Invalidity dossier
US 6007205
Optical lens unit having internalized fan unit and projection apparatus housing the same
Current assignee: Seiko Epson Corp
Added 9/23/2026, 3:45:12 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 — US 6007205A
Title: Optical lens unit having internalized fan unit and projection apparatus housing the same
Patent number: US 6007205A (application US08/737,957)
Inventor: Motoyuki Fujimori
Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (original and current assignee per the source listing)
Key dates: Priority date 1995-03-30; filing date 1996-03-27; publication/grant date 1999-12-28; anticipated expiration 2016-03-27. Legal status listed as "Expired – Lifetime" (the source notes legal status is an assumption, not a legal conclusion).
Technical field: Projection display apparatus that separates white light from a source into red, blue, and green beams, modulates each via liquid crystal light valves, recombines the beams, and projects them enlarged onto a screen. The invention concerns a cooling mechanism for heat-emitting components.
Purpose/Problem: Prior-art projectors draw outside air through an intake fan to cool the light source, power supply, liquid crystal light valves, and polarizing plates. The stated object is to cool components inside the optical lens unit efficiently without allowing dust and particulate to penetrate.
Plain-language scope (per the excerpt): A light guide defines the outer surfaces of the optical lens unit; a top seal plate, bottom seal plate, and head plate are fastened to its top, bottom, and front surfaces. Together these divide at least part of the unit's interior into a substantially airtight internal space. A circulation fan inside this space forces a circulating air current (e.g., vertical) over the optical elements, cooling them without introducing outside air. Because the liquid crystal light valves are typically the greatest heat emitters, the fan is preferably located below that part and blows air directly across it. The excerpt describes a single embodiment; claim language is not reproduced here.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6007205](/patent/US6007205)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: Exact claim wording and scope, number of claims, all cited prior-art references, detailed embodiments/figures, and full numerical or dimensional parameters.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:51:23 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 6007205. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
No cases on file mention this patent. Upload a CSV or add a case manually in Admin → Manage litigation cases.
Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
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
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
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.