Invalidity dossier
US 6068381
Back lighting device with central opening frame member and a unitized lamp and rigid radially extended terminals assembly
Current assignee: Nu Tech and Engineering Inc
Added 9/23/2026, 5:17:16 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US6068381A
Title: Back lighting device with central opening frame member and a unitized lamp and rigid radially extended terminals assembly
Assignee: Nu-Tech & Engineering, Inc. (original assignee per the source; inventor John A. Ayres).
Key dates: Filing/priority date 1998-01-29; granted and published 2000-05-30; anticipated expiration 2018-01-29. Legal status listed as "Expired – Fee Related."
Purpose: The patent addresses back lighting for liquid crystal displays (used in cellular telephones, pagers, watches, etc.). Conventional designs placed a light source in a pocket of a clear plastic frame, with leads in a separate adjoining pocket and reflective foil around the source and frame edges. According to the text, such frames absorb light, waste reflected light, and lack a means to precisely position the light source—requiring more power for a given illumination level. The invention aims at improved light coupling between source and waveguide, improved light output for a given input, and more efficient light utilization.
Plain-language scope (from the supplied description): A back lighting device includes a frame member whose sides define a central opening with inner edges that receive and support a light waveguide (light sheet). A unitized lamp-and-terminal assembly has a lamp member connected to two rigid terminals lying in a radially extending plane of the lamp member; the waveguide can be insert-molded, ultrasonically welded, snapped, or glued into the frame. A pocket runs longitudinally in a frame side adjacent an inner edge, with an inner opening facing the central opening and a rear opening for installing the lamp assembly. Terminal leg portions rest on longitudinally extending seat portions so the lamp member "floats," permitting optimal front-to-rear and vertical positioning; the lamp can sit farther from the waveguide to lower end brightness and improve lengthwise uniformity. Frame inner edges are diffusive and preferably white; the frame is preferably white plastic. A diffuser mounts to the frame, closes the rear of the central opening, has a tab closing the pocket's rear opening, and presents a white surface toward the light sheet and lamp. Frame outside shape/size can vary for multiple applications, and the device can be made by molding the frame around the waveguide (e.g., vertical injection molding with a rotary table).
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6068381](/patent/US6068381)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not provide the full claims, complete description, drawings content, or the specific number of claims; the excerpt is explicitly partial ("consult the source for omitted text"). It also does not establish prosecution history, claim interpretation, enforceability, or legal status beyond the listed "Expired – Fee Related" notation.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:43:42 PM
Cases on file (0)
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.