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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 4/23/24, 3/24/25, and 9/12/25 were filed. The submission is in compliance/ with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Barzak et. al. (US 2013/0329184 A1).
Regarding claim1 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, comprising:
receiving a glass part to be made into a two-part freeform optical element (50), where the glass part includes a precision freeform surface in a first specific spatial shape (500) and a to-be-corrected surface (400) (para. 0029-0030);
adding a non-glass material layer (70) onto the to-be-corrected surface of the glass part to produce an accurate second surface in a second specific spatial shape (para. 0033);
applying an optical coating to the precision freeform surface of the glass part in the two- part freeform optical element (para. 0058).
Regarding claim 2 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, further comprises applying a second optical coating to the accurate second surface of the two-part freeform optical element (para. 0058).
Regarding claim 3 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, where the second optical coating represents an anti-reflection coating (para. 0058).
Regarding claim 5 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, where the optical coating represents a wavelength selective coating (para. 0058).
Regarding claim 10 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, where the precision freeform surface is produced by a glass molding process (para. 0057-0058).
Regarding claim 11 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, where the precision freeform surface is produced by a glass polishing process (para. 0057-0058).
Regarding claim 14 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, where a non-tangible computer readable storage medium, storing software instructions, which when executed by one or more computer processors cause performance of at least a part of the methods recited in Claim 1 (para. 0105).
Regarding claim 15 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, where an apparatus comprising one or more computer processors and one or more storage media storing a set of instructions which, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause performance of at least a part of the method recited in Claim 1 (para. 0105).
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 6-9, and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Barzak et. al. (US 2013/0329184 A1) in view of Mack et. al. (US 9,897,886 B2).
Regarding claim 6 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, where the non-glass material is of an optical refractive index matching that of the glass part.
Mack teaches , where the non-glass material is of an optical refractive index matching that of the glass part (col. 2, lines 54-62)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the ophthalmic lens as taught by Barzak with a similar index of refraction of the optical components as taught by Mack for the benefit of a lens without a discontinuity in the refractive properties resulting in the production of aberations.
Regarding claim 7 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, except where the two-part freeform optical element is incorporated into an imaging system used by a viewer.
Mack teaches an optical element is incorporated into an imaging system used by a viewer (col.1, lines 53-63).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the ophthalmic lens as taught by Barzak with a reflective image structure as taught by Mack for the benefit of an ophthalmic augmented reality system with ophthalmic properties.
Regarding claim 8 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, except where the imaging system represents a wearable device used to support seeing-through and spectral multiplexed imaging applications.
Mack teaches (fig. 1) the imaging system represents a wearable device used to support seeing-through and spectral multiplexed imaging applications (col.4, lines 8-15).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the ophthalmic lens as taught by Barzak with a reflective image structure as taught by Mack for the benefit of an ophthalmic augmented reality system with ophthalmic properties.
Regarding claim 9 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, except where the precision freeform surface (500) represents an interior surface relative to the viewer; where the accurate second surface (400) represents an exterior surface relative to the viewer (see fig. 1).
Regarding claim 12 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, except where the two-part freeform optical element operates with an image rendering device to use light reflected from the precision freeform surface to render images in one of: a mixed reality application, an augmented reality application, a virtual reality application, a computer gaming application, a cinema display application, or a video display application.
Mack teaches where the two-part freeform optical element operates with an image rendering device to use light reflected from the precision freeform surface to render images in one of: a mixed reality application, an augmented reality application, a virtual reality application, a computer gaming application, a cinema display application, or a video display application (col.4, lines 8-15).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the ophthalmic lens as taught by Barzak with a reflective image structure as taught by Mack for the benefit of an ophthalmic augmented reality system with ophthalmic properties.
Regarding claim 13 Barzak teaches (fig.1) a method for producing freeform optical elements, where display system, comprising:
an optical configuration to see through transmissive light and to perform wavelength selection with respect to the device display light (para. 0058);
where the optical configuration includes the two-part freeform optical element as recited in Claim 1 (para. 0058).
Barzak does not teach a device image display that outputs device display light for rendering device display images.
Mack teaches a device image display that outputs device display light for rendering device display images (col.4, lines 8-15).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the ophthalmic lens as taught by Barzak with a reflective image structure as taught by Mack for the benefit of an ophthalmic augmented reality system with ophthalmic properties.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The primary reason for indicating objected to subject matter is the inclusion of the layer temperature of the optical coating being high enough to cause the non-glass material layer to become plastistic during the coating’s deposition.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Further multi structure lenses include Kingsbury (US 5,405,557), Dalzell et. al. (US 5,805,336), Weber et. al. (US 2005/0043430 A1), Jethmalani et. al. (US 2005/0104240 A1), Seybert et. al. (US 2008/0180803 A1), Martinez et. al. (US 2017/0010465 A1), and Ambier et. al. (US 9,733,488 B2).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT E TALLMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3958. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10 a.m. -6 p.m..
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Mack can be reached at 571-272-2333. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Robert E. Tallman/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872