DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 02/28/2025. Claims 1-15 are pending.
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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) is acknowledged.
Drawing
The drawing submitted on 02/28/2025 is acknowledged and accepted by the examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 02/28/2025, 09/04/2025, 11/18/2025 have 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)(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.
Claims 1-8, 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or (a)(2) as being anticipated by Radic (US Patent or PG Pub. No. 20210257906, hereinafter ‘906).
Claim 12, ‘906 teaches a power converter (e.g., see Fig. 1-13) control circuit for a switching power supply, comprising: a detecting unit (e.g., 410), configured to detect a resonance cycle signal (e.g., Vaux - Valleydet) of the switching power supply in real time; a controlling unit (e.g., 210), configured to extend the resonance cycle signal by a delay time (e.g., 2nd or 3rd valley), so that a control signal (e.g., PWMreset) controls a primary-side power switch tube of the switching power supply to turn on within a preset range (e.g., 2nd or 3rd) near a target valley (e.g., valley*(n)) of a resonance waveform (e.g., see Fig. 8) according to the resonance cycle signal and the extended resonance cycle signal (e.g., see [0047][0048], Fig. 4-8); wherein the delay time is related to a first parameter (e.g., Valley*(nint)) and a second parameter (e.g., Valley*(int) or int), the first parameter being a value set over time within a certain range (e.g., a number of resonant cycle time 0 or 1), and the second parameter being a function (e.g., 604/606, or 704/ 706) related to a resonance cycle of the switching power supply (e.g., function of the resonant cycle time, see Fig. 4-8).
Claim 13, ‘906 teaches the limitations of claim 12 as discussed above. It further teaches that wherein the controlling unit comprises: a resonance valley corresponding circuit (e.g., 512, 612), configured to, when a function value of a periodic function associated with the first parameter is zero (e.g., see Fig. 8), adjust the second parameter, and the control signal corresponds to a reference position in the resonance waveform according to the resonance cycle signal and the extended resonance cycle signal, wherein the reference position being a position in a center, on the left, or on the right of the target valley (e.g., being center of the targeted valley, see Fig. 8); and a jitter frequency circuit (e.g., the circuits comprising 413, 408, see [0050][0051], Fig. 4-8), configured to add the function value of the periodic function of the first parameter to the reference position so that the control signal controls the primary-side power switch tube of the switching power supply to turn on within the preset range near the target valley (e.g., see Fig. 8).
Claim 14, ‘906 teaches the limitations of claim 12 as discussed above. It further teaches a switching power supply (e.g., 200, see Fig. 2), comprising the control circuit for the switching power supply according to claim 12 (e.g., 200, see Fig. 2).
Claim 15, ‘906 teaches the limitations of claim 13 as discussed above. It further teaches a switching power supply (e.g., 200, see Fig. 2), switching power supply, comprising the control circuit for the switching power supply according to claim 13 (e.g., 200, see Fig. 2).
For method claims 1-8, 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 will inherently perform 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
Claims 9-11 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 matters:
For claim 9, the closet prior art (which has been made of record) fail to disclose: “obtaining the working parameter of the switching power supply comprises: when the primary-side power switch tube is on, calculating the primary-side input voltage according to a voltage of auxiliary winding, a number of turns of the auxiliary winding, and a number of turns of primary-side winding; and when secondary-side switch tube is on, calculating the secondary-side output voltage according to the voltage of the auxiliary winding, the number of turns of the auxiliary winding, and a number of turns of secondary-side winding; wherein the auxiliary winding is grounded together with the primary-side winding”.
For claims 10, 11, the closet prior art (which has been made of record) fail to disclose: “wherein when the working parameter comprises a load value; obtaining the working parameter of the switching power supply comprises: obtaining a switching frequency of the primary-side power switch tube of the switching power supply; and determining the load value according to the switching frequency; wherein the load value is positively correlated with the switching frequency”.
Examiner's Note:
Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above 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 from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUE ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1263. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 8:30AM-5:00PM
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached on 571-272-2838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUE ZHANG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
