DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 (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.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/25/25 has been considered by the examiner.
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on 03/27/24. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Japanese application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
4. The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on the last line of paragraph [0005], the word "means" should be changed to --mean--. On line 5 of paragraph [0009], the word "into" should be changed to --as--, and also on this line, the word "can" should be changed to --will--. On the first line of paragraph [0011], "arbitrary two" should be changed to --two arbitrary--. On the penultimate line of paragraph [0013], --a-- should be inserted before "power", and note that the same insertion should also be made on the last line of this paragraph. On the penultimate line of paragraph [0016], the word "on" should be changed to --by--, and on the penultimate line of paragraph [0018], the word "on" should again be changed to --by--. On the first line of paragraph [0019], the word --the-- should be inserted before "vicinity", and note that the same insertion should also be made on line 4 of this paragraph. On the first line of paragraph [0023], "given by" should be deleted. On line 3 of paragraph [0024], the word "in" should be changed to --of--, and note that the same change should also be made on line 5 of this paragraph, and also on lines 10 and 12 of paragraph [0025]. On the penultimate line of paragraph [0027], "given by" should again be deleted. On the second line of paragraph [0029], the word "to" should be changed to --within--. On the second line of paragraph [0032], the word --being-- should be inserted after "thus", and note that the same insertion should also be made on line 17 of this paragraph, before the word "subjected". On the first line of paragraph [0038], "here are described" should be changed to --the following--, and also on this line, --are described-- should be inserted after the word "wiring". On lines 3-4 of paragraph [0040], "the continuous on time ton long enough" should be changed to --a sufficiently long continuous on time ton--. On the second line of paragraph [0048], the comma after the word "nothing" should be deleted. On line 6 of paragraph [0048], the word "being" should be changed to --is--. On line 8 of paragraph [0051], the word "changed" should be changed to --change--, and note that the same change should also be made on line 9 of this paragraph. On the second line of paragraph [0053], the word "once" should be deleted. Also in this paragraph, on line 4 thereof, "latch in" should be changed to --latched--, and also on this line, the word "once" should again be deleted. On line 10 of paragraph [0054], the word "yet" should be deleted. On line 7 of paragraph [0055], the word --the-- should be inserted before "symbol". On line 7 of paragraph [0061], "is burdened to more extent" should be changed to --is significantly burdened--. On line 7 of paragraph [0064], the word --the-- should be inserted before "description". On line 9 of paragraph [0064], "arbitrary two or more" should be changed to --two or more arbitrary--. On line 10 of paragraph [0068], a comma should be inserted after "Ip1", and note that another comma should be inserted on the penultimate line of paragraph [0069], after "Ip2".
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
5. 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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
On lines 2-3 of claim 8, "the protective current value" lacks antecedent basis, the reason being that claim 1 does not recite any protective current value, i.e., it appears that claim 8 should actually go back to claim 2 where the protective current value is introduced. Note the same problem regarding "the protection activating time" recited on line 3 of claim 8, i.e., there is also no antecedent basis for this recitation because the protection activating time is introduced in claim 2, not claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
Claims 1 and 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Furuto, U.S. Patent No. 9,997,905.
As to claim 1, Furuto discloses, in figure 1,
a switch device (11a) comprising: an input terminal (the input terminal of switch device 11a which is connected directly to the drain terminal of transistor 51a), an output terminal (the output terminal of switch device 11a which is connected directly to the source terminal of transistor 51a), an output transistor (output transistor 51a) provided between the input terminal and the output terminal, and a control circuit (control circuit 53a) configured to, under its control, turn on or off the output transistor in response to a control signal (the control signal output from microcomputer 14 to the control circuit 53a) supplied to the switch device, wherein
the control circuit is enabled to execute a protective operation by which the output transistor is switched over from on to off independent of the control signal on a basis of an outside temperature of the switch device and an output current flowing through the output transistor (note that control circuit 53a inherently executes a protective operation by which output transistor 11a is switched over from on to off independent of the above-noted control signal on a basis of an outside temperature of the switch device, i.e., the outside temperature detected by temperature detection unit 13, and an output current flowing through the output transistor, i.e., the output current detected by current detection unit 52a, note that this current detection unit 52a is incorrectly labeled in figure 1 of Furuto, see column 5, line 19, of this reference).
