DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the request for continued examination filed on February 17th, 2026. Claims 37-56 are pending.
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 .
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.
Claim(s) 37-51 and 53-56 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2017/0051884 (Raring et al.) in view of US 2014/0131595 (Nathan et al.).
Regarding claim 37, Raring et al. discloses a light source configured for independently controlling a visible light emission and an ultraviolet (UV) emission, the light source comprising:
a nitrogen containing laser diode configured as a pump-light device (multiple figures, element 402);
the nitrogen containing laser diode comprising an optical cavity, the optical cavity comprising an optical waveguide region and one or more facet regions (‘The gallium and nitrogen containing laser diode is configured with a cavity … configured with a front facets and back facet on the end wherein the front facet comprises the output facet and emits the laser beam incident on the phosphor.’ P 31);
the nitrogen containing laser diode configured to output a first directional electromagnetic radiation (multiple figures, element 407);
the first directional electromagnetic radiation from the nitrogen containing laser diode characterized by a first peak wavelength (‘The laser device is capable of an emission of a laser beam with a wavelength preferably in the blue region of 425 nm to 475 nm or in the ultra violet or violet region of 380 nm to 425 nm, but can be other such as in the cyan region of 475 nm to 510 nm or the green region of 510 nm to 560 nm.’ P 17);
a wavelength converter optically coupled to a pathway to receive the first directional electromagnetic radiation from the pump-light device (fig. 28a, element 406), wherein the first directional electromagnetic radiation travels through free space directly from the nitrogen containing laser diode to the wavelength converter and wherein the wavelength converter is configured to convert at least a fraction of the first directional electromagnetic radiation with the first peak wavelength to at least a second peak wavelength that is longer than the first peak wavelength and to generate the visible light emission comprising at least the second peak wavelength (‘In a preferred embodiment the phosphor material can provide a yellowish emission in the 550 nm to 590 nm range such that when mixed with the blue emission of the laser diode a white light is produced. In other embodiments phosphors with red, green, yellow, and even blue emission can be used in combination with the laser diode excitation source to produce a white light with color mixing.’ P 17); and
a UV emitting laser diode to provide the UV emission, the UV emitting laser diode configured to output a second directional electromagnetic radiation characterized by a third peak wavelength (‘In some embodiments, separate individual laser chips are configured within the laser-phosphor light source.’ P327, wherein ‘This additive color benefit can be incorporated into laser plus phosphor devices simply by the addition of a near UV (400-430 nm) laser to provide sufficient violet light in the final light spectrum emitted by the device.’ P 330 and ‘The laser device is capable of an emission of a laser beam with a wavelength … the ultra violet or violet region of 380 nm to 425 nm,’ P 17).
Raring et al. does not disclose a controller configured to cause UV emission without light emission from the visible spectrum so as to enable the light source to operate at times with the UV emission, wherein the UV emission is for use in purification, cleaning, or disinfection applications. However, Raring does disclose that the nitrogen containing laser diode configured as a pump-light device and the UV emitting laser diode are individually controllable (‘The electrodes 404 and 405 are configured for an electrical connection to an external power source such as a laser driver, a current source, or a voltage source. … electrical designs including individually addressable lasers,’ P 347).
Nathan et al. discloses a controller for controlling a set of individually controllable lasers for UV and visible light emission to cause UV emission without light emission from the visible spectrum so as to enable the light source to operate at times with the UV emission and without visible light emission (“In operation, the dies 103 may be controlled independently in order that the UV light emitting material is inactive when the material that emits in the visible light spectrum is active, and vice versa.” P 45), wherein the UV emission is for use in purification, cleaning, or disinfection applications (intended use, only limits to UV emissions in the required wavelength range, however Nathan et al. also includes this, see “Devices and uses of said devices for transmitting UV light over a broad area and for a long distance to inactivate microbes and non-microbial sources.” abstract). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to modify the light source of Raring et al. to include the controller of Nathan et al. so that the UV light could be used for disinfecting microbes, as disclosed in Nathan et al. (“Devices and uses of said devices for transmitting UV light over a broad area and for a long distance to inactivate microbes and non-microbial sources.” abstract).
Regarding claim 38, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 wherein the nitrogen containing laser diode is a gallium and nitrogen containing laser diode emitting the first peak wavelength in a blue wavelength region of 420nm to 480nm (‘The laser device is capable of an emission of a laser beam with a wavelength preferably in the blue region of 425 nm to 475 nm or in the ultra violet or violet region of 380 nm to 425 nm, but can be other such as in the cyan region of 475 nm to 510 nm or the green region of 510 nm to 560 nm.’ P 17).
Regarding claim 39, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 wherein the wavelength converter is configured to provide the visible light emission in a reflective mode such that the first directional electromagnetic radiation is incident on an excitation surface of the wavelength converter and the excitation surface is a primary emission surface of the visible light emission, or wherein the wavelength converter is configured to provide the visible light emission in a transmissive mode such that the first directional electromagnetic radiation is incident on the excitation surface of the wavelength converter and the visible light emission is emitted from an emission surface on an opposite side of the wavelength converter from the excitation surface (‘The phosphor material can be operated in a transmissive mode, a reflective mode, or a combination of a transmissive mode and reflective mode, or other modes.’ P 261).
