DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the applicant's amendment submitted on 06/12/2026. In virtue of this amendment:
Claim 3 is canceled;
Claims 1-2 and 6-7 are currently amended; and thus,
Claims 1-2 and 4-10 are pending;
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 .
Specification
The objection to the abstract of the disclosure is withdrawn in view of the newly submitted abstract.
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 1-2 and 4-10 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 claim recites “n LED beads, wherein n is larger than or equal to 3” which renders the claim indefinite, as the claim does not require “n” to be a whole number, and thus may be interpreted as a fractional number, thus unclear how there could be half of a LED bead, for example, when n=3.5.
Regarding claim 1, the claim recites “2m brightness control, which render the claim indefinite, as it is unclear what the variable “m” is representing.
Regarding claims 2 and 4-10, the claims are rejected based upon dependency of rejected claim 1, as all dependent claim carries the deficiencies of the based claim from which it depends.
Regarding claim 2, the claim recites “m indicates a depth of each color channel” which renders the claim indefinite, as the claim does not require “m” to be a positive number, and thus may be interpreted as a negative number, thus unclear how there could be fractional depth when for example m=-1.
Regarding claim 2, the previous rejection for reciting the “preferably” is withdrawn in view of the amendment made to the claim.
Regarding claim 3, the rejection is moot in view of cancellation of the claim.
Regarding claim 6-8, the previous rejection is withdrawn in view of the amendment made to the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 2 and 4-10 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/12/20266 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claims 1 and 2, the applicant merely stated the claim has been amended to be definite without address how the amendment addressed the issue.
For the at least forgoing reason, the rejections are maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAYMOND R CHAI whose telephone number is (571)270-0576. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30AM-5:00PM.
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 Taningco can be reached at 571-242-8048. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Raymond R Chai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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