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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 13-19 are new. Claims 1-19 are pending.
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) 1 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takano et al. (US PG Pub. 20210136336) in view of Koda (US Pat. 6,226,055).
Regarding claim 1 and 18, Takano discloses a light source module comprising:
a light source (laser source 21 of fig. 10A) configured to emit a light beam having a first wavelength band (light (i.e., blue laser beam) in a blue band; para. 0089) in a first direction (2nd direction of fig. 10A)
a first condenser lens (large-diameter lens 23a is a lens that converges of fig. 10A) configured to condense the light beam emitted from the light source in the first direction (illustrated in fig. 10A);
a condenser optical system (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 10A below) configured to condense the light beam from the first condenser lens (illustrated in fig. 10A) in a second direction (-1st direction of fig. 10A) orthogonal to the first direction (illustrated in fig. 10A) to form an irradiation spot (irradiation spot is formed onto the phosphor unit 26 of fig. 10A);
a wavelength converter (phosphor unit 26 of fig. 10A) configured to convert the first wavelength band (blue) of the light beam condensed by the condenser optical system into a light beam having a second wavelength band (para. 0103; The blue light guided by the second optical system 25 is incident on the phosphor unit 26. The phosphor unit 26 is a switching unit to switch between a function of reflecting the blue light emitted from the second optical system 25 and a function of causing the blue light to act as excitation light and converting the blue light into fluorescence light having a wavelength range different from that of the blue light by the phosphor. The fluorescence light converted by the phosphor unit 26 is, for example, light in a yellow wavelength band where the center wavelength of the emission intensity is 550 nm);
a second condenser lens (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 10A) configured to condense the light beam having the second wavelength band (para. 0113; refractive optical system 27 is a lens that condenses (converges) blue light and fluorescence light emitted from the second optical system 25) converted by the wavelength converter (26) at a predetermined position (illustrated in fig. 10A).
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Takano fails to teach a first adjuster configured to adjust a position of the first condenser lens in at least one of the second direction or a third direction orthogonal to each of the first direction and the second direction; and a second adjuster configured to adjust a position of the second condenser lens in at least one of the first direction or the third direction.
Koda discloses a projection device comprising a lens adjusting mechanism wherein a first adjuster (adjusting mechanism 5 of fig. 1) configured to adjust a position of the lens (lens 8 of fig. 1) in at least one of the second direction (upward or downward; col. 4 line 18) or a third direction (leftward or rightward; col. 4 line 26) orthogonal to each of the first direction and the second direction.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the application to modify the illumination system of Takano with the lens adjusting mechanism of Koda whether it is one, two or many lens adjusting mechanisms, in order to adjust the light path of the light source to provide accurate alignment within the illumination system to achieve higher illuminance (Koda, col. 2 lines 21-23); Takano discloses two separate condensing lenses (first condenser lens and the condenser optical system); Koda modifies Takano with a lens adjusting mechanism for both lenses to adjust the two condensing lenses of Takano.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-17 and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The subject matter of claim 2 that was found to be allowable is wherein a second light source module configured to emit a second light beam to the light homogenizer in a fifth direction to form a second light condensed spot at a second position adjacent to the first light condensed spot in the light incident opening; and a reflector configured to bent one of the first light beam and the second light beam to align an emission direction of the first light beam and the second light beam to one of the fourth direction or the fifth direction, the fourth direction is one of the first direction and the second direction, and the fifth direction is another of the first direction and the second direction.
Claims 3-17 are allowable as being dependent on claim 2.
The subject matter of claim 19 that was found to be allowable because a second light source module configured to emit a second light beam to the light homogenizer in a fifth direction to form a second light condensed spot at a fourth position adjacent to the first light condensed spot in the light incident opening, the fifth direction being one of the first direction or the second direction, and the fifth direction being different from the fourth direction, and the light source device further comprises a reflector configured to bend one of the first light beam or the second light beam to align an emission direction of the first light beam or the second light beam to one of the fourth direction or the fifth direction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANELL L OWENS whose telephone number is (571)270-5365. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am-5:00pm M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minh-Toan Ton can be reached at 571-272-2303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DANELL L OWENS/ Examiner, Art Unit 2882 3 March 2026
/BAO-LUAN Q LE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882