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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 2-4 and 11-22 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention or species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 5/26/2026.
Applicant's election with traverse of invention I and Species E drawn to Fig. 5 in the reply filed on 5/26/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the claims share in design, class search and technical field. This is not found persuasive because a burden during examination still exist and the product and method of use are separate and distinct, along with the mutually exclusive features of each distinct species.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 10649300 B2 to Engfeldt et al.
Regarding Claim 1. Engfeldt discloses a gear switching control method for an electrochromic device, performed by a gear switching control apparatus for the electrochromic device, wherein the gear switching control apparatus comprises a receiver a processor, and a controller (See Col 13 lines 15-47), the method comprises: during a process of switching from an initial gear before gear switching to an initial target gear, acquiring, by the receiver of the gear switching control apparatus, a gear characterization parameter state of the electrochromic device (Col 4 lines 5-11 and Col 5 lines 20-22), and when receiving a new gear switching signal carrying target gear information, acquiring, by the receiver of the gear switching control apparatus, a new target gear (Col 5 lines 22-28) and interrupting a current charging operation or a current discharging operation (Col 5 lines 28-32); determining, by the processor of the gear switching control apparatus, a charging direction or a discharging direction after the interruption operation and a corresponding gear characterization parameter adjustment value according to the gear characterization parameter state when the interruption operation is performed and a gear characterization parameter corresponding to the initial gear and a gear characterization parameter corresponding to the new target gear, or according to the gear characterization parameter state when the interruption operation is performed and a gear characterization parameter corresponding to the new target gear (Col 5 lines 56-67 and Col 6 lines 1-36, “there may also be a set of predetermined voltages possible to select in dependence of the relation between the target colouring level and the initial colouring level”); and adjusting, by the controller of the gear switching control apparatus, the electrochromic device to switch to the new target gear according to the charging direction or the discharging direction and the corresponding gear characterization parameter adjustment value (See at least Col 7 lines 3-17).
Regarding Claim 23. Engfeldt further discloses a non-transitory readable storage medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the gear switching control method for an electrochromic device according to claim 1 (Col 13 lines 26-41).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10 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 EDMOND C LAU whose telephone number is (571)272-5859. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 8am-6pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Carruth can be reached at (571) 272-9791. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/EDMOND C LAU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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