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 .
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s amendment submitted on January 07, 2026. In virtue of this amendment:
Claim 11 is cancelled; and thus,
Claims 1-10 and 12-20 are now pending in the instant application.
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.
Claims 1-10 and 12-20are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Horino (US 2010/0007292 of record) in view of Lee et al. (US 2023/0199928).
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With respect to claims 1 and 12, Horino discloses in figures 1-2 an apparatus and a method thereof for driving a lamp (10, e.g., an LED illumination apparatus), the apparatus comprising: a light emitting diode (LED) array module (11-12, e.g., light source units) having a plurality of LEDs (paragraph 0017, e.g., “the first and second light source units 11 and 12 each may include an LED array”); a body domain controller (15, e.g., a control unit) configured to: detect a user input or a preset event (20, e.g., a user input); and generate a control signal (having control signals of a color temperature set value and a brightness set value) including control information for controlling the LED array module corresponding to the user input or the preset event (see paragraph 0025); and an LED driver module (13-14, e.g., LED drivers) configured to: receive the control signal from the body domain controller through a wire (W11-W22, e.g., wires); and operate the LED array module in a preset function or mode corresponding to the control information of the control signal (see paragraph 0019).
Horino does not explicitly disclose that by controlling a number of LEDs and a light emitting order of the LEDs.
Lee discloses in figures 1-3 an apparatus and a method for driving a vehicle lamp comprising a controller (102), a switching device (104) and an LED array (106), wherein the controller configured to control a number of LEDs and a light emitting order of the LEDs (paragraph 0024, e.g., “during a single timeslot of a time range of switching pattern, controller device 102 may control switching device 104 to turn on each LED of the N number of LEDs in a different timeslot”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the apparatus of Horino with a feature of controlling a number of LEDs and a light emitting order of the LEDs as taught by Lee for the purpose of reducing or eliminating undesirable flickering the light source thereof since this configuration for the stated purpose would have been obvious as evidenced by the teaching of Lee (see paragraph 0004).
With respect to claims 2 and 13, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose that wherein the body domain controller is configured to set a duty of the control signal according to the user input or the preset event (see paragraph 0019 of Horino).
With respect to claims 3 and 14, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose that wherein the LED driver module is configured to: determine the duty of the control signal during a first period; and drive the LED array module according to the duty during a second period (paragraph 0016 of Horino, e.g., having duty cycles/periods to control the LED array thereof).
With respect to claims 4 and 15, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose that wherein the LED driver module is configured to: stop driving of the LED array module when a period for which the control signal is applied as a low-level voltage is equal to or longer than a period of a low-level voltage of a minimum duty (paragraphs 0019-0021 of Horino, e.g., where the brightness levels of the light sources 11-12 can be adjusted thereof).
With respect to claims 5 and 16, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose that wherein the body domain controller is configured to: generate a first control signal (X, e.g., a color temperature set value signal) having a duty that determines a function of the LED array module according to the user input or the preset event (see paragraph 0019); and generate a second control signal (Y, e.g., a brighness set value signal) having a duty that determines an operation mode of the function according to the user input or the preset event (see paragraph 0019 of Horino).
With respect to claims 6 and 17, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose in figure 1 of Horino that wherein the body domain controller is configured to: transmit the first control signal to the LED driver module through a first wire (W1); and transmit the second control signal to the LED driver module through a second wire (W2).
With respect to claims 7 and 18, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose that wherein the body domain controller is configured to: transmit the first control signal for determining the function of the lamp according to the user input or the preset event during a function information transmission period (see figure 1 and paragraph 0019); and transmit the second control signal for determining the operation mode of the function according to the user input or the preset event during a mode information transmission period (see figure 1 and paragraph 0019 of Horino).
With respect to claims 8 and 19, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose that wherein the body domain controller is configured to set a frequency of the control signal according to the user input or the preset event (see paragraph 0019 and 0030 of Horino).
With respect to claims 9 and 20, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose that wherein the body domain controller is configured to set a voltage level of the control signal according to the user input or the preset event (paragraphs 0019-0021 of Horino, e.g., having brightness or voltage set values to control the light outputs of the LED array).
With respect to claim 10, the combination of Horino and Lee disclose that wherein the LED driver module is configured to operate the LED array module in one of a lighting show function, a welcome light function, an escort light function, or a road projection function (paragraph 0007-0008 of Horino, e.g., providing multi-color functions to drive the LED array thereof).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-10 and 12-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Prior art Kwon – US 2023/0364280
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/TUNG X LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844 January 26, 2026