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 § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 4 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Miller (United States Patent Publication 5, 967, 653).
With respect to claim 1, Miller discloses a light source apparatus (see fig.6) comprising: a light emitter (3) configured to emit light; a substrate configured to support the light emitter (see real surface of 34 in fig.6); a light guide member (20) that the light emitted from the light emitter enters; a holding member (aperture structure of 26) having a groove configured to hold at least a portion of the light guide member (4); and a base member (37) configured as a member separate from the holding member (aperture structure of 26) and to which the substrate is fixed (see the structure disclosed in fig.6), wherein the holding member (aperture structure of 26) is supported by the base member ( see the storage of 26 and 27 inside of 37).
With respect to claim 4, Miller discloses the light source apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the base member (37) has a recess configured to support the holding member (see the structure of 26).
With respect to claim 6, Miller discloses the light source apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding member is supported by the base member via a thermally conductive member (see the fins 27).
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.
Claims 1, 4 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Petrus (WO 2020254439 A1) in view of Hikmet (United States Patent Publication 2016/0139328 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Petrus discloses a light source apparatus (see fig.2 and 4a) comprising: a light emitter (10) configured to emit light; a substrate (240 in fig.2) configured to support the light emitter; a light guide member (100 in fig.2) that the light emitted from the light emitter enters;; and a base member (see 200 in fig.2A) and to which the substrate is fixed (see 240 in fig.2A).
But Petrus does not disclose a holding member having a groove configured to hold at least a portion of the light guide member; and a base member configured as a member separate from the holding member and wherein the holding member is supported by the base member.
Hikmet discloses a holding member (see the holding member of 306 in fig.19) having a groove configured to hold at least a portion of the light guide member (see the groove of 3061); and a base member (see 76 in fig.19) configured as a member separate from the holding member (306) and wherein the holding member is supported by the base member (see 306 in fig.76 of fig.19).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the light source apparatus of Petrus with the teaching of Hikmet so that a holding member having a groove configured to hold at least a portion of the light guide member; and a base member configured as a member separate from the holding member and wherein the holding member is supported by the base member to enhance the cooling the light guide.
With respect to claim 4, Petrus in view of Hikmet discloses the light source apparatus according to claim 1, Petrus in combination with Hikmet discloses wherein the base member (see base member 76 in fig.19) has a recess configured to support the holding member (see the recess supporting the holding member in fig.19).
With respect to claim 10, Petrus in view of Hikmet discloses the light source apparatus according to claim 1, Petrus discloses wherein the light emitter emits first light having a first wavelength band, and the light guide member is a wavelength conversion member that contains a phosphor, and is configured to convert the first light emitted from the light emitter into second light having a second wavelength band different from the first wavelength band and output the second light (see page 2, lines 1-20: A rod of such a transparent luminescent material can be illuminated by LEDs to produce longer wavelengths within the rod. Converted light which will stay in the luminescent material, such as a (trivalent cerium) doped garnet, in the waveguide mode and can then be extracted from one of the (smaller) surfaces leading to an intensity gain.).
Claim 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Miller (United States Patent Publication 5, 967, 653)
With respect to claim 5, Miller discloses the light source apparatus according to claim 1, but does not disclose wherein thermal conductivity of the holding member is higher than thermal conductivity of the base member.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention modify the holding member so that thermal conductivity of the holding member is higher than thermal conductivity of the base member since it would predictably enhance the cooling of the light guide member, and since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Claim 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Miller (United States Patent Publication 5, 967, 653) in view of Tani (EP 1396754 A1)
With respect to claim 2, Miller discloses the light source apparatus according to claim 1, Miller does not explicitly disclose wherein at least a portion of an inner surface of the groove reflects the light emitted from the light emitter toward the light guide member.
Tani discloses teaches a portion of an inner surface (see 36 and 37C and 37B in fig.5) of reflects the light emitted from the light emitter toward the light guide member (see the reflected beam in fig.5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Miller with the teaching of Tani so that at least a portion of an inner surface of the groove reflects the light emitted from the light emitter toward the light guide member to enhance utilization efficiency.
Claim 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Petrus (WO 2020254439 A1) in view of Hikmet (United States Patent Publication 2016/0139328 A1) and Stanton (United States Patent Publication 6631995 B2).
With respect to claim 11, Petrus in view of Hikmet discloses a projector comprising: the light source apparatus according to claim 1; Petrus further discloses a light modulator configured to modulate light output from the light source apparatus (see page 39, lines 1-6: “In yet a further embodiment especially for (LCD or DLP) projector applications using dynamic contrast technologies, such as e.g. described in US patent WO0119092 or US6631995 (B2 ), the plurality of light sources are operated in video signal content controlled intensity modulated operation with intensity variations selected from the range of 0.1-100%, such as 2-100%.”); but Petrus does not explicitly disclose a projection optical apparatus configured to project the light modulated by the light modulator.
Stanton discloses a projection optical apparatus (68 in fig.4) configured to project the light modulated by the light modulator (42 in fig.4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the projector of Petrus in view of Hikmet with the teaching of Stanton so that a projection optical apparatus configured to project the light modulated by the light modulator to enhance user experience.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 7 - 9 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.
With respect to claim 3, the prior art does not disclose or render obvious the light source apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the light guide member has a first surface on which the light is incident, a second surface facing a side opposite from the first surface, a third surface and a fourth surface that intersect with the first surface and the second surface and face opposite sides, and a light exiting portion via which the light exits, the groove has a support surface facing the second surface, a first sidewall surface facing the third surface and separate from the third surface, and a second sidewall surface facing the fourth surface and separate from the fourth surface, the first sidewall surface includes a first section located at a side facing the first surface and a second section located at a side facing the support surface, the first section extending in a direction perpendicular to the support surface, the second section inclining so as to approach the third surface as extending from the side facing the first section toward the support surface, the second sidewall surface includes a third section located at a side facing the first surface and a fourth section located at a side facing the support surface, the third section extending in the direction perpendicular to the support surface, the fourth section inclining so as to approach the fourth surface as extending from the side facing the third section toward the support surface, and the first, the second, the third, and the fourth sections reflect at least part of the light.
With respect to claim 7, the prior art does not disclose or render obvious the light source apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the base member has a front surface to which the substrate is fixed, a rear surface facing a side opposite from the front surface, and a through hole passing the front surface and the rear surface, and the holding member is supported by the through hole in the base member.
Claims 8 and 9 are allowable as they depend from allowed claim 7.
The closest reference of record, Miller, discloses a light source apparatus (see fig.6) comprising: a light emitter (3) configured to emit light; a substrate configured to support the light emitter (see real surface of 34 in fig.6); a light guide member (20) that the light emitted from the light emitter enters; a holding member (aperture structure of 26) having a groove configured to hold at least a portion of the light guide member (4); and a base member (37) configured as a member separate from the holding member (aperture structure of 26) and to which the substrate is fixed (see the structure disclosed in fig.6), wherein the holding member (aperture structure of 26) is supported by the base member ( see the storage of 26 and 27 inside of 37) but does not disclose the limitations of claims 3 and 7.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY L. BROOKS whose telephone number is (571)270-5711. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-4:00 PM.
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/JERRY L BROOKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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