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 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 09/15/2025 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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Okada (US 2008/0112180).
Regarding claim 1, Okada discloses a vehicle headlamp comprising:
a projection lens (31, Fig. 3);
a light source (33, Fig. 4) arranged behind a rear focal point (F2, Paragraph 0065) of the projection lens; and
an optical element (39 and 43, Fig. 3) configured to control light emitted from the light source,
wherein the optical element includes:
a shade (39, 55a2, and 43; Figs. 1-4) located near the rear focal point of the projection lens and configured to shield a portion of the light emitted from the light source to form a cutoff line of a light distribution pattern (Fig. 1); and
a reflective portion (55a1 and 61, Figs. 1-4) extending from the shade toward the projection lens and configured to reflect a portion of the light emitted from the light source toward the projection lens to irradiate a region overlapping the cutoff line with the light (Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 2, Okada discloses the reflective portion is provided at a right or left side of a lateral center of the projection lens in a front view of the projection lens (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 3, Okada discloses the cutoff line of the light distribution pattern is blurred by the light reflected by the reflective portion (specifically the reflector is formed the same way as the applicants and would thereby provide the same blurring effect).
Regarding claim 4, Okada discloses the shade has a corner (the front left corner of 55a2 Fig. 3) formed by an upper surface extending along an optical axis direction and a front end surface (the front surface of 55a2 which is perpendicular to the surface 552a) orthogonal thereto, andwherein a reflective surface (the top portion of 61 and 55a1) of the reflective portion extends obliquely downward from an edge of the corner toward the projection lens (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 5, Okada discloses the reflective portion is curved along a rear focal plane of the projection lens (Figs. 1-4).
Regarding claim 6, Okada discloses a front end of the shade is curved along a rear focal plane of the projection lens, and
wherein the reflective portion is curved along the front end of the shade (Figs. 1-4).
Regarding claim 7, Okada discloses the reflective portion is configured to be movable up and down (Figs. 1-4).
Regarding claim 8, Okada discloses a vehicle headlamp (20, Fig. 1) comprising a shade (37, 39, 55a2, and 43; Figs. 1-4) configured to form a light distribution pattern (Fig. 5a) that irradiates a region below a cutoff line located on or below an H-line (H-line, Fig. 5(a)) with light by blocking at least a portion of light from a light source,
wherein the shade includes a movable part (39, Fig. 4) and is configured to vary a portion of the cutoff line in an up-down direction by the movable part (difference between Fig. 5(a) and 5(b)).
Regarding claim 9, Okada discloses the cutoff line includes a first portion (light on the left of line V, Fig. 5a) located at one lateral side of a V-line and a second portion (light on the right of line V, Fig. 5a) located at a remaining lateral side, and
wherein the movable part causes the first portion to vary (Difference between Figs. 5A and 5B).
Regarding claim 10, Okada discloses the shade is capable of forming, by the movable part, a first light distribution pattern (Fig. 5A) in which the first portion is located above the second portion (Fig. 5A), and a second light distribution pattern in which the first portion and the second portion are located at an equal height (Fig. 5B specifically parts of the light on both sides of V are at equal heights under line H).
Regarding claim 11, Okada discloses the shade includes a fixed part (37 and 43, Fig. 3), and
wherein the second portion is formed by the fixed part (Fig. 5A, Paragraph 0087).
Regarding claim 12, Okada discloses the movable part (39, Fig. 1) and the fixed part (37 and 43, Fig. 1) of the shade are divided in a left-right direction (specifically there is a left and right direction of all of these members), and
wherein the movable part is configured to be movable up and down relative to the fixed part (Figs. 1-4).
Regarding claim 13, a first optical unit (35, 41,and 55a, Fig. 4 and 5b) configured to irradiate at least a region above the H-line (Paragraph 0087) with a light pattern in which a region where an object is present is dimmed (specifically the object could be in any area outside of the MZ area shown in Fig. 5b); and
a second optical unit (33, 37,and 55a, Fig. 1) configured to irradiate a region on or below the H-line with a light distribution pattern (Fig. 5a),
wherein the shade is included in the second optical unit (Fig. 1 and 5a).
Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Takada (US 2010/0002457) teaches a light source with slanted down light blocking member. Taniuchi et al. (US 2002/0089853) and Naganawa et al. (US 2006/0120096) teach a light source with adjustable reflective members.
Conclusion
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/ERIC T EIDE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2875