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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/16/26 has been entered.
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) 17-21, 23-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 20140293582) in view of Chang (US 20150009680 )
Lee discloses
A light module comprising:
a substrate (500) for electrical connection; light sources (200-204) disposed on the substrate and comprising a first light emitter and a second light emitter; and
a plurality of lenses (101-104) disposed on the substrate, each lens comprising a light exit region, each of the plurality of lenses includes an upper surface and a lower surface and an outer side surface between the upper surface and the lower surface of the lens (Fig. 7-9),
wherein the lower surface of each lens includes a light incident region depressed inwards therefrom (Fig. 3-5) at an optical axis defined by a straight line passing through a center of the lens,
wherein the upper surface of each lens includes a curved shape depressed toward the optical axis and the light incident region of the lens (Fig. 5),
wherein the outer side surface of each lens comprises a first region 120 and a second region 150 bulging further outward from the optical axis than the first region,
wherein a light emitted through one of the lenses corresponding to the first light emitter has a different shape of beam angle distribution than a shape of a beam angle distribution of a light emitted through another one of the lenses corresponding to the second light emitter (par. 49-50, 68),
the first light emitter and the second light emitter are disposed on the same substrate (Fig. 7, 9),
wherein the optical axis of each of the plurality of lenses is oriented perpendicular with respect to the substrate (Fig. 7, 9), and
wherein the first region (120) is a planar surface extending from a distal end of the upper surface (Figs. 7-9), and
Lee is silent to the second region 150 is a convex surface extending from an end of the planar surface 120 to a position above a top surface of the substrate.
Chang discloses a second region 120 is a convex surface extending from an end of the planar surface 130 to a position above a top surface of the substrate (Chang, Fig. 1-3)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Chang to achieve a light distribution pattern or mounting structure characterized by the structure in Chang.
Claim 18.17, wherein a distance from an outer boundary of the first region to the optical axis is not constant (Fig. 5-9).
Claim 19.17, wherein a distance from an outer boundary of the second region to the optical axis is not constant (Fig. 5-9).
Claim 20.18, wherein the distance from the outer boundary of the first region to the optical axis increases as the first region extends toward the lower surface (Figs. 5-9).
Claim 21.18, wherein the outer boundary of the first region comprises a flat face (Fig. 7-9).
Claim 24.21, wherein the light incident region includes a first convex face and a second convex face (Fig. 3-5, 6c-f).
Claim 25.24, wherein the first and second convex faces have different radiuses of curvature (Fig. 3-5, 6c-f).
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 20140293582)/ Chang (US 20150009680 ) in view of Pao (US 20070273984)
Re claim 22.21, wherein an angle defined between the flat face of the first region and the lower surface is less than about 90*
Pao discloses an angle defined between the flat face 320 of the first region and the lower surface is less than about 90* (Fig. 5)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Pao to achieve a light distribution pattern characterized by the flat face angle.
Claim(s) 23, 27-31, 33-34, 36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 20140293582)/ Chang (US 20150009680) in view of Kasai (US 20120099046)
23.17, further comprising a reflective sheet disposed on the substrate and reflecting a light emitted from each lens (Lee discloses a reflective sheet, par. 54; Lee is silent to the substrate arranged on the lower surface of the reflective sheet; Kasai discloses a reflective sheet (42, 11) disposed on substrate 41 for reflecting a light emitted from the lenses; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Kasai for ease of manufacturing by being able to be attached to the substrate and for reflecting more light upward)
27. A display apparatus comprising: a substrate 500 for electrical connection; a light source 200 disposed on the substrate and comprising a first light emitter and a second light emitter (Figs. 7-9); a plurality of lenses disposed on the substrate, each lens comprising a light exit region, each of the plurality of lenses includes an upper surface and a lower surface and an outer side surface between the upper surface and the lower surface of the lens (Lee, Figs. 3-9); and
a reflective sheet reflecting a light emitted from the lenses, wherein the lower surface includes a light incident portion depressed inwards therefrom at an optical axis defined by a straight line passing through a center of the lens, wherein the upper surface includes a curved shape depressed toward the optical axis and the light incident portion of the lens, wherein the outer side surface comprises a first region and a second region bulging further outward from the optical axis than the first region,
wherein the substrate is arranged on a lower surface of the reflective sheet (Lee discloses a reflective sheet; Lee is silent to the substrate arranged on the lower surface of the reflective sheet; Kasai discloses a reflective sheet (42, 11) disposed on substrate 41 for reflecting a light emitted from the lenses; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Kasai for ease of manufacturing by being able to be attached to the substrate and for reflecting more light upward),
wherein a light emitted through one of the lenses has a different shape of beam angle distribution than a shape of a beam angle distribution of a light emitted though at least one of the other lenses and wherein the optical axis of each of the plurality of lenses is oriented perpendicular with respect to the substrate (Lee, par. 49-50).
Re claims 28-31, 33-34, 36, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 26, 35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 20140293582)/ Chang (US 20150009680 ) in view of Kijima (US 20090140630)
Re claim 26.17, 35.27, Lee is silent to each of the first light emitter and the second light emitter comprise a light emitting diode chip and a wavelength converter covering the light emitting diode chip.
Kijima discloses a light emitter 201 is known to comprise a light emitting diode chip 4 and a wavelength converter covering the light emitting diode chip (Figs. 1-7, par. 170-172, 326-336).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Kijima for emitting a desirable wavelength via a conversion
Claim(s) 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 20140293582)/ Chang (US 20150009680 ) Kasai (US 20120099046) in view of Pao (US 20070273984)
Re claim 32.31, wherein an angle defined between the flat face of the first region and the lower surface is less than about 90*
Pao discloses an angle defined between the flat face 320 of the first region and the lower surface is less than about 90* (Fig. 5)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Pao to achieve a light distribution pattern characterized by the flat face angle.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of new ground of rejection.
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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