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 .
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.
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.
Claims 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuda et al. (US 2016/0072305 A1) in view of Tombelli et al. (US 2021/0237593 A1).
In regards to claim 1, Tsuda discloses, in figure 1, a contactless power feeding device (101) for supplying electric power to a power receiving device (102) without contact (Par 0073), the contactless power feeding device (101) comprising: a power transmitting circuit (the power-supplying module 2) configured to transmit alternating-current power (Par 0075); and a power transmitting resonator which includes a power transmitting resonant circuit (Fig. 3; 21, 22) including a power transmitting coil (22) and a power transmitting resonant capacitor (Fig. 3; C2), wherein input impedance of the power transmitting resonant circuit is set to a first input impedance (Par 0045; the transmission state input impedance) in a facing state (Par 0045; “a transmission state input impedance of the wireless power transmission apparatus in a situation where the power-supplying resonator and the power-receiving resonator are disposed to oppose each other”) in which (i) a power receiving coil (32) included in the power receiving device (102) is electromagnetically coupled to the power transmitting coil (22) (Par 0078) and (ii) a surface of the power receiving coil (32) and a surface of the power transmitting coil (22) are entirely or partially overlapping each other (Par 0045; “a relationship among input impedances in a setting where the power-source frequency is set to the frequency within the frequency band corresponding to the higher peak portion of the two peak portions of the transmission characteristic, which input impedances are (i) a transmission state input impedance of the wireless power transmission apparatus in a situation where the power-supplying resonator and the power-receiving resonator are disposed to oppose each other”), whereby the power transmitting coil (22) is supplied with the alternating-current power from the power transmitting circuit (Par 0045, 0075), the input impedance of the power transmitting resonant circuit (Fig. 3; 21, 22) is set to a second input impedance (Par 0045; standby state input impedance) that is greater than the first input impedance (Par 0045; the transmission state input impedance) so as to place the power transmitting resonant circuit out of a resonance state (Par 0045; “(iii) a standby state input impedance of the power-supplying module, satisfies the following condition: the metal foreign object placement state input impedance > the standby state input impedance > the transmission state input impedance”), in a non-facing state (Par 0047) in which at least one of: (i) the power receiving coil (32) is not electromagnetically coupled to the power transmitting coil (22) (Par 0046); and (ii) the surface of the power receiving coil (32) and the surface of the power transmitting coil (22) are not overlapping each other (Par 0045-0047; “the wireless power supply is not performed between the power-supplying module and the power-receiving module and the power-supplying module is in the standby state for power transmission,” thus the surface of the power receiving coil and the surface of the power transmitting coil are not overlapping each other), whereby the power transmitting coil (22) is not supplied with the alternating-current power from the power transmitting circuit (Par 0047), and an inductance of the power transmitting coil (22) changes in value during a transition from the facing state (transmission state) to the non-facing state (standby state) (Par 0045, 0097; during abnormality of the power-supply module 2, the input impedance changes from the transmission state to a standby state, thus the inductance of the power transmitting coil 22 changes in value during the transition with respect to the input impedance), such that the input impedance of the power transmitting resonant circuit (Fig. 3; 21, 22) increases from the first input impedance (Par 0045; the transmission state input impedance) to the second input impedance (Par 0045; standby state input impedance).
Tsuda does not disclose a resonant frequency of the power transmitting resonant circuit matches a fundamental frequency of the alternating-current power, a resonant frequency of the power receiving device matches the fundamental frequency of the alternating-current power.
However, Tombelli discloses, in figure 1, a resonant frequency of the power transmitting resonant circuit (3) matches a fundamental frequency of the alternating-current power (Par 0059), a resonant frequency of the power receiving device (4) matches the fundamental frequency of the alternating-current power (Par 0059; “by operating the inverter stage 23 so that the AC current flowing along the transmitter coil 31 has a fundamental frequency close or corresponding to the resonant frequency of such a resonant circuit, electric power may be exchanged between the transmitter-side coil sub-system 3 and the receiver-side coil sub-system 4 with high efficiency values despite of the necessarily large air gap between the transmitter coil 31 and the receiver coil 41”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Tsuda’s wireless power transmission apparatus by including a resonant frequency of the power transmitting resonant circuit matches a fundamental frequency of the alternating-current power, a resonant frequency of the power receiving device matches the fundamental frequency of the alternating-current power as taught by Tombelli in order to allow the implementation of advanced control functionalities to control the operation of power transfer system and allow improving mutual interaction and efficiency of the circuit (Tombelli; Par 0108, 0113).
