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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1-10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 states “annual ambient light” and “annular ambient light”. It appears clear with the context that the word meant was “annular” as that matches the ring shape of the drawings. Emend the claims to replace “annual” with “annular”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the annual ambient light must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to because
Fig. 1 elements 1 and 12-15;
Fig. 2 elements 1, 11-14, 111, 112, 152, & 153;
Fig. 3 element 21;
Fig. 4 elements 14, 111, & 141;
Fig. 15 elements 15 & 151;
are not clearly labeled with text/symbols/legend to demonstrate what they are meant to convey. Emend to make the drawings clear from only viewing the drawings.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it contains verbose language and it has annual referring to the light. Emend to remove “The present application belongs to the technical field of” and replace “annual” with “annular”.
A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The applicant repeatedly uses both “annual ambient light” and “annular ambient light”. It appears clear with the context that the word meant was “annular” as that matches the ring shape of the drawings. Emend the claims to replace “annual” with “annular”
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 5, and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo (USPGPN 20230198302) in view of Fleisig (USPGPN 20160224064; hereinafter Flei)& Bricken et al (USPGPN 20170303646; hereinafter Bric), as evidenced by Zhang et al (USPN 11415304)
Independent Claim 1, Luo teaches an outdoor power bank (Figs. [1-9, esp. 1-7], abstract, ¶’s [27-32, esp. 27-29]), comprising
a battery body (7, ¶[29]),
a control panel (4, 81, 11, & 10 and where 10 with electrical equipment called control loop/switch, ¶’s [28, 29], ¶[29] describes 81 & 4 as printed circuit boards, 11 is described in ¶[29] as a type-c interface, which means it contains a USB controller inherently) and
an outer box with an internal space (internal space shown in Fig. 4),
the battery body and the control panel are all installed in the internal space (see Fig. 4);
an outer wall of the outer box is provided with an annual[annular] ambient light (81/82 shown in Figs. 2 & 4 to be on the outer wall of the outer box).
Luo is silent to a sound control sensor, the sound control sensor, the battery body and the control panel are all installed in the internal space; the light source, the sound control sensor and the battery body are all electrically connected with the control panel; and the light source is configured for emitting different lights when the sound control sensor receives external sounds.
Flei teaches a sound control sensor (microphone 175, see Figs. [1A-3, 5-11, 13-18, 20-28, esp. 21A-22, 25-27]), the sound control sensor, the battery body and the control panel are all installed in the internal space (Figs. [25-27] shows microphone inside of internal space [with hole showing in Fig. 25, meaning the actual sensor is beneath plate], battery body 170/200 is shown in Fig. 25A, System on a chip SOC 194 includes system controller 205 & CPU 181, which is called a microprocessor); the light source, the sound control sensor and the battery body are all electrically connected with the control panel (see Fig. 26, note, this also shows the electrical connection to the night light 201). While Luo is silent to a processor control panel, Flei explicitly teaches one, which one of ordinary skill in the art understands would provide improved reliability and flexibility of control functions over only a simple switch. In addition, by having a microphone/sound-control-sensor (¶’s [159, 160]) with lights and speakers, Flei is able to provide more functionality, for instance a convenient teleconference mode for users (¶[148]), which one of ordinary skill in the art understands would provide more satisfaction for users.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Luo with Flei to provide improved convenience, flexibility, and reliability.
Luo is silent to the light source is configured for emitting different lights when the sound control sensor receives external sounds.
Bric teaches the light source is configured for emitting different lights when the sound control sensor receives external sounds (¶’s [59, 84, 85, 96, 123, 145, 151, esp. 59, 123], see Figs. 1-5, where Luo, Flei, Bric, and present application describe analogous battery powered devices with lights which are meant to exchange power). Zhang provides evidence that this linking of sound sensed to light improves a user’s experience (i.e. satisfaction; Col 4 L5-26).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Luo in view of Flei with Bric to provide improved user satisfaction.
