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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 3-5, 7-15, 17, 20, 21 and 23 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Groups 1-4 and 6, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 06/22/2026.
Applicant's election with traverse of Group V in the reply filed on 06/22/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the Group relates to a single inventive concept comprising a light emitting component, an optical component between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal panel and the projection lens whereas Hong only discloses the features of the liquid crystal device. Applicant further argues that the Groups I to VI do not constitute a burdensome search. This is not found persuasive because where a group of inventions is claimed in a national stage application, the requirement of unity of invention shall be fulfilled only when there is a technical relationship among those inventions involving one or more of the same or corresponding special technical features. The expression "special technical features" shall mean those technical features that define a contribution which each of the claimed inventions, considered as a whole, makes over the prior art.” A light emitting component, an optical component between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal panel and the projection lens” are not special technical features. They are well known in the art as evidenced by for example Shimizu (United States Patent Application Publication 2003/0164909 A1) ( a projection apparatus (fig.1) comprising: an optical component (see 4) between the light emitting component (see 2 in fig.1) and the liquid crystal display panel (see 8 in fig.1), and configured to adjust a propagation direction of light (see the collimation operation in fig.2), an angle between an optical axis of the optical component and a normal of the liquid crystal display panel being an acute angle (see the angle of fig.1, alpha1); and a projection lens (see 10 in fig.1) configured to receive and project the light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the optical component comprises: a collimating and light-extracting component, the collimating and light-extracting (see the operation of 4 in fig.2) component is between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to adjust light irradiated to the collimating and light-extracting component into the collimated light and emit the collimated light to the liquid crystal display panel (see the operation in fig.1)). Examiner also notes that the liquid crystal device as defined by claim 1 is not a special technical feature either as evidence by Hong as discussed in the restriction of 04/21/2026, Crooker (CN 1051431 A) and Lavrentovich (United States Patent Application Publication 2016/0033806 A1) (as discussed below). Therefore, the requirement of unity of invention is not established, since there is no technical relationship among those inventions involving one or more of the same or corresponding special technical features.
Lastly, applicant’s argument that the Groups I to VI do not constitute a burdensome search does not establish unity of invention under 37 C.F.R. section 1.475. The burdensome search criteria applies to applications filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a); the instant application is a section 35 U.S.C. 371 national stage application.
Furthermore, the claimed features in the numerous groups would require different search strategies and terms that when taken together constitute more than negligible additional search work.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crooker (CN 1051431 A) in view of Shimizu (United States Patent Application Publication 2003/0164909 A1).
With respect to claims 1 and 2, Crooker discloses an apparatus, comprising: a light emitting component configured to generate light (implicitly disclosed by figs.1B and 4); a liquid crystal display panel (see figs.1 B) on a light outgoing side of the light emitting component (implicitly disclosed by the use of incident light in abstract: “incident light of a selected wavelength is reflected, the wavelength associated with the pitch. there is no electric field, liquid crystal alignment is formed or random orientation, then scattering the incident light.”), and comprising a first substrate (see 24 in fig.4), a second substrate (see opposing 24 in fig.4) and a liquid crystal layer (see the liquid crystal layer in fig.1B) between the first substrate (11 in fig.1B or 24 in fig.4) and the second substrate (12 in fig.1B or 24 in fig.4), the liquid crystal layer comprising cholesteric liquid crystals (15 and 14 ), and the cholesteric liquid crystals being configured to be in a conical helix texture under an electric field applied (see abstract: a liquid crystal droplet is displayed a strong negative dielectric anisotropy, so in the presence of electric field spiral planar chiral material arranged perpendicular to the electric field direction. incident light of a selected wavelength is reflected, the wavelength associated with the pitch. ), so as to reflect light matched with a helix pitch of the conical helix texture (see abstract: a liquid crystal droplet is displayed a strong negative dielectric anisotropy, so in the presence of electric field spiral planar chiral material arranged perpendicular to the electric field direction. incident light of a selected wavelength is reflected, the wavelength associated with the pitch); but Jian does not explicitly disclose a projection apparatus comprising: an optical component between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and configured to adjust a propagation direction of light, an angle between an optical axis of the optical component and a normal of the liquid crystal display panel being an acute angle; and a projection lens configured to receive and project the light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the optical component comprises: a collimating and light-extracting component, the collimating and light-extracting component is between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to adjust light irradiated to the collimating and light-extracting component into the collimated light and emit the collimated light to the liquid crystal display panel.
