DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 01/24/2025 have been considered by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 6 and 8 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 6 recites a term “the internal timer” in line 2. Examiner suggests amending the term to recite “an internal timer” to restore clarity.
Claim 8 recites a term “the default voltage” in line 2. Examiner suggests amending the term to recite “a default voltage” to restore clarity.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim(s) 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. The rationale for this finding is explained below:
Claim(s) 10 recite a term "the at least one capacitor bank" before introduction. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this term in the claim(s).
Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-7, 9 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jin et al. (US 20230307939; hereinafter Jin).
Regarding claim 1, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 a capacitor health diagnostics circuitry configured to run a diagnostics test to determine a capacity of at least one buffer capacitor (122; paras. 94, 121-122 :- determine the state of the capacitor 122; S660 in fig. 6, S940 in fig. 9), wherein the diagnostics test comprises a multiphase discharge test performed under varying current conditions (paras. 57-58 - during the first time T1 being a first phase during which the voltage level of capacitor 122 falls from V1 to V2, only leakage current is flowing; paras. 59-60 - During the second time T2 being a second phase during which the voltage level falls from V3 to V4, leakage current and discharge current IDIS is flowing; figs. 3-5) to determine a leakage current of the at least one capacitor (paras. 83-84, 92 :- Controller 128 measures T1 "in correspondence to a leakage current", so that if measured T1 < TL 1 then controller determines a fail state, thereby determining that the leakage current of the capacitor is abnormal. Thus, an abnormal leakage current is determined, which is a leakage current; “N” in S620 for normal leakage, “Y” in S620 for abnormal leakage in fig. 6) and to determine the capacitance of the at least one capacitor (para. 93 - the capacitance of the capacitor is calculated based on T1 ,T2,V1 ,V2,V3,V4 and ICS) based at least partially on the determined leakage current (para. 81 - T1 during which the voltage level of capacitor 122 falls from V1 to V2 as such depends on the leakage current, and also V1, V2 are set in consideration of the leakage current, so that the capacitance is determined based on the leakage current).
Regarding claim 2, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 1, wherein the diagnostics test comprises, in a first phase, performing a first-phase discharge test to determine a first- phase discharge time and, in a second phase, performing a second-phase discharge test to determine a second-phase discharge time, wherein each of the first and second discharge times is measured with respect to a predetermined voltage difference across the capacitor (paras. 57-60 :- auxiliary power controller 128 may set the discharge current ICS of the current source 124 to 0 in order to measure the first time T1; figs. 3-4).
Regarding claim 3, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 2, wherein the at least one capacitor is discharged in the second phase in parallel with a predefined constant current (para. 59 - auxiliary power controller 128 may set the discharge current ICS of the current source 124 to a non-zero value, for example, IDIS) and discharged in the first phase without the predefined constant current, to implement the varying current conditions (paras. 57-60 :- auxiliary power controller 128 may detect a change in the voltage level of the capacitor 122 through the voltage detector 126, and may measure the second time T2 during which the voltage level of the capacitor 122 falls from the third level V3 to a fourth level V4; figs. 3-4).
Regarding claim 5, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 1, being further configured to perform the discharge tests using at least one timer which forms part of a device to be powered by the at least one capacitor (paras. 71, 106-107 :- auxiliary power controller 128 may count the number of toggles of the clock signal CLK generated from a time point at which the voltage level Vcap of the capacitor 122 reaches the first level V1 ; CLK figs, 5,8,1).
Regarding claim 6, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 5, wherein the at least one timer is the internal timer or counter of logic circuitry which executes a control application for process control in an industrial automation system (para. 81 - magnitude of a leakage current according to the characteristics of the capacitor 122, the value of the discharge current ICS of the current source 124, the frequency of the clock signal CLK corresponding to a precision of time measurement).
Regarding claim 7, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 1, wherein a predetermined voltage difference used in the discharge tests corresponds to a difference between a default voltage applied to the at least one capacitor during normal operation and a predefined setpoint (para. 65 - V1 or V3 represent a default voltage during normal operation and V2 or V4 represent a predefined setpoint; fig. 5).
Regarding claim 9, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 1, further configured to issue a warning when insufficient capacity remains for carrying out a power down sequence (para. 101 - When the voltage level Vcap of the capacitor 122 in operation falls below a fifth level V5, the auxiliary power controller 128 may generate an interrupt signal to notify the other components of the electronic device 10 of an abnormal operation; fig. 7).
Regarding claim 11, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 1, further configured to perform the multiphase discharge using changes of capacitor voltage in a voltage range above a predetermined capacitor voltage required for carrying out a power down sequence (paras. 98, 101-102 - auxiliary power controller 128 may change a power good signal PGS from a first value to a second value. The interrupt signal may be reset after a predetermined time has elapsed from the generation of the interrupt signal; fig. 7).
Regarding claim 12, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 a controller for a process control system, the controller comprising a capacitor health diagnostics circuitry configured to run a diagnostics test to determine a capacity of at least one buffer capacitor (122; paras. 94, 121-122 :- determine the state of the capacitor 122; S660 in fig. 6, S940 in fig. 9), wherein the diagnostics test comprises a multiphase discharge test performed under varying current conditions (paras. 57-58 - during the first time T1 being a first phase during which the voltage level of capacitor 122 falls from V1 to V2, only leakage current is flowing; paras. 59-60 - During the second time T2 being a second phase during which the voltage level falls from V3 to V4, leakage current and discharge current IDIS is flowing; figs. 3-5) to determine a leakage current of the at least one capacitor (paras. 83-84, 92 :- Controller 128 measures T1 "in correspondence to a leakage current", so that if measured T1 < TL 1 then controller determines a fail state, thereby determining that the leakage current of the capacitor is abnormal. Thus, an abnormal leakage current is determined, which is a leakage current; “N” in S620 for normal leakage, “Y” in S620 for abnormal leakage in fig. 6) and to determine the capacitance of the at least one capacitor (para. 93 - the capacitance of the capacitor is calculated based on T1 ,T2,V1 ,V2,V3,V4 and ICS) based at least partially on the determined leakage current (para. 81 - T1 during which the voltage level of capacitor 122 falls from V1 to V2 as such depends on the leakage current, and also V1, V2 are set in consideration of the leakage current, so that the capacitance is determined based on the leakage current).
