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 .
Remarks
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 03/17/25. Examiner acknowledged that claims 1-18 are pending.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/17/25 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-4, 7, 11, 14-17, 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trask (US 10,299,321).
Regarding Claim 1, Trask teaches a lighting system comprising: a plurality of color channels configured to generate light of different colors (Fig. 1: 114, 116, 118); and a light driver (Fig. 1: 110) configured to drive the plurality of color channels and to maintain a constant maximum lumen output across a range of correlated color temperature (CCT) values ([col7 ln25] “control the light source 104 to emit an output light that has a substantially the same intensity/dim level at different CCTs”), the light driver being configured to generate a first channel current for driving a first color channel of the plurality of color channels based on a dimmer setting, a CCT setting, and the dimming ([col3 ln30] “the 0-10V control unit 106 may provide to the driver 102 a signal with voltage levels ranging between 0 and 10 volts, where different voltage levels of the signal correspond to different CCT values. Based on the particular voltage level of the signal received from the 0-10V control unit 106, the driver 102 may adjust the currents provided to the light source 104 over the connections 120, 122, 124 to adjust the CCT of the light emitted by the light source 104 to correspond to the voltage level”).
Trask does not explicitly teach a programmable lighting system; maintain a constant maximum lumen output across a range of correlated color temperature (CCT) values based on a dim-stop limit. However, [col6 ln10] teaches “a user may change the 0-10V control device 106 to change a CCT of the light provided by the light source 104 to between the 2700K and 4000K”; [col10 ln5] teaches “adjust the intensity/dim level of the output light based on the dim level setting input from the 0-10V control unit 108 while maintaining the CCT of the output light fairly constant at the different intensity levels”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Trask making the output color lighting programmable through the control of the user settings from 0-10V and keeping the intensity constant across different CCT since it is desirable to keep the output constant while the combined CCT remain close to the black body curve.
Regarding Claim 2, Trask teaches the programmable lighting system of claim 1, wherein the light driver is configured to adjust channel currents to the plurality of color channels to limit a lumen output of the plurality of color channels to the dim-stop limit ([col3 ln35] “Based on the particular voltage level of the signal received from the 0-10V control unit 106, the driver 102 may adjust the currents provided to the light source 104 over the connections 120, 122, 124 to adjust the CCT of the light emitted by the light source 104 to correspond to the voltage level of the signal received from the 0-10V control unit”).
Regarding Claim 3, Trask teaches the programmable lighting system of claim 1, wherein the light driver is configured to perform: determining a first reference signal ([col3 ln35] “the 0-10V control unit 106 may provide to the driver 102 a signal with voltage levels”) for driving the first color channel according to the dimmer setting and the CCT setting; and generating the first channel current for driving the first color channel based on the first reference signal and the dim-stop limit ([col3 ln35] “Based on the particular voltage level of the signal received from the 0-10V control unit 106, the driver 102 may adjust the currents provided to the light source 104 over the connections 120, 122, 124 to adjust the CCT of the light emitted by the light source 104 to correspond to the voltage level of the signal received from the 0-10V control unit”).
Regarding Claim 4, Trask teaches the programmable lighting system of claim 3 except the generating the first channel current comprises: determining a first calibration value based on the dim-stop limit and the CCT setting; and adjusting the first channel current based on the first calibration value. However, [col3 ln35] teaches “Based on the particular voltage level of the signal received from the 0-10V control unit 106, the driver 102 may adjust the currents provided to the light source 104 over the connections 120, 122, 124 to adjust the CCT of the light emitted by the light source 104 to correspond to the voltage level of the signal received from the 0-10V control unit”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Trask that the calibration value is included within the processing of the controller in order to adjust the current based on dim setting since current output level is based on the adjustment.
Regarding Claim 7, Trask teaches the programmable lighting system of claim 1, wherein the light driver comprises: a first current control circuit (Fig. 3: 304) coupled to the first color channel (Fig. 3: 118) and configured to adjust the first channel current driving the first color channel based on a first calibrated reference signal; and a channel controller (Fig. 3: 112) configured to generate the first calibrated reference signal based on the dimmer setting, the CCT setting (Fig. 3: 108), and the dim-stop limit (Fig. 3; 106).
Regarding Claim 11, Trask teaches the programmable lighting system of claim 7, wherein the light driver further comprises: a power supply circuit (fig. 3: 302) configured to generate a drive signal for powering the plurality of color channels based on an input power signal (Fig. 3: AC in), wherein the first current control circuit is configured to adjust the first channel current of the first color channel further based on the drive signal.
Regarding Claim 14, Trask teaches the programmable lighting system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of color channels comprises: the first color channel comprising one or more green LEDs; a second color channel comprising one or more blue LEDs; and a third color channel comprising one or more red LEDs ([col8 ln35] “may emit colored lights such as red, green and blue lights”).
Regarding Claim 15, Trask teaches the programmable lighting system of claim 1, wherein the dim-stop limit (Fig. 4: 106) corresponds to a lumen output of the plurality of color channels at a minimum CCT value or a maximum CCT value of the range of CCT values (Fig. 4: 108).
Regarding Claim 16, Trask teaches the programmable lighting system of claim 1, wherein the light driver is configured to be programmed with the dim-stop limit (Fig. 4: 106) from a programming device, and wherein the light driver is configured to receive the dimmer setting from a dimming device (claim 6: DC current based on a dimmer setting).
Regarding Claim 17, Trask teaches the lighting system comprising: a plurality of color channels configured to generate light of different colors (Fig. 1: 114, 116, 118); and a light driver (Fig. 1: 110) configured to drive the plurality of color channels according to a dimmer setting and a correlated color temperature (CCT) setting ([col7 ln25] “control the light source 104 to emit an output light that has a substantially the same intensity/dim level at different CCTs”), the light driver comprising: a first current control circuit coupled to a first color channel of the plurality of color channels and configured to adjust a first channel current for driving the first color channel based on a first calibrated reference signal; and a channel controller configured to generate the first calibrated reference signal based on the dimmer setting, the CCT setting, and the dim-stop limit ([col3 ln30] “the 0-10V control unit 106 may provide to the driver 102 a signal with voltage levels ranging between 0 and 10 volts, where different voltage levels of the signal correspond to different CCT values. Based on the particular voltage level of the signal received from the 0-10V control unit 106, the driver 102 may adjust the currents provided to the light source 104 over the connections 120, 122, 124 to adjust the CCT of the light emitted by the light source 104 to correspond to the voltage level”); (Fig. 4: 402) driving 404.
Trask does not explicitly teach a programmable lighting system; and to maintain a constant maximum lumen output across a range of CCT values based on a dim-stop limit. However, [col6 ln10] teaches “a user may change the 0-10V control device 106 to change a CCT of the light provided by the light source 104 to between the 2700K and 4000K”; [col10 ln5] teaches “adjust the intensity/dim level of the output light based on the dim level setting input from the 0-10V control unit 108 while maintaining the CCT of the output light fairly constant at the different intensity levels”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Trask making the output color lighting programmable through the control of the user settings from 0-10V and keeping the intensity constant across different CCT since it is desirable to keep the output constant while the combined CCT remain close to the black body curve.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 8-10, 12-13 and 18 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HENRY T LUONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7008. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday: 8:00-6:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alexander 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.
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/Henry Luong/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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