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 Amendment/Request for Reconsideration filed on 09/08/2026.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-14 and 21-23 remain pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-14 and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The limitations “a first set of solar cells and a second set of solar cells that is adjacent to the first set of solar cells”, “wherein the first photons from the solar photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap of the first material are transmitted from the first set of solar cells to pass through the first material that is optically transparent to the first photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap and onto vegetation planted in an area underlying the first set of solar cells” and “each solar cell in the second set of solar cells comprises a second material having a second threshold band gap, wherein each solar cell in the second set of solar cells is configured to receive the solar photons in which each of the solar photons has an energy greater than the second threshold band gap, and wherein the second material converts the received solar photons including the first photons and the second photons into second electrical energy” render the claims as containing new matter not supported by the originally filed disclosure. The Applicants asserted in the Remarks filed on 09/08/2026 that the limitations can be found in paragraphs [0006-0008], [0013-0028], [0036-0039] and fig. 1; however, none of the cited sections of the originally filed disclosure mention any second set of solar cells adjacent to the first sets of solar cells having the claimed structures. The originally filed disclosure does not explicitly, implicitly or inherently support any second set of solar cells with a second material having a second threshold band gap that have the aforementioned claimed structures.
Claim 21 recites the limitation a first anti-reflective coating formed on a top layer of each solar cell in the second set of solar cells that is new matter not supported by the originally filed disclosure. The originally filed disclosure does not even disclose any second set of solar cells.
Claim 22 recites the limitation a second anti-reflective coating formed on a bottom layer of each solar cell in the second set of solar cells that is new matter not supported by the originally filed disclosure.
Claim 23 recites the limitation the second electrical energy converted by the second set of solar cells are stored.
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, 4-5, 7-14 and 21-23 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. Claim 1 recites the limitation “a second set of solar cells that is adjacent to the first set of solar cells” and “each solar cell in the second set of solar cells comprises a second material having a second threshold band gap, wherein each solar cell in the second set of solar cells is configured to receive the solar photons in which each of the solar photons has an energy greater than the second threshold band gap, and wherein the second material converts the received solar photons including the first photons and the second photons into second electrical energy” that render the claims indefinite when the limitation is read in light of the specification. Firstly, the originally filed disclosure does not provide any support for the aforementioned limitations. Secondly, it is unclear as to how the second set of solar cells would have to be positioned to convert the received solar photons including the first photons and the second photons into second electrical energy while still allowing the underlying vegetation to receive the first photons from the solar photons as required by current claims.
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) 1-2, 4-5 and 7-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (KR20150075165 with provided machine English translation) in view of Lunt, III et al. (US 2024/0372023).
Addressing claim 1, Park discloses an agriphotovoltaic system (figs. 11-12) comprising:
a plurality of planar solar cells (121 and 137, figs. 11-12) that includes a first set of solar cells 121 and a second set of solar cells 131 that is adjacent to the first set of solar cells (figs. 11-12), wherein:
each solar cell in the first set of solar cells comprises a first material having a first threshold band gap (the native threshold bandgap of the disclosed solar cell, the claim does not recite any numerical value associated with the claimed first threshold band gap to structurally differentiate the claimed solar cells having a first threshold band gap from that of Park), wherein each solar cell in the first set of solar cells 121 is configured to receive solar photons including the first photons and second photons (the photons of different electromagnetic spectrum in the sunlight), wherein the photovoltaic module 540 includes light transmitting regions 123 in order for incident light to impinge onto the vegetation planted in an area underlying the first set of solar cells; and
each solar cell in the second set of solar cells 137 comprises a second material having a second threshold bandgap (the native band gap of the solar cells 137), wherein each solar cell in the second set of solar cell si configured to receive the solar photons (the solar cells are configured to be exposed to sunlight which includes the claimed solar photons) in which each of the solar photons has an energy greater than the second threshold band gap (the solar photons include many wavelengths, including light with wavelengths with energy that are greater than the second threshold band gap), and wherein the second material converts the received solar photons including the first photons and the second photons into second electrical energy (the photons absorbed by the second set of solar cells 137 correspond to the claimed first and second photons that are absorbed and converted into electrical energy; the electrical energy generated by the second set of solar cells 137 correspond to the claimed second electrical energy).
Park further discloses that 30% to 88% of the module substrate is occupied by the light transmitting region (page 3 of the translation document), which means 30% to 80% of the module substrate does not contribute to power generation due to the lack of photovoltaic material.
