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 After Final Action
The response to after final filed on 12/19/25 is acknowledged and the arguments regarding the single collinear row is found to be persuasive. Thereby the action remains non-final.
Claim Objection
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 7, the limitation of “wherein a light output from the distance lighting is configured to emit concurrently with a light output from the distance lighting” is unclear language. It is not clear what is meant by this limitation, as it appears to be repetitive, regarding the light output AND distance lighting. Appropriate correction is needed.
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 Proir 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 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (KR 20230159757 A, cited previously) and Gutierrez (US 20160313558 A1, cited previously) and Stopa (CN 110249177 A)
Regarding claim 1, Park teaches a luminary (at least Fig.3), comprising: a housing having a front side and a back side (front and back of plate 500) opposite the front side; a plurality of light sources disposed on the front side, wherein each of the plurality of light sources (510, 530) emits a light output in a same direction and further wherein each of the plurality of light sources is collectively controlled (Abstract: simultaneously supplies power to the first light source and the second light source according to the maximum output mode);
and a plurality of permanent light guides (lenses) , wherein each of the plurality of permanent light guides is disposed over one of the plurality of light sources, the plurality of permanent light guides comprising a first light guide having a first emission angle and a second light guide having a second emission angle where the first emission angle is less than second emission angle such that the first light guide is configured for distance lighting and the second light guide is configured for area lighting wherein a light output from the area lighting is configured to emit concurrently with a light output from the distance lighting; wherein at least a portion of the light output from the distance lighting is configured to overlap with at least a portion of the light output of the area lighting (since Park discloses: Meanwhile, the optical unit 900 may include a narrow-angle lens and a wide-angle lens. Narrow-angle lenses can focus light into a narrower area than wide-angle lenses. Light from the first light source 510 may pass through a wide-angle lens, and light from the second light source 530 may pass through a narrow-angle lens. Since the second light source 530 needs to irradiate a long distance, a narrow-angle lens can be used, and the first light source 510 needs to irradiate a short distance, so a wide-angle lens can be used).
Park does not explicitly teach: the first emission angle less than 20 degrees and the second emission angle greater than 30 degrees. However, Park explicitly teaches wide and narrow angle emission, therefore based on desired design and application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use an angle less than 20 degrees for the narrow emission beam and any value greater than 30 degrees for wide angle emission, by routine experimentation and based upon the desired design and application in order to achieve the desired long and short distance narrow or wide angle emission.
Park does not teach: wherein the front side of the housing comprises a plurality of rotating portions such that the first light guide is hingedly coupled to the second light guide.
Gutierrez teaches the technique of hingedly connecting together an array of lens, such that they can be folded together ([0056]), and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use hinged connected between lenses in the device of Park, in order to facilitate and provide the benefit of folding of the illumination device.
Park in view of Gutierrez do not teach a plurality of permanent light guides disposed in a single collinear row.
However, using either a circular configuration for the light sources and/or lenses/light guides with wide/narrow angle provision and for same use in searchlights is are well known variations in the art.
For example, Stopa teaches:
LED lighting module as disclosed can be used in any place needs to have different beam emission mode of the illuminator. use comprises indoor and outdoor vehicle lighting, emergency lighting, automobile and ship for spotlight, indoor and outdoor architecture lighting, working lamp, indoor and outdoor lighting, motorcycle and bicycle lighting, camera, lighting, stage/theatrical lighting, flashlight, searchlight.
B) wherein some track (wide-angle light incident on the reflector 212), and some track (narrow-angle light incident to the lens 214).
LED lamps 52,54,56 in Fig.5 that are linearly disposed with linearly placed light guides 22.
Fig.1 and 1A show a linearly positioned light source 11 with light emitting wafers 14 and 12 and the narrow and wide angle configurations in Fig.1A.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the shape of the light source and use a linear configuration for the search light, since a change in shape or configuration is within the level of skill in the art as the particular shape claimed by Applicant is nothing more than one of numerous shapes that a person having ordinary skill in the art will find obvious to provide using routine experimentation based on its suitability for the intended use of the invention.
