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 March 04, 2025.
2. Claims 1-19 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 placed in the record of the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/18/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
5. Drawings are objected because of the followings informalities:
Claim 12 recites “a plurality of piezoelectric elements connected in series; several piezoelectric elements connected in parallel; a piezoelectric element and an auxiliary capacitor connected in series; a piezoelectric element and an auxiliary capacitor connected in parallel; and an arrangement of several parallel branches, each branch comprising one or more piezoelectric elements connected in series or an auxiliary capacitor”. However, none of the drawings are showing the recited claim languages.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
6. 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 1-4,6,8,12,15,17 and 19 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 recites “the resonator” & “said resonator” and “the respective switch” & “said respective switch” uses in interchangeable manner. Applicant should use either the phrase “the” or “said” throughout the claims for the sake of consistency. This should be apply to all claims.
Claims 1 and 19 recite “the time taken” for the measurement command and “the time taken” for the control command” in lines 15-17. There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations.
Claims 2-3 and 12 recite “ the group”. There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations.
Claims 2-3 and 16 recite “the terminals” are used in the claims are vague and unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning because the claims does not define what is considered to be “the terminals” since claim 1 recites input terminals and output terminals .
Claims 2 recites “the first switch”, “the second switch” and “the third switch” in lines 3,7 and 10 respectively and “the voltage” in line 9. There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations.
Claim 3 recites “ the voltage” across the said respective switch and “the voltage” between one of the terminals of said respective switch and a reference potential. There are insufficient antecedent basis for “the voltage” in claim limitations.
Claim 4 recites “the two end potentials” and “ the voltage” forming. There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations.
Claim 6 recites “the output” of the first stage and “the output” of the second stage in line 4. There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations.
Claim 8 recites “each first switch each first switch” in line 2 is a redundant phrase. Appropriate action is required.
Claim 12 recites “the constitutions” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation.
Claim 15 recites “the regulation variable” and “the duration” in lines 2 and 4 respectively. There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations.
Claim 17 recites “the number” of control assemblies and “the number” of switches… There are insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations.
Claim 17 recites “measurement chain” and “control chain” should be “the measurement chain” and “the control chain”.
Claims 5,7,9-11, 13-14, 16 and 18 are directly or indirectly depend on claim 1, thus are also rejected because of their dependency.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claim 1 and 19 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In regards to claim 1, the prior art fails to discloses or suggest an electronic device including the limitation of “a synchronisation module configured to simultaneously send a command to measure the control variable to the measurement chain and a command to control the respective switch to the control chain, and the time taken for the measurement command to be implemented by the measurement chain is less than the time taken for the control command to be implemented by the control chain, so that the control variable is measured before the respective switch is switched.”
In regards to claim 19, the prior art fails to discloses or suggest a method for controlling an electronic device including the limitation of “a synchronisation step comprising simultaneously sending a command to measure the control variable to the measurement chain and a command to control the respective switch to the control chain, and the time taken for the measurement command to be implemented by the measurement chain being less than the time taken for the control command to be implemented by the control chain, so that the control variable is measured before the respective switch is switched.”
Claims 2-8 depend on claim 1, thus are also allowed because of their dependency .
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
8. Xia “20210399638”, Perreault “WO 2020252250 and Jeong “20170012556” are considered the closes prior .
Xia discloses an electronic device for controlling an electrical energy converter (Figs.1A show controlling the power converter 200 ) capable of converting an input voltage (Fig. 1A: Vin) into an output voltage (Vout) , the converter comprising two input terminals for receiving the input voltage (Fig. 1A: Vin positive (+) and negative terminals (-)), two output terminals for delivering the output voltage (Fig.1A; positive (+) and negative (-) of Vout) ,
a resonator (piezoelectric resonator 110) , and several switches connected to the resonator (S1 and S2 connected to 110),the electronic control device comprising:- a measurement chain configured to measure a control variable of the converter ( Fig 2: arrow element Vout and SW1 measurement entering the controller 140/240);-
a control chain configured to control switching of each of the switches (Figs.3 and 5: controller 240/540 configured to receive a VSW1 , VSW2 and Vout) , to alternate phases of substantially constant voltage across the resonator and phases of substantially constant load across said resonator (see figs.1C,4 and 7-8) ,the control chain comprising a control loop configured to control a switching time of a respective switch on the basis of the measured control variable (Fig. 3: Feedback loop filter 315) but fails to discloses “a synchronisation module configured to simultaneously send a command to measure the control variable to the measurement chain and a command to control the respective switch to the control chain, and the time taken for the measurement command to be implemented by the measurement chain is less than the time taken for the control command to be implemented by the control chain, so that the control variable is measured before the respective switch is switched.”
Perreault “WO 2020252250” disclosure relates generally to power electronics and, more particularly, to converters based upon piezoelectric resonators.
Jeong “20170012556” The DC-AC power converting circuit may include an inverter configured to convert the DC power into first output power, a piezoelectric transforming unit including piezoelectric transformers connected in parallel to an output terminal of the inverter, and each piezoelectric transformer of the piezoelectric transformers configured to transform the first output power to second output power, and an output configured to add the second output power output from the each of the piezoelectric transformer and to output AC power, wherein each piezoelectric transformer has a resonance frequency.
The art of record does not disclose the above limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify the art of record so as to include either of the above limitations.
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
Prosecution Insights