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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed by the Applicant on 11/20/25 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1-6,9-14 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
In the amended portion of claim 1, the limitation of “one of the outer walls is provided with a recessed portion“ is not described in the specification. Because not all of the outer walls are provided with the recessed portion. If any one of the outer walls is selected, the other one of the walls that is not an irregular portion does not have a recessed portion. Specification does not disclose that any one of the outer walls are provided with a recessed portion. Only the irregular portion is provided with the recesses.
Appropriate correction is needed.
Response to Arguments
The arguments filed by the Applicant on 11/20/25 is acknowledged.
Examiner has contacted the Applicant’s Representative and indicated that the amended language is unclear and suggested some proposed amendment towards allowance. As noted above, the limitation of “one of the outer walls is provided with a recessed portion“ does not reflect the inventive concept. It is a broad limitation and does not conform with the specification nor the drawings and has created a written description issue as indicated in the office action above.
Examiner called the Applicant’s representative and went back and forth until a proper amendment that reflects the inventive concept and that conforms to the Applicant’s disclosure was derived.
The below proposed amendment resolves the written description issue and the claims would be in condition for allowance:
1. (Currently amended) A planar illumination device, comprising:
a plurality of light sources;
a substrate with the plurality of light sources bidimensionally disposed thereupon; and
a reflector provided with a plurality of segments, each of the plurality of segments including a hole corresponding to a respective light source of the plurality of light sources and a reflecting surface extending obliquely from a periphery of the hole, the reflector being provided with outer walls at an entire outer peripheral portion of the reflector, the reflector being disposed at an emission side of the substrate, wherein:
each hole is formed in a center of the respective segment in a plan view,
each light source of the plurality of light sources is inserted in the respective hole,
the reflector has a section that has an irregular portion, which thereby makes the reflector shape not perfectly rectangular,
one or a plurality of recesses is provided within at least one of the plurality of segments disposed at an inner surface of the irregular portion of the outer peripheral portion, and
in the at least one of the plurality of segments disposed at the inner surface of the irregular portion of the outer peripheral portion, light sources are disposed within the plurality of recesses for adjusting an amount of light.
However, Applicant requested an office action.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Fatima Farokhrooz whose telephone number is (571)-272-6043. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday- Friday, 9 am - 5 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James Greece can be reached on (571) 272-3711. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/Fatima N Farokhrooz/
Examiner, Art Unit 2875