Regarding claim 4, Park in view of Gutierrez and Stopa teaches the invention set forth in claim 1 above, but is silent regarding the plurality of light guides further comprising a third light guide having a third emission angle wherein the third emission angle is greater than the first emission angle and less than the second emission angle. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to form a third light guide in order to achieve a desired emission pattern same or different from the first and second patterns or a combination of the two based on desired emission pattern.
Claims 7,10 and 18 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (KR 20230159757 A, cited previously) in view of Thomas (US 20070125224 A1, cited previously) and Stopa
Regarding claim 7, Park teaches a luminary (at least Fig.3), comprising: a housing having a front side and a back side opposite the front side, a plurality of light sources disposed on the front side, wherein each of the plurality of light sources is configured to emit in a same direction, and further wherein each of the plurality of light sources is collectively controlled (Abstract: simultaneously supplies power to the first light source and the second light source according to the maximum output mode), and a plurality of light guides, wherein each of the plurality of light guides is disposed over one of the plurality of light sources, the plurality of light guides comprising a first light guide having a first emission angle and a second light guide having a second emission angle, the first emission angle being less than second emission angle, wherein the first light guide is configured for distance lighting and the second light guide is configured for area lighting (since Park discloses: Meanwhile, the optical unit 900 may include a narrow-angle lens and a wide-angle lens. Narrow-angle lenses can focus light into a narrower area than wide-angle lenses. Light from the first light source 510 may pass through a wide-angle lens, and light from the second light source 530 may pass through a narrow-angle lens. Since the second light source 530 needs to irradiate a long distance, a narrow-angle lens can be used, and the first light source 510 needs to irradiate a short distance, so a wide-angle lens can be used); wherein a light output from the distance lighting is configured to emit concurrently with a light output from the distance lighting (see claim objection above).
Park does not teach the application of the above Parks search light for tactical shielding system, wherein a luminary tactical shield system, comprising: a tactical shield comprising a front surface and a back surface opposite the front surface; and the luminary coupled to the front surface of the tactical shield.
However, the luminary search light of Park can be used on tactical shields as it is well known in the art to use illumination devices on tactical shields.
Thomas teaches the luminary 3 is coupled to a tactical shield (Title) at a front surface thereof, the tactical shield further comprising a viewing port 9 extending from the front surface to a back surface opposite the front surface, wherein the luminary 3 is disposed below the viewing port ([0018]-[0020]) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the tactical shield along with the light source from the teachings of Thomas in order to use the illuminated tactical shield for law enforcement.
Park in view of Thomas do not teach the plurality of light sources disposed on the front side forming a single collinear row.
However, using either a circular configuration for the light sources and/or lenses/light guides with wide/narrow angle provision and for same use in searchlights is are well known variations in the art.
For example, Stopa teaches:
LED lighting module as disclosed can be used in any place needs to have different beam emission mode of the illuminator. use comprises indoor and outdoor vehicle lighting, emergency lighting, automobile and ship for spotlight, indoor and outdoor architecture lighting, working lamp, indoor and outdoor lighting, motorcycle and bicycle lighting, camera, lighting, stage/theatrical lighting, flashlight, searchlight.
B) wherein some track (wide-angle light incident on the reflector 212), and some track (narrow-angle light incident to the lens 214).
LED lamps 52,54,56 in Fig.5 that are linearly disposed with linearly placed light guides 22.
Fig.1 and 1A show a linearly positioned light source 11 with light emitting wafers 14 and 12 and the narrow and wide angle configurations in Fig.1A.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the shape of the light source and use a linear configuration for the search light, since a change in shape or configuration is within the level of skill in the art as the particular shape claimed by Applicant is nothing more than one of numerous shapes that a person having ordinary skill in the art will find obvious to provide using routine experimentation based on its suitability for the intended use of the invention.