Dependent Claim 5, the combination of Luo, Flei, and Bric teaches the outer box comprises a cover plate (Luo 82), a box (Luo 1) and a lamp base installed between the box & the cover plate (Luo 81, see esp. Fig. 4), & the internal space comprises a first space arranged on the box and a second space arranged on the lamp base (see Luo Fig. 4; Flei Figs. [25-27, esp. 25A]);
the annular ambient light is arranged on the lamp base (¶[29] of Luo has the plurality of illuminants arranged around, i.e. on, the lamp base 81), the battery body is installed in the first space, and the control panel and the sound control sensor are both installed in the second space (both Luo and Flei have battery & control panel inside the inner space, where as they occupy different parts of the space, they have 2+ parts, where Flei and Bric have the microphone sensors inside as well).
Dependent Claim 8, the combination of Luo, Flei, and Bric teaches the lamp base comprises a base body provided with the second space and a cover body covering the base body (Luo: as 81 is powered by the battery, its connection would represent the “base body”, and as the wiring is external to the battery, is interpreted to be the other part of the space external to the first space occupied by the battery, where it can be seen in Figs. 1-4 that 81 covers the entire space).
Dependent Claim 9, the combination of Luo, Flei, and Bric teaches the annular ambient light comprises an annular light-guide part arranged on the outer wall of the outer box and a plurality of lamp beads arranged on the control panel, and the plurality of lamp beads are annularly distributed at intervals (Luo ¶[29] describes the lighting PCB having a plurality of illuminants with annular lampshade for Fig. 4;
Flei has an array of LEDs, ¶’s [155-158] corresponding to Figs. [25-27];
Bric has an annular array of LED “beads” 36 shown in Fig. 2, where it is known to those of ordinary skill in the art that some rings do not complete a full 360 degree arc).
Dependent Claim 10, the combination of Luo, Flei, and Bric teaches the outer box is further provided with a power transmission interface and a charging interface, both the power transmission interface and the charging interface are electrically connected with the control panel, the power transmission interface is configured for charging external electrical equipment, and the charging interface is configured for charging the battery body (Luo element 11 is a type-c element, with wireless power transfer circuit 2 also a power transmission interface, see ¶’s [27-29]; 173 & 200A of Flei; 52 of Bric).
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo in view of Flei and Bric, further in view of Liao (USPGPN 20130033195), as evidenced by Zhang
Dependent Claim 2, Luo is silent to a knob rotatably installed on the outer box, the knob is electrically connected with the control panel, and the knob is configured for controlling brightness of the light source (Flei teaches buttons for mode controls including of the light ¶’s [154, 150], Bric teaches button for LED control ¶’s [134, 135]).
Liao teaches a knob rotatably installed on the outer box, the knob is electrically connected with the control panel, and the knob is configured for controlling brightness of the light source (¶[24] describes 280 as a knob used for controlling intensity/[i.e. brightness] of the LEDs [light emitting diodes],
¶’s [24, 25, 28] describes the device as an analogous battery power device). One of ordinary skill in the art understands that by allowing a user to select the intensity of the light via an analog control of a plurality of light levels, rather than a single digital off/on control, it allow improved user satisfaction and flexibility by allowing a user to select their preferred light levels and/or adjust to different ambient levels, i.e. lower intensity at-night/in-darkness and higher intensity in-day/in-bright-situations.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Luo in view of [Flei and Bric] with Liao to provide improved flexibility and satisfaction.
Dependent Claim 3, the combination of Luo, Bric, Flei, and Liao teaches the outdoor power bank further comprises a button installed on the knob, the button is electrically connected with the control panel, and the button is configured for controlling a working mode of the light source (Liao ¶[24]).
Claims 2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo in view of Flei and Bric, further in view of Wu et al (USPGPN 20210388956), as evidenced by Zhang
Dependent Claim 2, Luo is silent to a knob rotatably installed on the outer box, the knob is electrically connected with the control panel, and the knob is configured for controlling brightness of the light source (Flei teaches buttons for mode controls including of the light ¶’s [154, 150], Bric teaches button for LED control ¶’s [134, 135]).
