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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claims 1-21 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims of U.S. Patent No. 12,156,475. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the examined application claim (claim 1) is anticipated by the reference claim (claim 1 of Secretin). The difference is “...profile which defines one or more settings of the luminaire in function of time” recited in claim 1 of the reference claim. Thus, the examined application claim is anticipated by the reference claim.
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) 1-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rosen Steven (US 2019/0104595)(The examiner agrees one in the Written Opinion of the ISA cited by the applicant).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Rosen discloses a method and a control system (claim 11) of performing management in a luminaire network (¶[0039], FIG 6 communication network 634) comprising a plurality of luminaires (¶[0118] FIG 1,6, light component 104, 606) and a control system (FIG 1 and 6, light management component 108, 610), each luminaire of said plurality of luminaires comprising one or more functional units, a functional unit of the one or more functional units being configured to operate in accordance with at least one profile (¶[0156],[0173]-[0176],[0204], [0205],[0232]), said method comprising performing by said control system the steps of (¶[0004]-[0238]):
retrieving a position of one or more luminaires of the plurality of luminaires from a luminaire network database (¶[0191]-[0196]), said position being preferably defined by geo-localization coordinates, more preferably by GPS coordinates;
based on the retrieved position, selecting an infrastructure use and/or feature from an infrastructure database, said infrastructure database storing a plurality of different infrastructure uses and/or features, wherein the infrastructure comprises: a public building, a public area, a pathway element, or a pathway zone (¶[0198] “the environment profile component 1106 ... obtained from sensors”; FIG 11);
determining, for the functional unit of the one or more functional units of each of the one or more luminaires, at least one profile based on the selected infrastructure use and/or feature (¶[0062],[0188] “the light management component 900 ... achieve the one or more determined objectives”; ¶[0191] “the awareness component 1000 ... one or more embodiments described herein”; ¶[0194], FIG 9-11), said determining being performed preferably periodically, more preferably once a day, even more preferably once an hour, most preferably once a minute; and optionally, storing, for each of the one or more luminaires, the at least one profile in a memory of the corresponding luminaire (¶[0062],[0188] “the light management component 900 ... achieve the one or more determined objectives”; ¶[0191] “the awareness component 1000 ... one or more embodiments described herein”; ¶[0194], FIG 9-11).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Rosen discloses the method wherein the plurality of infrastructure uses and/or features comprises: a parking lot, a pedestrian crossing, a cycling crossing, a speed bump, a school, a hospital, a junction, a roundabout, a public building, a low speed area, a transportation stop, a conflict area, a residential use, a night life use, or an animal passage use (¶[0165]).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Rosen discloses the method wherein the at least one profile comprises: a lighting profile, a sensing profile, or a data emitting profile, and, preferably, wherein the at least one profile comprises a lighting profile which defines one or more lighting settings of a lighting unit of the luminaire in function of time, said one or more settings including: a light intensity, a lighting pattern, a light spectrum, or a dimming level (¶[0191]-[0194]).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Rosen discloses method further comprising: based on the retrieved position, selecting a pathway type from the infrastructure database said infrastructure database further storing a plurality of different pathway types; based on the selected pathway type, determining, for each of the one more luminaires, one or more predetermined lighting rules defining one or more lighting requirements in function of the pathway type; and determining the at least one profile further based on the determined one or more predetermined lighting rules (¶[0082], [0190]).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Rosen discloses the method further comprising the steps of: retrieving traffic data from at least one traffic database; and determining the at least one profile further based on the retrieved traffic data (¶[0040]).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Rosen discloses the method further comprising the steps of: retrieving weather data, wherein retrieving weather data comprises retrieving weather data from at least one weather database and/or retrieving weather data sensed by a sensor associated with one or more luminaires of the plurality of luminaires; and determining the at least one profile further based on the retrieved weather data (¶[0051]).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Rosen discloses the method wherein the plurality of infrastructure uses and/or features includes uses and/or features data in function of time, and/or wherein the plurality of infrastructure uses and/or features are related to uses and/or features added to a pathway or neighboring the pathway (¶[0198]-[0200]).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Rosen discloses the method further comprising retrieving environmental sensor data from one or more environmental sensors associated with one or more luminaires of the plurality of luminaires, wherein the step of determining the at least one profile is further based on the environmental sensor data (¶[0005]-[0007]).
Regarding claims 9, Rosen discloses the method wherein the method is performed upon commissioning a new luminaire in the luminaire network, preferably performed by a segment controller of the luminaire network (¶[0129]-[0132], ¶[0207]).
Regarding claims 10, Rosen discloses a computer program comprising computer-executable instructions to perform the method, when the program is run on a computer (¶[0002]) .
