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
The filing on 06/30/2026 amended claims 1, 2, 7, 18, 40 and cancelled claims 16 and 33. Claims 1-15, 17-32, 34-43 are pending. Claims 1, 13-15, 17, 29-32, 34-39, 42, and 43 are rejected on new grounds of rejections necessitated by the amendments of claims 1 and 17. Claims 2-12, 18-28, 40 and 41 are allowed.
Objection/s to the Application, Drawings and Claims
The filing on 06/30/2026 appropriately amended the title; hence the objections to the title made in the last office action are withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - AIA 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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1, 14, 15, 17, 30-32, 34-39, 42, and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 20200301118 A1) in view of Chen (US 20200159097 A1).
Regarding claim 1, 14, and 15, Lin teaches an actuating module (100), comprising a frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140), a light-transmitting element (180), at least one actuator (160, 162, 164, 170, 172 and/or 174), wherein: the light-transmitting element (180) is disposed on the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140); a part of the at least one actuator (160, 162, 164, 170, 172 and/or 174) is connected to the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140) for driving the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140) to vibrate ([0031]-[0035]).
Lin does not explicitly teach a light shielding member where the light shielding member overlaps at least a part of an incident surface, a light emitting surface or one of a combination thereof of the light-transmitting element (180) for reflecting and/or absorbing a light beam.
Chen teaches a light shielding member (surface of 214; Fig. 2, 6, 7; [0030]) where the light shielding member (surface of 214) is connected to the frame (214) or light-transmitting element (220).
The combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in the light shielding member (surface of 214) overlaps at least a part of an incident surface, a light emitting surface or one of a combination thereof of the light-transmitting element (180 of Lin; 220 of Chen) for reflecting and/or absorbing a light beam (Fig. 2, 6, 7; [0030] of Chen); wherein the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) is connected to the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140 of Lin; 214 of Chen) and is configured to vibrate together with the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140 of Lin; 214 of Chen), or the light shielding member (surface of 214 of) is connected to the light-transmitting element (180 of Lin; 220 of Chen) and is configured to vibrate together with the light-transmitting element (180 of Lin; 220 of Chen).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the invention to combine Lin with Chen; because it improves contrast in the projected image.
Regarding claims 17, 30, and 31, Lin teaches a projection device (400; Fig. 1-13), comprising an illumination system (312, 316, 317, 318), an optomechanical module (100, 319, 320), and a projection lens (260), wherein: the illumination system (312, 316, 317, 318) is configured to provide an illumination light beam; the optomechanical module (100, 319, 320) comprises a light valve (320) and an actuating module (100), wherein: the light valve (320) is disposed on a transmission path of the illumination light beam for converting the illumination light beam into an image light beam (on-beam of the DMD; [0028], [0037]) and an ineffective light beam (flat/off-beam of the DMD; [0028], [0037]); and the actuating module (100) is disposed on a transmission path of the image light beam (on-beam) to shift the transmission path of the image light beam (on-beam), and the actuating module (100) comprises a frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140), a light-transmitting element (180), at least one actuator (160, 162, 164, 170, 172 and/or 174), and the light-transmitting element (180) is fixed on the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140); the at least one actuator (160, 162, 164, 170, 172 and/or 174) is connected to the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140) for driving the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140) to vibrate; and the projection lens (260) is disposed on the transmission path of the image light beam (on-beam) from the optomechanical module (100, 319, 320) for projecting the image light beam (on-beam) out of the projection device (400; Fig. 1-13).
Lin does not explicitly teach a light shielding member, wherein: the light shielding member overlaps at least a part of an incident surface, a light emitting surface or one of a combination thereof of the light-transmitting element (180) for reflecting and/or absorbing at least a part of the ineffective light beam (flat/off-beam); and
Chen teaches a light shielding member (surface of 214; Fig. 2, 6, 7; [0030]) where the light shielding member (surface of 214) is connected to the frame (214) or light-transmitting element (220).
The combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in the light shielding member (surface of 214) overlaps at least a part of an incident surface, a light emitting surface or one of a combination thereof of the light-transmitting element (180 of Lin; 220 of Chen) for reflecting and/or absorbing a light beam (Fig. 2, 6, 7; [0030] of Chen); wherein the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) is connected to the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140 of Lin; 214 of Chen) and is configured to vibrate together with the frame (110, 112, 114, 120, and/or 140 of Lin; 214 of Chen), or the light shielding member (surface of 214 of) is connected to the light-transmitting element (180 of Lin; 220 of Chen) and is configured to vibrate together with the light-transmitting element (180 of Lin; 220 of Chen).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the invention to combine Lin with Chen; because it improves contrast in the projected image.
