Detailed Action
summary
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 .
1.This office action is in response to the application filed on December 12, 2024.
2. Claims 1-20 are pending and has been examined.
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d), which the certified copy has been filed in in the record of the file.
Drawings
4. Drawings submitted on 12/12/2024 are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
5. 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 2-10 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 2 recites “a secondary logic circuit” in line 4 . There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recited “the primary driver circuit” in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 11 and 18 recite “the primary switch” in the claims . There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claims.
Claims 3, 5-6,8 and 10 are dependent on claim 2, thus are also rejected because of their dependency.
Claims 12-13 are dependent on claim 2, thus are also rejected because of their dependency.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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 1-3,8-9,11 and 14-18 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) (a)(2) as being anticipate by Chen “20180323722”
In re to claim 1, Chen discloses a control circuit (Fig.1 : primary controller 300 and the secondary controller 200. Examiner noted that Figs. 1-8 are considered as the same embodiments) an isolated switching-mode converter (Fig. 1: power converter 100) , wherein the isolated switching-mode converter comprises a primary-side circuit (Fig. 1:PRI) , a secondary-side circuit (SEC) and a transformer (Primary and secondary winding 108) coupled between the primary-side circuit and the secondary-side circuit (PRI and SEC), and wherein the control circuit comprises:
a secondary-side controller (200), wherein the secondary-side controller is electrically connected to the secondary-side circuit (SEC) and is configured to: receive a sleep control signal (photocoupler 106 configured to receives signal from standby signal generation circuit 204); and generate a sleep request signal ( standby signal STS, leaving signal LS and turning-on signal TS are transmitted to the primary controller 300 through a pin 214, see parag.0013) based on the sleep control signal (photocoupler 106 receive signal from 204) , and wherein the secondary-side controller generates (200) a sleep request signal in a third state based on the sleep control signal and enters a sleep mode if the sleep control signal is in a first state (Fig.2: enter standby mode at T3); and a primary-side controller (300), wherein the primary-side controller is electrically connected to the primary-side circuit (PRI) and is configured to receive the sleep request signal ( STS/TS/LS are transmitted to the primary controller 300) , and wherein the primary-side controller enters the sleep mode if the sleep request signal is in a third state (Fig. 1: enter standby at T4).
In re to claim 2, Chen discloses (Figs .1-8), wherein the secondary-side controller comprises at least a secondary logic circuit (detector 202 and stand standby signal generation circuit 204) , a detection circuit (pin 212 is coupled to resistor is equivalent to detection circuit ) and a transmitter circuit (106) , wherein the detection circuit is configured to detect (SYN) and transmit a secondary-side winding voltage (108) in the secondary-side circuit to a secondary logic circuit (202) , wherein the secondary logic circuit is configured to generate the sleep request signal (STS/TS/LS) based on the secondary-side winding voltage (resistor coupled to pin 212 is configured to detect voltage through secondary winding 108 /SYN) and the sleep control signal ( (photocoupler 106 receive signal from 204), and wherein the sleep request signal is output to the primary-side controller through the transmitter circuit(STS/TS/LS) .
In re to claim 3, Chen discloses (Figs .1-8), wherein the secondary-side controller (200) further comprises a secondary driver circuit (it is implicit in the art that a gate driver circuit is generating control signal to turn on and off of switch 102) , wherein the secondary logic circuit is configured to generate a secondary control signal (signal at gate of 102) and the sleep request signal based on the secondary-side winding voltage (resistor coupled to pin 212 is configured to detect voltage through secondary winding 108 /SYN) and the sleep control signal (photocoupler 106 receive signal from 204), wherein the secondary driver circuit is configured to generate, based on the secondary control signal (signal at 102), a secondary switch drive signal for controlling a secondary switch in the secondary-side circuit (SEC) .
In re to claim 8, Chen discloses (Figs .1-2), wherein when the primary-side controller and the secondary-side controller enter the sleep mode (see Figs. 2-8 controller 200 and 300 are in standby mode) , the secondary-side controller detects an output voltage of the secondary-side circuit (Vout coupled to controller 200 at pin 216) , wherein if the output voltage is below a first threshold, the secondary-side controller enters a partial wake-up mode (first predetermined time FPT is used for preventing the standby signal generation circuit 204 from generating the standby signal STS because the standby signal generation circuit 204 is triggered by mistake is equivalent to wake -up signal , see prag. 0013) , and wherein the secondary logic circuit switches the sleep request signal from the third state to a fifth state and transmits the sleep request signal to the primary-side controller through the transmitter circuit (see Figs. 2-8 and parag. 0013)
In re to claim 9, Chen discloses (Figs .1-8), wherein when detecting that the sleep request signal is in the fifth state, the primary-side controller enters the partial wake-up mode (see Fig. 2 primary controller 300 is in FPT mode between T1-T2) , turns on the primary driver circuit (304) , and controls a primary switch (104) to act in response to the sleep request signal to compensate for the output voltage of the secondary-side circuit (see prag. 0013).