Regarding claim 13, Jin discloses in figure(s) 1-10 a capacitor health diagnostics method comprising running a diagnostics test to determine the capacity of the at least one buffer capacitor (122; paras. 94, 121-122 :- determine the state of the capacitor 122; S660 in fig. 6, S940 in fig. 9), wherein the diagnostics test comprises a multiphase discharge test performed under varying current conditions (paras. 57-58 - during the first time T1 being a first phase during which the voltage level of capacitor 122 falls from V1 to V2, only leakage current is flowing; paras. 59-60 - During the second time T2 being a second phase during which the voltage level falls from V3 to V4, leakage current and discharge current IDIS is flowing; figs. 3-5) to determine a leakage current of the at least one capacitor (paras. 83-84, 92 :- Controller 128 measures T1 "in correspondence to a leakage current", so that if measured T1 < TL 1 then controller determines a fail state, thereby determining that the leakage current of the capacitor is abnormal. Thus, an abnormal leakage current is determined, which is a leakage current; “N” in S620 for normal leakage, “Y” in S620 for abnormal leakage in fig. 6) and to determine the capacitance of the at least one capacitor (para. 93 - the capacitance of the capacitor is calculated based on T1 ,T2,V1 ,V2,V3,V4 and ICS) based at least partially on the determined leakage current (para. 81 - T1 during which the voltage level of capacitor 122 falls from V1 to V2 as such depends on the leakage current, and also V1, V2 are set in consideration of the leakage current, so that the capacitance is determined based on the leakage current).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 4 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jin in view of Trichy et al. (US 20240321373).
Regarding claim 4, Jin teaches in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 3,
Jin does not teach explicitly being further configured to determine the leakage current of the at least one capacitor based on the first and second discharge times and on the predefined constant current.
However, Trichy teaches in figure(s) 1-6 being further configured to determine the leakage current of the at least one capacitor based on the first and second discharge times and on the predefined constant current (paras. 36, 61 – equations 2, 5; figs. 3-4).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Jin by having being further configured to determine the leakage current of the at least one capacitor based on the first and second discharge times and on the predefined constant current as taught by Trichy in order to provide "estimation during health check uses a small discharge current where the self-discharge or leakage currents of the capacitor can corrupt the measurements as they are significant compared to the discharge currents used. By using a two-step process, the errors from unknown capacitor leakage current, comparator offsets, measuring the amount of discharge (ΔV) and time measurement errors from an inaccurate clock base can be all cancelled out adequately to arrive at a result that is far more accurate than conventional measurement techniques used otherwise" (para. 57).
Regarding claim 8, Jin teaches in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 7,
Jin does not teach explicitly further comprising a boost converter to convert an input voltage into the default voltage, wherein the predefined setpoint is based on an internal reference voltage of a control loop amplifier in the boost converter.
However, Trichy teaches in figure(s) 1-6 further comprising a boost converter to convert an input voltage into the default voltage, wherein the predefined setpoint is based on an internal reference voltage of a control loop amplifier (324, 340, 334; fig. 3) in the boost converter (306).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Jin by having further comprising a boost converter to convert an input voltage into the default voltage, wherein the predefined setpoint is based on an internal reference voltage of a control loop amplifier in the boost converter as taught by Trichy in order to provide " A first input of the health check comparator 328 is connected to a portion of a first voltage divider network 330 which regulates the output voltage of the buck/boost controller 306 used to set the output voltage of the capacitor storage bank 302. The second input of the health check comparator 328 is connected to a reference voltage to set a threshold voltage for the health check comparator." (para. 41).
Claim(s) 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jin in view of Butler et al. (US 20210231720).
Regarding claim 10, Jin teaches in figure(s) 1-10 the capacitor health diagnostics circuitry of claim 1,
Jin does not teach explicitly further configured to predict aging of the at least one capacitor bank based on historical data relating to previously performed power down sequences.
However, Butler teaches in figure(s) 1-8 further configured to predict aging (para. 16 - deterioration due to aging can reduce the actual capacitance of the capacitor as well as increase the leakage current and internal resistance, due to degradation of the dielectric) of the at least one capacitor bank based on historical data relating to previously performed power down sequences (para. 29 - controller 120 to write inflight data stored in the volatile memory device 125 to the non-volatile memory devices 140. The backup capacitor 130 is operatively coupled to a voltage regulator that regulates the voltage stored in the backup capacitor 130 to an operation voltage of the controller 120; fig. 5).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Jin by having further configured to predict aging of the at least one capacitor bank based on historical data relating to previously performed power down sequences as taught by Butler in order to provide "determining abnormal leakage current of a capacitor by determining a number of recent leakage current values for the capacitor and determining a maximum upper limit, minimum upper limit, maximum lower limit, and minimum lower limit based on leakage current values different from the recent leakage current values." (abstract).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AKM ZAKARIA whose telephone number is (571)270-0664. The examiner can normally be reached on 8-5 PM (PST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Judy Nguyen can be reached on (571) 272-2258. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AKM ZAKARIA/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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