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 .
Response to Pre-amendment
The present office action is made in response to the pre-amendment filed by applicant on 04/25/2023 and the list of claims as filed on 07/16/2026. It is noted that in the pre-amendment, applicant has made changes to the specification and the claims.
A) Regarding the specification, applicant has added a paragraph/section named as “Cross Reference to Related Applications” to page 1 of the specification; and
B) Regarding the claims, applicant has canceled claims 2-5, 9-10, 12-13, 19, 21-24, 27-31, 34-35 and 41-57.
As a result of the changes to the claims, the pending claims are claims 1, 6-8, 11, 14-18, 20, 25-26, 32-33, 36-40 as provided in the list of claims filed by applicant on 07/16/2026.
Election/Restrictions
In response to the Election/Restriction mailed to applicant on 12/05/2025, applicant has made an election without traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 01/28/2026 and repeated in the Election filed on 07/16/2026.
As a result of applicant’s election, claims 1, 6-8, 11, 32-33, 36-37 and 39-40 are examined in the present office action, and claims 14-18, 20, 25-26 and 38 have been withdrawn from further consideration as being directed to non-elected Inventions. Note that claims 17-18 which claims depend upon claim 16 being grouped into Group III. See the Election/Restriction of 12/05/2025. The examiner sincerely apologized for the overlook error/mistake in grouping of claims 17-18 into Group I.
Applicant should note that the non-elected claims 14-18, 20, 25-26 and 38 will be rejoined if the linking claim 1 is later found as an allowable claim.
Drawings
The drawings contain fourteen sheets of figures 1, 2A-2B, 3, 4A-4C, 5A-5B, 6-8, 9A-9B, 10, 11A-11B, 12A-12B, 13A-13B and 14A-14B were received on 04/25/2023. These drawings are approved by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification which was amended by the pre-amendment of 04/25/2025 has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 6-8, 11, 32-33, 36-37 and 39-40 are objected to because of the following informalities. Appropriate correction is required.
a) In claim 1: the phrase thereof “S a number within 15% of an integer and Hmin a height difference between lowest and next-lowest first surfaces” (lines 4-5) has grammatical errors. Should the mentioned phase be changed to -- S is a number within 15% of an integer and Hmin is a height difference between lowest and next-lowest first surfaces--?
b) The remaining claims are dependent upon the objected base claim and thus inherit the deficiency thereof.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 6-8, 11, 32-33, 36-37 and 39-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, for the following reasons.
a) Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for the following reasons.
a1) the claim is indefinite by the feature thereof “S a number within 15% of an integer” (lines 4-5). The mentioned feature makes the claim indefinite because the claim recites an open range and thus it is unclear to one skilled in the art from the claimed language what subject matter the claim encompass. Applicant should note that the number of 704592689401266999… is considered as an integer; and
a2) the claim is indefinite by the feature thereof “a structured first major surface … next-lowest first surfaces” (lines 1-5). Applicant should note that since an integer as defined is a number which does not have fraction(s) or decimal(s) so an integer can be a positive number or a negative number or a zero thus “S (is?) a number within 15% of an integer” (lines 4-5) is zero when the integer is zero and thus the feature thereof “a height difference between any two of the first surfaces being S times Hmin, S (is?) a number within 15% of an integer and Hmin (is?) a height difference between lowest and next-lowest first surfaces” (lines 3-5) is understood as there is not any difference between any two of the first surfaces when the integer is zero. However, the claim recites that there are a plurality of different first height levels of the structured first major surface, see the claim on lines 1-3. As a result, the structure of the structured first major surfaces as recited in the features thereof “a structured first major surface … next-lowest first surfaces” (lines 1-5) is indefinite.
b) Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite by the feature thereof “a full divergence angle … about 2 degrees” (lines 1-2). How can a collimated incident light has a full divergence angle? What mechanism/element(s) begin used to make a collimating light having its full divergence angle?
c) Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for the following reasons.
c1) the similar reason as set forth in element a) above; and
c2) the feature thereof “the transmitted diffuse light” (line 2) lacks a proper antecedent basis.
d) Claim 39 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite because each of the features thereof “the plurality of discrete height levels” (line 1), “the at least one wavelength” (lines 2-3) and “the second wavelength range” (line 3) lacks a proper antecedent basis.
e) The remaining claims are dependent upon the rejected base claim and thus inherit the deficiencies thereof.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6-8, 11, 32-33, 36-37 and 39-40, as best as understood, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Collinge (US Patent No. 5,486,950).
Collinge discloses a phase correcting zone plate.
a) Regarding present claim 1, the zone plate as described by Collinge in columns 2-4 and shown in figs. 5-6 comprises the following features:
a1) a structured first major surface comprising a plurality of substantially parallel substantially planar first surfaces (30, 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) arranged across the first major surface at a plurality of different first height levels along a thickness direction of the zone plate optically diffusive film wherein a height difference between any two of the first surfaces being S times Hmin, with S is a number within 15% of an integer and Hmin is a height difference between lowest (30) and next-lowest (20a) first surfaces;
a2) a substantially collimated incident light (I) substantially normally incident on a plane of the first major surface wherein for at least a first wavelength in a visible wavelength range extending from about 400 nm to about 700 nm, the optically diffusive film has an optical haze Hv and an optical clarity Cv; and for at least a second wavelength in an infrared wavelength range extending from about 700 nm to about 2000 nm, the optically diffusive film has an optical haze Hi and an optical clarity Ci.
a3) regarding the conditions that Hv/Hi ≥ 1.5 and Ci/Cv ≥ 1.5, such conditions are met by the zone plate provided by Collinge for the reason that the zone plate has the same structure as that of the claimed film.
b) Regarding present claims 6-7, such conditions are met by the zone plate provided by Collinge for the reason that the zone plate has the same structure as that of the claimed film.
c) Regarding to present claim 8, a percentage of an area of the structured first major surface covered by the substantially planar first surface is at least 80% as recited in present claim 8, see columns 2-3 and fig. 1.
d) Regarding present claims 11, 36-37 and 39-40, the zone plate provided by Collinge discloses that a portion of the substantially planar first surfaces has four discreate height steps/levels wherein a height distribution of each of the plurality of discrete height levels is (100/N)%, where N is a number of discrete height levels and the number of discreate height levels exhibits high zeroth order diffraction efficiencies for the at least one wavelength in the second wavelength range and results in a phase difference between light transmitted through the optically diffusive film and light transmitted through air that is about a multiple of 2π, see column 4 and fig. 6.
e) Regarding present claim 32, each of the substantially planar first surfaces (30, 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d) comprises a plurality of sidewalls, and each of the plurality of sidewalls is substantially vertical.
f) Regarding present claim 33, the zone plate further comprising a second major surface (1) opposing the structured first major surface (2) wherein the second major surface of the zone plate is substantially planar, see figs. 1 and 6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The US Patent Nos. 5,815,327 is cited as of interest in that it discloses a Fresnel lens having a structured first major surface comprising a plurality of substantially parallel substantially planar first surfaces arranged across the first major surface at a plurality of different first height levels along a thickness direction of the Fresnel lens.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THONG Q NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2316. The examiner can normally be reached M - Th: 6:00 ~ 17:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEPHONE B. ALLEN can be reached at (571) 272-2434. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THONG Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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