Regarding claim 44, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 wherein the first directional electromagnetic radiation is incident to the wavelength converter in a first direction, the second directional electromagnetic radiation is incident to the wavelength converter in a second direction, and the first direction is different from the second direction (fig. 28a).
Regarding claim 45, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 wherein the first direction is not parallel to the second direction (fig. 28a).
Regarding claim 46, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 wherein the first directional electromagnetic radiation and the second directional electromagnetic radiation overlap upon incidence on the wavelength converter (fig. 28a).
Regarding claim 47, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 wherein the first directional electromagnetic radiation and the second directional electromagnetic radiation are incident on the same spot on the first wavelength converter (fig. 28a).
Regarding claim 48, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 wherein the wavelength converter is comprised of a phosphor material, and wherein the phosphor material is comprised of a ceramic yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) doped with Ce, or a single crystal YAG doped with Ce, or a powdered YAG comprising a binder material (‘In a preferred embodiment the phosphor material is comprised of a yellow emitting YAG material doped with Ce with a conversion efficiency of greater than 100 lumens per optical watt, greater than 200 lumens per optical watt, or greater than 300 lumens per optical watt, and can be a polycrystalline ceramic material or a single crystal material.’ P 261).
Regarding claim 49, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 further comprising a package member configured with a common support member (multiple figures, element 401), wherein the package member is a surface mount device (SMD) package and the common support member is configured from a base of the SMD package (multiple figures, element 501).
Regarding claim 50, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 further comprising a package member configured with a common support member, wherein the package member is selected from a TO can type, a flat package type, or a butterfly type (multiple figures, at least one for each of the Markush members).
Regarding claim 51, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the claimed invention except for an optical fiber member coupled to the visible and/or UV light emission, wherein the optical fiber member is a single mode fiber (SMF) or a multi-mode fiber (MMF), and wherein the optical fiber member has a core diameter ranging from about 1 µm to 10 µm, about 10µm to 50 µm, about 50 µm to 150µm, about 150 µm to 500 µm, about 500 µm to 1mm, about 1mm to 5mm or greater than 5mm. Optical fibers in both single and multi-modes with such diameters are well known in the art, and it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to modify the light source of Raring in view of Nathan to include such an optical fiber to direct the visible, and/or UV light to a target for illumination and disinfection.
Regarding claim 52, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the claimed invention except for the optical fiber member including at least one of a transport fiber or a leaky scattering fiber. Both forms of fibers are well known in the art and it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to use a transport fiber if directing to a target in front of the fiber or a leaky scattering fiber if directing to a target adjacent to the fiber so that the light would be received at the desired location.
Regarding claim 54, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 arranged to provide the purification, cleaning, or disinfection applications in a hospital, school, restaurant, hotel, shopping center, office, home, automobile, or aircraft (appears to be inherent, any source of uv light capable providing of purification, cleaning, or disinfection would be arranged to provide purification, cleaning, or disinfection light regardless of the location, also intended use).
Regarding claim 55, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. disclose the light source of claim 37 wherein the UV emission is in a UV wavelength range of 270nm to 390nm (“the ultra violet or violet region of 380 nm to 425 nm,’ P 17, also Nathan, “emitting ultraviolet light in a range from about 10 to 400 nanometers” Abstract).
Regarding claim 56, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. discloses the claimed invention except for an infrared emitting laser diode to provide an infrared emission, the infrared emitting laser diode configured to output an electromagnetic radiation characterized by a fourth peak wavelength in an infrared region. Infrared emitting laser diodes are well known in the art and it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to modify the laser source of Raring to include an additional infrared emitting laser diode to provide a fourth wavelength of light if infrared light where desired.
Regarding claim 40, Raring et al. discloses a system comprising:
a light source configured for visible light emission (‘The embodiments described herein provide a device and method for an integrated white colored electromagnetic radiation source’ abstract) and ultraviolet (UV) emission for use in purification, cleaning, or disinfection applications (‘This additive color benefit can be incorporated into laser plus phosphor devices simply by the addition of a near UV (400-430 nm) laser to provide sufficient violet light in the final light spectrum emitted by the device.’ P 330 and ‘The laser device is capable of an emission of a laser beam with a wavelength … the ultra violet or violet region of 380 nm to 425 nm,’ P 17);
a package configured to enclose the light source, the light source comprising:
a nitrogen containing laser diode configured as a pump-light device (multiple figures, element 402) and UV emitting laser diode to provide the UV emission (‘In some embodiments, separate individual laser chips are configured within the laser-phosphor light source.’ P327, wherein ‘This additive color benefit can be incorporated into laser plus phosphor devices simply by the addition of a near UV (400-430 nm) laser to provide sufficient violet light in the final light spectrum emitted by the device.’ P 330 and ‘The laser device is capable of an emission of a laser beam with a wavelength … the ultra violet or violet region of 380 nm to 425 nm,’ P 17);
the nitrogen containing laser diode comprising an optical cavity, the optical cavity comprising an optical waveguide region and one or more facet regions; the nitrogen containing laser diode configured to output a directional electromagnetic radiation through at least one of the facet regions; the directional electromagnetic radiation from the nitrogen containing laser diode characterized by a first peak wavelength (‘The gallium and nitrogen containing laser diode is configured with a cavity … configured with a front facets and back facet on the end wherein the front facet comprises the output facet and emits the laser beam incident on the phosphor.’ P 31);
a wavelength converter optically coupled to a pathway to receive the directional electromagnetic radiation from the pump-light device, wherein the directional electromagnetic radiation travels through free space directly from the light source to the first wavelength converter, and wherein the wavelength converter is configured to convert at least a fraction of the directional electromagnetic radiation with the first peak wavelength to at least a second peak wavelength that is longer than the first peak wavelength and to generate the visible light emission comprising at least the second peak wavelength to generate the visible light emission (‘In a preferred embodiment the phosphor material can provide a yellowish emission in the 550 nm to 590 nm range such that when mixed with the blue emission of the laser diode a white light is produced. In other embodiments phosphors with red, green, yellow, and even blue emission can be used in combination with the laser diode excitation source to produce a white light with color mixing.’ P 17).
