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 submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 07/29/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
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 1-10 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.
Regarding claim 1, the limitation recites “a signal conversion module configured to convert the detection signal into an operating status signal” is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refers. It is unclear that what is an operating status signal? And how does a signal conversion module configured to convert the detection signal into an operating status signal?
The claim fails to recite sufficiently definite structure, material or acts for achieving the functional result recited in the claim to reasonably apprise one of ordinary skill in the art of the scope of the claim.
Claims 2-10 are depending on claim 1, and are rejected the same reasons under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph.
Note: for compact prosecution purposes, the examiner interprets the claims above as best understood in the rejection below.
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 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Gui (CN 111565290 A, with English translation attached).
Regarding claim 1, Gui discloses a lighting device with fault detection and self-locking control function (which is an LED power supply overvoltage protection circuit, and an LED driver power supply circuit, see fig. 1-6), comprising:
a light-emitting module (which is an LED light source module, not shown, see paragraph [0042] and [0051]);
a power module (which is an LED power supply circuit 01) configured to drive the light-emitting module (see paragraph [0042]);
a voltage detection module (via a first voltage detection circuit 11 and a second voltage detection circuit 14) configured to detect a driving voltage of the light-emitting module to generate a detection signal (see paragraph [0010], [0014], [0041], and [0046]);
a signal conversion module (via a primary protection trigger circuit 12, connected with the first voltage detection circuit 11, configured to generate a first protection trigger signal when the first voltage detection signal is greater than the first preset reference voltage value) configured to convert the detection signal into an operating status signal (see paragraph [0026] and [0041]);
a self-locking control module (via a self-locking switching circuit 131) configured to control the power module (see paragraph [0069]-[0070]); and
a signal control module (via a switching circuit 13) configured to control the self-locking control module (via the self-locking switching circuit 131) according to the operating status signal (see paragraph [0068]-[0069]);
wherein the signal control module (via the switching circuit 13) is configured to activate the self-locking control module (via the self-locking switching circuit 131) when the operating status signal is in an abnormal state, and the self-locking control module (via the self-locking circuit 131) is configured to control the power module to stop driving the light-emitting module and enter a self-locking state (see fig. 6, paragraph [0042], [0047], and [0069]-[0070]).
Furthermore, as referring to the functional language "configured to ...", it is respectfully submitted that claims directed to an apparatus must be distinguished from the prior art in terms of structure rather than function (see In re Schreiber - MPEP 2114 [r-1]). In this case, the examiner submits that Gui discloses the structural features with similar structure to the application and capable of performing the same function.
Regarding claim 9, Gui discloses the lighting device with fault detection and self-locking control function as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power module is a power supply module or a voltage conversion module (which is an LED power supply circuit 01, see paragraph [0042]).
Regarding claim 10, Gui discloses the lighting device with fault detection and self-locking control function as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light-emitting module is a light-emitting diode or a light-emitting diode array (which is an LED light source module, see paragraph [0042] and [0051]).
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gui (CN 111565290 A, with English translation attached) in view of Tepsumran et al. (U.S Publication No. 20080239607 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Gui discloses all the limitations of the lighting device with fault detection and self-locking control function as claimed in claim 1, except for specifying that further comprising a signal delay module, wherein the signal conversion module transmits the operating status signal to the signal control module through the signal delay module.
Tepsumran discloses an overload protection delay circuit for use in a switching power supply for enabling the switching power supply to detect overload problems with high accuracy. In FIG. 2, the switching power supply 200 further includes an overload protection delay circuit 210, (see fig. 2, abstract, paragraph [0014]-[0015]): When the feedback signal VFB rises to a potential equal to the limit value of the Zener diode, e.g. The threshold 3 V of the Zener diode ZD3, the Zener diode ZD3 will conduct current and this capacitance C10 will be charged by an internal current source (not shown) inside the pulse width modulator 116. Because the current of the photo-sensitive transistor 122 inside the opto-coupler 115 is zero, the feedback signal VFB continues to rise. Before the feedback signal VFB reaches the threshold set by the pulse width modulator 116 to activate the overload protection mechanism, the pulse width modulator 116 does not turn off until the feedback signal reaches the threshold set by the pulse width modulator 116 to activate the overload protection mechanism. Thus, the capacitance C10 provides a time delay, the amount of which can be easily determined by the time required to increase the feedback signal VFB from the limit value set by the Zener diode ZD3 to the threshold value set by the pulse width modulator 116. However, it should be noted that the amount of time delay added to the feedback signal VFB depends on the capacitance value of the capacitance C10. Increasing the capacitance value of capacitance C10 may result in a longer delay time for the feedback signal (equivalent to a signal delay module).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the invention was made to incorporate the overload protection delay circuit for use in a switching power supply as taught by Tepsumran into the lighting device as taught by Gui in order for enabling the switching power supply to detect overload problems with high accuracy (see abstract).
Thus, the overload protection delay circuit according to the present invention can achieve a simple and efficient circuitry to add a proper time delay to the feedback signal of the switching power supply between the time point that the feedback signal reaches the limit value of the charging controller and the time point that the feedback signal reaches the threshold value set to activate the overload protection mechanism, so that switching power supply can accurately perform the overload protection function without the interference of load transients (see paragraph [0016] by Tepsumran).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 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 the 112 issue above should be fixed in order to place the application in allowance condition.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAI N PHAM whose telephone number is (571)270-5518. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
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, Regis Betsch can be reached at (571) 270-7101. 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.
/Thai Pham/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844 01/27/2026