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 § 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, 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) 1 and 4-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo (US 2015/0355258 A1) in view of Haines et al. (US 2011/0216453 A1) hereafter Haines.
Regarding claim 1, Guo at fig. 3 discloses an electric leakage detection circuit [see title] comprising: a ground fault detection circuit 1 electrically connected to power supply lines [lines A B C as shown] to which AC power is supplied, the ground fault detection circuit being configured to detect a ground fault current [0039] with respect to a ground potential of each of the power supply lines; and a self-diagnosis circuit 3 configured to generate a short-circuit path [lines to RD to Rb to SA2 to ground as shown] by which each of the power supply lines [¶0052] is selectively short-circuited to a connection line [grounding line as shown as ground symbol ┴ ] of the ground potential, the self-diagnosis circuit including a first limiting resistor Rb including a plurality of resistance elements [implicit to Rb] electrically connected in series, one end of the first limiting resistor being electrically connected to the connection line [ground line] of the ground potential, and a relay circuit [not shown, implicit to ¶0052 “a grounding resistor Rb having its one end connected to any one of three phases on the power supply side”] provided between the power supply lines and a side opposite to the connection line of the ground potential of the first limiting resistor Rb, the relay circuit being configured to switch, among the power supply lines, a power supply line to be electrically connected to the first limiting resistor and given the short-circuit path [¶0052].
Guo as suggested connects resistor Rb to one of the phase of the power supply lines to the ground for performing a ground test. Guo is silent about series connected resistors. Haines in a similar environment at fig. 6 discloses switch [switch that is controlled by K3, K2, see 400] selecting one of the phases i.e. hot or neutral. Haines also discloses series connected resistors R9 and R136 between ground and power line. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify suggested matter of Guo with known phase selecting switch and series connected resistor as taught by Haines to perform the ground test for each phase.
Regarding claim 4, four wire (3 phase and a neutral) power lines are known in the art. The combination of Guo and Haines discloses the AC power has three-phases [A B C, ¶0075 of Guo]. They are silent about the power supply lines are four lines including three voltage lines and one neutral line, and the relay circuit includes three C contact relays configured to electrically connect the first limiting resistor to one of the four power supply lines. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective date to use switch [switch that is controlled by K3, K2, see 400 of Haines] as disclosed by Haines to select individual line for ground test as disclosed by Guo and Haines.
Regarding claim 5, four wire (3 phase and a neutral) power lines are known in the art. The combination of Guo and Haines discloses the AC power has three-phases [A B C, ¶0075 of Guo]. Therefore discloses the power supply lines include: four first power supply lines including three voltage lines and one neutral line, and the four first power supply lines being supplied with the AC power during charging and discharging [lines can be used for charging and discharging]; and one or more second power supply lines including a branch voltage line [one of the line] branched from one of the three voltage lines of the first power supply line, the second power supply lines being supplied with the AC power during discharge [line can be used for discharge].
Regarding claim 6, four wire (3 phase and a neutral) power lines are known in the art. The combination of Guo and Haines discloses the AC power has three-phases [A B C, ¶0075 of Guo]. Therefore discloses the second power supply lines include a branch neutral line branched from the neutral line of the first power supply line.
Regarding claim 7, Haines discloses wherein the AC power has a single-phase, and the power supply lines are two lines including one voltage line 102 and one neutral line 104, and the relay circuit [circuit of 400] includes one C contact relay [as shown] configured to electrically connect the first limiting resistor to one of the two power supply lines.
Claim(s) 2 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo and Haines as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hooper (US 2007/0201170 A1).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Guo and Haines discloses all the elements. They are silent about the self-diagnosis circuit further includes a photo-relay electrically connected between the first limiting resistor and the connection line of the ground potential. Rather, Guo discloses “a second control button SA2 connected between the other end of the grounding test resistor Rb and the ground, for performing a grounding test according to a manual operation.” Guo also discloses “After receiving this instruction, DJ controls the switch contact DJ1 to close and connect the grounding test resistor Rb to the ground.“ Use of photo relay is old and well known in many different application for control. Hooper discloses use of photo relay or opto-coupler [1500 or 1600] between power line and ground. Photo relay is a component capable of optically transferring an electrical signal between two circuits and, at the same time, electrically isolating these circuits from each other. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add photo relay to combination of Guo and Haines as taught by Hooper, in order to detect predetermined threshold voltages of a line as further taught by Hooper (¶0004).
Regarding claim 8, modified Guo discloses the photo relay of the self-diagnosis circuit is turned on every time the relay circuit changes a power supply line to which the first limiting resistor is to be connected.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: No prior art has been found that meets the limitations of claim 3 calling for an electric leakage detection circuit comprising: the ground fault detection circuit includes: second limiting resistors electrically connected to the power supply lines, each of the second limiting resistors including a plurality of resistance elements electrically connected in series; a diode whose anode is electrically connected to each of the second limiting resistors on a side opposite to the power supply lines and whose cathode is electrically connected to a connection line of the ground potential via a detection shunt resistor serving to detect the ground fault current; and an insulation determination comparator configured to detect the ground fault current flowing through the detection shunt resistor by comparing a potential generated by the detection shunt resistor with a reference potential.
Please note: Examiner has cited particular columns, line numbers, and figures in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teaching of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. Applicants are reminded that MPEP 2141.02 states: A prior art reference must be considered in its entirety, i.e., as a whole, including portions that would lead away from the claimed invention. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. V. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 220 USPQ 303 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
Conclusion
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/PARESH PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
July 24, 2026
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