Ex Parte Lee et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Feb 21, 2017

13146073 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 21, 2017)

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.
13/146,073 07/25/2011 Chung Hoon Lee P4478US00 1879
58027 7590 02/23/2017
H.C. PARK & ASSOCIATES, PLC
1894 PRESTON WHITE DRIVE
RESTON, VA 20191
EXAMINER
MONDT, JOHANNES P
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2894
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
02/23/2017 ELECTRONIC
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.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):
PATENT@PARK-LAW.COM
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte CHUNG HOON LEE, WON CHEOL SEO, YEO JIN YOON, and
JIN CHEOL SHIN
Appeal 2016-001352
Application 13/146,073
Technology Center 2800
Before LINDA M. GAUDETTE, MICHAEL P. COLAIANNI, and
CHRISTOPHER L. OGDEN, Administrative Patent Judges.
GAUDETTE, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
Appellants1 appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s decision2
finally rejecting claims 1, 2, 4—12, and 14—20. We have jurisdiction under
35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We AFFIRM.
The invention relates to a light emitting diode (“LED”) chip for high voltage
operation and to an LED package including the chip. Substitute Specification filed
1 Appellants identify the real party in interest as Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd.,
Appeal Brief filed May 18, 2015 (“App. Br.”), 3.
2 Final Office Action mailed Oct. 30, 2014 (“Final Act.”); Advisory Action mailed
Jan. 15, 2015 (entering the after-final amendment, filed Dec. 30, 2014, cancelling
claims 3 and 13).
Appeal 2016-001352
Application 13/146,073
July 25, 2011 (“Spec.”) 13. According to the Specification, compound LEDs are
used widely for display devices, both as backlight and general lighting sources due
to their lower power consumption and longer lifespan compared to incandescent
and fluorescent lamps. Id. 1 5. A drawback of LEDs is that, when connected to an
AC power source, they are repeatedly turned on/off depending on the direction of
the current. Id. 16. In addition, LEDs typically have a low driving voltage of 3—
4 V and, therefore, cannot be connected directly to any high voltage power source,
such as 110 V or 220 V. Id. A solution to this problem, as described in WO
2004/023568, is to connect LED elements in series to form an array, and then
connect two such arrays in reverse parallel to each other on an insulating substrate.
Id. ^ 8. In this arrangement, one array is operated during a half-period of the AC
power source and the other array is operated during the subsequent half-period. Id.
19. According to the Specification, a problem with this arrangement is that “the
driving voltage of the LED array . . . exhibits greater deviation than that of the light
emitting diode consisting of a single light emitting cell. Such a deviation of the
driving voltage can affect reliability, lifespan and the like of the light emitting
diode including the LED arrays.” Id. 110. Appellants are said to have discovered
that reliability and lifespan of LED chips designed for high voltage operation is
improved when the driving voltages Vdl and Vd2, respectively, of a first array
having “n” light emitting cells connected in series and a second array having “m”
(where m