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
Acknowledgment is made of the provisional election which was made without traverse to prosecute the invention of Group 1, claims 1-12. Affirmation of this election must be made by applicant in replying to this Office action. Claims 13-36 are withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a non-elected invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-4, 6 and 8-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Joseph et al (US 2018/0024373; hereinafter referred to as Joseph).
Regarding Claim 1, Joseph teaches an air floating video display apparatus (Figure 3; Display System 310) for forming an air floating video (Figure 3; Image 360), comprising:
a display panel (Figure 3; Display 312) as a video source (see Figure 3 and Paragraph [0067]);
a light source apparatus configured to supply a light in a specific polarization direction to the display panel (see Figure 3 and Paragraphs [0043]; wherein the display 312 is described as an LCD which thereby inherently also requires a light source apparatus to serve as a backlight); and
a retroreflector (Figure 3; Retroreflective Element 340) including a phase difference plate (Figure 3; Quarter Waveplate 330) on a retroreflection surface (see Figure 3), wherein
a polarization separation member (Figure 3; Polarized Beamsplitter 320) is disposed in a space between the display panel (Figure 3; Display 312) and the retroreflector (see Figure 3), and
the polarization separation member (Figure 3; Polarized Beamsplitter 320) is configured to once transmit a video light of a specific polarization from the display panel (Figure 3; Display 312) to the retroreflector (see Figure 3), perform polarization conversion by the retroreflector (Figure 3; Retroreflective Element 340) and convert the video light into a video light of another polarization to cause the video light to be reflected by the polarization separation member (see Figure 3 and Paragraph [0069]), and display the air floating video (Figure 3; Image 360) as a real image at a side opposite to the video source in a transparent member through which the video light of the specific polarization passes (see Figure 3).
Regarding Claim 2, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 1 as detailed above.
Joseph further teaches the display panel (Figure 3; Display 312) has a video display surface (Figure 3; Display Surface 314) disposed to be parallel to the retroreflection surface of the retroreflector (see Figure 3).
Regarding Claim 3, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 2 as detailed above.
Joseph further teaches a display position of the air floating video (Figure 3; Image 360) is a position determined according to a distance between the display panel (Figure 3; Display 312) and the polarization separation member (see Figure 3).
Regarding Claim 4, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 1 as detailed above.
Joseph further teaches the polarization separation member (Figure 3; Polarized Beamsplitter 320) is formed of a reflective polarizing plate (see Paragraph [0068]) or a metal multilayer film by which the specific polarization is reflected.
Regarding Claim 6, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 1 as detailed above.
Joseph further teaches the transparent member includes that the part through which the video light passes of the transparent member is formed of a transparent body and the part through which the video light does not pass is formed of a light shielding member (see Paragraphs [0012] and [0052]; wherein it is disclosed that the apparatus may include a scrim positioned between the second surface of the beamsplitter and the display space and that the scrim acts to allow a large percentage of the light 135 and 295, which in combination produce the displayed image 240, but also to block or reflect much of the ambient light in the space 200 so that the scrim appears as a relatively opaque wall).
Regarding Claim 8, Joseph teaches an air floating video display apparatus (Figure 19D; Display System 1900) for forming an air floating video (Figure 19D; Real Image 1960), comprising:
a display panel (Figure 19D; Display 1910) as a video source (see Figure 19D and Paragraph [0088]);
a light source apparatus configured to supply a light in a specific polarization direction to the display panel (see Figure 19D and Paragraphs [0043] and [0088]; wherein the display 1910 is described as an LCD which thereby inherently also requires a light source apparatus to serve as a backlight); and
a retroreflector (Figure 19D; Retroreflector 1944) including a phase difference plate (Figure 19D; Quarter Waveplate 1940) on a retroreflection surface (see Figure 19D), wherein
a polarization separation member (Figure 19D; Beamsplitter 1920) is disposed in a space between the display panel (Figure 19D; Display 1910) and the retroreflector (Figure 19D; Retroreflector 1944),
the polarization separation member (Figure 19D; Beamsplitter 1920) is configured to once transmit a video light of a specific polarization from the display panel (Figure 19D; Display 1910) to the retroreflector (see Figure 19D and Paragraphs [0088]-[0089]), perform polarization conversion by the retroreflector (Figure 19D; Retroreflector 1944) and convert the video light into a video light of another polarization to cause the video light to be reflected by the polarization separation member (see Paragraph [0089]), and display the air floating video (Figure 19D; Real Image 1960) as a real image at a side opposite to the video source in a transparent member disposed in an aperture through which the video light of the specific polarization passes (see Figure 19D and Paragraph [0088]), and
the retroreflector (Figure 19D; Retroreflector 1944) is disposed to be inclined with respect to the display panel (Figure 19D; Display 1910) and disposed at a position apart from the aperture through which a retroreflection video light passes to hinder entrance of external light (see Figure 19D).