As to claim 8, it appears that Furuto's control circuit 53a will inherently change over, in plural steps, a relationship between a protective current value and a protection activating time under a condition that the outside temperature equals a specified temperature, note that it has long been held by the courts that where the examiner has reason to believe that a functional limitation asserted to be critical for establishing novelty in the claimed subject matter may, in fact, be an inherent characteristic of the prior art, the examiner possesses the authority to require the applicant to prove that the subject matter shown to be in the prior art does not possess the characteristic relied on, see In re Swinehart, 58 CCPA 1027, 169 USPQ 226 (1971).
As to claim 9, note that Furuto's control circuit 53a is supplied with a signal, i.e., either of the two signals output from output unit 62 to control circuit 53a, indicative of the outside temperature from an external control unit, i.e., external control unit 14 shown in figure 1 of this reference, wherein external control unit 14 supplies the switch device 11a with the above-noted control signal.
As to claim 10, note that Furuto's control circuit 53a is supplied with a signal (as noted above, either of the two signals output from output unit 62 to control circuit 53a) indicative of the outside temperature without being via an external control unit, from an external circuit, i.e., as noted above, microcomputer 14 can be read on the claimed external circuit, other than the external control unit that supplies the switch device with the above-noted control signal.
As to claim 11, the claimed load driving system reads on the entire figure 1 of Furuto, the claimed external control unit reads on microcomputer 14, the claimed temperature detection circuit reads on temperature detection circuit 13, the claimed load reads on load 3a (note that it receives the output current of transistor 51a), and the detection result of the temperature detection circuit 13 is inherently transmitted to Furuto's switch device 11a via the external control unit 14 or without being via the external control unit 14.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Furuto, supra, in view of Higuchi et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0022708.
Although Furuto's figure 1 does not show that the outside temperature is a temperature of a space where an input wiring or an output wiring is placed, such would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, the reason being that it was old and well-known in the art before the effective filing date of applicant's invention to use a temperature detection circuit for detecting an outside temperature of a space where an output wiring is placed, one example of this well-known concept being disclosed by Higuchi et al, note figure 1 of this reference which shows a temperature detection circuit 24 for detecting an outside temperature where an output wiring 51 is placed, see paragraphs [0042], [0055] and [0063] through [0073] where Higuchi et al discloses that the temperature detection circuit 24 is in close proximity to the output wiring 51 in order to detect the instantaneous temperature of this wiring in order to prevent overheating thereof. The motivation for modifying Furuto's figure 1 so that temperature detection unit 13 is in close proximity to the output wiring 4a between the source terminal of transistor 51a and load 3a is to be able to monitor the temperature of wiring 4a and, if the temperature thereof becomes too high, to shut off transistor 51a, i.e., to perform the protection function taught by this secondary reference, as taught by Higuchi et al.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 2-6 are 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: none of the prior art of record, including Furuto and Higuchi et al, supra, discloses or suggests the switch device of claim 1 with the further limitations that when the output current flowing through transistor 51a has continued a state of having a protective current value for a protection activating time, the control circuit 53a executes the protective operation and the control circuit makes the protection activating time decrease with increasing outside temperature, as recited in claim 2. Claims 3-6 are allowable in view of their dependencies on allowable claim 2.
Prior Art Not Relied Upon
9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The remaining references cited on the enclosed PTO-892 form disclose additional examples of a switch device comprising an input terminal, an output terminal, an output transistor and a control circuit, where the on/off switching of the output transistor is responsive to both the output of a temperature detection sensor and the output of an output current sensor, note figure 2 of Yoshimura et al, figure 2 of Baba et al, figure 1 of Rozman et al, figure 5 of Gergintschew, figure 1 of Thomas, figure 2 of Komatsu et al, figure 5 of Huang et al and figure 2 of Sugisawa. None of these further references is seen to disclose or suggest, however, the limitation in independent claim 1 that the control circuit is enabled to execute a protective operation during which the output transistor is switched over from on to off independent of the control signal on the basis of an outside temperature of the switch device, as recited on the last three lines of claim 1.
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH B WELLS whose telephone number is (571)272-1757. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, REGIS J BETSCH, can be reached at (571)270-7101. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KENNETH B WELLS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836 June 26, 2026
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