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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claims 1, 3, 5-7, and 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lai et al. (U.S. Patent 8,585,229 B2).
With regards to Claim 1, Lai discloses a bumper for maintaining a gap between a light sheet [e.g., (40) or (800)] and a backlit material [note Figures 1-9: (800) or display], including:
A base part (100, 510, 530) having a central body (100), one or more bumper members (530), and at least one arm section (510) which extends radially outward from the central body and which connects to a side of a respective bumper member of the one or more bumper members [note Figure 9], wherein the central body has an opening (130, 180) for receiving a fastener (330) therethrough, and
A cap part (300) which is mountable to the base part for covering the opening of the central body [note Figure 5A].
With regards to Claim 3, Lai discloses a rim of the opening, on a top side of the central body, has one or more outward projections (190) for elastically mounting the cap part (300) thereof [Figure 2B].
With regards to Claim 5, Lai discloses the arm section (510) being smaller in height and width than the central body (100) and the bumper member (530), and the arm section extends between lower portions of the central body and the bumper member [note Figure 5A].
With regards to Claim 6, Lai discloses the base part (100, 510, 530) has two bumper members (530) and two arm sections (510), and the two arm sections are arranged perpendicular to each other or aligned in a transverse axis through the central body (100) [note Figure 7A].
With regards to Claim 7, Lai discloses the base part (100, 510, 530) having three bumper members (530) and three arm sections (510) [note Figure 7A].
With regards to Claim 9, Lai discloses the bumper member (530) has a height which extends from base to tip along an axis thereof [note Figure 9], and a maximum radial extension of the bumper member transverse to the axis is 30-70% of the height of the bumper member [note Figures 7-9].
With regards to Claim 10, Lai discloses the maximum radial extension is 40-60% of the height of the bumper member [note Figures 7-9].
With regards to Claim 11, Lai discloses the bumper member (530) having a height which extends from base to tip along an axis thereof, the bumper member is convexly curved through at least a portion of the height of the bumper member with a radius of curvature [note Figure 7A – inner surface], and a ratio of the radius of curvature to the height of the bumper member being in the range of 1.3-1.7 [note Figure 7A].
With regards to Claim 12, Lai discloses the ratio of the radius of curvature to the height of the bumper member is 1.4-1.6 [note Figure 7A].
With regard to Claims 13-14, Lai discloses the portion including at least 95% or 97-99% of the height of the bumper member [note Figure 7A].
Claims 17 and 19-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Choi et al. (JP 2006-185908 A).
With regards to Claim 17, Choi discloses a bumper for maintaining a gap between a light sheet (520) and a backlit material (100, 230), including:
A bumper member (251a) with a height, which extends from base to tip along an axis of the bumper member, and a maximum radial extension traverse to the axis that is 30-70% of the height of the bumper member [note Figure 5: arbitrary/relative – radial extension = from center of (251a) to inner edge or internal diameter],
Wherein the bumper member is convexly curved through at least a portion of the height of the bumper member with a radius of curvature [note Figure 5], and a ratio of the radius of curvature to the height of the bumper member is in the range of 1.3-1.7 [note Figure 5].
With regards to Claim 19, Choi discloses the maximum radial extension [note Figure 5: arbitrary/relative – radial extension = from center of (251a) to inner edge or internal diameter] being 40-60% of the height of the bumper member, and the ratio of the radius of curvature to the height of the bumper member being 1.4-1.6 [note Figure 5].
With regard to Claims 20-21, Choi discloses the portion including at least 95% or 97-99% of the height of the bumper member [note Figure 5].
With regards to Claim 23, Choi discloses a light sheet installation kit for backlighting a backlit material, including: a plurality of bumpers (251a), and a light sheet (520) with a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) interspersed with blank areas of the light sheet for attaching the bumpers [note Figure 5 and Paragraph 24: “Further, the lamp unit 210 as a light source can be replaced with light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged in various shapes”].
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 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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lai et al. (U.S. Patent 8,585,229 B2).