In re to claim 11, Chen discloses (Figs .1-8), further comprising: wherein when detecting that the sleep control signal is in a second state, the secondary-side controller enters a wake-up mode (Fig. 2 secondary controller 200 at FPT mode between T1-T2, see parag. 0013) and switches the sleep request signal to a fourth state; and wherein when detecting that the sleep request signal is in the fourth state, the primary-side controller enters the wake-up mode and controls the primary switch to act (Fig. 2 secondary controller 300 at FPT mode between T1-T2, see parag. 0013) .
In re to claim 14, Chen discloses (Figs .1-8), further comprising a signal isolator (photocoupler 106) , wherein the signal isolator is configured to receive the sleep request signal transmitted from the secondary-side controller (200) and to transmit the sleep request signal to the primary-side controller in an isolated manner (transmit signal to 300)
In re to claim 15, Chen discloses (Figs .1-8), wherein the primary-side controller (300) detects a state of the sleep request signal (STS/TS/LS) based on at least one of a count of the sleep request signal over a predetermined period of time (see abstract and entire document) , a frequency of the sleep request signal (STS/TS/LS) and coded information of the sleep request signal (transmitted information between 200 and 300 is equivalent to code of information) .
In re to claim 16, Chen discloses a control method (Figs.1-8; Shows a control method of the primary controller 300 and the secondary controller 200) and for an isolated switching-mode converter (Fig. 1: power converter 100) , wherein the isolated switching-mode converter comprises a primary-side circuit (PRI) , a secondary-side circuit (SEC) and a transformer (Primary and secondary winding 108) coupled between the primary-side circuit (PRI) and the secondary-side circuit (SEC) , wherein the primary-side circuit is controlled by a primary-side controller (300), and the secondary-side circuit is controlled by a secondary-side controller (200), and wherein the control method comprises: receiving and responding to a sleep control signal by the secondary-side controller (photocoupler 106 configured to receives signal from standby signal generation circuit 204 ); wherein when detecting that the sleep control signal is in a first state (Fig.2: enter standby mode at T3) the secondary-side controller generates a sleep request signal (standby signal STS, leaving signal LS and turning-on signal TS are transmitted to the primary controller 300 through a pin 214, see parag.0013) in a third state based on the sleep control signal, and enters a sleep mode (standby mode at the primary controller 300 , see fig.2); and
receiving and responding to the sleep request signal by the primary-side controller ( STS/TS/LS are transmitted to the primary controller 300), wherein when detecting that the sleep request signal is in the third state, the primary-side controller enters the sleep mode (Fig. 1: enter standby at T4).
In re to claim 17, Chen discloses (Figs. 1-8) further comprising: wherein when the primary-side controller and the secondary-side controller enter the sleep mode, detecting an output voltage of the secondary-side circuit; wherein when detecting that the output voltage is below a first threshold (see Figs. 3-7 and Parags. 0015-0040) , the secondary-side controller enters a partial wake-up mode and switches the sleep request signal from the third state to a fifth state; and wherein when detecting that the sleep request signal is in the fifth state, the primary-side controller enters the partial wake-up mode and controls a primary switch to act in response to the sleep request signal to compensate for a power supply voltage of the primary-side controller and the output voltage, so that the output voltage is not lower than the first threshold (see Figs. 3-7 and Parags. 0015-0040)
In re to claim 18, Chen discloses (Figs .1-8), further comprising: wherein when detecting that the sleep control signal is in a second state, the secondary-side controller enters a wake-up mode (Fig. 2 secondary controller 200 at FPT mode between T1-T2, see parag. 0013) and switches the sleep request signal to a fourth state; and wherein when detecting that the sleep request signal is in the fourth state, the primary-side controller enters the wake-up mode and controls the primary switch to act (Fig. 2 secondary controller 300 at FPT mode between T1-T2, see parag. 0013) .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 10,12-13 and 19-20 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 4 recites is objected because the prior art doesn’t discloses the control circuit including the limitation of “wherein the undervoltage protection circuit is electrically connected to the primary-side circuit and is configured to detect a power supply voltage of the primary-side controller to derive an undervoltage protection signal, wherein the primary logic circuit is configured to generate a primary control signal based on the sleep request signal and the undervoltage protection signal, and wherein the primary driver circuit is configured to generate a primary switch drive signal for controlling a primary switch in the primary-side circuit based on the primary control signal.”
