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 .
DETAILED ACTION
1. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/19/2026 has been entered.
Examiner’s Note
2. The Examiner acknowledges that the specification states that “the term “determined separately” may refer to the colour either being determined with only the relevant component of the light present with other components isolated therefrom, or determined with other components present but their effect compensated for, e.g. the other components are measured separately and their effect subtracted”; however, the claims that include limitations of “a colour of a real-life sky light component of a real-life sky…is determined separately from a colour of a real-life sun light component of the real-life sky” do not presently require that “the colour either being determined with only the relevant component of the light present with other components isolated therefrom, or determined with other components present but their effect compensated for, e.g. the other components are measured separately and their effect subtracted” as described within the specification and therefore inherit a broader reasonable interpretation of the claimed scope. It is suggested by the Examiner that an addition into the claims specifying that “the colour either being determined with only the relevant component of the light present with other components isolated therefrom, or determined with other components present but their effect compensated for, e.g. the other components are measured separately and their effect subtracted” constitutes how the colors are being “determined separately” would overcome the below claim rejections in view of the relied upon prior art references.
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.
3. Claims 1-9, 14-15, 18-19, and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takeshita (US PGPub 2018/0279454) [hereafter Takeshita].
4. As to claim 1, Takeshita discloses a system (illumination system B1 shown in Figure 11) comprising an optical display device (first luminaire B100), which is wall (Bh3) or ceiling mountable (Bh1), and arranged to create a perception of a sky scene, and a determination system (control device B300 and mobile terminal B400 as shown in Figures 13-14), the optical display device comprising: a diffuse light generation system (light emitting module B20 and light reflector B30); an output aperture (light diffuser B40 and opening of frame portion B12) for the output light, and; electrical circuitry (controller B50) arranged to control the output light, the diffuse light generation system arranged to generate a diffuse sky light component in the output light, the determination system arranged to determine a colour of a real-life sky light component of a real-life sky, which is determined separately from a colour of a real-life sun light component of the real-life sky, wherein the electrical circuitry is arranged to control a colour of the diffuse sky light component based on the determined colour of the real-life sky light component (Paragraphs 0175-0195, 0205-0209, 0211-0215, 0219-0236, 0251-0255, an illumination system includes a first luminaire that is mountable to a wall or ceiling in order to replicate a sky scene and is in communication with a controller and mobile terminal where the first luminaire includes a light diffuser disposed above an opening of a frame to diffuse light generated by a light emitting module under the control of a controller that controls the color and luminance of the generated light according to first or second environment reproduction conditions calculated by a mobile terminal in communication with the illumination system where the color temperature and luminance of the first luminaire is controlled to match a calculated real-life sky based on position of the sun and the weather or the color and brightness of the sky in the specified area at the present time, and then the color temperature and luminance of a second illumination light source that generates light corresponding to a real-life sun in the specified area is determined and controlled accordingly separately from/after the control of the first luminaire).
5. As to claim 2, Takeshita discloses the electrical circuitry is configured to control the colour of the diffuse sky light component to correspond to the colour of the real-life sky light component in real-time (Paragraphs 0212, 0215, 0220, 0225, 0230-0239).
6. As to claim 3, Takeshita discloses the colour of the real-life sky light component is determined using a colour correlated temperature (CCT) or a colour space (Paragraphs 0207-0208, 0211-0215, 0221).
7. As to claim 4, Takeshita discloses the diffuse light generation system comprises a diffuser (B40), with a second light source (B22) coupled to an edge of the diffuser (Paragraphs 0184-0190).
8. As to claim 5, Takeshita discloses the diffuser is arranged as a waveguide with elements arranged to decouple the light from the waveguide (Paragraphs 0188-0190).
9. As to claim 6, Takeshita discloses a collimated light generation system (second luminaire B200 details shown in Figures 4-5) comprising a light source (A212) and a collimating system (wavelength converter layer A213, lens A214, mask A215 in conjunction with controller A250), the collimated light generation system arranged to generate a collimated sun light component in the output light (projection light BL) (Paragraphs 0104-0115, 0121, 0124, 0198-0204, 0207, 0234-0235).
10. As to claim 7, Takeshita discloses the determination system is arranged to determine a colour of a real-life sun light component of the real-life sky, wherein the electrical circuitry is arranged to control a colour of the collimated sun light component based on the determined colour of the real-life sun light component (Paragraphs 0198-0200, 0207-0209, 0211-0215, 0220-0227, 0234-0235).
11. As to claim 8, Takeshita discloses the determination system is configured to determine an intensity of the real-life sun light component, wherein the electrical circuitry is arranged to control an intensity of the collimated sun light component based on the determined intensity of the real-life sun light component (Paragraphs 0198-0200, 0207-0209, 0211-0215, 0220-0227, 0234-0235).
12. As to claim 9, Takeshita discloses the determination system comprises an angle determination system, which arranged to determine an angle of the real-life sun light component, wherein the electrical circuitry is arranged to control an angle of projection of the collimated sun light component based on the determined real-life angle of the real-life sun light component with a beam angle adjustment system of the device (Paragraphs 0214, 0219-0221, 0225, 0227, 0238-0239).
13. As to claim 14, Takeshita discloses the determination system comprises: electrical circuitry (mobile terminal B400 and control device B300) arranged to determine a colour of a real-life sky component from weather and/or satellite data (Paragraphs 0211-0212, 0219-0220, 0224-0225).
14. As to claim 15, Takeshita discloses the determination system includes a communication interface (communication unit B320) for electronic communication with the electrical circuitry of the optical display device via a computer network (Paragraphs 0207-0209).
15. As to claim 18, Takeshita discloses more than one optical display device per determination system (Paragraphs 0175-0176).
16. As to claim 19, Takeshita discloses the determination system is configured to determine an intensity of the real-life sky light component, wherein the electrical circuitry is arranged to control an intensity of the diffuse sky light component based on the determined intensity of the real-life sky light component (Paragraphs 0190-0192, 0207-0209, 0211-0215, 0220-0227, 0232-0233).
17. As to claims 21-23, the Takeshita reference discloses all claimed subject matter as explained above with respect to the citations/explanations of claims 1 and 6-7.
16Claim 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 of this title, 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.
18. Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Takeshita (US PGPub 2018/0279454) [hereafter Takeshita] in view of Coleman (US PGPub 2021/0112647) [hereafter Coleman].
19. As to claim 16, it is noted that Takeshita fails to particularly disclose the determination system is solar powered.
On the other hand, Coleman discloses a system (AVLED system shown in Figure 1) where a determination system determines a color of a real-life sky light component and the determination system is solar powered (Paragraphs 0121, 0179, 0185, 0283).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a solar powered determination system as taught by Coleman with the system of Takeshita because the cited prior art references are directed towards systems that reproduce sensed real-life sky light components of a real-life sky and because each of the claimed limitations are fully disclosed within the prior art references and would yield predictable results of providing an adequate power source for a component that is measuring environmental conditions.
Allowable Subject Matter
20. Claims 24-25 are allowed.
Claim Objections
21. Claims 10-13, 17, and 20 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
22. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL S OSINSKI whose telephone number is (571) 270-3949. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 10:00am - 6:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oneal Mistry can be reached on (313) 446-4912. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)-273-8300.
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MO
/MICHAEL S OSINSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2674
6/24/2026
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