Shimizu explicitly disclose a projection apparatus (fig.1) comprising: an optical component (see 4) between the light emitting component (see 2 in fig.1) and the liquid crystal display panel (see 8 in fig.1), and configured to adjust a propagation direction of light (see the collimation operation in fig.2), an angle between an optical axis of the optical component and a normal of the liquid crystal display panel being an acute angle (see the angle of fig.1, alpha1); and a projection lens (see 10 in fig.1) configured to receive and project the light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the optical component comprises: a collimating and light-extracting component, the collimating and light-extracting (see the operation of 4 in fig.2) component is between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to adjust light irradiated to the collimating and light-extracting component into the collimated light and emit the collimated light to the liquid crystal display panel (see the operation in fig.1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Crooker with the teaching of Shimizu so that the device includes a projection apparatus comprising: an optical component between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and configured to adjust a propagation direction of light, an angle between an optical axis of the optical component and a normal of the liquid crystal display panel being an acute angle; and a projection lens configured to receive and project the light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the optical component comprises: a collimating and light-extracting component, the collimating and light-extracting component is between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to adjust light irradiated to the collimating and light-extracting component into the collimated light and emit the collimated light to the liquid crystal display panel to produce a large image size and thereby improve the flexibility of the display device and enhance the user experience.
Claim(s) 6 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Crooker (CN 1051431 A) in view of Shimizu (United States Patent Application Publication 2003/0164909 A1) and Bone (United States Patent Application Publication 6, 076, 931 A).
With respect to claim 6, Crooker in view of Shimizu discloses the projection apparatus of claim 2, but does not disclose further comprising: a second light focusing component, the second light focusing component is between the projection lens and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to focus the light irradiated to the second light focusing component onto the projection lens.
Bone discloses a second light focusing component, the second light focusing (see 704 in fig.7) component is between the projection lens (see the lens elements from 706-722) and the liquid crystal display panel (see 308 in fig.3) and is configured to focus the light irradiated to the second light focusing component onto the projection lens (see the focusing of light onto the projection lens comprised by 706-722 in fig.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Crooker in view of Shimizu with the teaching of Bone so that a second light focusing component, the second light focusing component is between the projection lens and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to focus the light irradiated to the second light focusing component onto the projection lens to improve user friendliness by enhancing the functionality of the exit lens system.
With respect to claim 16, Crooker in view of Shimizu and Bone discloses the projection apparatus of claim 6, Crooker in combination with Shimizu and appear to disclose wherein an angle formed between the collimated light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel and received by the second light focusing component and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel, and an angle formed between the collimated light emitted by the collimating and light-extracting element toward the liquid crystal display panel and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel are equal to each other (see the configuration of fig.2 of Shimizu) but does not explicitly disclose wherein an angle formed between the collimated light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel and received by the second light focusing component and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel, and an angle formed between the collimated light emitted by the collimating and light-extracting element toward the liquid crystal display panel and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel are equal.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Crooker in view of Shimizu and Bone so that wherein an angle formed between the collimated light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel and received by the second light focusing component and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel, and an angle formed between the collimated light emitted by the collimating and light-extracting element toward the liquid crystal display panel and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel are equal, since it would predictably reduce distortion and since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lavrentovich (United States Patent Application Publication 2016/0033806 A1) in view of Shimizu (United States Patent Application Publication 2003/0164909 A1).
With respect to claims 1 and 2, Lavrentovich discloses an display apparatus (see para.[0031]: “in applications such as displays, the spectral range of interest is visible spectrum or a portion thereof.”), comprising: a light emitting component configured to generate light (implicitly disclosed by fig.2); a liquid crystal display panel (see figs.2 and (see para.[0031]: “in applications such as displays, the spectral range of interest is visible spectrum or a portion thereof.”)) on a light outgoing side of the light emitting component (see the operation of fig.2), and comprising a first substrate (see upper 203 in fig.2), a second substrate (see upper 203 in fig.2) and a liquid crystal layer (see the liquid crystal layer in fig.1B) between the first substrate (11 in fig.1B or 24 in fig.4) and the second substrate (12 in fig.1B or 24 in fig.4), the liquid crystal layer comprising cholesteric liquid crystals (212 ), and the cholesteric liquid crystals being configured to be in a conical helix texture under an electric field applied (para.[0028]: “the periodic structure of both the heliconical director 112 achieved at a sufficiently high electric field, and the standard right-angle helical director of the cholesteric structure achieved at lower (or no) electric field, lie in the plane of the LC cell 101.” ), so as to reflect light matched with a helix pitch of the conical helix texture (para.[0031]: The helicoid pitch over the operational range of applied electric field is effective to provide Bragg reflection and/or optical diffraction of light in a spectral range of interest. ); but Jian does not explicitly disclose a projection apparatus comprising: an optical component between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and configured to adjust a propagation direction of light, an angle between an optical axis of the optical component and a normal of the liquid crystal display panel being an acute angle; and a projection lens configured to receive and project the light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the optical component comprises: a collimating and light-extracting component, the collimating and light-extracting component is between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to adjust light irradiated to the collimating and light-extracting component into the collimated light and emit the collimated light to the liquid crystal display panel.
