DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the application filed on 23 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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Masanori Ando et. al (US20150280593A1; hereafter “Ando”).
-Regarding claim 1:
Ando discloses:
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A voltage conversion circuit, comprising an AC/DC conversion unit (Fig. 1; PFC circuit, 5), a DC/DC conversion unit (Fig. 1; DC-DC converter, 10), a first control unit, and a second control unit (Fig. 1; control unit, 12, paragraph 0013; “a control unit which controls the PFC circuit and the DC-DC converter”; I would say that the control unit 12 in Ando includes two control units of the claim, and the selection of one control unit instead of two separated control units is well-within the skill of the person of ordinary skill in the art.), wherein the AC/DC conversion unit is connected to the DC/DC conversion unit through a direct current bus (Fig. 1; see the connection between 5 and 10); the first control unit is communicatively connected to the second control unit; the first control unit is configured to obtain a bus voltage on the direct current bus (Fig. 1; voltage detection unit, 15), and generate a first control signal and output the first control signal to the second control unit when the bus voltage is less than a first voltage threshold; and the second control unit is configured to enter a heavy load mode when the first control signal is received, and output a first drive signal to the DC/DC conversion unit, to drive the DC/DC conversion unit to operate, wherein a duty cycle of the first drive signal is greater than a duty cycle of a drive signal output by the second control unit in a non-heavy load mode (paragraph 0010; “a duty of a PWM signal applied to the switching element of the DC-DC converter is increased according to the discharge of the capacitor, and the duty reaches 100% if a voltage of the capacitor is lower than a specific value.”, where a voltage of the capacitor means the bus voltage, and 100% duty means the heavy load mode.).
-Regarding claim 10:
Ando discloses:
An energy storage device, comprising a battery module (Fig. 1; battery unit, 300), and a voltage conversion circuit, comprising an AC/DC conversion unit (Fig. 1; PFC circuit, 5), a DC/DC conversion unit (Fig. 1; DC-DC converter, 10), a first control unit, and a second control unit (Fig. 1; control unit, 12, paragraph 0013; “a control unit which controls the PFC circuit and the DC-DC converter”; I would say that the control unit 12 in Ando includes two control units of the claim, and the selection of one control unit instead of two separated control units is well-within the skill of the person of ordinary skill in the art.), wherein the AC/DC conversion unit is connected to the DC/DC conversion unit through a direct current bus (Fig. 1; see the connection between 5 and 10); the first control unit is communicatively connected to the second control unit; the first control unit is configured to obtain a bus voltage on the direct current bus (Fig. 1; voltage detection unit, 15), and generate a first control signal and output the first control signal to the second control unit when the bus voltage is less than a first voltage threshold; and the second control unit is configured to enter a heavy load mode when the first control signal is received, and output a first drive signal to the DC/DC conversion unit, to drive the DC/DC conversion unit to operate, wherein a duty cycle of the first drive signal is greater than a duty cycle of a drive signal output by the second control unit in a non-heavy load mode (paragraph 0010; “a duty of a PWM signal applied to the switching element of the DC-DC converter is increased according to the discharge of the capacitor, and the duty reaches 100% if a voltage of the capacitor is lower than a specific value.”, where a voltage of the capacitor means the bus voltage, and 100% duty means the heavy load mode.).
For method claim 9, note that under MPEP 2112.02, the principles of inherency, if a prior art device, in its normal and usual operation, would necessarily perform the method claimed, then the method claimed will be considered to be anticipated by the prior art device. When the prior art is the same as a device described in the specification for carrying out the claimed method, it can be assumed the device “1 inherently performs the claimed process. In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 231 UPSQ 136 (Fed Cir. 1986). Therefore, the previous rejections based on the apparatus will not be repeated.
