DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s Communication filed on 09/13/2023. In virtue of the communication:
Claims 1-14 are pending in the instant application.
The references cited in the Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 12/22/2023 and 01/31/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
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 § 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(s) 1-3 and 6-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DAEWOON (KR 20200030744 A) in view of KIM (U.S. Pub. 20210009962 A).
Regarding claim 1, DAEWOON discloses a light source module (Fig. 2 and 3a) comprising:
a base (130, Fig. 2);
an LED chip (111-113, Fig. 2) mounted on the base and configured to generate light of a predetermined color (see Abstract);
a control IC (120, Fig. 2) configured to control operation of the LED chip; and
a signal electrode (25, Fig. 2) connecting the LED chip and the control IC to each other
DAEWOON does not teach the LED chip includes two or more LED chips configured to output the same color, wherein the control IC is configured to adjust brightness by adjusting a current value applied to the LED chips configured to output the same color.
However, as evidenced by KIM, providing the LED chip includes two or more LED chips (red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED, Figs. 1-2, claims 1 and 4) configured to output the same color, wherein the control IC is configured to adjust brightness by adjusting a current value applied to the LED chips configured to output the same color (the light source output unit controls an operation of the light source unit by controlling an amount of voltage or current by a pulse duty cycle ratio of PWM having a constant frequency for each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED according to color (R, G, B, W) data and brightness data transferred from a media analysis unit, pars [0026]-[0028] and claim 3) is well known in the art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to employ the lighting module of DAEWOON with the color LED chips and controlling method as taught by KIM in order to assure the light emitting performance of the light source module.
Regarding claim 2, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the light source module wherein the LED chip includes a red chip, a green chip, and a blue chip configured to generate red, green, and blue light, respectively (Figs. 1-2, claim 2 of DAEWOON).
Regarding claim 3, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the light source module wherein the LED chips configured to output the same color include a first chip and a second chip, wherein the control IC is configured to adjust the brightness in 4 stages by applying maximum current or 1/2 of the maximum current to the first chip (the light source output unit controls an operation of the light source unit by controlling an amount of voltage or current by a pulse duty cycle ratio of PWM having a constant frequency for each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED according to color (R, G, B, W) data and brightness data transferred from a media analysis unit, pars [0026]-[0028] and claim 3 of KIM).
Regarding claim 6, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the light source module wherein the LED chips configured to output the same color are distributed on both sides around the control IC (the LED module 100 may be expanded to provide in plurality number horizontally or vertically, to expand a range of images to be expressed and change an output of pixels (par [0033], Figs 4 and 5 of KIM).
Regarding claim 7, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the light source module wherein the LED chips configured to output the same color are arranged in a point-symmetric manner around a center of the light source module (the LED module 100 may be expanded to provide in plurality number horizontally or vertically, to expand a range of images to be expressed and change an output of pixels (par [0033], Figs 4 and 5 of KIM).
Regarding claim 8, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the light source module wherein the LED chip includes a white chip, a red chip, a green chip, and a blue chip configured to generate white, red, green, and blue light, respectively (the LED module nay comprise the light source unit composed of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED (Figs. 1-2, claim 1 of KIM), and because each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED nay be individually controlled, white (W) LED may be controlled and turned on separately, instead of implementing white color by mixing red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED (pars [0029]-0031] of KIM).
Regarding claim 9, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the light source module wherein the white chip is configured to improve the brightness by being applied with current together when the red chip, the green chip, and the blue chip operate (the LED module nay comprise the light source unit composed of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED (Figs. 1-2, claim 1 of KIM), and because each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED nay be individually controlled, white (W) LED may be controlled and turned on separately, instead of implementing white color by mixing red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED (pars [0029]-0031] of KIM).
Regarding claim 10, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the light source module wherein the LED chip includes a red chip, a green chip, and a blue chip configured to generate red, green, and blue light, respectively, and three white chips respectively paired with the red chip, the green chip, and the blue chip and configured to generate white light, wherein the paired white chip is applied with current to operate when the red chip, the green chip, and the blue chip operate (the LED module nay comprise the light source unit composed of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED (Figs. 1-2, claim 1 of KIM), and because each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED nay be individually controlled, white (W) LED may be controlled and turned on separately, instead of implementing white color by mixing red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED (pars [0029]-0031] of KIM).
