Invalidity dossier
US 6036329
Flat light source and passive display utilizing bypass light guide
Current assignee: Individual
Added 9/23/2026, 3:06:26 PM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 6036329 A
Title: Flat light source and passive display utilizing bypass light guide
Patent number: US 6036329 A
Application number: US 09/268,861
Inventor: Keiji Iimura
Assignee: Individual (original and current assignee)
Priority date: 1997-02-25
Filing date: 1999-03-15
Publication/grant date: 2000-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 2017-02-25
Legal status: Expired – Fee Related
Purpose (from the "Definitions" section): The invention relates generally to a flat panel type light source device used for general lighting/illumination or as a back-light for a passive display such as a liquid crystal display (LCD). More particularly, it concerns a flat panel light source using an "edge light effect," in which light rays undergo multiple reflection between the front and rear surfaces of a light transmission panel. It also relates to passive displays incorporating such a back-light.
Plain-language scope (as described in the excerpt): Light from a source (e.g., a straight-line fluorescent lamp) is input at a side surface of a transparent light transmission panel — typically acrylic resin, polycarbonate resin, or glass. The rays repeatedly reflect between the panel's front and rear surfaces and gradually leak or output to illuminate an object such as a transmissive LCD or a transparent picture film (e.g., photographic film). This is termed an edge-lighting or light transmission panel system. The panel is ordinarily a rectangular panel or film whose illumination area substantially corresponds to that of the LCD, with a pair of long sides and a pair of short sides. The excerpt enumerates four source arrangements: short side–one light, long side–one light, short side–two lights, and long side–two lights.
Classification (as listed): G02F1/133615 (edge-illuminating devices) and G02B6/0075–0076 (arrangements of multiple/stacked planar light guides), among others.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6036329/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not state the specific structure or operation of the "bypass light guide" named in the title, nor any claims text beyond keyword frequency; the four-arrangement list is cut off mid-sentence ("two line light sources are place[d]…"). It gives no details of the referenced parent application US 09/524,225 (US 6361180 B1), no claims, no figures, and no discussion of cited prior art.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:51:47 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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