Ex Parte Adams et al

Patent Trial and Appeal BoardSep 15, 2017

13681935 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 15, 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. 13/681,935 11/20/2012 Jason O. Adams P/10-1724 CONT 7024 2352 7590 09/19/2017 OSTROLENK FABER LLP 1180 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS NEW YORK, NY 10036-8403 EXAMINER MITCHELL, KATHERINE W ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 3634 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 09/19/2017 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): pat @ ostrolenk.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte JASON O. ADAMS, THOMAS W. BRENNER, BRANDON J. DETMER, ROBERT C. NEWMAN, JR., and JOEL S. SPIRA Appeal 2015-007897 Application 13/681,935 Technology Center 3600 Before EDWARD A. BROWN, MICHELLE R. OSINSKI, and ERIC C. JESCHKE, Administrative Patent Judges. OSINSKI, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE Jason O. Adams et al. (Appellants)1 appeal under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 134 from the Examinerâ€™s decision rejecting claims 1â€”34, which are all of the pending claims. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. Â§ 6(b). We AFFIRM-IN-PART. 1 According to Appellants, the real party in interest is Lutron Electronics Co., Inc. Appeal Br. 1. Appeal 2015-007897 Application 13/681,935 THE CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER Claims 1, 8, 13, 16, and 25 are independent. Claim 1 is reproduced below and is illustrative of the claimed subject matter on appeal. 1. The process of operating a motorized roller tube system for reeling and unreeling a flexible member on a roller tube between a fully open and wound condition and a fully closed and unwound condition with minimized sound pressure level; said motorized roller tube system comprising: a rotatably supported roller tube, a flexible member having one end fixed to the surface of said roller tube and winding onto or unwinding off of said rotatable tube in response to the rotation direction of said roller tube, a motor having an output shaft connected to said rotatable tube through a gear reduction assembly to rotate said roller tube, and a variable controller for energizing said motor for driving said motor output shaft at a controllable RPM; said motor having a motor speed versus available torque characteristic which extends linearly from a high maximum RPM value and low minimum torque value, to a low minimum RPM value and high the process comprising energizing said motor from said controller to move said flexible member between its said fullv