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, 6, 8 and 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zheng (CN 112987466 A).
Regarding claim 1, Zheng teaches a shell (5, 8, 19, 21, figure 1);
An illumination system (16, 15, figure 1), disposed in the shell and adapted to provide an illumination beam;
An electrical connecting element, disposed in the shell (inherent, there has to be something connected to the light vale or it couldn’t work);
A light valve system comprising (9-14, figure 1, figure 3):
A dustproof module (12, 9, 10, 13, 14, figure 3), comprising a frame (12, figure 3), and two transparent plates (9, 14, figure 3), wherein the two transparent plates are respectively disposed at two opposite ends of the frame (see figure 3) and an accommodation space is formed by the frame and the two transparent plates (space inside 12, figure 3); and
A light valve module (11, figure 3), comprising a light valve (the rectangular body of the light valve faces 10 and 13, figure 3), and an electrical connecting part (see annotated figure 3 below), wherein the light valve is disposed in the accommodation space, the light valve and the two transparent plates are located on a transmission path of the illumination beam (see from 15, figure 3), the light valve is adapted to convert the illumination beam into an image beam (every light valve in an image projector does this), the electric connecting part is disposed to pass through a through hole of the frame (clearly the electrical connecting part extends past the frame so it must pass through some kind of through hole), one end of the electrical connecting part located in the accommodation space is electrically connected to the light valve (see how they are physical connected in figure 3), and the other end of the electrical connecting part located outside the accommodation space is detachably electrically connected to the electrical connecting element (inherent, since without such a connection the light valve wouldn’t have a signal to operate); and
A projection lens (1, 2, 3 ,4 figure 1), disposed on a transmission path of the image beam.
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Regarding claim 6, Zheng teaches a fan (20, figure 3), wherein the fane is disposed in the shell, the light valve system further comprises an air guide member, the frame further comprises at least one air intake vent (see annotated figure 3 above), the air guide member is disposed on a side of the frame away from the light valve module and the air guide member is adjacent to the at least one air intake vent, and the fan is adapted to generate an airflow passing through the air guide member and the at least one air intake vent (12, figure 3).
Regarding claim 8, Zheng teaches the air guide member and the electrical connecting part are respectively located on two opposite sides of the frame (see annotated figure 3 above).
Regarding claim 10, Zheng teaches the shell has a mounting opening (each of 19/21 and 8/5 has a mounting opening, and the light valve system is detachably fixed to the electrical connecting element via the mounting opening (the light valve system is detachably fixed to the electrical connecting element and the exploded view of figure 3 clearly shows it to be in the vicinity of the openings of the 8 and 5 or 19 and 21 housing pairs).
Regarding claim 11, Zheng teaches the shell comprises a cover and the cover is adapted to shield or expose the mounting opening (either of 19 and 21, or 5 and 8 can be considered the cover of the other pair).
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng (CN 112987466 A) in view of Miyashita (US 2013/0114046 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Zheng does not teach the system further comprises two sealing members, one of the two sealing members is disposed between an edge of one of the two transparent plates and the frame and the other of the two sealing members is disposed between an edge of the other of the two transparent plates and the frame.
Miyashita teaches sealing the LCD inside the frame with a sealing member (407, paragraph 0044). Extending the idea to Zheng, one of ordinary skill in the art would readily conceive of putting a sealing member on either side of the frame without any undue experimentation.
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 Zheng to use the sealing member of Miyashita in order to help prevent dust intrusion that would degrade optical performance.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng (CN 112987466 A) in view of Shen et al. (US 2014/0170875).
Zheng does not teach the electrical connecting element comprises a card edge connector, and the other end of the electrical connecting part located outside the accommodation space comprises a gold finger detachably electrically connected to the card edge connector.
Shen teaches the connector is a gold finger/card edge connector type (figure 2, paragraph 0019).
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 Zheng to use a card edge/gold finger connection such as taught in Sheng in order to make the projection connection more reliable and easier to manufacture.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4, 7 and 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 2 and 7 Closest prior art (Zheng) does not specify the dustproof member.
Regarding claim 4, Closest prior art (Zheng) does not teach a dust blocking member disposed between the electrical connecting part and the through hole.
Regarding claim 9, closest prior art (Zheng) does not teach the air guide member comprises an air blocking wall, the air-blocking wall is adapted to guide the airflow generated by the fan to the at least one air intake vent, and the air blocking wall shields the at least one air intake vent in a direction of an orthographic projection of the at least one air intake vent.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minh-Toan Ton can be reached at 5712722303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RYAN D HOWARD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882 8/21/2026
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