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 .
Preliminary amendments
The preliminary amendment filed 07/30/2025 has been entered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/30/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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)(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, 7, 8, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Biecker (US 2026/0158994).
Regarding claim 1, Biecker discloses a vehicle glass having a glass body (2 and 20, Fig. 2, Paragraph 0063) assembly which has an outside facing a vehicle environment (above the glass, Fig. 2) and an inside facing a vehicle interior (below the glass, Fig. 2), and
which has a light guide layer (20, Fig. 2), a light source (18, Fig. 2), the light of which is able to be coupled into the light guide layer (Fig. 2), and
a shading assembly (8, Fig. 2, Paragraph 0055) which comprises at least one guide rail (10, Fig. 2) for a shading element,
wherein the guide rail rests on the inside of the glass body assembly and delimits a receptacle space for the light source (Fig. 2), the receptacle space being delimited by the glass body assembly (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 2, Biecker discloses the light source is fixed to the guide rail (10 and 14, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 3, Biecker discloses the light source comprises a board (10, Fig. 2) which is held on the guide rail by a retaining rib (14, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 4, Biecker discloses the guide rail has at least one contact flange (10, Fig. 2) which by way of an opaque sealing element rests on the glass body assembly (22 and 24, Fig. 2, Paragraph 0065).
Regarding claim 7, Biecker discloses the glass body assembly [[(20)]] is provided with a light coupling structure (the end face of 20, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 8, Biecker discloses the glass body assembly comprises a glass outer body (outer panel of 2 Fig. 2) and a glass inner body (20, Fig. 2) which by way of a lamination layer (32 and both section of 6 on the intermediate glass between 2 and 20, Fig. 2) is attached to the glass outer body, and which forms the light guide layer, wherein the light coupling structure is disposed on the side of the glass inner body that faces the guide rail (Fig. 2), or between the glass inner body and the glass outer body (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 11, Biecker discloses the glass inner body on its side facing the lamination layer has a light decoupling structure (32, Fig. 2, Paragraph 0063).
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 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Biecker (US 2026/0158994) in view of Kleo et al. (US 2013/0033894 Hereinafter Kleo).
Regarding claim 5, Biecker fails to explicitly teach the sealing element is formed by an adhesive tape or a foam material element.
Kleo teaches the sealing element (6, Fig. 1) is formed by an adhesive tape (Paragraph 0230).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have had the sealing element of Biecker be tape as taught by Kleo, in order to teach a common adhesive connection method.
Regarding claim 6, Biecker fails to explicitly teach the light source comprises a LED strip, the light of which is directed in the direction of the glass body assembly.
Kleo teaches the light source comprises a LED strip (2 and 3, Fig. 7), the light of which is directed in the direction of the glass body assembly (Figs. 1 and 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have had the lighting device of Biecker be an LED strip as taught by Kleo, in order to provide a more distributed lighting allowing for easier heat dissipation.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Biecker (US 2026/0158994) in view of de Bie et al. (US 2024/0109482 Hereinafter de Bie)
Regarding claim 9, Biecker fails to teach the light coupling structure comprises a prism structure formed on a flexible strip.
de Bie teaches the light coupling structure (13, Fig. 1) comprises a prism structure (Paragraphs 0033) formed on a flexible strip (18, Paragraph 0029).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have adding the light coupling structure with flexible strip to the lighting deivce of Biecker as taught by de Bie, in order to provide an alternative light coupling structure as needed for a given application.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Biecker (US 2026/0158994) in view of Hiemstra et al. (US 2020/0164727 Hereinafter Hiemstra).
Regarding claim 10, Biecker fails to explicitly teach the shading assembly comprises a roller blind web which is guided in the guide rail.
Hiemstra teaches the shading assembly (7, Fig. 1, Paragraph 0022) comprises a roller blind web (7, Paragraph 0022, Fig. 1) which is guided in the guide rail (6, Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the earliest effective filing date to have included the teaching of the roller blind web of Hiemstra to the lighting device of Biecker, in order to provide a well known light blocking method common in most vehicles.
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Bott et al. (US 2015/0298601) teaches prism light reflecting members and an LED light source. Bauerle et al. (US 2019/0143648) teaches glass with LED lighting device. Yoshiuchi et al. (US 2023/0228400) and Zhang et al. (US 2026/0061807) teach a light shielding member and a light source.
Conclusion
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/ERIC T EIDE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2875
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