eneraDETAILED ACTION
The instant action is in response to application 20 December 2024.
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 .
Specification
The specification is objected to for the following informalities:
The title of the invention is objected to. Examiner suggests “Auxiliary Supply with High Starting Speed and Small No-Load Power Consumption “
The earliest filing date is included, so technically no changes are required to the first paragraph. However, it is ordinary and customary to include the filing dates of other copending applications and their publications date if available.
Paragraph 3 has some issues with “full, clear, concise, and exact terms” and is somewhat unclear which is generally not permitted by 35 USC 112(a). Sentence 2 currently reads as: “For example, in a design of a related electronic device, for a plurality of high-input-voltage scenarios, because an input voltage of a power supply is high, if a high voltage is directly used to directly drive a chip, requirements on a design and costs of the chip are high.” This could be changed to “For example, when designing an electronic deviceusing a high voltage increases cost and design requirements.” Similarly, sentence 3 “Therefore, the power supply system of the electronic device usually includes an auxiliary power supply circuit configured to provide a stable and clean low-voltage power supply signal. The auxiliary power supply drives a plurality of components that have stringent standards This s the overall performance of the circuit.” Sentence 6 could also be changed to “However, existing auxiliary power supply circuit designs lack starting speed have input voltage instabilityconsumes large amounts of energy under no-load conditions..”
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “the second switching transistor is configured to conduct an electrical connection between the positive direct current bus and the first capacitor, and is turned off when the first switching transistor is turned on;” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
As near as can be determined, “the second switching transistor” refers to item K2 in Figures 6-14. Also, the drivers of K1 and K2 are tied to the same control point, so it is unclear how one would conduct and the other would not, especially given that the language in ¶33 of the specification describing that all the drivers are similar, and “adjust a switching transistor control signal sent by the auxiliary power supply controller, so that a high-level voltage peak of the switching transistor control signal reaches a preset voltage value”. As such, it is unclear how a turn-on signal could only be sent to one IGBT (IE, tell K1 to conduct but not k2). 37 CFR 1.83(a) requires that the applicant show how the invention does this, and there only appears to be one common input to both gate drivers.
Also, because the gate of K2 is tied to the node of R11 and K1, the potential at which it is held low to prevent conduction of the ntype semiconductor needs to be shown. This is because it is unclear why a collector would be conducting at a specific potential but a gate could would not and the two points appear to be tied together. A graph displaying the relative DC potentials of the + terminal, - terminal, capacitor C1, and the gate, emitter, and collector voltages of the IGBTs in addition to their gate threshold voltages would be extremely helpful to one of ordinary skill.
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 1-20 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 enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Claims 1 and 9 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, because the specification, while being enabling for “the second switching transistor is configured to conduct a connection between the positive direct current bus and the first capacitor, and is turned on when the first switching transistor is turned on”, does not reasonably provide enablement for “the second switching transistor is configured to conduct a connection between the positive direct current bus and the first capacitor, and is turned off when the first switching transistor is turned on”. The specification does not enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make the invention commensurate in scope with these claims.
As to claim 1, the claim seems to have undue experimentation per MPEP 2164.01(a), particularly the Wands factor of “quantity of experimentation needed to make or use the invention based on the content of the disclosure”. As explained in the section in the drawings above, it is unclear how K1 could activate while K2 does not. There are two potential voltages that can be generated at the gate of K2. The first node is gate emitter voltage generated by the driver circuit. The second potential, per Kirchoffs Voltage law with the – DC bus being the reference voltage, would be the voltage of VC1+VK1ce = + VDC -VR11. When two different voltages come into contact with each other, there are a number of things that can happen, though in an ideal case the higher voltage is becomes the new node voltage. If the driver has higher voltage, the gate emitter voltage of the IGBT should force both switches to conduct. This is especially true since it appears the only way for K1 to turn on appears to be through driver 1, and driver 1 and driver 2 appear to be fed the same signal since they are connected to the C1/D1/D2 node. In the other case when the R11/K1/K2 node has higher voltages, if the collector of K1 is conducting, it is unclear why the same potential would not activate the gate of K2. It is unclear how the gate voltages could be different enough to have one switch conduct and another remain open.
As to claim 9, there is a similar issue to claim 1 above.
Claims 2-8, 10-20 are dependent upon an unenabled claim and inherit the rejection under 35 USC 112(a).
