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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 and 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee US 2023/0213154.
As for claim 1, Lee discloses an inverted LED filament (abstract), comprising: a circuit board (200) provided with a conductive layer (210; see paragraph 0034) thereon; multiple inverted LED light emitting elements (310), wherein the circuit board (200) is provided with a strip-shaped portion (paragraph 0034; 201), the inverted LED light emitting elements (310) are arranged on the strip-shaped portion (201; see at least figures 5 and 8), and the inverted LED light emitting elements (310) are all electrically connected to the conductive layer (210; see Figures 1-8; also text of claim 1); a pad assembly (220, see at least Fig 7) provided on the circuit board (200; see Fig 7) and located at the same side end of the strip-shaped portion (201; extension of strip shaped portion 201 is shown in Fig 7), wherein, the pad assembly (220) is electrically connected to the conductive layer (paragraph 0034), and the pad assembly (220) can be connected to an external pin (600, see 0034 and claim 1).
As for claim 2, Lee discloses the inverted LED filament according to claim 1, wherein a first electrode (311) and a second electrode (312) are provided on the same side wall of the inverted LED light emitting elements (310; see Figures 6 and text of claim 2), and the conductive layer (210) comprises at least two circuit parts (211) with a gap between the circuit parts (as shown in Fig 6), and the first electrode (311) and the second electrode (312) are respectively connected to two different circuit parts (see fig 6).
As for claim 3, Lee discloses the inverted LED filament according to claim 1, further comprising: a fluorescent adhesive layer (400) provided on the circuit board (200; as shown in Fig 6 and paragraph 0041), wherein the fluorescent adhesive layer (400) surrounds the strip-shaped portion (201) and is covered on the inverted LED light emitting elements (310; see claim 3 of Lee and Fig 6).
As for claim 4, Lee discloses the inverted LED filament according to claim 1, further comprising: a protective element (500) provided on the circuit board (200; see Fig 5) and surrounding a connection position of the pad assembly (220) and the external pin (600; claim 4 and paragraph 0043-0044).
As for claim 6, Lee discloses the inverted LED filament according to claim 1, further comprising: a rectification unit (700) provided on the circuit board (200; see claim 6 of Lee and paragraph 0046), the multiple inverted LED light emitting elements (310) are connected in series, parallel, or series parallel to form a light emitting circuit (see claim 6 and paragraph 0011), an input end of the rectification unit (700) is electrically connected to the pad assembly (220) through the conductive layer (210), and an output end of the rectification unit (700) is electrically connected to the light emitting circuit (300) through the conductive layer (see claim 6 of Lee).
As for claim 7, Lee discloses the inverted LED filament according to claim 6, wherein the rectification unit (700) comprises a bridge rectifier, an input end of the bridge rectifier is electrically connected to the pad assembly (220), and an output end of the bridge rectifier is electrically connected to the light emitting circuit (see claim 7 and 0049-0050).
As for claim 8, Lee discloses the inverted LED filament according to claim 1, wherein at least two strip-shaped portions (201) are provided on the circuit board (200; see text of claim 8 and paragraph 0013).
As for claim 9, Lee discloses an LED light bulb (see figures 1-2; abstract, paragraph 0005), comprising the inverted LED filament, the pin (600) according to claim 1 (see above regarding the limitations of claim 1), Lee further discloses a connection base (800; fig 2), and a light transmission cover (900, fig 2), the pad assembly (220) is connected to the connection base (800) through the pin (600; as see Fig 2 and claim 9 of publication), and the light transmission cover (900) is connected to the connection base (800) to form a protective chamber accommodating the inverted LED filament (bulb paragraph 0009, 0014; see Fig 2) and the connection base (800) can be connected to an external lamp holder (paragraph 0040).
As for claim 10, Lee discloses the LED light bulb according to claim 9, wherein a threaded part (801) is provided on the connection base (800) for connecting with the external lamp holder (see Fig 2 and paragraph 0015).
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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Jiang US 2019/0386185.
As for claim 5, Lee discloses the inverted LED filament according to claim 1, wherein the circuit board (200) is made of a light transmitting material (see claim 5 & paragraph 0010) but does not specifically teach it being transparent. Jiang teaches the user of a transparent circuit board (see paragraph 0009). It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the transparent circuit board as taught by Jiang in with Lee for lighting applications where having a transparent circuit board and further decreasing light-loss is desired. One would have been motivated to make this modification to improve efficiency and decrease light loss in Lee.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. SU US’568, YE US’435, JIANG US’773 and XIONG US’064 all disclose relevant LED filament bulbs with many of the same electrical connection features disclosed in the instant invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Evan P Dzierzynski whose telephone number is (571)272-2336. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm PST.
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/EVAN P DZIERZYNSKI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875