Wu teaches a knob rotatably installed on the outer box (58, ¶’s [67, 81], see Figs. [2-6, 9], shows battery in at least Fig. 9), the knob is electrically connected with the control panel, and the knob is configured for controlling brightness of the light source (16). A person having ordinary skill in the art understands that by allowing a user to select the intensity of the light via an analog control of a plurality of light levels, rather than a single digital off/on control, it allow improved user satisfaction and flexibility by allowing a user to select their preferred light levels and/or adjust to different ambient levels, i.e. lower intensity at-night/in-darkness and higher intensity in-day/in-bright-situations.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Luo in view of [Flei and Bric] with Wu to provide improved flexibility and satisfaction.
Dependent Claim 4, Luo fails to explicitly teach a handle rotatably installed on the outer wall of the outer box.
Wu teaches a handle rotatably installed on the outer wall of the outer box (Figs. [2, 3, 6, 8-11]). One of ordinary skill in the art understands that a handle allows for improved convenience by permitting one to easily hold the device and carry it (i.e. improving convenience). One of ordinary skill in the art understands that allowing it to rotate allows for the height/length of the side which the handle is sticking out from can be adapted to fit the necessary dimensions (i.e. improving adaptability) and can improve aesthetics for those who care about odd ends sticking up. Furthermore, Wu notes that convenience by using the handle can be improved as it can hang via a carabiner to a tree, allowing for the light to be stably held high (and so improve the range of vision, as one of ordinary skill in the art would understand, ¶[70\).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Luo in view of {Flei and Bric] with Wu to provide improved adaptability, aesthetics, and convenience.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo in view of Flei and Bric, further in view of Tapper et al (USPGPN 20230329348; hereinafter Tapp), as evidenced by Zhang
Dependent Claim 6, the combination of Luo, Flei, and Bric teaches the outdoor power bank further comprises a battery capacity indicator installed on the lamp base, the battery capacity indicator is electrically connected with the control panel, and is configured for displaying electric quantity of the battery body (¶’s [155-158, esp. 155] visual indicators in Bric)
Luo fails to explicitly teach the cover plate is a reflector, is configured for displaying the light through the reflector.
Tapp teaches the cover plate is a reflector, is configured for displaying the light through the reflector (¶[100] describes a sheet/film is a reflective element which permits only the light which corresponds only to the cut-out area to go through, thus allowing for customization of shapes as one of ordinary skill in the art understands, which leads to improved adaptability and convenience for a user [since the shape of the light can be more easily controlled]). Analogous to Luo, Flei, and the present application, Tapp describes a battery charging application.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Luo in view of [Flei and Bric] with Tapp to provide improved adaptability and convenience.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luo in view of Flei and Bric, further in view of Li et al (USPGPN 20230329348), as evidenced by Zhang
Dependent Claim 7, the combination of Luo, Flei, and Bric teaches the lamp base, first space, and second space (as described above)
Luo is silent to the device is provided with a clamping groove, an inner wall of the space is provided with a buckle, and the device covers an opening of the first space through the buckle clamped in the clamping groove.
Li teaches the device is provided with a clamping groove, an inner wall of the space is provided with a buckle, and the device covers an opening of the first space through the buckle clamped in the clamping groove (¶’s [88, 96]. Figs. 5-10, describes clamp/buckle being used to secure the cover with the opening for a battery space). Luo, Li, Flei, Bric, and the present application in that they handle battery power devices with power transfer functionality. Li teaches this buckle/clamp mechanism serves to provide improved convenience and simplicity (¶[96: “fixed by means of buckling, which is convenient for subsequent maintenance, simplifies the production and assembly processes, and contributes to automation. It is easy to understand that a buckle may also be provided on the battery cover 14 and a corresponding buckle ring may be provided on the battery box body”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Luo in view of [Flei and Bric] with Li to provide improved convenience and simplicity.
Conclusion
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/JOHN T TRISCHLER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859