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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 2/6/2024 and 10/9/2024 were filed and are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the claim 9 which recites that the reflecting member and the pressing member are formed of an integrated member must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
It is the Examiner’s precedent to consider all features claimed but not drawn at initial filing to be obvious and well-motivated to a PHOSITA—if the undrawn element was critical to the applicant’s invention, then it would have been captured at filing. An argument that a PHOSITA does not require drawings for the claimed element will be considered equivalent to the admission of obviousness for the feature. Further, drawing objections cannot be held in abeyance—responding to this office action without either filing drawings that include the element, specifically and successfully pointing where the element has been drawn, or cancelling the limitation in question will be considered a non-compliant response.
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) 1-9 and 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoki et al (US 2021/0302822 A1) in view of Wu (US 2020/0096696 A1).
In regard to claim 1, 2, and 12, Aoki et al disclose a light source device comprising:
a light emitting element (51) configured to emit light;
a light guide member (50) configured to guide the light emitted from the light emitting element;
a reflecting member (55) having a reflecting surface configured to reflect the light proceeding through the light guide member; and
wherein the light guide member includes a first face and a second face located at respective sides opposite to each other in a first direction as a longitudinal direction of the light guide member, and
a third face and a fourth face located at respective sides opposite to each other in a second direction in an imaginary plane perpendicular to the first direction,
the light guided through the light guide member is emitted from the first face, and
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the light emitting element is disposed so as to be opposed to the third face, the second face and the reflecting surface have contact with each other. (Figure 2; see at least [0015] onward)
Aoki et al fail to disclose a pressing member.
Wu teaches a pressing member (110) configured to press a reflecting member (130) against a light guide member (120), the pressing member is configured to press the reflecting member from a surface at an opposite side to the reflecting surface of the reflecting member toward the second face, and as recited in claim 2, the pressing member includes a pressing part configured to press the reflecting member, and an elastic part which is coupled to the pressing part, and which is elastically deformable and elastically restorable, and flexibility of the elastic part in the first direction is higher than flexibility of the elastic part in the second direction and a third direction perpendicular to the second direction in the imaginary plane (because of its shape, it would have different degrees of flexibility in different dimensions), and as recited in claim 12, an area of the reflecting surface of the reflecting member is larger than an area of the second face of the light guide member (“a periphery of the reflective sheet extends beyond the periphery of the light guide plate”). (Figure 1; see at
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least [0007])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to install the pressing member of Wu onto the mirror of Aoki et al in order to improve retention of the mirror.
In regard to claim 3, the combination of Aoki et al and Wu teach the reflecting member and the pressing member are formed of respective members separated from each other.
In regard to claim 4, Wu further teaches the pressing part has a pressing part main body, and a contact part (Contact) which extends from the pressing part main body (Body), and which is configured to have contact with the reflecting member, and a contact position of the contact part with respect to the reflecting member is located within a range of a region opposed to the second face of the light guide member out of a surface at a side opposite to the reflecting surface of the reflecting member. (See
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annotated Figure 1)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to install the pressing member of Wu onto the mirror of Aoki et al in order to improve retention of the mirror.
In regard to claim 5, Wu further teaches a first regulatory part (150) configured to regulate a translation of the pressing member in the second direction.
In regard to claim 6, Wu further teaches a second regulatory part (150—claim 6 does not depend from claim 5 and thus it does not need to be a different part under BRI—the housing 150 holds the pressing part in all three dimensions) configured to regulate a translation of the pressing member in a third direction perpendicular to the second direction in the imaginary plane.
In regard to claim 7, Wu further teaches the pressing part is formed of a plate-like member of which a thickness in the second direction is smaller than a width in a third direction perpendicular to the second direction in the imaginary plane, and a width in the third direction of the contact part at the contact position is smaller than a width in the third direction of the pressing part main body. (These dimensions are poorly defined—there are slices of the pressing part that satisfy this limitation.)
In regard to claim 8, Wu further teaches a third regulatory part (150—again, claim 8 does not depend from claim 5 or 6 and therefore does not need to be a new element under BRI—the housing 150 holds the pressing part in all dimensions) configured to regulate a translation of the reflecting member in the second direction and a third direction perpendicular to the second direction in the imaginary plane.
In regard to claim 9, the combination of Aoki et al and Wu fail to disclose that the reflecting member and the pressing member are formed of an integrated member.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to form the pressing member and mirror as an integral member in order to simplify assembly of the device.
In regard to claim 13, Aoki et al disclose the light emitting element is configured to emit first light having a first wavelength band, and the light guide member is a wavelength conversion member which includes a phosphor, and which is configured to convert the first light emitted from the light emitting element into second light having a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band to emit the second light.
In regard to claim 14, Aoki et al disclose a projector comprising the light source device according to Claim 1, a light modulation device (4R, 4G, 4B) configured to modulate the light emitted from the light source device in accordance with image information, and a projection optical device (6) configured to project the light modulated by the light modulation device. (Figure 1)
Claim(s) 10 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoki et al (US 2021/0302822 A1) in view of Wu (US 2020/0096696 A1), and further, in view of Bruls et al (WO 2020/254455 A1)
In regard to claim 10, Aoki et al fail to disclose a support and fixation members.
Bruls et al teach a support member (2000) having a support surface configured to support the light guide member (100); and a fixation member (300) which is disposed so as to be opposed to the third face of the light guide member, and which is configured to fix the light guide member to the support member in a pressed state. (Figure 3A; see at least Claim 1)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to provide the support and fixation members of Bruls et al to the light guide of Aoki et al in order to secure and retain the light guide.
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In regard to claim 11, the combination of Aoki et al, Wu, and Bruls et al fail to explicitly disclose when defining a force of the pressing member pressing the reflecting member in the first direction as F, a force of the light guide member pressing the support member in the second direction with the fixation member as N, and a friction coefficient between the fourth face of the light guide member and the support surface of the support member as μ, F<N×μ is fulfilled.
However, this is routine optimization, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to optimize the force of the pressing member in order to ensure the mirror stays against the light guide.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Suzuki et al (US 2021/0294201 A1) disclose a projector.
De Boer et al (US 11,079,530 B2) disclose a lighting system.
Shin (US 2021/0200031 A1) disclose a backlight unit.
Takase (US 2021/0132285 A1) disclose a display device.
Cui et al (US 2020/0341324 A1) disclose a display device.
Bijlsma et al (WO 2015/113979 A1) disclose a light emitting device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER E DUNAY whose telephone number is (571)270-1222. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 am - 6:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James (Jong-Suk) Lee can be reached at 571-272-7044. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER E DUNAY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875