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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The rejection of claim 18 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), set forth in the Office Action mailed 06/17/26, is hereby withdrawn due to amendments made by the Applicant.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments/amendments, see page 8 of Applicant’s remarks, filed 09/10/26, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-13 and 19 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schauder et al. (US 5,734,257) in view of Duan et al. (US 2023/0081157) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Eckhardt et al. (US 2014/0177293), as detailed below.
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 1-13 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schauder et al. (US 5,734,257; “Schauder”; reference of record) in view of Duan et al. (US 2023/0081157; “Duan”; reference of record) and Eckhardt et al. (US 2014/0177293; “Eckhardt”; reference of record).
Regarding claim 1, Schauder teaches a power system (figure 1) including:
a first converter (parallel inverter 22) configured to be coupled in parallel with a power transmission line (34), the first converter (22) including a plurality of shunt sub-modules (28) configured to be coupled in to the power transmission line (34);
a second converter (series inverter 24) configured to be coupled in series with the power transmission line (34), the second converter (24) including a plurality of series sub-modules (28) coupled in parallel with each other; and
a common DC bus (across 26) coupled to the first converter (22) and the second converter (24); and
a power storage device (26); and
at least one controller (40) coupled to the first converter (22), the second converter (24), the at least one controller (40) configured to control at least one of the first converter (22) or the second converter (24) to:
provide power to the power storage device (26) based, at least in part, on power characteristics of the power transmission line (34), while managing power characteristics of the power transmission line (Controlling switches 28 with controller 40 will adjust power characteristics of the power transmission line 34.).
Schauder fails to teach the plurality of shunt sub-modules coupled in series between the power transmission line and a reference node; a battery between the first the second converters.
However, it is well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art to configure an AC/DC converter with a plurality of shunt sub-modules coupled in series between an input transmission line and a reference node. For example, see figure 1 of Duan.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to embody the first AC/DC converter of Schauder with an AC/DC converter structure including a plurality of shunt sub-modules coupled in series between the power transmission line and a reference node because such a modification would have been a replacement with a well-known AC/DC converter circuit configuration.
Furthermore, Eckhardt teaches a power system (figure 3) comprising a battery (on lines 303) configured between a shunt converter (310) and a series converter (320). The battery in Eckhardt provides energy storage to support power transfer between the shunt converter and the series converter. Para. [0026] of Eckhardt.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add a battery across the DC link capacitor 26 of Schauder because such a modification would have provided the benefit of supporting power transfer between the shunt converter and series converter of Schauder.
As for claim 2, Schauder teaches wherein the at least one controller (40) is further configured to control at least one of the first converter (22) or the second converter (24) to buck a voltage on the power transmission line (Col. 1, lines 49-50 and Col. 2, lines 12-19).
As for claim 3, Schauder teaches wherein managing power characteristics of the power transmission line includes improving or maintaining a power factor (Col. 2, lines 27-32).
As for claim 4, Schauder teaches wherein the at least one controller (40) is further configured to control at least one of the first converter (22) or the second converter (24) to boost a voltage on the power transmission line (Col. 1, lines 49-50 and Col. 2, lines 12-19 of Schauder. Furthermore, the battery of Eckhardt added to Schauder will buck/boost voltage levels across DC link 26. Eckhardt teaches various loads and power sources connected across terminals 303. Para. [0026]).
As for claim 5, Schauder modified by Eckhardt teaches wherein managing power characteristics of the power transmission line includes regulating voltage levels by boosting or bucking voltage levels (The battery of Eckhardt added to Schauder will buck/boost voltage levels across DC link 26. Eckhardt teaches various loads and power sources connected across terminals 303. Para. [0026]).
Regarding claim 6, Schauder teaches wherein the at least one controller (40) is further configured to control at least one of the first converter (22) or the second converter (24) to inject reactive power to the power transmission line (Col. 1, lines 46-48 and Col. 2, lines 2-5).
Regarding claim 7, Schauder teaches wherein the at least one controller (40) is further configured to control at least one of the first converter (22) or the second converter (24) to absorb reactive power from the power transmission line (Col. 1, lines 46-48 and Col. 2, lines 2-5).