With regards to Claim 2, Lai discloses the claimed invention as cited above. In addition, Lai discloses, “In the present embodiment, glue or double-sided adhesive is applied on the inner surface of the supporting unit 300 in order for the supporting unit 300 to be fixed on top of the outer wall 110 of the pillar 100” [Column 5, Lines 53-56].
Though Lai does not specifically teach a bottom side of the base part being provided with adhesive backing for attaching the bumper to the light sheet, it would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a bottom side of the base part to be provided with adhesive backing, as taught in principle above by Lai, for attaching the bumper to the light sheet. Such an obvious modification is well known with respect to adhesives for attachment/securing purposes, as corroborated by Lai.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lai et al. (U.S. Patent 8,585,229 B2) as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu et al. (U.S. Patent 6,974,221 B2).
With regards to Claim 15, Lai discloses the claimed invention as cited above, but does not specifically teach the bumper member having a truncated cone shape with a convexly curved side surface that transitions into a convex or flat tip.
Wu discloses a bumper member (50) having a truncated cone shape with a convexly curved side surface that transitions into a convex or flat tip [note Figure 3].
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the bumper member of Lai to have a truncated cone shape with a convexly curved side surface that transitions into a convex or flat tip, as taught in principle by Wu, in order to provide further support to the light sources and backlit material as desired.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (JP 2006-185908 A) as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Lai et al. (U.S. Patent 8,585,229 B2).
With regards to Claim 18, Choi discloses the claimed invention as cited above but does not specifically teach a bottom side of the bumper member being provided with adhesive backing for attaching the bumper to the light sheet.
Lai discloses, “In the present embodiment, glue or double-sided adhesive is applied on the inner surface of the supporting unit 300 in order for the supporting unit 300 to be fixed on top of the outer wall 110 of the pillar 100” [Column 5, Lines 53-56].
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a bottom side of the base part of Choi to be provided with adhesive backing, as taught in principle by Lai, for attaching the bumper to the light sheet. Such an obvious modification is well known with respect to adhesives for attachment/securing purposes, as corroborated by Lai.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (JP 2006-185908 A) as applied to Claim 17 above, and further in view of Wu et al. (U.S. Patent 6,974,221 B2).
With regards to Claim 22, Choi discloses the claimed invention as cited above, but does not specifically teach the bumper member having a truncated cone shape with a convexly curved side surface that transitions into a convex or flat tip.
Wu discloses a bumper member (50) having a truncated cone shape with a convexly curved side surface that transitions into a convex or flat tip [note Figure 3].
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the bumper member of Choi to have a truncated cone shape with a convexly curved side surface that transitions into a convex or flat tip, as taught in principle by Wu, in order to provide further support to the backlit material as desired.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 8, and 16 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: With regard to Dependent Claims 4, 8, and 16, the Applicant has sufficiently claimed and defined the bumper, whereby the prior art fails to teach or suggest the combination of structural and functional limitations claimed in the preceding base claims and therein to:
Claim 4: the bumper member being larger in height than the central body with the cap part thereon. The bumper members (530) of Lai are not taller than the central body with the cap thereon.
Claim 8: the base part having four bumper members and four arm sections, and the four arm sections are arranged around the central body equidistant from one another to form a cross shape. Lai does not specifically teach the cross shape with arrangement of the four bumper members and arm sections.
Claim 16: the plurality of bumpers; and the light sheet with a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) interspersed with blank areas of the light sheet, wherein the blank areas are pierceable without damaging a power distribution grid of the light sheet, wherein the bumpers are dimensioned such that, when one of the bumpers is installed on the light sheet, the central body and the one or more bumper members thereof each correspond positionally to a respective blank area of the blank areas of the light sheet. Lai does not teach the LEDs and the blank areas of the light sheet being pierceable without damaging a power distribution grid of the light sheet.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, but is not considered exhaustive: U.S. 10,914,985 B2 to Kugimaru et al. that teaches bumper members for a backlit material [note Figures 1-16].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON M HAN whose telephone number is (571)272-2207. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM EST M-F.
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Thursday, January 8, 2026
/Jason M Han/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875