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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on July 07, 2025 is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Applicant is required to insert the Patent Number 12,353,313 into the specification.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 6-7, 10, and 21-30 arerejected 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.
As per claims 1, 21 and 26, claim limitation " receive, via microcontroller associated with the processing circuitry, data from a computing system, the data having one or more of lighting control parameters or system data having information relating to current system
conditions for associated with the computing system; generate, based on the data,
control instructions for a lighting pattern for a set of lights; and provide control signals to
control the set of lights.” invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth
paragraph. However, the written description fails to disclose the corresponding
structure, material, or acts for performing the entire claimed function and to clearly link the structure, material, or acts to the function. Applicant is required to
clarify where the “computing device” is located? What current system condition being
regarded to? Therefore, the claim is indefinite and is rejected under 35 U.S.C.
112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Applicant may:
(a) Amend the claim so that the claim limitation will no longer be interpreted as a
limitation under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph;
(b) Amend the written description of the specification such that it expressly recites
what structure, material, or acts perform the entire claimed function, without
introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)); or
(c) Amend the written description of the specification such that it clearly links the
structure, material, or acts disclosed therein to the function recited in the claim,
without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)).
If applicant is of the opinion that the written description of the specification
already implicitly or inherently discloses the corresponding structure, material, or acts
and clearly links them to the function so that one of ordinary skill in the art would
recognize what structure, material, or acts perform the claimed function, applicant
should clarify the record by either:
(a) Amending the written description of the specification such that it expressly
recites the corresponding structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed
function and clearly links or associates the structure, material, or acts to the
claimed function, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)); or
(b) Stating on the record what the corresponding structure, material, or acts, which
are implicitly or inherently set forth in the written description of the specification,
perform the claimed function. For more information, see 37 CFR 1.75(d) and
MPEP §§ 608.01(o) and 2181.
Claims 2, 6-7, 10, 22-25, and 27-30 should have been rejected for the same reason for their dependency.
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) 1-2, 6-7, 10, and 21-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Laherty et al. (US 2016/0165679)
As per claim 1, Laherty et al. disclose an apparatus in a form of a network lighting system (10, figure 1) comprising:
processing circuitry (40) to:
receive, via microcontroller (125) associated with the processing circuitry, data from a computing system (30), the data having one or more of lighting control parameters (color and brightness, see abstract and paragraph 0018);
generate, based on the data, control instructions for a lighting pattern for a
set of lights (135, paragraphs 0030 and 0034); and
provide control signals to control the set of lights (paragraphs 0016, 0020-0021 and 0025).
As per claim 2, Laherty et al. disclose the control signals being generated for performance of the lighting pattern, wherein the microcontroller comprises a special
purpose microcontroller dedicated for processing relating to lighting control for a
computing operation, wherein the special purpose microcontroller comprises circuitry to
provide one or more algorithms to determine lighting patterns including the lighting
pattern (paragraphs 0010, 0016 and 0020-0021).
As per claim 6, Laherty et al. disclose the information comprises one
or more of load characteristics associated with the computing system, thermal
conditions associated with the computing system, or power management data
associated with the computing system (paragraph 0017).
As per claim 7, Laherty et al. disclose the control parameters comprise one or
more of the lighting pattern or animation style, processor properties for the lighting
pattern, or lighting brightness for a-the lighting pattern, wherein the lighting pattern is
triggered by one or more triggering parameters, wherein the set of lights includes a set
of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs, paragraphs 0016-0018 and 0039).
As per claim 10, Laherty et al. disclose the processing circuitry comprises one or
more of graphics processing circuitry or application processing circuitry (paragraphs
0010 and 0016-0017).
As per claim 21-30, The method claims 21-25 and their associated computer program products claims 26-30 are essentially the same in scope as system claims 1-2, 6-7 and 10 above and are rejected similarly.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAI T. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2961. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 9am-6pm.
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/TAI T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685 October 7, 2026
