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 . 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 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.
This office action is in response to the application filed on 01/14/2025.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Applicants have amended claims 1-13 and added new claims 14-20. No new matter has been added.
Claims 1-20 are pending and have been examined.
Drawings Objection
The drawings filed on 11/14/2025 are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the startup power supply of claim 8 must be shown or the feature canceled from the claim. No new matter should be entered.
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 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/14/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 C.F.R. § 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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 1-6, 8-11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mcintyre (US 2016/0072393 A1).
In re to claim 1, Mcintyre discloses a power converter (i.e. 100, fig. 1, see par. [0028]), comprising: a first primary side circuit (i.e. upper left side of the circuit, see fig. 1) comprising a first input configured to receive a first input voltage (i.e. Vhigh input), a first primary side winding (i.e. P1) of a transformer (i.e. TX1), and a first switch (i.e. Q1) coupled between the first input (i.e. Vhigh) and the first primary side winding (i.e. P1); a second primary side circuit (i.e. lower left side of the circuit, see fig. 1) comprising a second input (i.e. input from VCC) configured to receive a second input voltage (i.e. VCC), a second primary side winding (i.e. P2) of the transformer (i.e. TX2), and a second switch (i.e. Q2) coupled between the second input (i.e. input from VCC) and the second primary side winding (i.e. P2); and a secondary side winding (i.e. S1/S2) of the transformer (i.e. TX1/TX2) coupled to an output of the power converter (i.e. output Vlow, see fig. 1), wherein the first switch and the second switch are configured to be switched concurrently (i.e. see par. [0050])..
In re to claims 2-6, Mcintyre discloses the power converter (i.e. 100, fig. 1, see par. [0028]) of claim 1, wherein the first primary side circuit comprises a first diode (i.e. D3) coupled between the first input (i.e. Vhigh input) and the first primary side winding (i.e. P1), and wherein the second primary side circuit comprises a second diode (i.e. D4) coupled between the second input (i.e. input from VCC) and the second primary side winding (i.e. P2); further comprising: a controller (I.e. fig. 9) configured to switch the first switch (i.e. Q1) and the second switch (i.e. Q2) concurrently (i.e. see par. [0033]); further comprising: a first current sensor (i.e. upper part of 110, see par. [0028]) configured to measure a first current in the first primary side circuit (i.e. upper left side of the circuit, see fig. 1) a second current sensor (i.e. lower part of 110, see par. [0028]) configured to measure a second current in the second primary side circuit (i.e. lower part of 100, including elements between VCC and Vlow, see fig. 1), wherein the controller is configured to control the first switch (i.e. Q1) and the second switch (i.e. Q2) based on a measurement of the first current and a measurement of the second current provided by the first current sensor and the second current sensor. Respectively (i.e. see parts. [0028-0029; 0031-0032]); wherein at least one of the first current sensors or the second current sensor (i.e. 110, fig. 1) comprises a galvanic isolation (i.e. isolation provided by TX1 and TX2, fig. 1); wherein the controller is configured to control the first switch (i.e. Q1) and the second switch (i.e. Q2) further based on a voltage at the output (i.e. Vlow) of the power converter (i.e. 110, fig. 1).
In re to claims 8-11, Mcintyre discloses the power converter (i.e. 100, fig. 1, see par. [0028])
of claim 3, further comprising: a startup power supply circuit (i.e. Q1 and Q2, fig. 8, see par. [0062]) configured to supply power to the controller (i.e. fig. 9, see par. [0033]) at startup of the power converter based on one of the first input voltage (i.e. Vhigh) or the second input voltage (i.e. VCC, fig. 1); wherein the startup power supply circuit comprises a galvanic isolation (i.e. the transformer TX, fig. 8); wherein the startup power supply circuit (i.e. VBB, fig. 8, see par. [0060]) is configured to supply power to the controller at startup of the power converter based on the higher one of the first input voltage and the second input voltage (i.e. see par. [0061]);
wherein the power converter is configured to drive at least one of the first switches (i.e. Q1) the second switch (i.e. Q2) via a galvanic isolation (i.e. transformer TX).
In re to claim 13, method claim 13 is rejected based on the following case law, 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 device is the same as a device described in the specification for carrying out the claimed method, it can be assumed the device inherently performs the claimed process. In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 231 USPQ 136 (Fed Cir. 1986). Therefore, the previous rejections based on the apparatus will not be repeated.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be
allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In re to claim 7, None of the cited prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach the claimed inventions in which “an auxiliary winding of the transformer provided at one of the primary sides of the transformer or the secondary side of the transformer, wherein the auxiliary winding is coupled to a supply input of the controller”.
The art of record does not disclose the above limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify the art of record to include either of the above limitations.
Claims 12 and 14-20 are allowed over the art of record.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: -
In re to claim 12, None of the cited prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach the claimed inventions in which “a bidirectional power converter controller configured to control the bidirectional power converter and a power converter comprising: a first primary side circuit comprising a first input configured to receive a first input voltage, a first primary side winding of a transformer, and a first switch coupled between the first input and the first primary side winding; a second primary side circuit comprising a second input configured to receive a second input voltage, a second primary side winding of the transformer, and a second switch coupled between the second input and the second primary side winding: and a secondary side winding of the transformer coupled to an output of the power converter, wherein the first switch and the second switch are configured to be switched concurrently, wherein the first input of the power converter is coupled to the first terminal, the second input of the power converter is coupled to the second terminal, and the output of the power converter is coupled to a supply terminal of the bidirectional power converter controller”.
The art of record does not disclose the above limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify the art of record to include either of the above limitations.
In re to claims 14-20, claims 14-20 depend on claim 12, thus are also allowed for the same reasons provided above.
Remarks
The examiner has cited columns, line numbers, paragraph numbers, references, or
figures in the references applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested by the applicant in preparing responses to fully consider the reference in entirety, as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2141.02 and § 2123.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEMANE MEHARI whose telephone number is (571)270-7603. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM TO 6 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thienvu V. Tran can be reached at 5712701276. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YEMANE MEHARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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