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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/28/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Objection/s to the Specification
The title of the invention, “VIRTUAL IMAGE DISPLAY DEVICE,” is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - AIA 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 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 of this title, 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 1-10 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kessler (US 20220260840 A1) in view of Vasiliev (US 20180004013 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 5, 8, and 18, Kessler teaches a virtual image display device (Fig. 1-13) comprising: an image forming unit (10); a projection optical system (L1-L5) on which image light formed by the image forming unit (10) is incident; a reflection member (30) configured to reflect the image light emitted from the projection optical system (L1-L5) and project a virtual image; and a dimming member (electrochromatic coating/s) disposed on an optical path between the image forming unit (10) and the virtual image or a pupil position, the dimming member (electrochromatic coating/s) having optical transparency and being configured to transition to a dimming state of dimming the image light under an influence of an external action.
Kessler does not explicitly teach the dimming member (electrochromatic coating/s) formed of an environment-conscious material.
Vasiliev teaches the electrochromatic coating/s formed of an environment-conscious material ([0044], [0046]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the invention to combine Kessler with Vasiliev; because it allows increased service life as well as a high rate of light-transmittance ([0044]).
Regarding claims 2 and 3, the combination of Kessler and Vasiliev consequently results in the environment-conscious material of the environment-conscious member being biomass plastic of amorphous polylactic acid, polyhydroxybutyrate, biopolyethylene, or biopolyethylene terephthalate ([0046] of Vasiliev).
Regarding claim 4, Kessler further teaches the reflection member (30) includes a base formed of the environment-conscious member, and a half mirror is affixed to the base via a peelable film ([0059]).
Regarding claim 6, Kessler further teaches a support member (frame holding 30; Fig. 7A, 7B, 7C, and 11C) configured to support the image forming unit (10), the projection optical system (L1-L5), and the reflection member (30), wherein the dimming member (electrochromatic coating/s) is disposed on an optical path between the projection optical system (L1-L5) and the reflection member (30) in the support member (Fig. 7A, 7B, 7C, and 11C).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Kessler and Vasiliev consequently results in the dimming member (electrochromatic coating/s) is peelably affixed to a base of the reflection member (30; [0059]).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Kessler and Vasiliev consequently results in the environment-conscious material of the dimming member (electrochromatic coating/s) is amorphous polylactic acid ([0046] of Vasiliev).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Kessler and Vasiliev consequently results in the dimming member (electrochromatic coating/s) has a thickness of 0.2 mm or less ([0057] of Vasiliev).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-17 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claims 11, 12, and 15, the closest prior art references, Kessler and Vasiliev, do not teach, by themselves or in combination with one another: “the dimming member is clouded by a heating unit after an elapse of a lifetime of the image forming unit” (claim 11); “the dimming member is deformed by a heating unit after an elapse of a lifetime of the image forming unit” (claim 12); and “a life count unit configured to add up an operation time of the image forming unit; and a life determination unit configured to determine whether the operation time added up by the life count unit exceeds a lifetime predetermined” (claim 15). Furthermore, there is no teaching, suggestion or motivation in the prior art references to modify the references in such manner that results in the above claimed limitation/s; hence the invention as claimed by claim 11, 12, and 15 is not obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Claims 13, 14, 16, and 17 depend, directly or indirectly on claim 11; hence they are also allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art references cited in PTO-892 are made of record and considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Patent documents, US 20220276494 A1, US 20210302742 A1, US 20210302743 A1, US 20210302754 A1, US 20210302741 A1, US 11137610 B1, US 20210103180 A1, US 20200111259 A1, US 20180217429 A1, US 20190121132 A1, disclose virtual image display device comprising: an image forming unit; a projection optical system on which image light formed by the image forming unit is incident; a reflection member configured to reflect the image light emitted from the projection optical system and project a virtual image; and a light control member disposed on an optical path between the image forming unit and the virtual image or a pupil position.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BAO-LUAN Q LE whose telephone number is (571)270-5362. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday; 9:00AM-5:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minh-Toan Ton can be reached on (571) 272 230303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BAO-LUAN Q LE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882