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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's withdrawal of the claim for the foreign priority.
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) 1-2, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshima (JP 2016103379) in view of Takebe (US 20040227270)
Oshima discloses
1. A light leakage prevention apparatus for a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising a first light source and second light source (11);
a light leakage prevention member (2, 4, 5) that shields interference between the first and second light sources;
a housing including a space for accommodating the light leakage prevention member (Figs. 1-2); and
a cover (6) coupled to an upper end of the housing,
wherein the light leakage prevention member comprises a transmission member (2) and a shielding member (4, 5) alternatingly disposed in a direction of light transmission of the first and second light sources,
wherein the shielding member (2, 4) is disposed above (when device 100 in Fig. 2 is turned upside down) the second light source so as to cover at least a portion of an upper surface of the second light source (Fig. 1-2), and
Oshima is silent to wherein the transmission member and the shielding member are manufactured by a double injection molding such that the transmission member and the shielding member have different color colors or comprise different materials from each other.
Takebe discloses a transmission member 30 and a shielding member 20 are manufactured by a double injection molding such that the transmission member and the shielding member have different color colors or comprise different materials from each other (Fig. 3-7, par. 28)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Takebe so that materials of different types or materials having different characteristics can be integrated to each other by double injection molding, thereby providing a cost-effective manufacturing way since at least it eliminates the need of joining two separate parts.
2.1 wherein the transmission member is disposed in front of the second light source and configured to transmit and emit light of the second light source and wherein the shielding member is coupled to the transmission member and configured to shield light from the first and second light sources (Figs. 1-2).
13.1, wherein the housing includes a groove, and wherein the light leakage prevention member is coupled to the groove such that the light leakage prevention member is restrained from moving in all directions (although not clearly shown means for restraining the preventer from moving, it would have also been obvious to extend the prior art’s teachings by securing at least the PCB substrate 12 to the housing 7 to prevent abnormal behavior of the device)
Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshima (JP 2016103379) Takebe (US 20040227270) in view of Kim (WO 2022225205)
Re claim 3.2, Oshima is silent to wherein the transmission member and the shielding member have different polarities such that the transmission member and the shielding member form one or more microspaces on surfaces bonded to each other during the double injection molding.
Kim discloses a microspace as gap 373 such that:
In an embodiment, the opaque part 372 may be connected to form a gap 373 between the transmissive lens 371 and the outer peripheral surface 371C. In other words, an empty space formed along the outer peripheral surface 371C of the transmissive lens 371 may be formed between the opaque portion 372 and the transmissive lens 371. In an embodiment, an air layer may be formed in the gap 373 formed between the opaque portion 372 and the transmissive lens 371. The air layer may have a refractive index of about 1.0 based on a wavelength of about 589 nm. In one embodiment, since the air layer has a lower refractive index than the transmission lens 371, light passing through the outer circumferential surface 371C of the transmission lens 371 to the air layer is totally reflected inside the transmission lens 371 according to the angle of incidence ( total reflection).
In an embodiment, based on the cross section of FIG. 4 , the gap 373 may be formed to have a constant width along the optical axis L. In one embodiment, the gap 373 may be formed to have a width sufficient to sufficiently generate total reflection through the air layer. For example, the gap 373 may be formed to have a width three times or more than a wavelength of light (eg, visible light of about 589 nm). In addition, the gap may be formed to have a width of at least a tool tolerance (eg, about 100 μm, 0.1T) generated during the manufacturing process.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Kim to provide a total reflection through the air layer between the members).
4.3, wherein the transmission member reflects the light of the second light source to a reflection surface formed from the one or more microspaces (Kim, “the reflective layer 775 may be attached to the outer peripheral surface 771C of the transmissive lens 771 so as to be positioned in a gap formed between the transmissive lens 771 and the opaque portion 772. The reflective layer 775 may occupy the entire gap as shown in FIG. 7, but alternatively, it may be attached to the outer circumferential surface 771C of the transmissive lens 771 to form a predetermined gap between the reflective layer 772 [should be 775] and the opaque portion 772”)
Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshima (JP 2016103379) Takebe (US 20040227270) in view of Peng (US 20090128741)
Re claim 5.2, Oshima/Takebe discloses the transmission and shielding members are resins which are polymers.
Oshima is silent to wherein the transmission member comprises a polar molecule selected from the group consisting of polycarbonate (PC), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and polyamide (PA).
Peng discloses wherein the transmission member (310) comprises a polar molecule selected from the group consisting of polycarbonate (PC), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and polyamide (PA) (Peng, par. 35).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Peng so that cost may be more effective for using known materials for resins.
6.2, wherein the shielding member comprises a nonpolar molecule selected from the group consisting of polyethylene (PE), and polyamide (PP) (Peng discloses shield member 350 can be organic or inorganic material, par. 38; although silent to which material is organic or inorganic; it is well known in the art that polymeric materials including PPMA, PC, PS, and methyl acrylate used for making the transmission member 310 are organic material; it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to extend Peng’s teaching by making the shield member opaque using organic material similar to the transmission member).
Claim(s) 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshima (JP 2016103379) Takebe (US 20040227270) further in view of Karsch (US 20200376953)
Re claim 7.1, Peng is silent to wherein the light leakage prevention member is heat treated after the double injection molding.
Karsch discloses that it is well known to remove unwanted or excess injection molding material by separation, cutting (for example by laser or water jet), punching, sawing or milling (par. 26)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Karsch to remove unwanted material formed in the double injection molding by known method including separation, cutting, punching, sawing in order to generate the microspace. It would have also been obvious that such process would require heat by thermodynamics law to melt the molding.
Re claims 8-10, see discussion regarding claims above.
Claim(s) 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshima (JP 2016103379) Takebe (US 20040227270) Karsch (US 20200376953) further in view of Peng (US 20090128741)
Re claim 11.9, 12.9, see discussion regarding claims 5-6 above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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