DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the applicant's response to restriction requirement submitted on 11/12/2025. In virtue of this amendment:
Claims 43-212 were canceled via preliminary amendment filed on 02/23/2024;
Claims 27-38 are withdrawn from consideration; and thus,
Claims 1-42 are pending;
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 § 112
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of this Patent Application claims priority under 35 U.S.C § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. 63/443,192 filed on 02/03/2023.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/12/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US2005/0194243A1 hereinafter “Prineppi”.
Regarding claim 1, Prineppi discloses a control device for controlling a lighting load (¶2L1-3: electric light), the control device comprising:
an analog intensity adjustment actuator (¶31L1-2: a rocker switch) that is configured to be manually operated (¶7L11-12: allows the switch to be manually operated) to adjust an intensity level of light emitted by the lighting load (¶2L1-3: turn electric lights on and off) (Note: turning lights off would equate to an intensity level of 0 and turning lights on would equate to an intensity level of 100);
a communication circuit (¶36L5: a radio frequency receiver unit) configured to receive a message from a remote device (¶34L1-4: a remote control transmitter), the message comprising a commanded intensity level for controlling the lighting load (¶7L7-12: a command signal from a remote control transmitter to the RF unit);
an actuator adjustment system (¶32L15-16: a rotatable switch rocker actuator rod) configured to adjust a position of the analog intensity adjustment actuator (¶35L1-24: cam lobe presses the rocker switch downwards it activate or deactivate the switch); and
a control circuit configured to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load in response to manual operation of the analog intensity adjustment actuator, the control circuit further configured to control the actuator adjustment system to adjust the position of the analog intensity adjustment actuator in response to the message received from the remote device via the communication circuit, wherein the position of the analog intensity adjustment actuator is adjusted to indicate the commanded intensity level. (¶7L1-12: the switch rocker actuator extends from the housing and is adapted to engage with the switch to thereby selectively move it rom an on position to an off position and vice versa in response to a command signal from a remote control transmitted to the RF unit)
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.
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 40-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Prineppi.
Regarding claim 40, Prineppi discloses the control device of claim 1
Prineppi does not explicitly disclose:
a controllably conductive device adapted to be coupled in series electrical connection between an alternating current (AC) power source and the lighting load; wherein the control circuit is configured to control the controllably conductive device to control the amount of power delivered to the lighting load in response to the manual operation of the analog intensity adjustment actuator.
However, Prineppi implicitly disclose the claimed feature, as the rocker switch is a traditional light switch, which would be connected to the AC input to supply power to the lighting load, and a switch is a controllably conductive device that either connects or disconnect the circuit based on the position of the rocker switch.
Regarding claim 41, Prineppi discloses the control device of claim 40, wherein
the control circuit is configured to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical load in response to commanded intensity level included in the message received from the remote device. (¶7L1-12: the switch rocker actuator extends from the housing and is adapted to engage with the switch to thereby selectively move it from an on position to an off position and vice versa in response to a command signal from a remote control transmitted to the RF unit)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-26, 39 and 42 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 RAYMOND R CHAI whose telephone number is (571)270-0576. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30AM-5:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alexander H Taningco can be reached at (571)272-8048. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Raymond R Chai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844