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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/23/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lin (US 9, 983, 471 B1) .
With respect to claim 1, Lin discloses an optical element (see 141 or 142 in fig.3) including multiple lenses on at least one surface of the optical element; a light source (110 in fig.1) to emit light including first color light of excitation light, the first color light passing through the optical element (see the operation in fig.1, 141 or 142); a reflector (132) to reflect the first color light which passed through the optical element; a condenser optical system (see 160 in fig.1) to condense the first color light reflected by the reflector; and a wavelength converter (see 170 in fig.1) to convert the first color light condensed by the condenser optical system into second color light, wherein the reflector (see the position of 132) is disposed outside an optical path of the second color light traveling from the wavelength converter (see 170 in fig.1) and which passed through the condenser optical system (132).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 2, 3, 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 9, 983, 471 B1) in view of Li (United States Patent Application Publication 2024/0310707 A1).
With respect to claims 2, 3, 7 and 8, Lin discloses the light source device according to claim 1, a light homogenizer (190 in fig.1) to homogenize light emitted from the light source device.
But Lin does not disclose wherein the wavelength converter: converts the first color light incident on the wavelength converter into the second color light, the first color light including a first principal ray having a first wavelength, and the second color light including a second principal ray having a second wavelength longer than the first wavelength; and reflects the first color light and emits third color light including a third principal ray, the first principal ray passes through a first optical path; and the third principal ray passes through a third optical path different from the first optical path, the condenser optical system collimates the second color light to substantially parallel light, and the second principal ray of the second color light passes through a second optical path different from the first optical path and the third optical path, wherein the wavelength converter includes: a first region including a wavelength conversion layer to convert the first color light into the second color light; and a second region to reflect the first color light, an illumination optical system to illuminate an image formation element with the light homogenized by the light homogenizer to generate an image; and a projection optical system to magnify and project the image formed by the image formation element outside the display apparatus, wherein a longitudinal direction of the multiple lenses is orthogonal to a plane parallel to the first principal ray and the second principal ray.
Li discloses wherein the wavelength converter (see 15): converts the first color light incident on the wavelength converter into the second color light (see the operation of 15 in fig.19, 1522), the first color light including a first principal ray having a first wavelength (see dotted laser beam in fig.23 and ), and the second color light (see the beam emitted from 15 in fig.16 ) including a second principal ray having a second wavelength longer than the first wavelength (see the fluorescent beam of fig.16); and reflects the first color light and emits third color light including a third principal ray (see the operation of 15 in fig.19 and 1521), the first principal ray passes through a first optical path (see path that includes 122A); and the third principal ray passes through a third optical path different from the first optical path (see the path of 121B), the condenser optical system (see 14; [0147]: “The first lens group 14 is further configured to collimate the laser beams reflected by the phosphor wheel 15”) collimates the second color light to substantially parallel light, and the second principal ray of the second color light passes through a second optical path (see the path that contains 121A) different from the first optical path (see path that includes 122A) and the third optical path (see the path that includes 121B), wherein the wavelength converter (15 in fig.19) includes: a first region including a wavelength conversion layer to convert the first color light into the second color light; and a second region to reflect the first color light, further comprising: a condenser lens (see 17 in fig.1 and 23) downstream from the condenser optical system (see 14 in fig.23) in the first direction, wherein the color light separator (see 121A in fig.23) includes a reflection surface between the optical element (see 13) and the condenser optical system (15), the reflection surface of the color light separator reflects the first color light incident from the optical element to the wavelength converter (see the operation of 121 in fig.23), and the first color light (see solid and dotted beam in fig.23) reflected from the wavelength converter enters the condenser optical system lens (see 17 in fig.23) without striking the reflection surface of the color light separator (see the light reflected from 15), wherein the color light separator (see 12 in