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 .
Continued Examination under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.
Applicant's submission filed on 2/17/2026 has been entered.
Claim(s) 1-12 are pending in the instant application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55, which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 8/22/2022. These drawings are considered acceptable by Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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(s) 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites a broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claim 1 recites the broad recitation “configured to drive at least one of the canless light or a night light” and the claim also recites “the first electric appliance has a first end directly electrically connected to and configured to drive a canless light” which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
In order to expedite prosecution, Examiner recommends modifying line 7, of claim 1 to recite “configured to drive a canless light or a night light”. Alternatively, the omission of the nightlight altogether would also resolve the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) issue presented otherwise.
Claim(s) 2-12 are rejected at least for their dependency on Claim 1.
America Invents Act
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 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.
Allowable Subject Matter
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a). See claim objection/rejection above.
A. Claim(s) 1-12 are allowed over the prior art of record (if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as set forth in this Office action above.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
The prior art of record (most comprehensive prior art of record to Jiang et al.,) suggests an illumination system, comprising: (i) a first electric appliance driver, (ii) a second electric appliance driver comprising: a control signal generation module, and (iii) a plurality of illumination units; and wherein the second electric appliance driver is configured to have an input end electrically connected to, and powered by, an output end of the first electric appliance driver, and is electrically connected to and configured to drive at least one of the canless light or a night light illumination unit of the plurality of illumination units to achieve lighting and other additional functions.
However, the prior art of record neither anticipates nor renders obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art the illumination system comprising the various elements as claimed above in combination with the specific limitation of the first electric appliance driver has a first end directly electrically connected to and configured to drive a canless light or a night light, and a second end configured to connect to an external power source as set forth in Claim 1.
Claim(s) 2-12 are allowable because of their dependency status from Claim 1.
Other Prior Art Cited
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Espacenet Patent Search Complete (Global Dossier)
Examiner's Note
The Examiner cites particular figures, paragraphs, columns and line numbers in the reference(s), as applied to the claims above. Although the particular citations are representative teachings and are applied to specific limitations within the claims, other passages, internally cited references, and figures may also apply. In preparing a response, it is respectfully requested that the Applicant fully consider the references, in their entirety, as potentially disclosing or teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as fully consider the context of the passage as taught by the reference(s) or as disclosed by the Examiner.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner H. Featherly whose telephone number is 571-272-8654. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9 AM-4 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James Greece can be reached on 571-272-3711.
The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-272-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only.
For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/H. Featherly/
Examiner Featherly
Art Unit 2875 Patent Examiner
/JAMES R GREECE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2875