Appeal 2007-0904
Application 11/025,331
invention as claimed. Therefore, it follows that the Examiner did not err in
rejecting claims 3 through 5, 7, 19, and 20 as being unpatentable over
Katagiri.
Now, we turn to the rejection of claims 1, 3 through 5, 6, 7, 9 through
15, and 17 through 22 as being unpatentable over Okushima in combination
with Xu and/or Cook. As set forth above, representative claim 1 requires a
power module, comprised within the housing of an inverter, having two
separate and independently drivable power stages for driving a plurality of
electric motors. As detailed in the findings of fact section above, we have
found that Okushima teaches an inverter set with two individual inverters,
each separately driving a motor. (Finding of Fact 8.) We do not find,
however, any teaching in Okushima of a power module within an inverter,
wherein the power module includes two separate stages for independently
driving the motors. We further find that neither Xu nor Cook cures such
deficiencies.4 In light of these findings, it is our view that one of ordinary
skill in the art would not have found it obvious to combine the teachings of
Okushima with Xu and/or Cook to yield the invention as claimed.
Therefore, it follows that the Examiner erred in rejecting claims 1, 3 through
5, 6, 7, 9 through 15, and 17 through 22 as being unpatentable over the
combination of Okushima with Xu and/or Cook.
4 We note that, unlike Katagiri’s inverter unit, Okushima’s inverter set
merely includes the two inverters without any other supporting components
that would cause each of the inverters in the set to function like a separate
stage of a power module. In Katagiri, the inverter unit itself can be viewed
as the claimed inverter while the individual inverters in conjunction with
other supporting components make up the stages of the power module that
separately drive the motors. However, In Okushima, the inverter set cannot
be viewed as being both the inverters and the power module.
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