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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/22/24 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 &1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(1) as being anticipated by Tung et al (US Pub. No:2018/0295683).
With respect to claim 1, Tung et al disclose in figure 36A that, a linear dimmer for an LED lighting, comprising: a rectifier circuit unit full-wave rectifying a commercial alternating current (AC) power supplied from an input stage (AC line), and outputting a rectified current power(A,C); and
a current control circuit unit (current driver (66)) connected to an output stage of the rectifier circuit unit(paragraph [97]) and controlling the rectified current power output by the rectifier circuit unit to a predetermined current magnitude, and outputting the predetermined current power to an LED lighting(18).Paragraphs [98-100].
With respect to claim 2, Tung et al disclose in figure 36a that, wherein the rectifier circuit unit is a bridge rectifier circuit that converts AC into rectified current using four diodes D1, D2, D3, and D4.
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 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Tung et al (US Pub. No:2018/0295683) in view of Melanson et al (US Patent No:8,018,171).
With respect to claim 6, Tung et al disclose all limitations recited in claim 1 above, except for wherein a power factor of the linear dimmer for an LED lighting increases as an illuminance is controlled to be low.
Melanson et al, in the same field of endeavor, disclose, in figure 7, wherein a power factor of the linear dimmer for an LED lighting increases as an illuminance is controlled to be low. Col.11, lines 65-67 to col.12, lines 1-22 for LED controller/driver 602 includes a switching power converter that performs power factor correction on the phase modulated output signal V.sub..PHI. and boosts the phase modulated output signal V.sub..PHI. to an approximately constant output voltage and control signal I.sub.D1 can adjust the brightness of both switching LED systems 604 and 606.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the power factor correction of Melanson et al into the LED driver of Tung et al to perform factor power correction and adjust brightness.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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.
Citation of pertinent prior art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicants' disclosure. See prior arts/references listed on the PTO-892 form attached.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINH TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-1817. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Taningco Alexander H can be reached on 571-272-8048. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Minh Tran/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2844