Ex Parte Khalsa et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Oct 20, 2015

12587130 (P.T.A.B. Oct. 20, 2015)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
12/587,130 10/03/2009 Kamlapati Khalsa ZIL-844 9075
7590 10/21/2015
Imperium Patent Works, LLP
P.O. Box 607
Pleasanton, CA 94566
EXAMINER
LUONG, HENRY T
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2844
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
10/21/2015 PAPER
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
________________

BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
________________

Ex parte KAMLAPATI KHALSA, YEFIM GLUZMAN, and
QUYEN TRAN
________________

Appeal 2013-009356
Application 12/587,130
Technology Center 2800
________________

Before CHARLES F. WARREN, TERRY J. OWENS, and
GEORGE C. BEST, Administrative Patent Judges.

OWENS, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s
rejection of claims 1, 2, 5–13, and 16–20. We have jurisdiction under
35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
The Invention
The Appellants claim a method and apparatus for initiating turn off of
fluorescent lamps. Claims 1 and 19 are illustrative:
1. A method comprising:
(a) initiating turn off of a first fluorescent lamp of a
multi-lamp fluorescent light fixture using a first wireless
fluorescent lamp starter unit; and
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(b) initiating turn off of a second fluorescent lamp of the
multi-lamp fluorescent light fixture using a second wireless
fluorescent lamp starter unit,
wherein the initiating of (a) and the initiating of (b) occur
at substantially the same time.

19. An apparatus comprising:
a first fluorescent lamp coupled to a first ballast, wherein
the first ballast is adapted to receive an Alternating
Current (AC) line voltage from an AC line voltage supply;
a second fluorescent lamp coupled to a second ballast,
wherein the second ballast is adapted to receive the AC line
voltage from the AC line voltage supply; and
means for initiating turn off of the first fluorescent lamp
and the second fluorescent lamp at substantially the same time
without disconnecting the AC line voltage supply.

The References
Porter US 2004/0046511 A1 Mar. 11, 2004
Budike US 2008/0111498 A1 May 15, 2008
The Rejections
The claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as follows: claims 1,
2, 5–10, 12, 13, and 16–20 over Budike and claim 11 over Budike in view of
Porter.1
OPINION
We reverse the rejections. We need address only the independent
claims, i.e., claims 1, 12, and 19.2

1 The propriety of the Examiner’s claim objections (Non-final Act. (mailed
Nov. 7, 2012) (hereinafter, “Non-final Act.”) 3; Ans. 2; App. Br. 6–7; Reply
Br. 5–6) is petitionable to the Technology Center Director, not appealable to
the Board. See MPEP § 1002.02(c)(4) (Rev. 2, May 2004).
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Claims 1 and 12
Claims 1 and 12 require initiating turn off of first and second
fluorescent lamps using, respectively, first and second wireless fluorescent
lamp starter units.
Budike discloses transceivers (105c) (which the Examiner relies upon
as corresponding to the Appellants’ first and second wireless fluorescent
lamp starter units (Non-final Act. 5)) which are connected to sets of hallway
fixtures (705), apply a signal to each transceiver (105c)’s interface
cable (120)’s interface jack (115)’s on/off pin (1), and may have the same
address so that all of the hallway fixtures can be commanded to turn on and
off simultaneously (¶¶ 31, 71–72; Figs. 1, 2A, 2B, 7).
The Examiner argues that Budike’s transceivers (105c) are starter
units because they send an “on” signal to the hallway fixtures (705) and that
they initiate turn off of the hallway fixtures by applying an “off” signal to
their interface cable (120)’s interface jack (115)’s on/off pin (1) (Ans. 4–5).
The Examiner argues, in reliance upon an Examiner’s Answer attachment
titled “AND8006/D,” that a fluorescent lamp starter can be electronic
(Ans. 4).
The Examiner has not established that Budike’s transceiver (105c)’s
circuit is sufficiently similar to the AND8006/D electronic starter circuit to
indicate that, like the AND8006/D circuit, it is capable of starting a
fluorescent lamp. Nor has the Examiner established that Budike’s
transceiver (105c), merely by virtue of including circuitry for sending a

2 The Examiner does not rely upon Porter for any disclosure that remedies
the deficiency in Budike as to the independent claims (Non-final Act. 9–10).
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signal to its interface cable (120)’s interface jack (115)’s on/off pin (1), is a
fluorescent lamp starter unit as that term is most broadly reasonably
interpreted consistently with the Appellants’ Specification. See In re
Translogic Tech. Inc., 504 F.3d 1249, 1256 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (“‘[D]uring
examination proceedings, claims are given their broadest reasonable
interpretation consistent with the specification.’” (quoting In re Hyatt, 211
F.3d 1367, 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2000)).
Claim 19
Claim 19 requires 1) first and second fluorescent lamps coupled,
respectively, to first and second ballasts adapted to receive alternating
current (AC) line voltage from an AC line voltage supply, and 2) means for
initiating turn off of first and second fluorescent lamps without
disconnecting the AC line voltage supply.
Budike discloses a dimming ballast (122, 822) including a power
converter (125) and a ballast circuit (130), wherein the power converter
provides AC power to the ballast circuit (¶ 38). Power is shut off to the
dimming ballast (122, 822) when transceiver (105c)’s interface circuit (108)
pulls transceiver (105c)’s interface cable (120, 820)’s interface jack (115,
815)’s on/off pin (1) to ground (¶¶ 38, 41, 72; Figs. 1, 2A, 2B, 3–5, 8).
The Examiner asserts that Budike’s transceiver (105c), by pulling the
interface cable (120, 820)’s interface jack (115, 815)’s on/off pin (1) to
ground, turns off the lamp without disconnecting the line voltage (140)
feeding the power converter (125) (Ans. 9).
The Appellants’ means for initiating turn off of first and second
fluorescent lamps without disconnecting the AC line voltage supply which
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first and second ballasts are adapted to receive includes the corresponding
structure disclosed in the Appellants’ Specification and equivalents thereof.
See In re Donaldson Co., 16 F.3d 1189, 1195 (Fed. Cir. 1994). “The proper
test for determining whether the structure in an accused device is equivalent
to the structure recited in a section 112, ¶ 6, [means-plus-function] claim is
whether the differences between the structure in the accused device and any
disclosed in the specification are insubstantial.” See WMS Gaming, Inc. v.
Int’l Game Tech., 184 F.3d 1339, 1351 (Fed. Cir. 1999). The Appellants’
disclosed means is Figure 7’s circuitry inside the starter (4) (Spec. ¶ 31).
The Examiner does not establish that Budike discloses structure which
differs no more than insubstantially from the Appellants’ disclosed means
for initiating turn off of first and second fluorescent lamps without
disconnecting the AC line voltage supply. That is reversible error.
Moreover, the Examiner does not establish that pulling Budike’s
transceiver (105c)’s interface cable (120, 820)’s interface jack (115, 815)’s
on/off pin (1) to ground to shut off power to the dimming ballast (122, 822)
does not shut off the AC voltage supply (140) to the power converter (125)
(¶¶ 38, 41; Figs. 1, 3–5, 8).
Accordingly, we reverse the rejections.
DECISION/ORDER
The rejections under 35 U.S.C. § 103 of claims 1, 2, 5–10, 12, 13,
and 16–20 over Budike and claim 11 over Budike in view of Porter are
reversed.
It is ordered that the Examiner’s decision is reversed.
REVERSED