Regarding claim 10, Park in view of Thomas and Stopa teaches each of the plurality of light guides comprises a permanent light guide (as they are permanently attached to the lighting device).
Regarding claim 18, although Park in view of Thomas and Stopa does not explicitly teach the feature a light output from the area lighting is configured to emit concurrently with a light output from the distance lighting and at least a portion of a light output from the distance lighting is configured to overlap with at least a portion of a light output from the area lighting; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to partially overlap the adjacent emission patterns in order to achieve a hybrid/desired emission pattern.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park in view of Gutierrez and Stopa and further in view of Piper (WO 2023060273 A1, cited previously)
Regarding claim 5, Park in view of Gutierrez and Stopa teaches the invention set forth in claim 1 above but is silent regarding the housing is coupled to an extendable pole, the extendable pole being disposed within a tripod having a plurality of legs.
Piper teaches a disinfection light which is disposed with a tripod having a plurality of legs and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use a tripod in order to make the illumination device portable and so it is disposed robustly on the ground (see in Piper: According to other embodiments, the lighting fixture 100 can be configured to be mounted to other surfaces. For example, in one embodiment, the back housing 202 includes a mounting point with an aperture tapped with a % x 20 thread. Many tripods and stands configured for use with photographic and audio equipment include mounting brackets with captured % x 20 machine screws configured to engage corresponding threaded apertures in cameras, flash systems, microphones, loudspeakers, etc. The tapped aperture of the present embodiment enables a user to mount the lighting fixture 100 to a camera tripod or loudspeaker speaker stand, for temporary use in a selected location.
According to various embodiments, the base 820 may be separated from the support frame 816 by releasing the second fastener 822, and the second fastener 822 may be configured to cooperate with a standard camera mount system, such that the portable germicidal lamp 800 may be mounted to a camera tripod). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the tripod of Piper, in the device of Park in view of Gutierrez and Stopa in order to use a portable disinfecting light.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park in view of Thomas and Stopa and further in view of Suwa (JP 2012014980, cited previously)
Regarding claim 20, Park in view of Thomas and Stopa teaches the invention set forth in claim 7 above, but does not teach a number of second light guides and a number of first light guides wherein the number of second light guides (wide angle) is greater than the number of the first light guides (narrow angle).
Suwa teaches a different configuration of numbers and arrangement of second light guides and the first light guides such that the number of second light guides (wide angle) is greater than the number of the first light guides (narrow angle) (at least Fig.9, wherein elements 16 is more than elements 15 AND a plurality of narrow-angle lenses 15 and wide-angle lenses 16) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the configuration of Suwa, in the search light of Park in view of Thomas and Stopa in order to control the illuminance (Suwa: By doing so, it is possible to control the illuminance near the center while maintaining a wide irradiation range).
Response to Arguments
The arguments filed by the Applicant on 12/19/25 is acknowledged and are found to be persuasive, however they are moot in light of new grounds of rejection.
1. Examiner respectfully notes that, for the first argument, that is, the limitation of “single collinear row” when compared to the configuration of Park is one of the many configurations used in search lights, which can be either a circular or a linear arrangement as indicated in the above office action, by the tertiary prior art Stopa that was only used to support this statement.
2. Applicant further argues that “Applicant traverses the Official Notice given that it is well known to use the searchlight taught in Park with a tactical shield”.
The argument is not found to be persuasive, because 1. An explicit prior art Thomas (not an obviousness statement) has been presented in the office action to explicitly support the fact that tactical devices use illumination devices with any desired configuration/shape, based on the specific application and use. Furthermore, a recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus satisfying the claimed structural limitations. As long as a prior art, that is Thomas is presented to show the use of illumination devices for tactical applications, then the "new use" as claimed for tactical shields, is not patentable. Using the luminary within a tactical shield would not make the device patentable, when use of illumination devices was already disclosed in the prior art (Thomas) to be used within tactical shields.
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.
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/Fatima N Farokhrooz/
Examiner, Art Unit 2875