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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority; however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the CN202321636317.5 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55. The file was able to be retrieved by the Office.
Claim Objections
Claims 18 is objected to because of the following informalities: “space” is repeated twice. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 16, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Yan et al. (US 20220070982 A1, hereinafter, “Yan”).
Regarding claim 1, Yang discloses a lighting apparatus, comprising:
a light source module comprising multiple light zones, wherein different light zones have different LED module combinations ([0041]: different output level based on the zone and ambient light, having three different zones);
a driver coupled to an external power source to generating driving currents to the light source module ([0046]: driver module and an LED array module); and
a processor ([0152]) for receiving a control command for adjusting colors of the multiple light zones separately by sending control signals to the driver ([0278]), wherein the control signals indicate duty ratios of the multiple LED modules ([0196]) of the multiple light zones to adjust the colors of the multiple light zones ([0159] and [0240], [0198]-[0199]: color adjustment).
Regarding claim 2, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 1, where the processor maintains a mapping relation ([0374]: mapping to the commissioning tool) between color adjustment ([0161]: different intensity or color and color temperature of the different overall zone for the room and different sub-zone for the lighting fixtures A-R; [0140]: results can be used to generate a scaled map of the lighting fixtures A-R and other elements in the lighting network) and duty ration adjustment in a PWM control design ([0196]).
Regarding claim 3, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control command indicates target colors of the multiple light zones ([0102]: control circuitry may decide which ones of the LEDs to illuminate as well as other lighting parameters such as brightness, color temperature, and the like, based on these measurements; [0103]: may include data such as sensor measurements, lighting commands, and the like), wherein the processor translates the control command to corresponding control signals ([0098]).
Regarding claim 4, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor provides a first mode that all light zones emit lights of same color, wherein the processor provides a second mode that different light zones emit lights of different colors ([0111]: second mode, [0113]: different color).
Regarding claim 5, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processor provides a third mode that indicates an object type and the processor translates the object type to corresponding driving signals ([0113]: by the driver circuitry) that generate colors ([0133]: further the emitter array may include LEDs having different colors in various embodiments such that information may be displayed) to enhance camera image capturing of the object type ([0113]: camera depth sensing for enhanced image capture).
Regarding claim 6, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 1, where the processor maintains multiple reference color coordinates and corresponding duty ratio parameters ([0196]), wherein the processor determines a target duty ratio parameter of a target color of the light zone by reference to adjacent reference color coordinates ([0102], [0192], [0193]).
Regarding claim 7, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processor calculates the target duty ratio parameter according to stored duty ration parameters of the reference color coordinates ([0241], [0419], [0185]).
Regarding claim 8, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processor maintains a group range ([0191]) of target colors for each reference color coordinate, wherein the processor identifies the reference color coordinate by checking group ranges of the reference color coordinates ([0184]: identified range of parameter for color temperature).
Regarding claim 9, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control command indicates an adjustment path involves a color variation, wherein the processor uses a non-linear variation on duty ratio adjustment of the control signals ([0162]: non-linear).
Regarding claim 10, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein control of the light zones are separately added to the processor ([0295]).
Regarding claim 11, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 10, wherein the control command includes multiple sub-commands respectively for controlling different light zones ([0366]).
Regarding claim 12, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor receives the sub-commands from a remote control and generates the control signals according to received sub-commands of the remote control ([0366]).
Regarding claim 13, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light zones are mounted on different brackets for directing lights to different directions (Fig. 8 and [0022]: submount).
Regarding claim 14, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 13, wherein the light zones comprise optical components to change light directions of the light zones ([0109]).
Regarding claim 15, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 13, wherein filters are added to the light zones to change spectral distributions of the light zones ([0135]).
Regarding claim 16, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor records filter parameters of the filters to calculate the control signals ([0151]).
Regarding claim 19, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor transforms the color from a first color space to a second color space to find multiple intermediate colors in the second color space during color adjustment ([0222], [0161]: intermediate output of color).
Regarding claim 20, Yang discloses the lighting apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first color space is CIE1931 ([0193]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17 and 18 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 the wherein a light cover is disposed above the LED modules, and distance between two adjacent LED modules is less than 1/3 of height between the LED modules and the light cover, and wherein when the processor handles a color adjustment from a starting color to a destination color, the processor calculates two boundary colors in a color space according to a line passing the starting color and the destination color, wherein the processor uses duty ratio parameters of the starting color and the two boundary colors are no found in the closest combinable prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MONICA C KING whose telephone number is (571)270-3429. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri.
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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 number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MONICA C KING/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844
12/12/2025