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 .
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) 1-3, 6-7 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Egawa et al. (US 2007/0103647 A1) in view of Yokote et al. (US 2008/0198338 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Egawa teaches an illumination system comprising a light source (31, 351, figure 1), and configured to provide an illumination beam (paragraph 0085);
An optical engine module (32, 352, figure 1) comprising a light valve (32, figure 1), wherein the light valve is disposed on a transmission path of the illumination light beam, and configured to convert the illumination light beam into an image light beam (paragraph 0088);
A lens module (4, figure 1), disposed on a transmission path of the image light beam, and configured to project the image light beam out of the projection apparatus (paragraph 0082), wherein the lens module has an optical axis (inherent to a projector lens group to have an optical axis); and
A heat dissipation module, comprising a heat dissipating device (371, 372, figure 1), a first liquid cooling plate (351), a second liquid cooling plate (352) and a plurality of pipes (3512, 3522, figure 1 and 2, paragraph 0102 and 0110), wherein the first liquid cooling plate (351) is connected to the light source (31), the second liquid cooling plate is connected to the light valve (32, figure 1), the heat dissipating device, the first liquid cooling plate, and the second liquid cooling plate are connected to each other via the plurality of pipes (paragraph 0095) and form a loop to circularly dissipate heat from the light source and the light valve (see figure 3 for a schematic of the cooling fluid flow).
Egawa does not teach that the lens module is adapted to move between a first position and a second position along the optical axis and wherein when the lens moves, the light source, the first liquid cooling plate, the light valve, and the second liquid cooling plate move together with the lens module.
Yokote teaches the lens module is adapted to move between a first position and a second position along the optical axis (figures 4A and 4B, paragraph 0037), and wherein when the lens moves, the light source, the first liquid cooling plate, the light valve, and the second liquid cooling plate move together with the lens module (paragraph 0024, the optical system is part of the projector main body, which would include the light and modulator system, see also figure 10, wherein the modulation part of the optical system is shown in the main body). Upon modification to use the two part casing of Yokote with the displaceable main body and the fixed lower part of the casing, the cooling system of Yokote which is fixed to the optical system would also be part of the projection main body and would move in tandem with the optical elements being moved.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display system of Egawa to use the two part housing of Yokote would make it easier to mount the projector on surfaces while still maintaining the focal and zoom adjustment functionality.
Regarding claim 2, Egawa teaches the geometric center of the optical engine module is located on a first reference plane, and the first reference plane divides the projection apparatus into an upper region and a lower region (the plane that is vertical to the projector and positioned along the optical axis of the lens 4, in figure 1 would bisect the projector into an upper and lower region), at least a part of the optical engine module is located and at least part of the lens module are located at the upper region (the left side housing, figure 1 which houses at least one modulator, one light source and one pump also has half the lens group by the plane bisecting the lens group along the optical axis)., and the heat dissipation module is located at the lower region of the projection apparatus (the right half with element 372 and 371, figure 1).
Regarding claim 3, Egawa teaches a heat dissipation fan, disposed at the lower region of the projection apparatus (372, figure 1) disposed at the lower region of the projection apparatus and adjacent to the heat dissipation device (371).
Regarding claim 6, Egawa teaches a second reference plane is perpendicular to the first reference plane (the back wall of the projection system shown cutout in figure 1, but which is opposed to the side of 2 which has element 2B) and wherein an outermost side of the heat dissipation module does not exceed the second reference plane (371 and 372 are within the housing so it can be said they don’t exceed the housing).
Regarding claim 7, Egawa teaches the heat dissipation module further comprises:
An accommodation tank (36, has an accommodating tank shown but not labeled connected to the pump), connected to the plurality of pipes (34A, figure 3), the accommodating tank configured to accommodate a liquid medium (paragraph 0093); and
A driving element (36, figure 3) connected to the plurality of pipes, wherein the liquid medium in the accommodating tank is conveyed to the plurality of pipes through the driving element (36).
Regarding claim 13, Egawa teaches a casing (2, figure 1), wherein the illumination system, the optical engine module, and the heat dissipation module are located within the casing (see elements 31, 32, and 37, figure 1), wherein when the lens module is located at the first position, the lens module is located within the casing (4, figure 1), and when the lens module is located at the second position, the lens module protrudes out of the casing (see figure 1, wherein the lens module protrudes from 2B).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Egawa et al. (US 2007/0103647 A1) in view of Yokote et al. (US 2008/0198338 A1) as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Kuroda (US 2017/0366788 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Egawa in view of Yokote does not specify a system fan, disposed at the lower region of the projection apparatus, wherein the heat dissipation fan and the system fan are located at a left and right side of the optical engine module.