In regards to claim 2, Tsuda and Tombelli disclose the contactless power feeding device according to claim 1. Tsuda further discloses, in figure 1, wherein the input impedance of the power transmitting resonant circuit (Fig. 3; 21, 22) is set to the first input impedance (Par 0045; the transmission state input impedance) as a result of the power transmitting resonant circuit being placed in a resonance state in the facing state (Par 0045), and the input impedance of the power transmitting resonant circuit is set to the second input impedance (Par 0045; standby state input impedance) as a result of the power transmitting resonant circuit being placed out of the resonance state in the non-facing state (Par 0045).
In regards to claim 3, Tsuda and Tombelli disclose the contactless power feeding device according to claim 1. Tsuda further discloses, in figure 3, wherein the power transmitting resonant capacitor (C2) is configured to be connected in series with the power transmitting coil (L2) (Par 0020).
In regards to claim 5, Tsuda and Tombelli disclose the contactless power feeding device according to claim 1. Tsuda further discloses, in figure 3, wherein in the facing state, the inductance of the power transmitting coil (22) is set to a resonant inductance that satisfies a resonance condition for the power transmitting resonant circuit (Par 0045; “a transmission state input impedance of the wireless power transmission apparatus in a situation where the power-supplying resonator and the power-receiving resonator are disposed to oppose each other”), and as the power receiving coil (32) and the power transmitting coil (22) shift from a fully facing state, the inductance of the power transmitting coil (22) is reduced to a value less than the resonant inductance (Par 0045-0047, 0097; during abnormality of the power-supply module 2, the input impedance changes from the transmission state to a standby state, thus the inductance of the power transmitting coil 22 is reduced to a value less than the resonant inductance during a shift from a fully facing state).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsuda et al. (US 2016/0072305 A1) in view of Tombelli et al. (US 2021/0237593 A1) in further view of Park et al. (US 2013/0187598 A1).
In regards to claim 4, Tsuda and Tombelli disclose the contactless power feeding device according to claim 1. Tsuda further discloses, in figure 1, wherein the power transmitting coil (22) is a coil with the inductance that is set lower in the non-facing state than in the facing state (Par 0047; “the wireless power supply is not performed between the power-supplying module and the power-receiving module and the power-supplying module is in the standby state for power transmission” thus the inductance of the power transmitting coil is set lower during the standby state (non-facing state) than in the transmission state (facing state)), but does not disclose a variable coil with the inductance that changes according to a positional relationship of the power receiving coil with respect to the power transmitting coil is used as the power transmitting coil.
However, Park discloses, in figure 12C, a variable coil (1207) with the inductance that changes according to a positional relationship of the power receiving coil (1211) with respect to the power transmitting coil (1204) is used as the power transmitting coil (Par 0104-0106).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Tsuda’s wireless power transmission apparatus by including a variable coil with the inductance that changes according to a positional relationship of the power receiving coil with respect to the power transmitting coil is used as the power transmitting coil as taught by Park in order to maximize the power transmission efficiency (Park; Par 0038).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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.
Further search and consideration fail to find any prior art to teach the novel limitation in the manner that would combinable with the arts above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yoshida et al. (US 2019/0207429 A1); discloses a wireless power supply device which wirelessly transmits energy by resonating at a frequency determined by impedance of a power transmission antenna configured to wirelessly transmit energy in a medium, impedance of a power receiving antenna configured to receive energy transmitted from the power transmission antenna, and impedance of the medium, wherein each of the power transmission antenna and the power receiving antenna includes a plurality of resonant antenna means including a plurality of antenna coils and at least one dielectric arranged between the plurality of antenna coils, and at least one of the plurality of resonant antenna means includes a load adjustment mechanism configured to adjust a load.
Ichikawa et al. (US 2013/0313893 A1); discloses a contactless power receiving apparatus and a vehicle incorporating the same, a contactless power feeding facility, a method of controlling the contactless power receiving apparatus, and a method of controlling the contactless power feeding facility, and more particularly to a contactless power transmission technique in which a power transmission unit and a power reception unit resonate with each other through an electromagnetic field to transmit power in a contactless manner.
Kamata et al. (US 2013/0082648 A1); discloses a power receiving device includes a resonant coil, an electromagnetic coupling coil, a rectifier circuit, a smoothing circuit, a voltage converter circuit which converts a voltage value of DC power into another voltage value, a control circuit which obtains voltage and current values of the DC power input to the voltage converter circuit, calculates an impedance from the obtained voltage and current values, and generates a pulse width modulation signal for controlling an output voltage and an output current of the voltage converter circuit, and a load to which the output voltage and the output current of the voltage converter circuit are input. The duty ratio of the pulse width modulation signal is determined so that the impedance calculated by the control circuit becomes close to an impedance for the maximum efficiency in transferring the AC power. The power receiving device is included in a contactless power feeding system.
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/ALEX W LAM/Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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