of the prior art, taken singly or in combination, teach “wherein after the fire source circuit is installed in the countermeasure system, the processor of the countermeasure system shall execute additional instructions to: disable, after the squib has triggered, an input protector located upstream from the switching regulator and disabling an output protector located downstream from the switching regulator.”
Conclusion
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/SREEYA SREEVATSA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838 08/11/2026
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