Ex Parte Sooch et al

Patent Trials and Appeals Board

Apr 11, 2019

15264815 - (D) (P.T.A.B. Apr. 11, 2019)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
15/264,815 09/14/2016
155123 7590
Lutron Ketra, LLC
7200 Suter Road
Coopersburg, PA 18036
04/15/2019
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Nav Sooch
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
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
18-00102-P2 1061
EXAMINER
LUONG, HENRY T
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2844
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
04/15/2019 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):
patents@lutron.com
jmakarewicz@lutron.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte NA V SOOCH, HORACE C. HO, REBECCA
FRANK, JASON E. LEWIS, and
RY AN MATTHEW BOCOCK
Appeal2018-005129
Application 15/264,815
Technology Center 2800
Before ADRIENE LEPIANE HANLON, TERRY J. OWENS, and
DEBRA L. DENNETT, Administrative Patent Judges.
DENNETT, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL 1
1 In our Decision, we refer to the Specification filed Sept. 14, 2016
("Spec."); the Final Office Action dated Oct. 26, 2017 ("Final Act."); the
Appeal Brief filed Dec. 20, 2017 ("Appeal Br."); the Examiner's Answer
Mar. 9, 2018 ("Ans."); and the Reply Brief filed Apr. 1 7, 2018 ("Reply
Br.").
Appeal2018-005129
Application 15/264,815
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant2 appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from a rejection of
claims 1-3, 8-12, and 31-38. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.
The claims are directed to illumination devices comprising light
emitting diodes whose color temperature and/or brightness automatically
changes throughout the daytime or nighttime. Spec. ,r 2. Claim 1,
reproduced below with the key limitation italicized, is illustrative of the
claimed subject matter:
1. An illumination device, comprising:
a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) chains;
a driver circuit coupled to the plurality of LED chains for
automatically fading in a color temperature change from the
LED chains depending on a time of day, wherein the
automatically fading comprises fading in the color temperature
change in a plurality of steps over a fixed amount of time
without user actuation of a trigger upon the remote controller,
and wherein the plurality of steps increase the color temperature
an hour after sunrise;
a control module coupled to the driver circuit, said
control module comprises:
a controller coupled to receive a change in intensity value
from a remote controller that is remote from the controller and
wirelessly or wired connected to the controller, and wherein the
controller is coupled to receive the change in intensity value
and, in response thereto, to produce a change in the color
temperature output from the LED chains during a first time of
day relative to a second time of day.
2 Appellant is the Applicant, Ketra, Inc., identified as the real party in
interest. App. Br. 1.
2
Appeal2018-005129
Application 15/264,815
REFERENCES
The Examiner relies on the following prior art in rejecting the claims
on appeal:
Recker et al.
("Recker")
Kamii
van de Ven et al.
("van de Ven")
US 2012/0080944 Al
US 2013/0141018 Al
US 2016/0366746 Al
REJECTIONS
Apr. 5, 2012
June 6, 2013
Dec. 15, 2016
The Examiner maintains and Appellant seeks review of the following
rejections: (1) claims 1-3, 8, 11, 12, 31-34, 37, and 38 under 35 U.S.C.
§ I02(a)(l) over Kamii; (2) claims 9 and 35 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over
Kamii in view of Recker; and (3) claims 10 and 36 under 35 U.S.C. § 103
over Kamii in view of van de Ven. Final Act. 3-7; App. Br. 4--7.
OPINION
Appellant argues that the two independent claims, 1 and 3 1, require
two separate and distinct operating modes: an automatic color temperature
change mode followed by an override of the automatic change mode with a
manual intensity change mode. App. Br. 2. Appellant argues that the claims
describe a driver circuit that periodically and automatically receives time of
day signals from a remote controller and, based on content or datasets
previously stored in the illumination device, color temperature change
automatically occurs without any user actuation upon the remote controller.
Id. Appellant contends that Kamii, in contrast, requires actuating a trigger.
Id.
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Appeal2018-005129
Application 15/264,815
The Examiner finds that Kamii teaches the automatically fading
comprises fading in the color temperature change in a plurality of steps over
a fixed amount of time without user actuation of a trigger upon the remote
controller. Final Act. 3. The Examiner relies on passages in Kamii that
disclose that once a timer mode or program mode has been set, follow up
user actuation is not required. Ans. 3; see Kamii ,r 3 80 ("The timer mode
refers to a mode for automatically performing tum-on and tum-off
operations of lighting device 1 based on time and the like set by the user.")
( emphasis added); ,r 423 ( an absence time control start time, a switch time,
and a tum-off time may automatically be set in such a manner that timing of
tum-on and tum-off control of lighting device 1 and the like are stored on a
one-week (seven-day) basis); ,r 424 ("[T]hough the time to start absence
time control is set based on time kept by CPU 22 in accordance with an
oscillation signal from crystal oscillator 27, the method of setting the
absence timer control start time is not limited thereto. Such a keep timer that
the user can set the time until start of absence timer control may be
provided."); ,r 403 ("[E]even if a user who is a keeper is away, the pet does
not have to wait for the user's coming home in the darkness because lighting
control is carried out in accordance with the absence timer table.").
The Examiner states that Appellant indicates that Kamii does not
teach the claimed limitations since a user is required to trigger/initiate a
program mode. Ans. 3. The Examiner finds, however, that if no user
actuation is even allowed to trigger an automatic operation, it is not clear
how the lighting system enters automatic mode to create auto fading and
color change over a fixed period of time. Id.
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Appeal2018-005129
Application 15/264,815
Appellant replies that Kamii teaches a user must actuate trigger 67 to
create the absence timer table, or to initiate and carry out automatic fading
therefrom. Reply Br. 1 (citing Kamii ,r,r 145, 383, 404, 422, 423, and Figs.
5, 29, 30, and 32). In response to the Examiner's question of how the
claimed lighting system enters automatic mode if no user actuation is
allowed, Appellant explains that the Specification teaches remote controller
64 automatically receives time of day initiation signals from a satellite or
over the internet. Id. at 2. Operating as a receiver, remote controller 64
periodically receives the time of day signals without any user actuation on
the remote controller 64. Id. ( citing Spec. ,r 22). No further user actuation is
needed to perform any automatic color temperature change as the remote
controller 64, operating as a transmitter, automatically and periodically
sends the time of day signals from its real time clock (R TC) as a groupcast
signal. Id.
We find that a preponderance of the evidence does not support the
Examiner's finding that Kamii describes a lighting device "wherein the
automatically fading comprises fading in the color temperature change in a
plurality of steps over a fixed amount of time without user actuation of a
trigger upon the remote controller."
We reverse the rejection of claims 1-3, 8, 11, 12, 31-34, and 37-38 as
anticipated by Kamii. Because the Examiner relies on the same reasoning
for the obviousness rejection of claims 9 and 35 over Kamii in view of
Recker and of claims 10 and 36 over Kamii in view of van de Ven, we also
reverse these rejections.
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Appeal2018-005129
Application 15/264,815
DECISION
For the above reasons, the Examiner's rejections of claims 1-3, 8-12,
and 31-38 are reversed.
REVERSED
6