Invalidity dossier
US 6402334
Light pipe with quadraspherical depressions for display panels
Current assignee: Garmin Corp Taiwan
Added 9/23/2026, 1:40:18 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 6402334 B1
Title: Light pipe with quadraspherical depressions for display panels
Inventor: Lee Yu-San
Original Assignee: Garmin Corp Taiwan (current assignee listing also names Garmin Corp USA; Google notes assignee lists "may be inaccurate")
Application No.: US09/252,395
Priority/Filing Date: 1999-02-18
Publication (Grant) Date: 2002-06-11
Legal Status (as listed): Expired – Lifetime; anticipated expiration 2019-02-18
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6402334/en
Purpose
The patent addresses backlighting for light-emitting display panels. The disclosed light pipe is intended to increase efficiency in the use of light and to distribute light uniformly across the light pipe surface.
Plain-Language Scope
The light pipe is a clear plastic panel—acrylic or polycarbonate—with flat opposite faces and a generally rectangular perimeter. Light is directed into an edge of the panel and reflects from a reflective surface or molded-in detail, escaping to illuminate the display assembly. Quadraspherical depressions are formed in at least one face. They are arranged in rows, varying in size (progressively larger from one end of a row to the other) and in proximity (progressively closer together along a row). This combination of the quadraspherical shape with size/spacing variation is described as enhancing both efficiency and uniformity of light distribution. In assembly, the light pipe is sandwiched between a base panel and a display cover panel, with light emitting diodes or another light source applying light into the panel edge (FIG. 7). The panel may include spaced-apart notches on a side edge, and one face may occupy a plane slightly recessed from the surrounding rim portion.
What the excerpt does not establish
It provides no claims text, no claim construction, no prior-art references or comparisons, no prosecution history, and no measured performance data. Timelines and reassignment entries are summarized from Google Patents metadata rather than the full document. The excerpt omits most of the specification and all drawings.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:52:56 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 6402334. 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.