Park is silent regarding the first set of solar cells comprising a first threshold band gap and being optically transparent to first photons having energies less than the first threshold bandgap, wherein each solar cell in the first set of solar cells is configured to receive solar photons including the first photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap and the second photons having energies greater than the first threshold band gap, wherein the second photons from the solar photons having energies greater than the first threshold band gap are captured and absorbed by the first material in each solar cell in the first set of solar cells and wherein the first photons from the solar photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap of the first material are transmitted from the first set of solar cells to pass through the first material that is optically transparent to the first photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap and onto vegetation planted in an area underlying the first set of solar cells.
Lunt discloses an agriphotovoltaic system comprising a plurality of planar solar cells 410 that includes a first set of solar cells situated on the roof of a green house (fig. 4), similarly to that of Park. Lunt further discloses each solar cell in the first set of solar cells comprises a first material having a first threshold band gap (each photoactive material has its native threshold band gap as the claimed first threshold band gap) and being optically transparent to first photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap (paragraph [0148] discloses the material of the solar panel is transparent to ranges of wavelength that correspond to photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap). Each solar cell in the first set of solar cells is configured to receive solar photons including the first photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap and second photons having energies greater than the first threshold bandgap (the solar cell of Lunt, as part of the roof structure, is directly exposed to incoming solar radiation, which includes the claimed first and second solar photons as claimed); wherein the second photons from the solar photons having energies greater than the first threshold band gap are captured and absorbed by the first material in each solar cell in the first set of solar cells (paragraph [0142] discloses the wavelength ranges of light that are absorbed by the solar panel that corresponds to the claimed first photons having energies greater than the first threshold band gap). The first photons from the solar photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap of the first material are transmitted from the first set of solar cells to pass through the first material that is optically transparent to the first photons having energies less than the first threshold band gap [0142] and onto vegetation planted in an area underlying the first set of solar cells (fig. 4).
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 Park by replacing the solar modules 540 comprising the first set of solar cells 121 and the light transmitting region 123 with the photovoltaic modules comprising the first set of solar cells that absorb part of the sunlight for generation electrical power and transmit light in the wavelength that is beneficial for plant growth as disclosed by Lunt in order to increase the amount of power generated by the photovoltaic module, by eliminating 30% to 88% of the area of the module substrate that is occupied by the light transmitting region, while still maintaining the desired effect of impinging the underlying vegetation with light in the wavelengths that are used for plant growth due the transparency of the solar cells of Lunt regarding the wavelengths that are beneficial for plant growth.
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.
Addressing claims 4-5, paragraph [0169] of Lunt discloses transparent substrate 208 as the claimed transparent base that is made of glass or plastic [0181].
Addressing claim 7, paragraph [0167] of Lunt discloses the solar panel is configured to transmit light to benefit plants; therefore, the vegetation planted in the area underlying the first set of solar cells in the agriphotovoltaic system receives solar flux encompassing only light wavelength not absorbed by the first material of each solar cell in the first set of solar cells as claimed.
Addressing claim 8, paragraph [0142] of Lunt discloses the first 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] of Lunt 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(s) 13-14 and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (KR20150075165 with provided machine English translation) in view of Lunt, III et al. (US 2024/0372023) as applied to claims 1-2, 4-5 and 7-12 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (KR20220101266 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claims 13 and 23, Park and Lunt are 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 Park in view of Lunt with the battery disclosed by Kim in order to store 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 and Park are 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 Park in view 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]).
Claim(s) 21-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (KR20150075165 with provided machine English translation) in view of Lunt, III et al. (US 2024/0372023) as applied to claims 1-2, 4-5 and 7-12 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (KR20210026345 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claims 21-22, Park and Lunt are silent regarding the limitation of current claims.
Kim discloses an agricultural photovoltaic system for improving the cultivation rate of farmland; wherein, the system comprises solar cell 30 with a first anti-reflective coating 108 formed on a top layer of the solar cell and a second anti-reflective coating 101 formed on a bottom layer of the solar cell [0045].
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 first and second sets of solar cells of Park in view of Lunt with the first and second anti-reflective coatings on the top and bottom layers, respectively, as disclosed by Kim in order to improve light transmission and photovoltaic conversion efficiency of the system.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-2, 4-5, 7-14 and 21-23 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 09/18/2026
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