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 .
Summary
This is the response to the Response to Election/Restriction filed on 06/10/2026.
Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application with claims 15-20 are withdrawn from consideration.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention I, claims 1-14 in the reply filed on 06/10/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lunt, III et al. (US 2024/0372023). Further evidence is provided by Photon Unit Calculator taken from www.kmlabs.com/en/wavelength-to-photon-energy-calculator.
Addressing claim 1, Lunt discloses an agriphotovoltaic system (transparent solar cells for agrivoltaics, Title) comprising:
one or more solar cells (transparent solar panels 410, such as TPV 200 [0207]), each solar cell comprising a material 206 having a threshold band gap (each photoactive material has its native threshold band gap),
wherein photons having energies greater than the threshold band gap are absorbed by the material (paragraph [0142] discloses the wavelength ranges of light that are absorbed by the solar panel that corresponds to the claimed photons having energies greater than the threshold band gap because each wavelength corresponds to a specific band gap energy; for example, paragraph [0142] discloses the solar panel absorbs wavelength that is less than 450 nm, which corresponds to 2.75 eV according to the Photon Unit Calculator); and
wherein photons having energies less than the threshold band gap pass through the material (paragraph [0148] discloses the material of the solar panel is transparent to ranges of wavelength that correspond to photons having energies less than the threshold band gap; for example, paragraph [0148] discloses the solar panel is transparent to wavelength between 400-450 nm, which corresponds to photons having energies less than the threshold at 450 nm or 2.75 eV as discussed above).
Addressing claim 2, in paragraph [0147], Lunt discloses an absorption cutoff that is 20% of the peak 1-absorption, which is 450 nm, that amounts to 540 nm or 2.29 eV, , according to the Photon Unit Calculator, that falls within the range of approximately 2.2eVas claimed. Furthermore, paragraph [0149] discloses the solar panel transmits greater than or equal to about 85% of wavelength of 560 nm or 2.21 eV and wavelength in the range of 550-600 nm that corresponds to 2.25 eV to 2.07 eV that is less than approximately 2.2 eV as claimed.
Addressing claim 3, fig. 4 shows vegetation planted in an area underlying the one or more solar cells.
Addressing claims 4-5, paragraph [0169] discloses transparent substrate 208 as the claimed transparent base that is made of glass or plastic [0181].
Addressing claim 6, Lunt discloses the material is active material of a solar panel which is configured to converts the absorbed photons into electrical energy.
Addressing claim 7, paragraph [0167] discloses the solar panel is configured to transmit light to benefit plants; therefore, plant life underlying the agriphotovoltaic system receives solar flux encompassing only light wavelength not absorbed by the material of the one or more solar cells as claimed.
Addressing claim 8, paragraph [0142] discloses the material of the solar panel absorbs light from 400 nm to 450 nm that corresponds to blue light and paragraph [0150] discloses the material transmits equal to or greater than 85% of red light.
Addressing claims 9-11, paragraph [0188] discloses the claimed materials.
Addressing claim 12, paragraph [0220] discloses the transparent solar panels are configured to transmit light to a region containing photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and the pole assembly includes electronics assembly electrically coupled to the solar panels; therefore, the electronics assembly correspond to the claimed load.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lunt, III et al. (US 2024/0372023) in view of Kim et al. (KR20220101266 English).
Addressing claim 13, Lunt is silent regarding the electric load comprises a battery.
Kim discloses an agriphotovoltaic system comprising solar panel for generating electrical power that is supplied to a battery 430 [0059].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the system of Lunt with the battery disclosed by Kim in order to storage the electrical power generated by the solar panel.
Addressing claim 14, Lunt discloses a photon of the photons having energies greater than the threshold band gap are converted to electricity supplied to the electric load and wherein the photons having energies less than the threshold band gap are conveyed to vegetation underlying the one or more solar cells as discussed above.
Lunt is silent regarding one or more light emitters that emit light principally in blue wavelength.
Kim discloses the agriphotovoltaic system comprises lighting module that is powered by the solar panel to emit blue light [0036].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the agriphotovoltaic system of Lunt with the blue light emitter lighting module disclosed by Kim in order to promote photosynthesis, maximizing photosynthetic activity and chlorophyll activity for plants (Kim, [0036]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BACH T DINH whose telephone number is (571)270-5118. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday 8:00 - 4:30 EST.
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 07/13/2026
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