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
Acknowledgement is made of receipt of Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO-1449) filed 12/25/2023. An initialed copy is attached to this Office Action.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “wherein the projection optical system includes an optical surface asymmetric with respect to a decentering direction corresponding to an inclination direction of the combiner” and “inclination direction” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
The applied reference has a common inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-7, and 9-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Takeda et al., (hereafter Takeda) (US 11,307,396).
With respect to Claim 1, Takeda discloses a virtual image display device comprising: an image light generation device (GL emitted from 11, Figure 4; see also column 3, lines 3-6); a projection optical system (12, Figure 4) configured to project image light emitted from the image light generation device (GL emitted from 11, Figure 4); and a combiner (23, Figure 4) disposed inclined with respect to an optical path (paths following GL in Figure 4) of the image light emitted from the projection optical system (12, Figure 4), the combiner (23, Figure 4) including a transmissive mirror surface (mirror member 23 of the transmissive type, column 3, lines 10-13) configured to transmit the image light, wherein the transmissive mirror surface (mirror member 23 of the transmissive type, column 3, lines 10-13) has a curved surface shape (23, Figure 4, is curved) with identical sag amounts (z, sag amount, column 7, lines 34-50) at effective area ends (one end is parallel to the z-axis, and the other end is parallel to the x-axis, column 7, lines 45-50) in two directions orthogonal (z-axis and x-axis are orthogonal to one another, Figure 4) to each other.
With respect to Claim 2, Takeda further discloses wherein a difference between the sag amounts (z, sag amount, column 7, lines 34-50) in the two directions orthogonal (z-axis and x-axis are orthogonal to one another, Figure 4) to each other is equal to or less than 1 mm (Table 2) with an optical origin of the combiner (23, Figure 4) as a reference.
With respect to Claim 3, Takeda further discloses wherein the transmissive mirror surface (mirror member 23 of the transmissive type, column 3, lines 10-13) has identical curvature shapes (the ends of 23 are the same, Figure 4) in the two directions orthogonal (z-axis and x-axis are orthogonal to one another, Figure 4) to each other (column 4, lines 13-22).
With respect to Claim 5, Takeda further discloses wherein the transmissive mirror surface (mirror member 23 of the transmissive type, column 3, lines 10-13) is a spherical surface (see 23, Figure 4) or an aspherical surface.
With respect to Claim 6, Takeda further discloses wherein the projection optical system (12, Figure 4) includes a projection lens (30 functions as a lens and a mirror, column 5, lines 10-11) and a prism mirror (30, Figure 4), and the prism mirror (30, Figure 4) includes two transmission surfaces (30 functions as a lens, column 5, lines 9-12) and a reflection surface (30 functions as a mirror, column 5, lines 9-12).
With respect to Claim 7, Takeda further discloses wherein the projection optical system (12, Figure 4) includes an optical surface (surface of EY, Figure 4) asymmetric (surface of EY is not the same shape as 23, Figure 4) with respect to a decentering direction (surface of EY is not centered to 23, Figure 4) corresponding to an inclination direction (column 4, lines 24-29) of the combiner (23, Figure 4).
With respect to Claim 9, Takeda further discloses wherein an optical pupil position (EP, Figure 4) is disposed in (23 is incident on a position EP, column 3, lines 11-13) the prism mirror (30, Figure 4) and the reflection surface (30 functions as a lens and a mirror, column 5, lines 9-12) functions as an optical stop (column 7, lines 14-19).
With respect to Claim 10, Takeda further discloses wherein a light-blocking member (21b and 23b, Figure 4) is disposed at or near an incident transmission surface of the prism mirror (30, Figure 4).
With respect to Claim 11, Takeda further discloses wherein the light-blocking member (21b and 23b, Figure 4) includes a pair of light-blocking portions (21b and 23b, Figure 4) sandwiching the optical path (paths following GL in Figure 4) in a symmetrical direction (see paths following GL in Figure 4 around 21b and 23b) orthogonal (orthogonal to AX to YZ plane, Figure 4) to a reference plane (AX to YZ plane, Figure 4) including a decentering direction (YZ plane, Figure 4) corresponding to an inclination direction (parallel to the YZ plane, Figure 4) of the combiner (23, Figure 4), and a light-blocking portion (21b and 23b, Figure 4) facing the optical path (paths following GL in Figure 4) from one side in an asymmetrical direction parallel (direction parallel to the YZ plane, Figure 4) to the reference plane (YZ plane, Figure 4), with a region facing the optical path (paths following GL in Figure 4) from another side in the asymmetrical direction opened direction parallel to the YZ plane, Figure 4).
With respect to Claim 12, Takeda further discloses wherein the projection optical system (12, Figure 4) and the combiner (23, Figure 4) form a virtual image (IG, Figure 6) having no distortion (column 3, lines 56-58) with respect to a decentering direction corresponding to an inclination direction (parallel to the YZ plane, Figure 4) of the combiner (23, Figure 4) with an image formed (external image, column 6, lines 12-14) at the image light generation device (GL emitted from 11, Figure 4) as a reference.
With respect to Claim 13, Takeda discloses an optical unit comprising: a projection optical system (12, Figure 4) configured to project image light (GL emitted from 11, Figure 4) emitted from an image light generation device (GL emitted from 11, Figure 4); and a combiner (23, Figure 4) disposed inclined with respect to an optical path (paths following GL in Figure 4) of the image light emitted from the projection optical system (12, Figure 4), the combiner (23, Figure 4) including a transmissive mirror surface (mirror member 23 of the transmissive type, column 3, lines 10-13) configured to transmit the image light, wherein the transmissive mirror surface (mirror member 23 of the transmissive type, column 3, lines 10-13) has a curved surface shape (23, Figure 4, is curved) with identical sag amounts (z, sag amount, column 7, lines 34-50) at effective area ends (one end is parallel to the z-axis, and the other end is parallel to the x-axis, column 7, lines 45-50) in two directions orthogonal (z-axis and x-axis are orthogonal to one another, Figure 4) to each other.
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.
The applied reference has a common inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
Claim 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Takeda (US 11,307,396), as applied to Claim 3, above, in further view of Noguchi et al., (hereafter Noguchi) (US 2022/0128826 A1).
With respect to Claim 4, Takeda teaches the virtual image display device according to claim 3 and the transmissive mirror surface (mirror member 23 of the transmissive type, column 3, lines 10-13).
Takeda fails to teach wherein the transmissive mirror surface is a free form surface.
Takeda teaches a virtual image display and Noguchi teaches an image display.
Noguchi teaches wherein the transmissive mirror surface (surface of 23 (23a), Figure 4) is a free form surface (¶[0064]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective date of the invention to modify the teachings of Takeda having the virtual image display with the teachings of Noguchi having the free-form surface mirror for the purpose of the reduction of aberrations, ¶[0064].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 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.
With respect to Claim 8, the prior art fails to teach “a pair of sag amounts at effective area ends in one of two directions orthogonal to each other are equal to each other, and a pair of sag amounts at effective area ends in the other of the two directions are equal to each other.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kessler et al., (US 2022/0260840 A1) teach a wearable display apparatus.
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/TYW/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872
/STEPHONE B ALLEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872