Regarding claim 32, the combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in the light-transmitting element (180 of Lin, 220 of Chen) is disposed on the transmission path of the image light beam (on-beam), and there is a distance between an orthographic projection of the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) on the light-transmitting element (180 of Lin, 220 of Chen) and an imaging range of the image light beam (on-beam) on the light-transmitting element (180, Fig. 3A and 13 of Lin; Fig. 2, 6, 7 of Chen).
Regarding claim 34, the combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) is disposed on a transmission path of the ineffective light beam (flat/off-beam), and a shortest distance between the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) and the image light beam (on-beam) is greater than zero (Fig. 2, 6, 7 of Chen).
Regarding claim 35, Lin further teaches the optomechanical module (100, 319, 320) further comprises a light guiding prism (319) configured to guide the illumination light beam from the illumination system (312, 316, 317, 318) to the light valve (320) and guide the image light beam (on-beam) from the light valve (320) to the actuating module (100).
Regarding claim 36, the combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in an orthographic projection of the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) on a light emitting surface of the light guiding prism (190 of Chen) and the image light beam (on-beam) do not overlap ([0030] of Chen).
Regarding claim 37, the combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in a heat dissipation member (212 of Chen) disposed between the light guiding prism (190 of Chen) and the projection lens (Fig. 5 and 6 of Chen), the heat dissipation member (212 of Chen of Chen) disposed on a transmission path of the ineffective light beam (second state of Chen), and a shortest distance between the heat dissipation member (212 of Chen) and the image light beam (first state of Chen) is greater than zero (Fig. 5 and 6; [0030], [0033] of Chen).
Regarding claim 38, the combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in a thickness of the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) in a transmission direction of the ineffective light beam (flat/off-beam) is less than a thickness of the heat dissipation member (212 of Chen) in a transmission direction of the ineffective light beam (flat/off-beam; Fig. 6 and 7).
Regarding claim 39, the combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in a shortest distance between the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) and the image light beam (on-beam) is less than the shortest distance between the heat dissipation member (212 of Chen) and the image light beam (on-beam; Fig. 5 and 6 of Chen).
Regarding claim 42, the combination of Lin and Chen consequently results in the light shielding member (surface of 214 of Chen) reflects or absorbs at least a part of the ineffective light beam (flat/off-beam) which is less than or equal to 30% of the entire ineffective light beam (flat/off-beam).
Regarding claim 43, neither Lin nor Chen teaches a back focal length (distance between the projection lens and the DMD 320) of the projection lens is less than 38.5 mm.
Having the back focal length (distance between the projection lens and the DMD 320) of the projection lens less than 38.5 mm is a matter design choice; hence it is prima facie obvious.
Claims 13 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of Chen and in further view of Lee (US 20070035701 A1).
Regarding claims 13 and 29, Lin does not teach the light shielding member is formed on the light-transmitting element by coating.
Lee teaches the light shield member (32, 100, 200) is formed on the prism by coating (Fig. 6; [0062]-[0063]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the invention to combine Lin and Chen with Lee; because it allows weight reduction.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-12, 18-28, 40 and 41 are allowed.
Regarding claims 2 and 18, the closest prior art references, Lin, Lee and Chen, do not teach, by themselves or in combination with one another, “the light shielding member comprises a light absorbing layer and a reflective layer, the incident surface faces a first side of the actuating module, the light emitting surface faces a second side of the actuating module, the reflective layer is configured to reflect a first light beam from the first side, and the light absorbing layer is configured to absorb a second light beam from the second side.” Furthermore, there is no teaching, suggestion or motivation in the prior art references to modify the references in such manner that results in the above claimed limitation/s; hence the invention as claimed by claims 2 and 18 is not obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Claims 3-12 and 19-28 depend, directly or indirectly, on claim 2 and 18, respectively; hence they are also allowable.
Regarding claim 40, the closest prior art references, Lin, Lee and Chen, do not teach, by themselves or in combination with one another, “the heat dissipation member has a first side and a second side opposite to each other, the first side of the heat dissipation member faces the light shielding member, the ineffective light beam comprises a first ineffective light beam and a second ineffective light beam, the first ineffective light beam is transmitted to the light shielding member, and the second ineffective light beam is transmitted to the second side of the heat dissipation member.” Furthermore, there is no teaching, suggestion or motivation in the prior art references to modify the references in such manner that results in the above claimed limitation/s; hence the invention as claimed by claims 2 and 18 is not obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Claim 41 depend, directly or indirectly, on claim 40, respectively; hence it is also allowable.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection necessitated by the amendment/s of claims 1 and 17.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BAO-LUAN Q LE whose telephone number is (571)270-5362. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday; 9:00AM-5:00PM.
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