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
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-10 in the reply filed on April 17, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 11-36 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on April 17, 2026.
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 1-3 and 5-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tokuchi (US 20190228503).
Regarding claim 1, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36) an air floating video display apparatus comprising: a display apparatus (31-33, 41, 45) configured to display a video; a retroreflector (42, 47) configured to reflect video light from the display apparatus and form an air floating video in air by the reflected light; a sensor (35) configured to detect a position of a finger of a user (20) who performs a touch operation on one or more objects displayed in the air floating video; and a controller (34), wherein the controller controls video processing on the video displayed on the display apparatus based on the position of the finger of the user detected by the sensor (35), thereby displaying a virtual shadow of the finger of the user on a display plane of the air floating video having no physical contact surface (sections 0064, 0210).
Regarding claim 2, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36; in particular Figs. 11A-19, 26) when a position of a tip of the finger of the user (20) changes in a normal direction on a front side of the display plane of the air floating video as viewed from the user, a position of a tip of the virtual shadow displayed in the air floating video changes in a left-right direction in the display plane of the air floating video (section 0145; Figs. 17, 19).
Regarding claim 3, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36; in particular Figs. 11A-19, 26) the position of the tip of the virtual shadow displayed in the air floating video in the left-right direction in the display plane of the air floating video changes linearly with respect to the change of the position of the tip of the finger of the user (20) in the normal direction (section 0145; Figs. 17, 19).
Regarding claim 5, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36; in particular Figs. 11A-19, 26) the controller (34) detects a position of a tip of the finger in the display plane of the air floating video and a height position of the tip of the finger with respect to the display plane by using the sensor (35) configured to detect the position of the finger of the user (20) (sections 0064, 0210).
Regarding claim 6, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36) whether or not the finger of the user (20) has touched the display plane of the air floating video is detected by a sensor (35) different from the sensor (35) configured to detect the position of the finger of the user (sections 0068-0069).
Regarding claim 7, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36; in particular Figs. 11A-19, 26) a position of the virtual shadow displayed on the display plane of the air floating video is specified from a positional relationship between a position of a virtual light source (31-33, 41, 45) and the position of the finger of the user detected by the sensor (sections 0074, 0080).
Regarding claim 8, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36) the position of the virtual light source (31-33, 41, 45) is set such that a virtual light source installation angle defined as an angle between a normal line extending from a center point of the display plane of the air floating video toward a user side and a line connecting the virtual light source and the center point of the display plane of the air floating video is 20° or more (sections 0107-0110).
Regarding claim 9, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36) an angle of an extending direction of the virtual shadow displayed on the display plane of the air floating video changes along with an angle of the finger of the user (20) captured by an imager (35) provided in the air floating video display apparatus (sections 0107-0110).
Regarding claim 10, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36) an angle of an extending direction of the virtual shadow displayed on the display plane of the air floating video is a fixed angle without changing along with an angle of the finger of the user (20)captured by an imager (35) provided in the air floating video display apparatus.
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.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tokuchi in view of Rafii (US 8686943).
Regarding claim 4, Tokuchi discloses (Figs. 1-36) an imager (35) configured to capture an image of hands or arms of the user (20) (section 0060).
Tokuchi does not necessarily disclose when the finger of the user who performs the touch operation on one or more objects displayed in the air floating video is a finger of a right hand, the virtual shadow is displayed at a position on a left side of a tip of the finger as viewed from the user in the air floating video, and wherein, when the finger of the user who performs the touch operation on one or more objects displayed in the air floating video is a finger of a left hand, the virtual shadow is displayed at a position on a right side of a tip of the finger as viewed from the user in the air floating video.
Rafii discloses (Figs. 1A-8K) when the finger of the user who performs the touch operation on one or more objects displayed in the air floating video is a finger of a right hand (60), the virtual shadow is displayed at a position on a left side of a tip of the finger as viewed from the user in the air floating video, and wherein, when the finger of the user who performs the touch operation on one or more objects displayed in the air floating video is a finger of a left hand (60), the virtual shadow is displayed at a position on a right side of a tip of the finger as viewed from the user in the air floating video (col. 16 lines 39-62). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to create a desired size three-dimensional sensing hover region.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Csaszar et al. (US 20130076616).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLES S CHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5024. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Caley can be reached at (571) 272-2286. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHARLES S CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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