Kuroda teaches a system fan (27, figure 2), disposed at a lower region of the projection apparatus, wherein the heat dissipation fan (28, figure 2) and the system fan (27) are located at opposite sides of the optical engine module (see 52, figure 2).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Egawa in view of Yokote to include an intake fan as taught in Kuroda in order to improve cooling efficiency in the projection system.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Egawa et al. (US 2007/0103647 A1) in view of Yokote et al. (US 2008/0198338 A1) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Plut (US 2007/0205300 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Egawa in view of Yokote does not specify the power supply, disposed at the lower region of the projection apparatus, and a circuit board, disposed at the lower region of the projection apparatus, wherein when the lens moves, the power supplier and the circuit board do not move together with the lens module.
Plut teaches the power supply (66, figure 2A), disposed at the lower region of the projection apparatus (12, figure 1 and 2A), and a circuit board (76, figure 2A), disposed at the lower region of the projection apparatus (12, figure 1 and 2A), wherein when the lens moves, the power supplier and the circuit board do not move together with the lens module (see 16, 14, figure 1 which moves independently of 12).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Egawa in view of Yokote to use the power supply/circuit base of Plut in order to separate heat generating components so that the hotter components may not deteriorate image quality.
Claim(s) 8-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Egawa et al. (US 2007/0103647 A1) in view of Yokote et al. (US 2008/0198338 A1) as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Zakoji et al. (US 2007/0091276 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Egawa in view of Yokote does not specify that the plurality of pipes comprises a first deformable pipe, wherein the first deformable pipe is connected between one of the first liquid cooling plate, and the second liquid cooling plate, and one of the heat dissipating device, the driving element and the accommodating tank, wherein when the lens module moves the heat dissipating device does not move together with the lens.
Zakoji teaches that the plurality of pipes comprises a first deformable pipe (56, figure 11; paragraph 0186), wherein the first deformable pipe is connected between one of the second liquid (see 11 which is connected to 441, figure 4, which is the modulator which has the second cooling plate in Egawa) cooling plate, and one of the heat dissipating device (51, 55, 55, figure 11) wherein the optical module movement is separate from the heat dissipating device movement (paragraph 0175). One of ordinary skill in the art would without any undue experimentation consider placement of the heat dissipation module of Egawa in view of Yokote into the lower housing of Yokote in order to separate it from the optical elements as taught in Zakoji.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Egawa in view of Yokote to use the tubing to separate the heat dissipation module from the optical module as taught in Zakoji in order to improve cooling efficiency.
Regarding claim 9, Egawa further teaches the plurality of pipes form a closed loop between the heat dissipation element , the first and second liquid cooling plate, the accommodating tank and the driving element (see figure 3)
Zakoji further teaches a second deformable pipe, connected between the heat dissipation device and the optical module to complete the circulation loop for the liquid cooling system (56, figure 10).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Egawa in view of Yokote to use the tubing to separate the heat dissipation module from the optical module as taught in Zakoji in order to improve cooling efficiency.
Therefore, Egawa in view of Yokote and further in view of Zakoji teaches the claimed invention except for specifying that when the lens moves the accommodating tank and the driving element do no move together with the lens module. It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to make the lens module move separately relative to the accommodating tank and the driving element, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify he display of Egawa in view of Yokote in view of Zakoji to keep the accommodating tank and the driving element stationary when the lens module moves in order to keep the cooling components in a separate space to help minimize the chance of cooling liquid leaking into the projector.
Regarding claim 10, Zakoji further teaches when the projection system main body is moved relative to the heat dissipation module from the first position to the second position, states of the first deformable pipe and the second deformable pipe are changed (paragraph 0186).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Egawa in view of Yokote to use the tubing to separate the heat dissipation module from the optical module as taught in Zakoji in order to improve cooling efficiency.
Regarding claim 11, Egawa in view of Yokote teaches when the lens module moves, the accommodating tank and the driving element move together with the lens module (see 36, figure 2, of Egawa which is part of the optical module and moves with the optical module when modified as taught in claim 1 to move as disclosed in Yokote.
Egawa in view of Yokote does not specify a plurality of pipes comprise a first deformable pipe and a second deformable pipe, wherein the first deformable pipe is connected between one of the first liquid cooling plate, the second liquid cooling plate, the accommodating tank, and the driving element and the heat dissipating device, and the second deformable pipe is connected between another one of the first liquid cooling plate, the second liquid cooling plate, the accommodating tank, and the driving element and the heat dissipating device.
Zakoji teaches a first and second deformable pipe forming a cooling circuit between optical elements to be cooled, the driving element and the heat dissipating device (see 56, figure 10 and 11).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the display of Egawa in view of Yokote to use the tubing to separate the heat dissipation module from the optical module as taught in Zakoji in order to improve cooling efficiency.
Regarding claim 12, Yokote teaches an adjustment module (204, 102, figure 1B), configured to drive the lens module to move, the adjustment module comprises a moving plate (102, figure 1A) and the lens module is disposed on the moving plate (see figure 1A, element 103).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN D HOWARD whose telephone number is (571)270-5358. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5:00.
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/RYAN D HOWARD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882 1/09/2026