Shimizu explicitly disclose a projection apparatus (fig.1) comprising: an optical component (see 4) between the light emitting component (see 2 in fig.1) and the liquid crystal display panel (see 8 in fig.1), and configured to adjust a propagation direction of light (see the collimation operation in fig.2), an angle between an optical axis of the optical component and a normal of the liquid crystal display panel being an acute angle (see the angle of fig.1, alpha1); and a projection lens (see 10 in fig.1) configured to receive and project the light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the optical component comprises: a collimating and light-extracting component, the collimating and light-extracting (see the operation of 4 in fig.2) component is between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to adjust light irradiated to the collimating and light-extracting component into the collimated light and emit the collimated light to the liquid crystal display panel (see the operation in fig.1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Lavrentovich with the teaching of Shimizu so that the device includes a projection apparatus comprising: an optical component between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and configured to adjust a propagation direction of light, an angle between an optical axis of the optical component and a normal of the liquid crystal display panel being an acute angle; and a projection lens configured to receive and project the light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel, wherein the optical component comprises: a collimating and light-extracting component, the collimating and light-extracting component is between the light emitting component and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to adjust light irradiated to the collimating and light-extracting component into the collimated light and emit the collimated light to the liquid crystal display panel to produce a large image size and thereby improve the flexibility of the display device and enhance the user experience.
Claim(s) 6 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lavrentovich (United States Patent Application Publication 2016/0033806 A1) in view of Shimizu (United States Patent Application Publication 2003/0164909 A1) and Bone (United States Patent Application Publication 6, 076, 931 A).
With respect to claim 6, Lavrentovich in view of Shimizu discloses the projection apparatus of claim 2, but does not disclose further comprising: a second light focusing component, the second light focusing component is between the projection lens and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to focus the light irradiated to the second light focusing component onto the projection lens.
Bone discloses a second light focusing component, the second light focusing (see 704 in fig.7) component is between the projection lens (see the lens elements from 706-722) and the liquid crystal display panel (see 308 in fig.3) and is configured to focus the light irradiated to the second light focusing component onto the projection lens (see the focusing of light onto the projection lens comprised by 706-722 in fig.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Lavrentovich in view of Shimizu with the teaching of Bone so that a second light focusing component, the second light focusing component is between the projection lens and the liquid crystal display panel, and is configured to focus the light irradiated to the second light focusing component onto the projection lens to improve user friendliness by enhancing the functionality of the exit lens system.
With respect to claim 16, Lavrentovich in view of Shimizu and Bone discloses the projection apparatus of claim 6, Lavrentovich in combination with Shimizu and appear to disclose wherein an angle formed between the collimated light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel and received by the second light focusing component and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel, and an angle formed between the collimated light emitted by the collimating and light-extracting element toward the liquid crystal display panel and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel are equal to each other (see the configuration of fig.2 of Shimizu) but does not explicitly disclose wherein an angle formed between the collimated light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel and received by the second light focusing component and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel, and an angle formed between the collimated light emitted by the collimating and light-extracting element toward the liquid crystal display panel and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel are equal.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lavrentovich in view of Shimizu and Bone so that wherein an angle formed between the collimated light reflected by the liquid crystal display panel and received by the second light focusing component and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel, and an angle formed between the collimated light emitted by the collimating and light-extracting element toward the liquid crystal display panel and the normal of the liquid crystal display panel are equal, since it would predictably reduce distortion and since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY L. BROOKS whose telephone number is (571)270-5711. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-4:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Toan Ton can be reached at 5712722303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JERRY L BROOKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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