Regarding claim 19, Rosen discloses a luminaire network (¶[0039], FIG 6 communication network 634) comprising a plurality of luminaires (¶[0118] FIG 1,6, light component 104, 606) and the control system (FIG 1 and 6, light management component 108, 610) for managing said plurality of luminaires (FIG 1 and 6, light management component 108, 610).
Regarding claim 20, Rosen discloses a method of performing management in a luminaire network (¶[0039] FIG 6 communication network 634) comprising a plurality of luminaires (¶[0118] FIG 1,6, light component 104, 606) and a control system (FIG 1 and 6, light management component 108, 610), each luminaire of said plurality of luminaires comprising one or more functional units, a functional unit of the one or more functional units being configured to operate in accordance with at least one profile (¶[0156],[0173]-[0176],[0204], [0205],[0232]), said method comprising performing by said control system the steps of (¶[0004]-[0238]):
retrieving image data associated with a luminaire of the plurality of luminaires, said image data picturing at least one infrastructure neighboring the luminaire (¶[0075] “the camera ... the enhanced light device 102”; ¶[0178], ¶[0193] “the environment component 1002 ... by one or more sensors or instruments”),
wherein the at least one infrastructure comprises: a public building, a public area, a pathway element, or a pathway zone(¶[0075] “the camera ... the enhanced light device 102”; ¶[0178], ¶[0193] “the environment component 1002 ... by one or more sensors or instruments”),
preferably, wherein the retrieving of image data comprises capturing, by an image capturing device of the luminaire, an image picturing the at least one infrastructure neighboring the luminaire (¶[0075] “the camera ... the enhanced light device 102”; ¶[0178], ¶[0193] “the environment component 1002 ... by one or more sensors or instruments”);
based on the retrieved image data, selecting at least one infrastructure use and/or feature from an infrastructure database, said infrastructure database storing a plurality of different infrastructure uses and/or features (¶[0198] “the environment profile component 1106 ... obtained from sensors”; FIG 11);
determining, for the functional unit of the one or more functional units of the luminaire, at least one profile based on the selected at least one infrastructure use and/or feature (¶[0062], [0188] “the light management component 900 ... achieve the one or more determined objective”; ¶[0191] “the awareness component 1000 ... in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein”; ¶[0194] “the awareness component 1000 ... profile of the environment”; FIG 9-11).
Regarding claim 21, Rosen discloses a method of performing management in a luminaire network (¶[0039] FIG 6 communication network 634) comprising a plurality of luminaires (¶[0118] FIG 1,6, light component 104, 606) and a control system (FIG 1 and 6, light management component 108, 610), said method comprising performing by said control system the steps of (¶[0004]-[0238]):
associating to each luminaire of the plurality of luminaire at least one infrastructure use and/or feature from an infrastructure database, said infrastructure database storing a plurality of different infrastructure uses and/or features (¶[0198] “the environment profile component 1106 ... obtained from sensors”, FIG 11),
wherein the infrastructure comprises: a public building, a public area, a pathway element, or a pathway zone (¶[0198] “the environment profile component 1106 ... obtained from sensors”, FIG 11),
wherein each luminaire of said plurality of luminaires comprises one or more functional units, a functional unit of the one or more functional units being configured to operate in accordance with at least one profile (¶[0198] “the environment profile component 1106 ... obtained from sensors”, FIG 11); and
performing one or more actions based on the associated at least one infrastructure use and/or feature (¶[0062] [0188] “the light management component 900 ... achieve the one or more determined objectives”, ¶[0191] “the awareness component 1000 ... in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein”; ¶[0194] “the awareness component 1000 ... profile of the environment”; FIG 9-11),
wherein the performing of the one or more actions comprises at least one of the following:
transmitting, by the control system, a profile common to a plurality of functional units being associated with a similar infrastructure use and/or feature to said plurality of functional units (¶[0062] [0188] “the light management component 900 ... achieve the one or more determined objectives”, ¶[0191] “the awareness component 1000 ... in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein”; ¶[0194] “the awareness component 1000 ... profile of the environment”; FIG 9-11); or
performing a same action for a plurality of functional units being associated with a similar infrastructure use and/or feature (¶[0062] [0188] “the light management component 900 ... achieve the one or more determined objectives”, ¶[0191] “the awareness component 1000 ... in accordance with one or more embodiments described herein”; ¶[0194] “the awareness component 1000 ... profile of the environment”; FIG 9-11).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Joseph Chang whose telephone number is (571)272-1759. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00- 17:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Menatoallah M Youssef can be reached at 571-270-3684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSEPH CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836
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