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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 1/26/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of the claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Telefus et al. U.S. PGPub 2021/0173364.
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11-13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25-28 and 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Telefus et al. U.S. PGPub 2021/0173364.
Regarding claim 1, Telefus discloses a modular electrical accessory for a building, the modular electrical accessory comprising: a housing for attaching to a building structure (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7); an electrical backplane mounted in the housing, the electrical backplane configured to be electrically wired to an electrical circuit associated with the building (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7); an electrical bus and a control bus removably connectable to a user-replaceable electrical accessory module by a user (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7); wherein the electrical bus is configured to transfer electrical power between a connected user-replaceable electrical accessory module and the electrical backplane (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7); and the control bus is configured to communicate control signals between a connected user-replaceable electrical accessory module and the electrical backplane for controlling delivery of electrical power to an electrical device based on the control signals (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 2, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, wherein the user-replaceable electrical accessory module is interchangeable by the user between: a module to control the operation of an electrical device; and a module having an outlet connectable to an electrical device to provide electrical and/or data services to the electrical device (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 4, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, wherein an electrical device is connected to the electrical bus and the user-replaceable electrical accessory module controls delivery of electrical power to the electrical bus based on control signals from the control bus in order to control the operation of the electrical device (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7), wherein the electrical bus receives electrical power from the electrical circuit via the electrical backplane (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 6, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 4, wherein the user-replaceable electrical accessory module comprises an electrical outlet connectable to an electrical device, wherein the electrical outlet is configured to provide electrical power to the electrical device from the electrical bus (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 7, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 6, wherein the outlet comprises a low voltage electrical outlet and/or an extra-low voltage electrical outlet (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 9, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, wherein the modular electrical accessory further comprises a transceiver powered by electrical power received from the electrical bus (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7), wherein the transceiver is configured to communicate data with an external device, and the user-replaceable electrical accessory module further comprises an outlet connectable to an electrical device, wherein the outlet is configured to communicate the data with the electrical device (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 11, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, where the modular electrical accessory has an interface configured to receive a desired state of operation of an electrical device (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 12, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 11, wherein the interface comprises a user interface configured to receive input from a user indicating a desired state of operation of an electrical device (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 13, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 11, further comprising a wired or wireless communications interface configured to communicate the desired state of operation between the communications interface and an external device (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7), where the external device is one or more of: an external electronic device; a bridge; and a further modular electrical accessory (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 15, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 11, wherein the interface is interchangeable by the user between interfaces of different types (e.g. pg. 3, ¶36).
Regarding claim 16, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 11, wherein the interface is configured to control delivery of electrical power to an electrical device connected to the electrical bus (e.g. pg. 6, ¶65), wherein the control bus is configured to communicate control signals from the interface for controlling delivery of electrical power by the electrical bus to the electrical device based on the control signals (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7), wherein the interface is configured to output control signals on the control bus indicative of the desired state of operation of the electrical device (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 18, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, wherein the electrical backplane further comprises a wired or wireless communications interface configured to communicate control signals between the control bus and an external device (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 19, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, further comprising a control component configured to: receive control signals from the control bus; and
control delivery of electrical power by the electrical bus to the electrical device based on the control signals received from the control bus (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 22, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of user-replaceable electrical accessory modules configured to receive electrical power from the electrical bus and communicate control signals on the control bus (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7), wherein the control signals further comprise a unique identifier associated with a selected user-replaceable electrical accessory module (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7), and a control component configured to deliver power to the selected user-replaceable electrical accessory module in response to the control signals comprising the unique identifier associated with the selected user-replaceable electrical accessory module (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 23, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, wherein the user-replaceable electrical accessory module and the electrical backplane are electrically connected by one or more interconnects (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 25, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, wherein the housing is an electrical backbox for mounting to a building structure (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 26, Telefus discloses the modular electrical accessory of claim 1, further comprising a securing means configured to secure the user-replaceable electrical accessory module to the housing, optionally wherein the securing means is a faceplate configured to secure the user-replaceable electrical accessory module to the housing (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 27, Telefus discloses a system comprising a modular electrical accessory in communication with a further modular electrical accessory, wherein: the modular electrical accessory comprises: a user-replaceable electrical accessory module removably connectable to a communication interface in the modular electrical accessory by a control bus for communicating control signals between the user-replaceable electrical accessory module and the communication interface, wherein the user-replaceable electrical accessory module comprises a user interface configured to receive a desired state of operation of an electrical device connected to the further electrical accessory module and communicate the desired state of operation as control signals on the control bus (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7); wherein the communication interface is configured to receive the control signal from the control bus and send the control signal indicating the desired state of operation to the further modular electrical accessory (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7); and the further modular electrical accessory comprises: an electrical bus and a further control bus removably connectable to a further user-replaceable electrical accessory module, wherein the electrical bus is configured to transfer electrical power to the further user-replaceable electrical accessory module and the further control bus is configured to communicate control signals to the further user-replaceable electrical accessory module (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7); a further communication interface configured to receive the control signals from the modular electrical accessory and communicate the control signals on the further control bus to the further user-replaceable electrical accessory module (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7); wherein the further user-replaceable electrical accessory module comprises a control component configured to control the supply of electrical power to the electrical device connected to the electrical bus based on the control signal received on the further control bus (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 28, Telefus discloses the system of claim 27, wherein the modular electrical accessory is installable at a first location in a building and the further modular electrical accessory is installable at a second location in the building remote from the first location (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Regarding claim 31, Telefus discloses a user-replaceable electrical accessory module removably connectable by a user to an electrical bus and a control bus of a modular electrical accessory according to claim 1 (e.g. ¶42-49; Fig. 1-3, 6, 7).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES R KASENGE whose telephone number is (571)272-3743. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30am to 4pm EST.
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CK
May 29, 2026
/CHARLES R KASENGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116
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