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 .
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 .
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.
Disposition of the Claims
Claims 1-10 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, because the specification, while being enabling for the specific geometric variations disclosed by the specification, does not reasonably provide enablement for all possible repeating arrangements having generic dimensional variation as claimed. The specification does not enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to practice the invention commensurate in scope with these claims. In the field of diffractive and holographic optics, the number of possible repeating multilayer configurations is truly and bewilderingly immense (for example, consider just the comparatively very small number of naturally iridescent viz. diffractive multilayer repeating configurations seen in nature among insects and birds, which number is also considered to be immense). Accordingly it is impossible for the specification to enable every possible multilayer repeating geometry. The dependent claims do not effectively limit the number of multilayer repeating configurations and therefore do not cure the deficiency of their parent.
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)(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 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Crai (US 20240264444 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Crai discloses an optical waveguide comprising multi-layered optical gratings disposed in a repeating arrangement (Figs. 19a, 19b, ¶469-476, including periodic interleaved grating structures 1907, 1910; geometric modifications thereof, Figs. 20a-j, ¶497-506).
Regarding claim 2, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings have varying depths (Fig. 20e).
Regarding claim 3, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings are repeated along two axes (Figs. 20a-j showing geometric modiciations in two dimensions).
Regarding claim 4, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings include varying slope angles (Figs. 20b, 20c, 20f).
Regarding claim 5, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings include varying lengths or widths (Fig. 20a).
Regarding claim 6, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings include slope angles facing opposite directions (Fig. 20c).
Regarding claim 7, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings are arranged in a symmetric geometry (Figs. 20a-j).
Regarding claim 8, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings form at least a portion of an optical incoupler (Fig. 21a, 2104, ¶512).
Regarding claim 9, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings form at least a portion of an optical outcoupler (Fig. 21a, 2105, ¶512).
Regarding claim 10, Crai teaches the optical waveguide of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the gratings form at least a portion of an optical exit pupil expander (¶512, “Light beams from the projector 2102 are coupled into the DWC 2101 by the input grating 2104 using methods described herein and undergo waveguided propagation towards the IRG 2105 wherein pupil replication for eyebox expansion and output coupling for observation both take place by repeated interactions of light beams with the IRG 2105 as a consequence of the diffractive scattering properties of the grating.”).
Conclusion
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/COLLIN X BEATTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872