Patent Application 18300074 - LIGHTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING LIGHTING - Rejection
Patent Application 18300074 - LIGHTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING LIGHTING
Title: LIGHTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING LIGHTING IN ENVIRONMENT
Application Information
- Invention Title: LIGHTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING LIGHTING IN ENVIRONMENT
- Application Number: 18300074
- Submission Date: 2025-05-23T00:00:00.000Z
- Effective Filing Date: 2023-04-13T00:00:00.000Z
- Filing Date: 2023-04-13T00:00:00.000Z
- National Class: 315
- National Sub-Class: 152000
- Examiner Employee Number: 91050
- Art Unit: 2844
- Tech Center: 2800
Rejection Summary
- 102 Rejections: 0
- 103 Rejections: 1
Cited Patents
The following patents were cited in the rejection:
Office Action Text
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 .
The present Office Action is in response to Applicants’ filing of April 13, 2023. Claims 1-12 are presented for examination, with Claims 1 and 7 being in independent form.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in India on January 31, 2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the 202341006299 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0199933 (“Graff”) in view of U.S Patent Publication No. 2018/0188018 (“Brown”).
Regarding Claim 1, Graff discloses a lighting system for managing lighting in an environment (Figs. 1-2; [0028]; [0039]), wherein the lighting system comprises:
a plurality of illumination sources in the environment (208; [0040]), wherein each illumination source comprises a lighting driver (205; [0040]);
a lighting management device of a plurality of lighting management devices connected to an illumination source of the plurality of illumination sources through the lighting driver (101, 200; [0017]; [0039]-[0040]), wherein the lighting management device comprises:
at least one illumination sensor manager configured to determine a lighting condition parameter associated with the environment based on a lighting condition of the environment (processors 202; [0042]), wherein the lighting conditions of the environment is determined by at least one illumination sensor connected to the at least one illumination sensor manager (sensors 115, 232; [0028]; [0044]);
at least one occupancy sensor manager configured to determine an occupancy parameter based on an occupancy in a predefined area of the environment (processors 202; [0042]), wherein the occupancy in the predefined area of the environment is determined by at least one occupancy sensor connected to the at least one occupancy sensor manager (sensors 115, 232; [0028]; [0044]);
a light controller configured to receive at least one of: the lighting condition parameter, the occupancy parameter and a lighting driver state, and determine an optimum level of illumination intensity for the predefined area of the environment (lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046]) based on at least one of: the lighting condition parameter, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state, wherein the lighting driver state indicates at least one of a current lighting condition of the predefined area and a lighting management capability of the lighting associated with the illumination source (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061]); and
a lighting driver controller configured to manage the lighting conditions of the predefined area of the environment using the lighting driver associated with the illumination source, based on the optimum level of illumination intensity (lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046]), wherein the lighting driver controller is connected to the light controller and the lighting driver associated with the illumination source (Figs. 1-2).
Although Graff discloses the use of multiple sensors such as ambient temperature, ambient light, humidity, motion, etc. [0044], Graff fails to specifically disclose measuring illumination color.
However, Brown, in the same field of endeavor, teaches measuring illumination color ([0019]; [0022]; [0101]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have provided the lighting system as disclosed by Graff and included an illumination color sensor as disclosed by Brown, in order to detect one or more events and/or environmental characteristics, as evidenced by Brown ([0101], lines 26-27).
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 1, further teaches wherein at least one illumination sensor manager is configured to determine the lighting condition parameter associated with the environment based on the lighting conditions of the environment (lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff) comprises:
determine at least one of: illumination intensity and illumination color in the predefined area of the environment based on the lighting conditions, wherein the predefined area of the environment is illuminated by at least one of: the illumination source associated with the predefined area, at least one illumination source associated with at least one neighboring area of the predefined area and natural light (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff); and
determine the lighting condition parameter using at least one of: the illumination intensity and the illumination color in the predefined area of the environment (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 1, further teaches wherein the light controller is configured to determine the optimum level of illumination intensity and the optimum level of illumination color for the predefined area of the environment based on at least one of: the lighting condition parameter, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state (lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff) comprises:
determine that the illumination intensity of the lighting condition parameter does not meet an illumination intensity threshold, wherein the illumination intensity threshold is determined based on a minimum illumination required for the predefined area and a maximum illumination provided to the predefined area (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff);
determine that the illumination color of the lighting condition parameter does not meet an illumination color requirement; and determine the optimum level of illumination intensity and the optimum level of illumination color for the predefined area of the environment based on at least one of: the lighting condition parameter, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 1, further teaches wherein the lighting driver controller configured to manage the lighting conditions of the predefined area of the environment using the lighting driver associated with the illumination source, based on the optimum level of illumination intensity and the optimum level of illumination color (lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff) comprises:
receive the optimum level of illumination intensity and the optimum level of illumination color for the predefined area; determine a plurality of parameters associated with the lighting driver that is connected to the illumination source; determine whether an occupancy state in the predefined area based on the occupancy parameter is occupied (using lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff);
perform one of:
configure the lighting driver with the determined plurality of parameters associated with the lighting driver and manage the lighting conditions of the predefined area of the environment by modifying the illumination source using the configured lighting driver, in response to determining that the occupancy state in the predefined area based on the occupancy parameter is occupied, and
switch-off the lighting driver, in response to determining that the occupancy state in the predefined area based on the occupancy parameter is not occupied (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 1, further teaches wherein the lighting system further comprises an aggregator (101+155+158 in Fig. 1 of Graff; [0034]-[0036] of Graff) configured to:
send at least one of:
the lighting condition parameter associated with the environment, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state to a cloud server (158 of Graff);
receive energy management report from the cloud server, wherein the energy management report is generated by the cloud server based on at least one of: the lighting condition parameter associated with the environment, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state (Figs. 5-6; [0062]-[0067] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 1, further teaches wherein the lighting condition parameter associated with the environment comprises information associated with illumination intensity and illumination color of the environment and the occupancy parameter comprises information indicating whether the predefined area in the environment is occupied or vacant (using lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 7, Graff discloses a method for managing lighting in an environment by a lighting system (Figs. 1-2; [0028]; [0039]), wherein the method comprises:
determining, by a lighting management device of a plurality of lighting management devices of the lighting system, lighting condition parameter associated with the environment based on a lighting conditions of the environment (101, 200; [0017]; [0039]-[0040]);
determining, by the lighting management device, an occupancy parameter based on an occupancy in a predefined area of the environment (sensors 115, 232; [0028]; [0044]);
receiving, by the lighting management device, at least one of: the lighting condition parameter, the occupancy parameter and a lighting driver state, wherein the lighting driver state indicates at least one of a current lighting condition of the predefined area and a lighting management capability of a lighting driver associated with an illumination source (lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046]);
determining, by the lighting management device, an optimum level of illumination intensity for the predefined area of the environment based on at least one of: the lighting condition parameter, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff); and
managing, by the lighting management device, the lighting conditions of the predefined area of the environment using the lighting driver associated with the illumination source, based on the optimum level of illumination intensity (using lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046]).
