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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to the applicant's amendment and request for continued examination (RCE) submitted on 06/15/2026. Claims 1, 5-8 and 13 have been amended. Claims 2 and 12 have been previously canceled. Claims 3-4 and 9 have been canceled. Claim 14 is newly added. And a terminal disclaimer submitted on 12/16/2024 has been approved and OK to enter. Thus, claims 1, 5-8, 10-11 and 13-14 are currently pending in the instant application.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/15/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Note: Claims in a pending application should be given their broadest reasonable interpretation. In re Pearson, 181 USPQ 641 (CCPA 1974). Things clearly shown in reference patent drawing qualify as prior art features, even though unexplained by the specification. In re Mraz, 173 USPQ 25 (CCPA 1972).
Claims 1, 10-11 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pope et al. (U.S Publication No. 20150351191 A1) in view of Altonen et al. (U.S Patent No. 7791595 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Pope discloses a wallbox mountable electrical load control device (which is a wall controller 126, see fig. 18-23), comprising:
control circuitry (which is a control circuitry 148), (see fig. 23);
a first user actuatable control (which is an on-off button 130) to provide an input to the control circuitry to cause the control circuitry to transition an operatively coupled lighting load between an ON state and an OFF state (see paragraph [0129] and [0132]);
a second user actuatable control (which is a diming button 132) to provide an input to the control circuitry to cause the control circuitry to adjust power delivered to the operatively coupled lighting load (see paragraph [0129] and [0133]); and
a third user actuatable control (which is a CCT button 134) to provide an input to the control circuitry to cause the control circuitry to adjust a color temperature of the luminous output provided by the operatively coupled lighting load (see paragraph [0129] and [0134]); and
a faceplate member (128, see fig. 18-19);
wherein the first, the second, and the third user actuatable controls (130, 132 and 134) pass through a single aperture formed in the faceplate member (128), (see fig. 18-19, paragraph [0132]-[0134], which shown a wall controller 126 includes a faceplate member 128 having three buttons 130, 132, 134 pass through a single aperture formed in the faceplate member 128).
Pope does not explicitly disclose a controllably conductive device; an air-gap switch disposed in electrical series with the controllably conductive device; and control circuitry coupled to the controllably conductive device.
Altonen, on the other hand, discloses a user interface for a load control device comprises a bezel, a touch sensitive device, and a touch sensitive actuator; and a dimmer 100 has a hot terminal 202 connected to an AC voltage source 204 and a dimmed hot terminal 206 connected to a lighting load 208. The dimmer 100 employs a bidirectional semiconductor switch 210 coupled between the hot terminal 202 and the dimmed hot terminal 206, to control the current through, and thus the intensity of, the lighting load 208. The semiconductor switch 210 has a control input (or gate), which is connected to a gate drive circuit 212. The input to the gate renders the semiconductor switch 210 selectively conductive or non-conductive, which in turn controls the power supplied to the lighting load 208.. The dimmer 100 further includes an airgap switch actuator 119. Pulling the airgap switch actuator 119 opens a mechanical airgap switch 219 (FIG. 7) inside the dimmer 100 and disconnects the lighting load 208 from a connected AC voltage source 204 (FIG. 7). The airgap switch actuator 119 extends only sufficiently above the front surface 103 of the faceplate 102 to be gripped by a fingernail of a user (see fig. 7, col. 6, lines 13-22, and col. 7, lines 41-48).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the invention was made to modify the electrical load control device as taught by Pope with the load control device as taught by Altonen having a controllably conductive device, an air-gap switch disposed in electrical series with the controllably conductive device, and control circuitry coupled to the controllably conductive device as claimed having the dimmer includes an airgap switch actuator in order for pulling the airgap switch actuator opens a mechanical airgap switch inside the dimmer and disconnects the lighting load from a connected AC voltage source (see col. 6, lines 13-17 by Altonen).
Regarding claim 10, Pope in view of Altonen discloses the electrical load control device of claim 1, further comprising: a controllably conductive device coupled in series between an alternating current (AC) power source and the operatively coupled lighting load (see fig. 14 by Pope).
Regarding claim 11, Pope in view of Altonen discloses the electrical load control device of claim 1, further comprising: a visual indicator corresponding to the power delivered to the operably coupled lighting load (which is a user output interface 154 may include the CCT LEDs 136, 142, other LEDs or indicators, a display, or the like, see fig. 23, paragraph [0147] by Pope).
Regarding claim 13, Pope in view of Altonen discloses the electrical load control device of claim 1, further comprising: at least one user selectable control having a plurality of operating states (which is a selection switch 140, see paragraph [0048] and [0138] by Pope).
Pope does not explicitly disclose wherein each of the operating states corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of defined scenes; and wherein each of the plurality of defined scenes includes: a defined power to delivered to the operatively coupled lighting load; and a defined color temperature of the luminous output provided by the operatively coupled lighting load.
However, Pope further discloses the operation and functionality of this wall controller 126 is analogous to that described above in association with FIG. 19. Instead of having a separate dimming button 132 and CCT button 134, a multifunction button 138 is provided along with a selection switch 140. The selection switch 140 can be toggled between a dim mode and a CCT mode. When in the dim mode, the multifunction button 138 operates like the dimming button 132. When in the CCT mode, the multifunction button 138 operates like the CCT button 134. Optionally, the first CCT LED 136 may be provided as described above and used such that the user has feedback as to the current or selected CCT level (see paragraph [0138]-[0141]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the device as taught by Pope in view of Altonen with at least one user selectable control having a plurality of operating states, and each of the operating states corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of defined scenes; and wherein each of the plurality of defined scenes includes: a defined power to delivered to the operatively coupled lighting load; and a defined color temperature of the luminous output provided by the operatively coupled lighting load, which is considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Regarding claim 14, Pope in view of Antoine discloses the electrical load control device of claim 1, further comprising: one or more visual indicators (which is a user output interface 154 may include the CCT LEDs 136, 142, other LEDs or indicators, a display, or the like, see fig. 23, paragraph [0147] by Pope).
Pope in view of Antoine does not explicitly disclose wherein the one or more visual indicators provide an indication that corresponds to at least one of: a color temperature of the luminous output provided by the operatively coupled lighting load; or power delivered to the operatively coupled lighting load.
However, Pope further discloses the user input interface 152 may be arranged in various groups of switches, knobs, sliders, and buttons. The user input interface could also be a touch screen interface. The user output interface 154 may include the CCT LEDs 136, 142, other LEDs or indicators, a display, or the like. The display could form part of the touch screen interface (see paragraph [0147]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify the device as taught by Pope in view of Altonen with the user input interface may be arranged in various groups of switches, knobs, sliders, and buttons, and the user output interface may include the CCT LEDs, other LEDs or indicators, a display, or the like in order to provide an indication that corresponds to at least one of: a color temperature of the luminous output provided by the operatively coupled lighting load; or power delivered to the operatively coupled lighting load, which is also considered as an obvious matter of design choice based upon an actual design requirement so that the various designs of circuit may be satisfied.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI N PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5518. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
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/Thai Pham/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845 06/20/2026
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