fig.8) includes: a first region (see 122) to: transmit the first color light incident from the optical element to the wavelength converter (see the doted light beam in fig.8); and reflect the second color light converted by the wavelength converter (see the second color of the florescent beam in fig.8); and a second region (see 121) to reflect the second color light converted by the wavelength converter (see the reflection by 121) and the first color light reflected by the wavelength converter (see the operation of 121), a display apparatus (see fig.8 and 3), comprising: the light source device (see 10 in figs.3) according to the light source device according to claim 1; a light homogenizer (see 210 in fig.8) to homogenize light emitted from the light source device; an illumination optical system (see 230 in fig.3) to illuminate an image formation element (202 in fig.4) with the light homogenized by the light homogenizer to generate an image; and a projection optical system (30 in fig.4), to magnify and project the image formed by the image formation element outside the display apparatus wherein a longitudinal direction (see the z direction implicitly disclose in fig.8) of the lenses is orthogonal to a plane parallel to the first principle ray and the second principal ray (see the x and y plane of fig.8).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Lin with the teaching of Li so that the wavelength converter: converts the first color light incident on the wavelength converter into the second color light, the first color light including a first principal ray having a first wavelength, and the second color light including a second principal ray having a second wavelength longer than the first wavelength; and reflects the first color light and emits third color light including a third principal ray, the first principal ray passes through a first optical path; and the third principal ray passes through a third optical path different from the first optical path, the condenser optical system collimates the second color light to substantially parallel light, and the second principal ray of the second color light passes through a second optical path different from the first optical path and the third optical path, wherein the wavelength converter includes: a first region including a wavelength conversion layer to convert the first color light into the second color light; and a second region to reflect the first color light, a light homogenizer to homogenize light emitted from the light source device; an illumination optical system to illuminate an image formation element with the light homogenized by the light homogenizer to generate an image; and a projection optical system to magnify and project the image formed by the image formation element outside the display apparatus, wherein a longitudinal direction of the multiple lenses is orthogonal to a plane parallel to the first principal ray and the second principal ray to enhance the light source by expanding the color gamut and collimating the exit light from the phosphor wheel.
Claim(s) 5 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 9, 983, 471 B1) in view of Li (United States Patent Application Publication 2024/0310707 A1) and Nakamori (WO 2019187948 A1).
With respect to claim 11, Lin discloses the light source device according to claim 1, wherein incident light is incident on the reflector (see 132 in fig.1) along a first plane defined by the incident light and reflection light which is light reflected by the reflector (see the configuration of fig.1), and the multiple lenses (see the lenses of 142 or 141) but does not discloses the multiple lenses have a first divergence angle in a first direction along the first plane; and a second divergence angle in a second direction along a second plane orthogonal to the first plane, and the first divergence angle is smaller than the second divergence angle.
Li discloses wherein incident light is incident on the color light separator (see 12 in figs.8 and 23) along a first plane defined by the incident light and reflection light which is light reflected by the color light separator, the light source (see 11), the optical element (see 13), the color light separator (see 12), the condenser optical system (see 14) and the wavelength converter (see 15) are disposed in this order from the light source, wherein the multiple lenses of the optical element has have a first divergence angle (see L2 in fig.12) in a first direction; and a second divergence angle (see L1) in a second direction along a second-plane orthogonal to the first direction, and the first divergence angle is smaller than the second divergence angle (see para.[0085]: “Here, the long side direction of the microlens 131 is a direction in which the divergence angle of the laser beam corresponding to the second beam spot 8 is large, and the short side direction of the microlens 131 is a direction in which the divergence angle of the laser beam corresponding to the second beam spot 8 is small”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Lin with the teaching of Li so that a first divergence angle in a first direction along the first plane; and a second divergence angle in a second direction along a second plane orthogonal to the first plane, and the first divergence angle is smaller than the second divergence angle to enhance the uniformity of the light source.
