Appeal No. 95-0648
Application 08/001,199
of the first transistor is connected to the second electrode of the second transistor through a
current detecting resistor 40. A branch circuit having a discharge transistor 50 is connected
between the control and second electrodes of the first transistor.
When an excessive current flows through the current detecting resistor 40 due to a short
in the load circuit of the first transistor, diode 65 reduces a drive signal of the first transistor 10 by
activating transistor 50. The reduced drive signal is maintained as the excessive current flowing
through transistor 10 is suppressed to protect the transistor. Diode 42 deactivates discharge
transistor 50 when a signal applied to the control terminal G becomes zero or opposite in polarity.
The Rejection under 35 U.S.C. §103 over the
Admitted Prior Art, Okado and Mihara
After consideration of the positions and arguments presented by both the examiner and the
appellants, we have concluded that this rejection should not be sustained.
With respect to claim 13, the sole independent claim, all of the claim limitations, except
for the last limitation, are met by the admitted prior art illustrated in appellants’ Fig. 8 . However, 2
neither Okado nor Mihara makes up for the deficiency of the admitted prior art by teaching the
last limitation of claim 13 which reads,
2The “means for reducing”, the penultimate limitation and only other limitation which might possibly be
considered as not taught by the Fig. 8 prior art circuit, is met by resistors 30 and 65 which lower the
voltage applied to gate 105 of the first switching element 10 (appellants’ specification at page 4, lines
18-26).
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Last modified: November 3, 2007