Raring et al. does not disclose a controller configured to cause UV emission without light emission from the visible spectrum so as to enable the light source to operate at times with the UV emission, wherein the UV emission is for use in purification, cleaning, or disinfection applications. However, Raring does disclose that the nitrogen containing laser diode configured as a pump-light device and the UV emitting laser diode are individually controllable (‘The electrodes 404 and 405 are configured for an electrical connection to an external power source such as a laser driver, a current source, or a voltage source. … electrical designs including individually addressable lasers,’ P 347).
Nathan et al. discloses a controller for controlling a set of individually controllable lasers for UV and visible light emission to cause UV emission without light emission from the visible spectrum so as to enable the light source to operate at times with the UV emission and without visible light emission (“In operation, the dies 103 may be controlled independently in order that the UV light emitting material is inactive when the material that emits in the visible light spectrum is active, and vice versa.” P 45), wherein the UV emission is for use in purification, cleaning, or disinfection applications (intended use, only limits to UV emissions in the required wavelength range, however Nathan et al. also includes this, see “Devices and uses of said devices for transmitting UV light over a broad area and for a long distance to inactivate microbes and non-microbial sources.” abstract). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to modify the light source of Raring et al. to include the controller of Nathan et al. so that the UV light could be used for disinfecting microbes, as disclosed in Nathan et al. (“Devices and uses of said devices for transmitting UV light over a broad area and for a long distance to inactivate microbes and non-microbial sources.” abstract).
Regarding claim 41, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. discloses the system of claim 40, wherein the UV emitting laser diode is configured to emit in a UV wavelength region of 200nm to 400nm (‘the ultra violet or violet region of 380 nm to 425 nm,’ P 17 also Nathan, “emitting ultraviolet light in a range from about 10 to 400 nanometers” Abstract) for fixed periods of time independent of the visible light emission (‘The electrodes 404 and 405 are configured for an electrical connection to an external power source such as a laser driver, a current source, or a voltage source. … electrical designs including individually addressable lasers,’ P 347).
Regarding claim 42, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. discloses the system of claim 40, wherein the visible light emission emitted from the wavelength converter has a bandwidth equal to or greater than 10 nm and equal to or less than100 nm (“Examples of such phosphors include, but are not limited to YAG, LuAG, red nitrides, aluminates, oxynitrides, CaMgSi2O6:Eu2+, BAM:Eu2+, AlN:Eu2+, (Sr,Ca)3MgSi2O8:Eu2+, and JEM.” P 35).
Regarding claim 43, Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. discloses the system of claim 40, wherein the wavelength converter is configured to provide the visible light emission in a reflective mode such that the directional electromagnetic radiation is incident on an excitation surface of the wavelength converter and the excitation surface is a primary emission surface of the visible light emission, or wherein the first wavelength converter is configured to provide the visible light emission in a transmissive mode such that the directional electromagnetic radiation is incident on the excitation surface of the wavelength converter and the visible light emission is emitted from an emission surface on an opposite side of the wavelength converter from the excitation surface (‘The phosphor material can be operated in a transmissive mode, a reflective mode, or a combination of a transmissive mode and reflective mode, or other modes.’ P 261).
Claim(s) 53 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Raring et al. in view of Nathan et al. as applied to claim 37 above, and further in view of US 2010/0265167 (Kinoshita).
Kinoshita discloses a light source comprising laser diodes and wavelength converters that includes one or more sensors and a controller to provide an input signal to the light source, wherein the one or more sensors are configured in a feedback loop circuit to provide a feedback current or voltage to the controller to adjust brightness of the light emission (‘a detection section 11 configured to detect a small part of the light output of the laser cavity 7, and a control section 12 configured to control the driving section 10 based on the monitored result detected by the detection section 11 to adjust an applied current passing through the LD chip 2 and control a light output of the LD chip 2.’ P 69). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to modify the light source of Raring to include the sensors and controller of Kinoshita to so that the brightness could be adjusted as desired.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/ELIZA W OSENBAUGH-STEWART/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881