Nakamori discloses a light source device (see 21 in fig.24), comprising: a light source to emit light including a first color light of excitation light (see the excitation light of 21 in fig.24); an optical element (see the 100b in fig.25) including multiple lenses on at least one surface of the optical element (see the multiple lens elements of fig.25b); the color light separator (see 24), the condenser optical system (see 27) and the wavelength converter (28) are disposed in this order from the light source (see the order in fig.24), wherein the multiple lenses of the optical element (see 100 in fig.25) has have a first divergence angle in a first direction along the first plane (disclosed by the ratio of the beam width in the X direction in fig.26 and the distance from the multiple lens and by the resulting compression of the beam in fig.26); and a second divergence angle in a second direction along a second-plane orthogonal to the first direction along-the plane (disclosed by the ratio of the beam width in the y direction in fig.26 and the distance from the multiple lens and by the relative elongation of the beam in fig.26) ), and the first divergence angle is smaller than the second divergence angle (disclosed by the X beam width being smaller than the y beam width over the same distance between the optical element 100b and the wavelength converter ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Lin in view of Li with the teaching of Nakamori so that a first divergence is in a first direction along the first plane and a second divergence angle in a second direction along a second plane orthogonal to the first plane to enhance light utilization efficiency by matching aspect ratios of optical components and suppressing a decrease in phosphor conversion due to luminance saturation.
With respect to claim 5, Lin view of Li and Nakamori discloses the light source device according to claim 11, Lin further comprising: a condenser lens (160 in fig.1) downstream from the condenser optical system (see 140 in fig.1) in the first direction, wherein the reflector includes a reflection surface (132) between the optical element (140) and the condenser optical system (see 160), the reflection surface of the reflector reflects the first color light incident from the optical element to the wavelength converter (see the operation in fig.1), and the first color light reflected from the wavelength converter enters the condenser lens without striking the reflection surface of the reflector (see the operation of 170 in fig.1).
Claim 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 9, 983, 471 B1) in view of Li (United States Patent Application Publication 2024/0310707 A1) , Nakamori (WO 2019187948 A1) and Mei (CN 110764357 A).
With respect to claim 4, Lin in view of Li and Nakamori discloses the light source device according to claim 11, but does not explicitly disclose the anisotropic beam shaping system wherein a first lens interval between adjacent two lenses of the multiple lenses in the first direction; and a second lens interval between adjacent two lenses of the multiple lenses in the second direction, and the first lens interval is smaller than the second lens interval.
Mei discloses he anisotropic beam shaping system wherein the multiple lenses of the optical element has: a first lens interval between adjacent two lenses of the multiple lenses in the first direction (see the interval defined by the centers of the lenses in figs. 7 and 12a in the direction of y ); and a second lens interval between adjacent two lenses of the multiple lenses in the second direction (see the interval defined by the centers of the lenses in figs. 7 and 12a in the direction x ), and the first lens interval is smaller than the second lens interval (see the differences in intervals between the x direction and the y direction).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the light source device of Lin in view of Li and Nakamori with the teaching of Mei so that the first lens interval between adjacent two lenses of the multiple lenses in the first direction; and a second lens interval between adjacent two lenses of the multiple lenses in the second direction, and the first lens interval is smaller than the second lens interval to enhance the uniformity of the light beam while providing light of the desired aspect ratio.
Claims 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 9, 983, 471 B1) in view of Li (United States Patent Application Publication 2024/0310707 A1) , Nakamori (WO 2019187948 A1) and Tanaka (United States Patent Application Publication 2008/0008222 A1).
With respect to claims 9 and 10, Lin in view of Li and Nakamori discloses the light source device according to claim 11, Lin in combination with Li and Nakamori discloses wherein each lens of the multiple lenses has a first aperture diameter in the first direction (see the short length of the rectangular lens in fig.25 (b) of Nakamori) which is smaller than a second aperture diameter in the second direction (see the long length of the rectangular lens in fig.25 (b) of Nakamori) but does not disclose wherein each lens of the multiple lenses has a first curvature in the first direction equal to a second curvature in the second direction.
Tanaka discloses wherein each lens of the multiple lenses has a first curvature in the first direction equal to a second curvature in the second direction (see [0066]: As is clear from both figures, specifically the fly-eye lens 502 has four rectangular spherical lenses arranged vertically and has four rectangular spherical lenses arranged horizontally. ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the light source device of Lin in view of Li and Nakamori with the teaching of Tanaka so that each lens of the multiple lenses has a first curvature in the first direction equal to a second curvature in the second direction to simplify and reduce the cost of lens manufacture by requiring only one curvature for the entire lens surface.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-5 and 7-11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any rejections applied in the prior Office Action of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY L. BROOKS whose telephone number is (571)270-5711. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-4:00 PM.
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/JERRY L BROOKS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882