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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 10/06/2025 is/are being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-5, 7-8 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumoto (JP 2012134091) in view of Chen (CN 107036028).
Claim 1: Matsumoto teaches a projection unit for a low beam light of a vehicle, comprising a light source (202, fig. 1) and an optical lens (150, fig. 1) in an emergent direction of a low beam light, wherein: a reflection plate (130, fig. 1) is arranged in the direction of an optical axis of the light source (see fig. 1), and light rays (A, B, fig. 1) reflected by the reflection plate (130) illuminate a road surface through the optical lens (150); the reflection plate (130) is provided with a reflection boundary (boundary at tip of 130, fig. 1), the reflection plate is arranged at or near a focus of the optical lens (focal point F, fig. 1) (focal point F, see para [0020]); the light source (202) illuminates the reflection plate (130), the light rays reflected by the reflection plate (130) form an initial illumination light shape and then illuminate the road surface through the optical lens (150) to form a final secondary light shape with a bright and dark cut-off line (see fig. 3).
However, Matsumoto fails to teach the reflection plate is provided with the reflection boundary corresponding to a shape of a bright and dark cut-off line required by an illumination light shape of a vehicle lamp system to replace a light shield plate and a boundary of the light shield plate, and the reflection boundary of the reflection plate is arranged at or near a focus of the optical lens; and the reflection boundary of the reflection plate is arranged 0-5mm away from a focus of the lens.
Chen teaches a reflection plate (100, figs. 2-3) is provided with a reflection boundary (lower boundary of 110, 120, 130, fig. 3) corresponding to a shape of a bright and dark cut-off line (see fig. 6) required by an illumination light shape of a vehicle lamp system to replace a light shield plate and a boundary of the light shield plate, and the reflection boundary of the reflection plate (100) is arranged at or near a focus of the optical lens (see fig. 2).
Therefore, in view of Chen, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the reflection plate of Matsumoto by replacing the shading plate at its boundary such that the reflection plate is provided with the reflection boundary corresponding to a shape of a bright and dark cut-off line required by an illumination light shape of a vehicle lamp system to replace a light shield plate and a boundary of the light shield plate, and the reflection boundary of the reflection plate is arranged at or near a focus of the optical lens, in order to provide a simpler implementation of the low beam projection unit.
Matsumoto in view of Chen discloses the claimed invention except for the reflection boundary of the reflection plate is arranged 0-5mm away from a focus of the lens. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to adjust the position of the reflection boundary of the reflection plate of Matsumoto to be 0-5 mm away from the focus of the lens to adjust the light output distribution of the vehicle headlamp, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Claim 2: Matsumoto teaches the light source is a surface light source (light emitting diode, see para [0019]).
Claim 3: Matsumoto teaches a reflection surface (surface of 130, fig. 1) of the reflection plate is arc (see fig. 1), and the reflection boundary (upper boundary of 130, fig. 1) of the reflection plate (130) is located at an upper end of the reflection plate (upper end of 130).
Claim 4: Matsumoto teaches a reflection surface (surface of 130, fig. 1) of the reflection plate is arc (see fig. 1).
However, Matsumoto fails to teach the reflection boundary of the reflection plate is located at a lower end of the reflection plate.
Chen teaches the reflection boundary (boundary of 110, 120, 130, fig. 3) of the reflection plate (100, fig. 1) is located at a lower end of the reflection plate (lower end of 110, 120, 130, fig. 3).
Therefore, in view of Chen, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the reflection plate of Matsumoto by replacing the shading plate at its boundary such that the reflection boundary of the reflection plate is located at a lower end of the reflection plate, in order to provide a simpler implementation of the low beam projection unit.
Claim 5: Matsumoto teaches light rays (B, fig. 1) reflected by the reflection boundary of the reflection plate (130) enter an incident plane of the lens approximately horizontally (see fig. 1).
Claim 7: Matsumoto teaches a secondary light distribution member (170, fig. 1) is additionally arranged between the light source (202, fig. 1) and the reflection plate (130, fig. 1) to converge the light rays or change a light energy distribution to improve luminous efficacy (see fig. 1).
Claim 8: Matsumoto teaches the reflection plate is a plane reflector, a curved reflector (see fig. 1), or a reflector formed by connecting multiple curved surfaces.
Claim 10: Matsumoto teaches vehicle lamp, using the projection unit for a low beam light of a vehicle according to Claim 1 (see para [0015]).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumoto (JP 2012134091) in view of Chen (CN 107036028) as applied to claim(s) 1 above, and further in view of Tsukamoto et al. (US 2006/0120094) (hereinafter Tsukamoto).
Claim 6: Matsumoto in view of Chen fails to teach the reflection plate has a reflectivity not less than 80%.
Tsukamoto teaches a reflection plate (36, fig. 1) has a reflectivity not less than 80% (reflection plate is made of aluminum which has a reflectivity of not less than 80%, see para [0034]).
Therefore, in view of Tsukamoto, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to change the material of the reflection plate of Matsumoto to be aluminum such that the reflection plate has a reflectivity not less than 80%, in order to increase the reflectance of the reflection plate to maximize light output.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsumoto (JP 2012134091) in view of Chen (CN 107036028) as applied to claim(s) 1 above, and further in view of Kobayashi (US 2011/0013412).
Claim 9: Matsumoto teaches the secondary light distribution member (170, fig. 1) arranged between the light source (202) and the reflection plate (130) is a shade (170).
However, Matsumoto in view of Chen fails to teach the secondary light distribution member is a convex lens, a transparent photoconductor, or a reflector.
Kobayashi teaches a secondary light distribution member (20, fig. 1) is a convex lens, a transparent photoconductor (20 has transparent plates 32, see para [0074]), or a reflector (20 can reflect light due to liquid crystal members, see para [0058]).
Therefore, in view of Kobayashi, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the secondary light distribution member of Matsumoto with the secondary light distribution member of Kobayashi, in order to adjust the low beam light output to produce a desired light distribution.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Chen (WO 2017050746) discloses a similar projection unit.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHENG B SONG whose telephone number is (571)272-9402. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 9AM - 5PM.
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/ZHENG SONG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2875
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