Although Graff discloses the use of multiple sensors such as ambient temperature, ambient light, humidity, motion, etc. [0044], Graff fails to specifically disclose measuring illumination color.
However, Brown, in the same field of endeavor, teaches measuring illumination color ([0019]; [0022]; [0101]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have provided the lighting system as disclosed by Graff and included an illumination color sensor as disclosed by Brown, in order to detect one or more events and/or environmental characteristics, as evidenced by Brown ([0101], lines 26-27).
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 7, further teaches wherein determining, by the lighting management device, the lighting condition parameter associated with the environment based on the lighting conditions of the environment (using lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff) comprises:
determining, by the lighting management device, at least one of:
illumination intensity and illumination color in the predefined area of the environment based on the lighting conditions, wherein the predefined area of the environment is illuminated by at least one of: the illumination source associated with the predefined area, at least one illumination source associated with at least one neighboring area of the predefined area and natural light (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff); and
determining, by the lighting management device, the lighting condition parameter using at least one of: the illumination intensity and the illumination color in the predefined area of the environment (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 7, further teaches wherein determining, by the lighting management device, the optimum level of illumination intensity and the optimum level of illumination color for the predefined area of the environment based on at least one of: the lighting condition parameter, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state (using lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff) comprises:
determining, by the lighting management device, that the illumination intensity of the lighting condition parameter does not meet an illumination intensity threshold, wherein the illumination intensity threshold is determined based on a minimum illumination required for the predefined area and a maximum illumination provided to the predefined area (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff);
determining, by the lighting management device, that the illumination color of the lighting condition parameter does not meet an illumination color requirement; and determining, by the lighting management device, the optimum level of illumination intensity and the optimum level of illumination color for the predefined area of the environment based on at least one of: the lighting condition parameter, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 7, further teaches wherein managing, by the lighting management device, the lighting conditions of the predefined area of the environment using the lighting driver associated with the illumination source, based on the optimum level of illumination intensity and the optimum level of illumination color (using lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff) comprises:
receiving, by the lighting management device, the optimum level of illumination intensity and the optimum level of illumination color for the predefined area; determining, by the lighting management device, a plurality of parameters associated with the lighting driver that is connected to the illumination source; determining, by the lighting management device, whether an occupancy state in the predefined area based on the occupancy parameter is occupied (using lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff);
performing, by the lighting management device, one of:
configure the lighting driver with the determined plurality of parameters associated with the lighting driver and manage the lighting conditions of the predefined area of the environment by modifying the illumination source using the configured lighting driver, in response to determining that the occupancy state in the predefined area based on the occupancy parameter is occupied, and switch of the lighting driver, in response to determining that the occupancy state in the predefined area based on the occupancy parameter is not occupied (steps 425 and 430 in Fig. 4; [0051]; [0060]-[0061] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 11, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 7, further teaches
sending, by an aggregator of the lighting system (101+155+158 in Fig. 1 of Graff; [0034]-[0036] of Graff), at least one of:
the lighting condition parameter associated with the environment, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state to a cloud server (158 of Graff);
receiving, by the aggregator, energy management report from the cloud server, wherein the energy management report is generated by the cloud server based on at least one of: the lighting condition parameter associated with the environment, the occupancy parameter and the lighting driver state (Figs. 5-6; [0062]-[0067] of Graff).
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Graff in view of Brown, as applied to Claim 7, further teaches wherein the lighting condition parameter associated with the environment comprises information associated with illumination intensity and illumination color of the environment and the occupancy parameter comprises information indicating whether the predefined area in the environment is occupied or vacant (using lighting controller 135 in luminance manager 101 in Fig. 1, processors 202 including data and instructions in memories 220 in luminaire node 200 in Fig. 2; [0017]; [0038]-[0040]; [0042]; [0045]-[0046] of Graff).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0235579 (“Chemel”) relates to a system for providing occupancy-based variable lighting.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/01922461 (“Minsky”) relates to a system and method for controlling light sources according to location.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0188438 (“Vollmer”) relates to a system for controlling an illumination device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PEDRO C FERNANDEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-7050. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 EST.
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/PEDRO C FERNANDEZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2844
/ALEXANDER H TANINGCO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2844