Regarding claim 11, DAEWOON discloses a light source module comprising:
a base (130, Fig. 2);
an LED chip (111-113, Fig. 2) mounted on the base and configured to generate light of a predetermined color (see Abstract);
a control IC (120, Fig. 2) configured to control operation of the LED chip; and
a signal electrode (25, Fig. 2) connecting the LED chip and the control IC to each other
DAEWOON does not teach the LED chip includes a white chip, a red chip, a green chip, and a blue chip configured to generate white, red, green, and blue light, respectively, wherein the white chip is configured to improve brightness by being applied with current together when the red chip, the green chip, and the blue chip operate.
However, as evidenced by KIM, providing the LED chip includes a white chip, a red chip, a green chip, and a blue chip configured to generate white, red, green, and blue light, respectively (Figs. 1-2, claim 1 of KIM), wherein the white chip is configured to improve brightness by being applied with current together when the red chip, the green chip, and the blue chip operate (because each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED nay be individually controlled, white (W) LED may be controlled and turned on separately, instead of implementing white color by mixing red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED (pars [0029]-0031] of KIM) is well known in the art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to employ the lighting module of DAEWOON with the color LED chips and controlling method as taught by KIM in order to assure the light emitting performance of the light source module.
Regarding claim 12, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the light source module wherein the white chip includes three white chips respectively paired with the red chip, the green chip, and the blue chip, wherein the paired white chip is applied with the current to operate when the red chip, the green chip, and the blue chip operate (the LED module nay comprise the light source unit composed of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED (Figs. 1-2, claim 1 of KIM), and because each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED nay be individually controlled, white (W) LED may be controlled and turned on separately, instead of implementing white color by mixing red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED (pars [0029]-0031] of KIM).
Regarding claim 13, DAEWOON discloses an LED film comprising: a transparent film (see claim 1); a plurality of light source modules arranged in a grid on the transparent film (claim 1); and a main electrode disposed on the transparent film and configured to supply an operating signal and power to the light source module (see Figs. 2, 3a and claim 1), wherein the light source module includes:
a base (130, Fig. 2);
an LED chip (111-113, Fig. 2) mounted on the base and configured to generate light of a predetermined color (see Abstract);
a control IC (120, Fig. 2) configured to control operation of the LED chip; and
a signal electrode (25, Fig. 2) connecting the LED chip and the control IC to each other
DAEWOON does not teach the LED chip includes two or more LED chips configured to output the same color, wherein the control IC is configured to adjust brightness by adjusting a current value applied to the LED chips configured to output the same color.
However, as evidenced by KIM, providing the LED chip includes two or more LED chips (red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED, Figs. 1-2, claims 1 and 4) configured to output the same color, wherein the control IC is configured to adjust brightness by adjusting a current value applied to the LED chips configured to output the same color (the light source output unit controls an operation of the light source unit by controlling an amount of voltage or current by a pulse duty cycle ratio of PWM having a constant frequency for each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED according to color (R, G, B, W) data and brightness data transferred from a media analysis unit, pars [0026]-[0028] and claim 3) is well known in the art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to employ the lighting module of DAEWOON with the color LED chips and controlling method as taught by KIM in order to assure the light emitting performance of the light source module.
Regarding claim 14, DAEWOON/KIM discloses the LED film wherein the LED chips configured to output the same color include a first chip and a second chip, wherein the control IC is configured to adjust the brightness in 4 stages by applying maximum current or 1/2 of the maximum current to the first chip (the light source output unit controls an operation of the light source unit by controlling an amount of voltage or current by a pulse duty cycle ratio of PWM having a constant frequency for each of red ( R ) LED, green (G) LED, blue (B) LED and white (W) LED according to color (R, G, B, W) data and brightness data transferred from a media analysis unit, pars [0026]-[0028] and claim 3 of KIM).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 5 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.
None of the prior art teaches “the control IC is configured to control the LED chip in one of the stages including: a first stage of applying the 1/2 of the maximum current to the first chip; a second stage of applying the maximum current to the first chip; a third stage of applying the maximum current to the first chip and applying the 1/2 of the maximum current to the second chip; and a fourth stage of applying the maximum current to the first chip and the second chip” (as cited in claim 4), and “the control IC is configured to control the LED chip in one of the stages including: a first stage of applying the 1/2 of the maximum current to the first chip; a second stage of applying the 1/2 of the maximum current to the first chip and the second chip; a third stage of applying the maximum current to the second chip and applying the 1/2 of the maximum current to the first chip; and a fourth stage of applying the maximum current to the first chip and the second chip.” (as cited in claim 5).
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIMMY T VU whose telephone number is (571)272-1832. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Regis Betsch can be reached on 571-270-7101. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-2800.
/JIMMY T VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844