Claim 5 recites is objected because the prior art doesn’t discloses the control circuit including the limitation of “wherein when detecting that the sleep control signal is in the first state, the secondary-side controller turns off the detection circuit, controls the transmitter circuit to operate intermittently, keeps the secondary switch turned off using the secondary switch drive signal and switches the sleep request signal to the third state, thereby enabling the secondary-side controller to enter the sleep mode. ”
Claim 6 recites is objected because the prior art doesn’t discloses the control circuit including the limitation of “wherein when detecting that the sleep control signal is in the first state, the secondary-side controller turns off the detection circuit, controls the transmitter circuit to operate intermittently and switches the sleep request signal to the third state, thereby enabling the secondary-side controller to enter the sleep mode. ”
Claim 10 recites is objected because the prior art doesn’t discloses the control circuit including the limitation of “wherein in the partial wake-up mode, the secondary-side controller turns on the detection circuit, wherein when the secondary-side winding voltage is detected to vary in accordance with the sleep request signal, the secondary logic circuit switches the sleep request signal from the fifth state to the third state, thereby enabling the secondary-side controller to return to the sleep mode. ”
Claim 12 recites is objected because the prior art doesn’t discloses the control circuit including the limitation of “wherein the detection circuit is configured to detect a secondary-side winding voltage in the secondary-side circuit, wherein the sleep request signal is output to the primary-side controller through the transmitter circuit, wherein when detecting that the sleep control signal is in the second state, the secondary-side controller turns on the detection circuit and the transmitter circuit, thereby enabling the secondary-side controller to enter the wake-up mode. ”
Claim 13 recites is objected because the prior art doesn’t discloses the control circuit including the limitation of “wherein the undervoltage protection circuit is electrically connected to the primary-side circuit and is configured to detect a power supply voltage of the primary-side controller to derive an undervoltage protection signal, wherein the primary logic circuit is configured to generate a primary control signal based on the sleep request signal and the undervoltage protection signal, and wherein the primary driver circuit is configured to generate a primary switch drive signal for controlling a primary switch in the primary-side circuit based on the primary control signal; wherein when the primary logic circuit detects that the sleep request signal is in the fourth state, the primary-side controller turns on the undervoltage protection circuit, the primary driver circuit and the primary receiver circuit, and controls the primary switch to act using the primary switch drive signal, thereby enabling the primary-side controller to enter the wake-up mode.”
Claim 19 recites is objected because the prior art doesn’t discloses the control circuit including the limitation of “wherein the detection circuit is configured to detect and transmit a secondary-side winding voltage in the secondary-side circuit to the secondary logic circuit and the secondary-side controller turns off the detection circuit, controls the transmitter circuit to operate intermittently and switches the sleep request signal to the third state, thereby enabling the secondary-side controller to enter the sleep mode.”
Claim 20 recites is objected because the prior art doesn’t discloses the control circuit including the limitation of “wherein the undervoltage protection circuit is electrically connected to the primary-side circuit and is configured to detect a power supply voltage of the primary-side controller for deriving an undervoltage protection signal, and wherein the control method further comprises: receiving and transmitting the sleep request signal to the primary logic circuit by the primary receiver circuit, generating a primary control signal by the primary logic circuit based on the sleep request signal and the undervoltage protection signal, and generating a primary switch drive signal by the primary driver circuit based on the primary control signal for controlling a primary switch in the primary-side circuit; wherein when detecting that the sleep request signal is in the third state, the primary-side controller turns off the undervoltage protection circuit and the primary driver circuit, and controls the primary receiver circuit to operate intermittently, thereby enabling the primary-side controller to enter the sleep mode. ”
Note: Claims 5-6,10 and 12-13 contains allowable subject matter. However, applicant has to comply 112(b) rejection in order to overcome.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang “20160329816” the present disclosure generally relates to the field of switching power supplies, and more particularly to control circuits and methods of operation of an isolated converter and a switching power supply.
Karri “20250055379” the present disclosure relates generally to the field of power conversion, and more particularly to bidirectional communication between a primary-side controller and a secondary-side controller of an isolated converter.
Khamesra “20200412231” Communicating fault indications between primary and secondary controller in a secondary-controlled flyback converter is described.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SISAY G TIKU whose telephone number is (571)272-6898. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM-6:00PM. 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, Crystal L Hammond can be reached at (571) 270-1682. 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.
/SISAY G TIKU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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