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 22 December 2023.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the 112(a) rejection.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
As to claim 1, the prior art fails to disclose: “and an auxiliary power supply controller; and a power conversion controller, the second switching transistor is configured to conduct an electrical connection between the positive direct current bus and the first capacitor, and is turned off when the first switching transistor is turned on; the first capacitor is configured to supply power to the auxiliary power supply controller; and the auxiliary power supply controller is configured to: after power-on, control the first switching transistor to be turned on, and control a switching transistor action in the drive circuit to control a magnetic flux change of the primary-side winding of the transformer, so that the primary-side winding or a secondary-side winding of the transformer supplies power to the power conversion controller.” in combination with the additionally claimed features, as are claimed by the Applicant.
As to claim 9, the prior art fails to disclose: “the second switching transistor is configured to conduct a connection between the positive direct current bus and the first capacitor, and is turned off when the first switching transistor is turned on; the first capacitor is configured to supply power to the auxiliary power supply controller; and the auxiliary power supply controller is configured to: after power-on, control the first switch to be turned on, and control a switching transistor action in the drive circuit to change a magnetic flux of the primary-side winding of the transformer, so that a secondary-side winding of the transformer supplies power to a load.” in combination with the additionally claimed features, as are claimed by the Applicant.
Please note: while objected or allowed claims have been indicated, only the presented claims have been examined for compliance with form and 35 USC 112 consideration. As a reminder, claims that are dependent upon objected claims still require examination for form and 35 USC 112 issues even if they overcome 35 USC 102 and 103 rejections. Similarly, amendments incorporating allowable subject matter into independent claims requires reconsideration for dependent claim form and any possible 35 USC 112 issues that arise through amendments even if the 35 USC 102 and 103 rejections are overcome. As such, applicant is advised that while examiner can enter previously allowed claims or previously objected claims rewritten into independent form after final rejection, any other claims may not be entered.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Jutras (US 20150194875) is by far the closest piece of prior art and teaches wherein the auxiliary power supply circuit comprises a first switching transistor (Q2), at least one second switching transistor (Q1), at least one first series resistor, a transformer (T1), a first capacitor (Caux), and an auxiliary power supply controller (22);a first terminal of the first switching transistor and a first terminal of the second switching transistor are connected to a positive direct current bus(emitter Q1, collector Q2), a second terminal of the first switching transistor , ,a first terminal of the primary-side winding of the transformer is connected to the positive direct current bus through a drive circuit (this appears similar to applicants figures), and a second terminal of the primary-side winding of the transformer is connected to the negative direct current bus (this is similar to applicants figure); the second switching transistor is configured to conduct a connection between the positive direct current bus and the first capacitor, and is turned on when the first switching transistor is turned on (see ¶15-16); the first capacitor is configured to supply power to the auxiliary power supply controller (Fig. 2, Vaux, Controller 22); the auxiliary power supply controller is configured to: after power-on, control the first switch to be turned off on, and control a switching transistor action in the drive circuit to change a magnetic flux of the primary-side winding of the transformer, so that a secondary-side winding of the transformer supplies powerto a load (see ¶19).
He does not explicitly teach “and a second terminal of the second switching transistor” or “the first terminal of the second switching transistor is connected to the second terminal of the second switching transistor through the first series resistor” or “ the second switching transistor is configured to conduct a connection between the positive direct current bus and the first capacitor, and is turned off when the first switching transistor is turned on”.
The first limitation merely connects a switch to a capacitor, which one of ordinary skill would do to discharge the capacitor rapidly incase it rapidly charges due to unforeseen circumstances (lightning, wrenches, and other unexpected connections) which would have the expected advantage of increasing durability. The second limitation merely places a snubber in the circuit, which is well known, and would have the expected advantage of reducing damage to the switch. The last limitation is not obvious, and examiner could not readily find justification or an expected advantage to only turn on one transistor.
Choi et al “Techniques to minimize Power Consumption of SMPS in Standby Mode” teaches ways to reduce frequency and operating losses.
Santoro (US 20220311329) teaches a way of verifying false positives before engaging an auxiliary supply.
Chen (US 20170346335) teaches parallel operation of standby and active converters.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER M NOVAK whose telephone number is (571)270-1375. The examiner can normally be reached on 9AM-5PM,Monday through Thursday, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Crystal Hammond can be reached on 571-270-1682. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PETER M NOVAK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2839
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