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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: 210. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: there are multiple instances where “brake light” is misspelled as “break light”. Similarly, “braking” is misspelled as “breaking”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “a substrate to which a Micro-LED tile is bound”. It is unclear how the Micro-LED tile is related to the rest of the invention, whether the tile is the same as the Micro-LED panel or a different element. For the purposes of claim examination, the Examiner will interpret the limitation as “a substrate to which a Micro-LED tile comprised of the plurality of Micro-LEDs is bound”.
Claims 2-7 are rejected due to their dependence on claim 1.
Claim 4 recites the limitation “the panel comprises Micro-LEDs in a density”. It is unclear whether these Micro-LEDs are the same as or different from the Micro-LEDs earlier recited in claim 1. For the purposes of claim examination, the Examiner will interpret the limitation as referring to the Micro-LEDs of claim 1.
Claims 2, 3, 6 recite “Micro-LED tiles”. It is unclear whether these are the same as or different from the Micro-LED tiles recited earlier in claim 1. For the purposes of claim examination, the Examiner will interpret them as the same tiles as recited in claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim, US 2018/0339644 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses “A method to integrate Micro-LEDs into a vehicle taillight, the method comprising:
having a Micro-LED panel (200, Fig. 6) comprised of a plurality of Micro-LEDs (920, Fig. 6; ¶ [0192]); bounding a substrate to a Micro-LED tile;
a connector which allows electronics of the Micro LED panel to integrate with a vehicle (connectors between the components in Fig. 2, e.g. from the processor to the light units; ¶ [0068-0073] vehicle); and having the Micro-LED panel perform a function of a vehicle taillight (100b, Fig. 1; ¶ [0051]).”
Regarding claim 2, Kim discloses the invention of claim 1, as cited above, and further discloses “multiple small Micro-LED tiles are integrated together into a larger flat plate (Fig. 8-9, for example, tiles 941 and 942 on larger flat plate 210).
Regarding claim 3, Kim discloses the invention of claim 2, as cited above, and further discloses “the panel contains Micro-LEDs in a density to enable creating a same light as conventional LED and non LED interior lights (¶ [0044-0045] “, the plurality of micro-LED elements may be configured to attain a light distribution range suitable for functions of a lamp for a vehicle.”).
Regarding claim 4, Kim discloses the invention of claim 1, as cited above, and further discloses “an intensity and a color of the light from the Micro-LED panel may be programmable and change based on input (¶ [0116-0119] “The processor 170 may supply a different amount of electrical energy to each region of the array module”, ¶ [0126] “The processor 170 may control the light generation unit 160 based on the external light information so as to form a first light distribution pattern”, ¶ [0131]; ¶ [0216]) .
Regarding claim 6, Kim discloses the invention of claim 1, as cited above, and further discloses “the substrate is one of silicon, glass, sapphire, or any material to which Micro-LED tiles are bound or any combination of these materials (¶ [0092] substrate is a copper clad laminated substrate.
Regarding claim 7, Kim discloses the invention of claim 1, as cited above, and further discloses “the substrate further houses or is bound to electronics (electrodes 912, 915, Fig. 7) which connects to the Micro-LEDs (seen in Fig. 7).”
Regarding claim 8, Kim discloses the invention of claim 1, as cited above, and further discloses “a second element is a protective layer (916-919, Fig. 7) protecting from environmental and/or vibrational damage and wherein further the protective layer is either made of glass, epoxy, plastic, metal or any combination of protective materials and wherein further the protective layer is hermetically sealed (seen in Fig. 7) .
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(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Dohner et al., US 2022/0181527 A1.
Regarding claim 5, Kim discloses the invention of claim 1, as cited above, except “the Micro-LED panel uses RGB Micro-LEDs, which are programmable to display multiple colors.”
Kim discloses that the panel can display multiple colors (¶ [0216]), but does not disclose the usage of RGB Micro-LEDs.
Dohner discloses a light module that can be used for projected display and vehicle lights (¶ [0022-0023]), and uses RGB Micro-LEDs (¶ [0028-0029]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, to have the micro-LEDs, as taught by Kim, be a RGB Micro-LEDs, such as taught by Dohner. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to use RGB Micro-LEDs for having a particular color available for color changing (Doher, ¶ [0022]) available, even as a combined tunable white light (Dohner, ¶ [0028]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hallitschke et al., US 2023/0175667 A1 discloses a vehicle tail light with micro-LEDs
Ritter et al., US 2022/0357010 A1 discloses a vehicle signal light with micro-LEDs
Woodgate et al., US 2022/0120402 A1 discloses vehicle lights including brake lights that can be micro-LED array
Helot et al., US 2021/0188153 A1 discloses vehicle lights including brake lights that can be micro-LED array
Jo et al., US 2019/0056083 A1 discloses a vehicle light that can be micro-LEDs
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL CHIANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3811. The examiner can normally be reached M to F, 9am-6pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James R Greece can be reached at 571-272-3711. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MICHAEL CHIANG/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2875
/JAMES R GREECE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2875
Prosecution Insights