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 .
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s request for continued examination (RCE) filed on July 20, 2026. In virtue of this filing:
Claims 13-20 are newly added; and thus,
Claims 1-20 are now pending in the instant application.
Continued Examination
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 final rejection. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/20/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1, 3-4, 6-8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi et al. (US 2021/0368603 of record) in view of Logiudice (US 2013/0076250).
With respect to claim 1, Takahashi discloses in figure 23 a luminous device for an automotive vehicle (paragraph 0172, e.g., “an automotive lamp) comprising a controller (CONTROLLER) connected to a control input (CI, e.g., a control input) of a converter circuit (802, e.g., a buck converter), the controller configured to deliver to a control signal (CS1, e.g., a control signal) which is representative of a voltage drop (VFB1-BFBN, e.g., voltage drops of LEDs 702_1 to 702_N) at terminals (T1, TN, e.g., terminals) of at least one of an electric current sources (804_1, 804_N, e.g., current sources); the converter circuit, connected to a pixelated light source (702, e.g., pixels or LEDs) in order to supply the pixelated light source with electricity (see figure 23); the pixelated light source intended to be controlled by the controller thru the converter circuit (see figure 23), the pixelated light source including a plurality of light emitting semiconductor elements (702_1, 702N, e.g., LEDs) and a plurality of the electric current sources (804_1, 804_N, e.g., current sources) each electric current source being associated with one of the light emitting semiconductor elements (see figure 23).
PNG
media_image1.png
869
1210
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Takahashi does not explicitly disclose that wherein the control signal has value that varies as a function of the voltage drop at the terminals of the at least one electric current source.
Logiudice discloses in figure 9 a luminous device for an automotive vehicle (paragraph 0060, e.g., “in automotive applications”) comprising a controller (1, e.g., a modulator or controller) connected to control input of a converter circuit (AMP1, e.g., an amplifier or a converter), wherein the control signal has value that varies as a function of a voltage drop (VDS) at a terminal (T) of a at least one electric current source (Q, e.g., a current source and see paragraph 0061, e.g., “the PDM control signal provided by the modulator 1 and supplied to the current Q is increased … to a decreasing voltage drop VDS across the load current path”).
PNG
media_image2.png
450
751
media_image2.png
Greyscale
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the device of Takahashi with a varied control signal to control a voltage drop thereof as taught by Logiudice for the purpose of adjusting the current flowing through the LED load to improve a desired brightness level of the light source since this configuration for the stated purpose would have been deemed obvious to a person skilled in the art.
With respect to claim 3, the combination of Takahashi and Logiudice disclose that wherein the controller includes a measuring means (figure 23 of Takahashi shows the comparators COMP1-COMPN for measuring the voltage drops thereof).
With respect to claim 4, the combination of Takahashi and Logiudice disclose that wherein the measuring means includes an analog-to-digital converter element (COMP1-COMPN) configured to measure a voltage drop at the terminals of at least one of the electric current sources (see figure 23 of Takahashi).
With respect to claim 6, the combination of Takahashi and Logiudice disclose that wherein the controller includes a circuit (COMP1-COMPN) configured to generate the control signal which is representative of the voltage drop at the terminals of at least one of the electric current sources on the basis of the quantities measured by the measuring means (see figure 23 of Takahashi).
With respect to claim 7, the combination of Takahashi and Logiudice disclose that wherein the controller is connected to the converter circuit by means of a data bus (Vbus) of the automotive vehicle (see figure 23 of Takahashi).
With respect to claim 8, the combination of Takahashi and Logiudice disclose that wherein the controller is configured to sequentially deliver a control signal which is representative of a voltage drop at the terminals of various electric current sources (see figure 23 of Takahashi).
With respect to claim 10, the combination of Takahashi and Logiudice disclose that wherein the pixelated light source includes a monolithic pixel array, each pixel corresponding to a light emitting semiconductor element (see figure 23 of Takahashi).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-20 are allowed.
Claims 2 and 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 (claim 9 is also objected as being dependent on claim 2).
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Reasons for indicating the allowable subject matter of claims 11-20 were provided in the previous office action mailed on March 18, 2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 3-4, 6-8 and 10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Prior art Yang et al. – US 2025/0098051
Prior art Leitner et al. – US 2022/0210889
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUNG X LE whose telephone number is (571)272-6010. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TUNG X LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845 July 26, 2026
Prosecution Insights