-Regarding claim 2:
Ando discloses:
The voltage conversion circuit according to claim 1, wherein a switching frequency of the first drive signal is greater than a switching frequency of the drive signal output by the second control unit in the non-heavy load mode (paragraph 0083; “It is possible to control a discharge speed or a discharge current by changing frequencies or duties of PWM signals for driving the switching elements Q8 and Q9. For example, in a case where the frequencies of the PWM signals are increased or the duties thereof are reduced, turned-on periods of the switching elements Q8 and Q9 are shortened. For this reason, a discharge speed is lowered, but a discharge current can be minimized.”).
-Regarding claim 3:
Ando discloses:
The voltage conversion circuit according to claim 1, wherein the first control unit is further configured to generate a second control signal and output the second control signal to the second control unit when the bus voltage is greater than a second voltage threshold; and the second control unit is further configured to stop outputting a drive signal to the DC/DC conversion unit when the second control signal is received, to control the DC/DC conversion unit to stop operating (abstract; “The control unit controls the switching element such that an output voltage of the DC-DC converter is gradually reduced when stopping an operation of the DC-DC converter in a normal state in which the voltage detection unit does not detect a voltage lower than a predetermined value.”).
-Regarding claim 4:
Ando discloses:
The voltage conversion circuit according to claim 3, wherein the first control unit is further configured to generate a third control signal and output the third control signal to the second control unit when the bus voltage is less than a third voltage threshold; and the second control unit is further configured to keep outputting the first drive signal to the DC/DC conversion unit when the third control signal is received and the second control unit is in the heavy load mode (paragraph 0010; “the duty reaches 100% if a voltage of the capacitor is lower than a specific value.”, where a voltage of the capacitor means the bus voltage, and 100% duty means the heavy load mode.).
-Regarding claim 5:
Ando discloses:
The voltage conversion circuit according to claim 4, wherein the second control unit is further configured to output a second drive signal to the DC/DC conversion unit when the third control signal is received and the second control unit is in the non-heavy load mode, wherein a duty cycle of the second drive signal is less than the duty cycle of the first drive signal (paragraph 0010; “duty of a PWM signal applied to the switching element of the DC-DC converter is increased according to the discharge of the capacitor, and the duty reaches 100%...”, where 100% duty means the heavy load mode.)
-Regarding claim 6:
Ando discloses:
The voltage conversion circuit according to claim 4, wherein the second control unit is further configured to output a second drive signal to the DC/DC conversion unit when the third control signal is received and the second control unit is in the non-heavy load mode, wherein a switching frequency of the second drive signal is less than the switching frequency of the first drive signal (paragraph 0083; “in a case where the frequencies of the PWM signals are decreased or the duties thereof are increased, turned-on periods of the switching elements Q8 and Q9 are lengthened. For this reason, a discharge current increases…”).
-Regarding claim 7:
Ando discloses:
The voltage conversion circuit according to claim 1, wherein the first control unit is configured to generate, in response to a discharge instruction, a corresponding control signal and output the control signal to the second control unit according to a relationship between the bus voltage and each voltage threshold (abstract; “in which the voltage detection unit does not detect a voltage lower than a predetermined value. When the voltage detection unit detects a voltage lower than the predetermined value,…”, and there exist a variety of predetermined values as reference values).
-Regarding claim 8:
Ando discloses:
The voltage conversion circuit according to claim 1, further comprising an isolated communication unit (paragraph 0109; A/D converter), wherein the isolated communication unit is configured to implement isolated communication between the first control unit and the second control unit (paragraph 0109;” In addition, in a case where the voltage detection unit 15 is constituted by a resistor voltage-dividing circuit, an output of the voltage detection unit 15 is an analog voltage, but an A/D converter may be built into the voltage detection unit 15 so that a digital voltage is output. Further, in the voltage detection unit 15, whether or not a power failure has occurred may be determined through comparison between a detected voltage and a power failure threshold value, and a result thereof may be output as binary data.”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEUNG HO CHOI whose telephone number is (571)272-8188. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:30 AM - 5:30 PM ET.
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/SEUNG HO CHOI/Examiner, Art Unit 2838
/CRYSTAL L HAMMOND/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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