Regarding Claim 9, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 8 as detailed above.
Joseph further teaches the light source apparatus is disposed at the position apart from the aperture through which the retroreflection video light passes (see Figure 19D; wherein the position of the light source apparatus is identical to the position of the display 1910) or a position where the video light emitted from the display panel is not able to be visually perceived through the aperture (see Figure 19D; wherein the position of the light source apparatus is identical to the position of the display 1910).
Regarding Claim 10, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 8 as detailed above.
Joseph further teaches a reflective mirror (Figure 19D; Mirror 1932) by which an air floating video emitted from the aperture is once reflected (see Figure 19D), wherein an angle of the reflective mirror (Figure 19D; Mirror 1932) is set to be a desired angle with respect to a plane of the aperture to allow changing a position and an angle of the obtained air floating video (see Figure 19D).
Regarding Claim 11, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 8 as detailed above.
Joseph further teaches a reflective mirror (Figure 19D; Mirror 1932) by which an air floating video emitted from the aperture is reflected (see Figure 19D), wherein the reflective mirror (Figure 19D; Mirror 1932) has a characteristic of a high reflectivity of the specific polarization (see Figure 19D and Paragraph [0089]).
Regarding Claim 12, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 1 as detailed above.
Joseph further teaches distortion of an image generated by an optical system forming the air floating video is corrected in a video displayed in the display panel as the video source (see Paragraphs [0082] and [0090]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Joseph et al (US 2018/0024373; hereinafter referred to as Joseph) as applied to claim 1, in view of Yamada et al (US 2019/0369409; hereinafter referred to as Yamada).
Regarding Claim 5, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 1 as detailed above.
Joseph does not expressly disclose an absorptive polarizing plate is disposed on at least one surface of the transparent member.
Yamada discloses an absorptive polarizing plate is disposed on at least one surface of the transparent member (see Paragraph [0078]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to modify the air floating video display apparatus of Joseph to incorporate an absorptive polarizing plate is disposed on at least one surface of the transparent member, as taught by Yamada, because doing so would absorb a part of extraneous light incident on the beam splitter from the image display unit side and reflection of the extraneous degrading the visibility of the aerial image can be reduced (see Yamada Paragraph [0078]).
Regarding Claim 7, Joseph teaches the limitations of claim 1 as detailed above.
Joseph does not expressly disclose an anti-reflection film is disposed on a video display surface of the display panel as the video source to absorb a reflected light by an absorptive polarizing plate disposed on the display panel.
Yamada discloses an anti-reflection film is disposed on a video display surface of the display panel as the video source to absorb a reflected light by an absorptive polarizing plate disposed on the display panel (see Paragraphs [0078] and [0104]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to modify the air floating video display apparatus of Joseph to incorporate an anti-reflection film is disposed on a video display surface of the display panel as the video source to absorb a reflected light by an absorptive polarizing plate disposed on the display panel, as taught by Yamada, because doing so would absorb a part of extraneous light incident on the beam splitter from the image display unit side and reflection of the extraneous degrading the visibility of the aerial image can be reduced (see Yamada Paragraph [0078]).
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER A LAMB II whose telephone number is (571)270-0648. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am - 5pm EST.
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/CHRISTOPHER A LAMB II/Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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