Regarding claim 8, Schauder teaches wherein the at least one controller (40) is further configured to control at least one of the first converter (22) or the second converter (24) to inject active power to the power transmission line (Col. 1, line 66 through Col. 2, line 2).
Regarding claim 9, Schauder teaches wherein the at least one controller (40) is further configured to control at least one of the first converter (22) or the second converter (24) to absorb active power from the power transmission line (Col. 1, line 66 through Col. 2, line 2).
As for claim 10, Schauder teaches wherein the at least one controller (40) is further configured to control at least one of the first converter (22) or the second converter (24) to adjust a phase angle between a voltage and a current on the power transmission line (Col. 1, lines 49-50, 55-65. Col. 2, lines 6-8 and 49-52).
Regarding claims 11 and 12, Schauder modified by Duan teaches wherein each shunt sub-module of the plurality of shunt sub-modules includes a respective isolated bi-directional AC/DC converter including an isolating transformer (See the structure of the bi-directional AC/DC converter in figure 1 of Duan).
As for claim for claim 13, Schauder teaches the power system of claim 12, as detailed above, but fails to teach wherein the isolating transformer includes a solid-state transformer.
However, it is well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art to embody an isolating transformer with a solid-state transformer.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to embody the isolating transformer of Schauder as a solid-state transformer because such a modification would have been a replacement with a well-known isolating transformer device.
Regarding claim 19, the method as recited in the claim is inherently present in the structure discussed above in the rejection of claims 1, 3, and 5.
Claims 14-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schauder in view of Duan, Eckhardt, and Sahoo et al. (US 11,539,231; “Sahoo”; reference of record).
Regarding claims 14 and 15, Schauder teaches the power system of claim 1, but fails to teach wherein each series sub-module of the plurality of series sub-modules includes a respective isolated bi-directional AC/DC converter including an isolating transformer.
However, it is well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art to configure an AC/DC converter with a plurality of shunt sub-modules each forming a respective isolated bi-directional AC/DC converter including an isolating transformer. For example, see figure 5 of Sahoo.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to embody the second AC/DC converter of Schauder with a plurality of shunt sub-modules each forming a respective isolated bi-directional AC/DC converter including an isolating transformer because such a modification would have been a replacement with a well-known AC/DC converter circuit configuration.
As for claim for claim 16, Schauder teaches the power system of claim 15, as detailed above, but fails to teach wherein the isolating transformer includes a solid-state transformer.
However, it is well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art to embody an isolating transformer with a solid-state transformer.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to embody the isolating transformer of Schauder as a solid-state transformer because such a modification would have been a replacement with a well-known isolating transformer device.
Regarding claim 17, Schauder teaches the power system of claim 16, as detailed above, but fails to teach wherein each isolating transformer includes a winding coupled directly to the power transmission line.
However, it is well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art to configure a DC/AC converter with an isolating transformer winding at the output of the DC/AC converter.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to embody the second DC/AC converter of Schauder with an isolating transformer winding at the output of the DC/AC converter because such a modification would have been a replacement with a well-known DC/AC converter circuit configuration.
Regarding claim 18, Schauder in view of Sahoo teaches wherein each series sub-module of the plurality of series sub-modules further includes at least one switching network,(See configuration in figure 5 of Sahoo).
Regarding claim 20, Schauder teaches executing the control strategy (Col. 1, lines 36-38) of claim 20 (see rejection of claims 1, and 5 above) with a processor (40), but fails to expressly teach the processor-executed control strategy being stored on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon sequences of computer-executable instructions.
However, it is well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art to provide executable computer readable instructions for controlling a power converter system. For example, see figure 9 of Sahoo.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to place the method instructions of Schauder on a non-transitory, computer-readable medium because such a modification would have been merely exercising a well-known application of a control method for a power converter system.
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 LEVI GANNON whose telephone number is (571)272-7971. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00AM-4:30PM.
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/LEVI GANNON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836 September 22, 2026
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