DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s Communication filed on 09/28/2024. In virtue of the communication:
Claims 1-9 are pending in the instant application.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites the limitation “The control signal transmission method for a lamp system according to Claim 3” in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is not clear because the limitation “The control signal transmission method for a lamp system” is not previously cited in claim 3.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being dependent on claim 8. It is also not clear because the limitation “The control signal transmission method for a lamp system” is not previously cited in claim 3.
Clarification is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lim (U.S. Pub. 2006/0273331 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Lim discloses an LED lamp system driven by a two-wire transmission circuit (Figs. 1 and 2), the LED lamp system comprising:
at least one LED lamp with red lamp beads (202, Fig. 2), green lamp beads (204, Fig. 2) and blue lamp beads (206, Fig. 2) (par [0026]);
a red-line control signal detecting circuit (e.g., control circuit 222 and control device 208, Fig. 2) configured to detect a red-line control signal (detect by control device 208, Fig. 2) from a combined control signal (control signal Vsupp) transmitted by the two-wire transmission circuit and output the red-line control signal to the red lamp beads (the digital control circuit 222 includes a look-up table ("LUT") 223 or other digitally readable data and outputs the appropriate digital control signals to the digital intensity control devices 208, 210, 212 according to the control signal Vsupp, par [0028]);
a green-line control signal detecting circuit (e.g., control circuit 222 and control device 210, Fig. 2) configured to detect a green-line control signal (detect by control device 210, Fig. 2) from the combined control signal (control signal Vsupp) transmitted by the two-wire transmission circuit and output the green-line control signal to the green lamp beads (the digital control circuit 222 includes a look-up table ("LUT") 223 or other digitally readable data and outputs the appropriate digital control signals to the digital intensity control devices 208, 210, 212 according to the control signal Vsupp, par [0028]);
and a blue-line control signal detecting circuit (e.g., control circuit 222 and control device 212, Fig. 2) configured to detect a blue-line control signal (detect by control device 212, Fig. 2) from the combined control signal (control signal Vsupp) transmitted by the two-wire transmission circuit and output the blue-line control signal to the blue lamp beads (the digital control circuit 222 includes a look-up table ("LUT") 223 or other digitally readable data and outputs the appropriate digital control signals to the digital intensity control devices 208, 210, 212 according to the control signal Vsupp, par [0028]).
Regarding claims 2 and 8, Lim discloses the LED lamp system driven by a two-wire transmission circuit, wherein the at least one LED lamp comprise at least one common-anode LED lamp or at least one common-cathode LED lamp (common-anode and/or common-cathode as in Fig. 2).
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(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim, as applied above, in view of Summerland (U.S. Pub. 2010/0141169 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Lim discloses all of the limitations as claimed except a reverse-connection correcting circuit which is arranged between the two-wire transmission circuit and one or more of the red-line control signal detecting circuit, the green-line control signal detecting circuit and the blue-line control signal detecting circuit.
However, as evidenced by Summerland, providing a reverse-connection correcting circuit (26, Fig. 2, the rectifier is a full wave rectifier that reverses the negative (or positive) portions of the alternating current waveform, par [0025]) which is arranged between the two-wire transmission circuit and one or more of the red-line control signal detecting circuit, the green-line control signal detecting circuit and the blue-line control signal detecting circuit (from monitoring circuit 32 and controller 30, Fig. 2) is well known in the art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to employ the lighting circuitry of Lim with the reverse-connection correcting circuit as taught by Summerland in order to control the power supplied to the light source in the lighting system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7 and 9 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, and overcome the 112 rejection as set forth above.
None of the prior art teaches “a positive wire of the two-wire transmission circuit, a ground wire, a negative wire of the two-wire transmission circuit, and a common wire of the red-line control signal detecting circuit, the green-line control signal detecting circuit and the blue-line control signal are connected to the four nodes respectively” (as cited in claim 4); “wherein the red-line control signal detecting circuit is configured for extracting the red-line control signal with a level of 6 V from the combined control signal transmitted by the two-wire transmission circuit to obtain an extracted red-line control signal with a level of 6 V and outputting the extracted red-line control signal with the level of 6 V to the red lamp beads; the green-line control signal detecting circuit is configured for extracting the green-line control signal with a level of 8 V from the combined control signal transmitted by the two-wire transmission circuit to obtain an extracted green-line control signal with a level of 8 V and outputting the extracted green-line control signal with the level of 8 V to the green lamp beads; the blue-line control signal detecting circuit is configured for extracting the blue-line control signal with a level of 9 V from the combined control signal transmitted by the two-wire transmission circuit to obtain an extracted blue-line control signal with a level of 9 V and outputting the extracted blue-line control signal with the level of 9 V to the red lamp beads” (as cited in claim 5); “wherein an on-voltage of the red-line control signal detecting circuit is 6-6.8 V, an on-voltage of the green-line control signal detecting circuit is 8-8.2 V, and an on-voltage of the blue-line control signal detecting circuit is 9-9.1 V” (as cited in claim 6); and “wherein the red lamp beads of the common-anode LED lamp and the red lamp beads of the common-cathode LED lamp are connected in series, and a first triode is arranged between the red lamp beads of the common-anode LED lamp and the red lamp beads of the common-cathode LED lamp; the green lamp beads of the common-anode LED lamp and the green lamp beads of the common-cathode LED lamp are connected in series, and a second triode is arranged between the green lamp beads of the common-anode LED lamp and the green lamp beads of the common-cathode LED lamp; and the blue lamp beads of the common-anode LED lamp and the blue lamp beads of the common-cathode LED lamp are connected in series, and a third triode is arranged between the blue lamp beads of the common-anode LED lamp and the blue lamp beads of the common-cathode LED lamp” (as cited in claim 9).
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIMMY T VU whose telephone number is (571)272-1832. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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 numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist whose telephone number is 571-272-2800.
/JIMMY T VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844