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 .
Status Of Claims
This Office Action is in response to an amendment received 6/25/2026 in which Applicant lists claims 6-15 18-19 as being withdrawn, claims 2, 4-5, 16-17 as being previously presented, and claims 1, 3 as being currently amended. It is interpreted by the examiner that claims 1-19 are pending.
If applicant is aware of any relevant prior art, or other co-pending application not already of record, they are reminded of their duty under 37 CFR 1.56 to disclose the same.
Election/Restrictions
In view of the amendments made to the 6/25/2026 claims, wherein claims 3-5 have been amended to depend from claim 2, Group II has been absorbed into elected Group I, and has been treated as such.
Applicant’s election of Group I in the reply filed on 6/25/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 6-15 and 18-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to at least one of nonelected Groups III-V, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/25/2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement(s) (IDS) filed on 9/26/2023, 3/4/2024, 10/25/2024 were considered.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: on line 25 of page 45 of the specification, “(broken line corresponding to” should be changed to “(broken line) corresponding to”.
Appropriate correction is required.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
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 of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-5 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, as based on a disclosure which is not enabling. The disclosure does not enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention without the displacement associated with the local phase-ramp function aligning the point-spread functions formed by the respective sub-hologram components when illuminated (as is set forth in dependent claim 2), which is/are critical or essential to the practice of the invention but not included in the claim(s). See In re Mayhew, 527 F.2d 1229, 188 USPQ 356 (CCPA 1976). The specification describes that misalignment in the point-spread functions from the first and second sub-hologram components results in aberration-type effects which are detrimental to image quality. Additionally, the specification describes that it is not just any local phase-ramp function applied to at least one of the first area component or the second area component that corrects for this aberration-type effect, but rather specifically describes that the local phase-ramp function applied to at least one of the first area component or the second area component is chosen to displace the point-spread functions formed by the respective sub-hologram components when illuminated such that they align. In other words, merely applying any random local phase-ramp function to at least one of the first area component or the second area component would not achieve the disclosed invention of correcting for aberration-type effects caused by misalignment of sub-hologram point-spread functions. These critical limitations, which are essential to performing the method of calculating a sub-hologram of a virtual image point for an optical system including a display device arranged to display the sub-hologram and a waveguide arranged to replicate the sub-hologram, wherein the sub-hologram of the virtual image point is corrected for aberration-type effects, are described on at least specification page 16, line 15 through page 17, line 19; specification page 19, line 1 through page 20, line 2; specification page 45, line 8 through page 48, line 9.
Claims 2-5 and 16-17 are rejected for inheriting the same deficiencies of claim 1, from which they depend. However, it is noted that incorporating the limitations of dependent claim 2 into claim 1 would overcome the 112(a) rejections set forth above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable over the cited art of record, if rewritten including all of the limitations of dependent claim 2, for at least the reason that the prior art and cited art of record fails to teach or reasonably suggest a method of calculating a sub-hologram of a virtual image point for an optical system comprising a display device arranged to display the sub-hologram and a waveguide arranged to replicate the sub-hologram, wherein the method comprises:
determining an area delimited by straight line paths from the virtual image point to the perimeter of an entrance pupil of a viewer;
determining a first sub-hologram component of the virtual image point within the first area component and a second sub-hologram component of the virtual image point within the second area component; and
superimposing the first sub-hologram component and second sub-hologram component to form a sub-hologram of the virtual image point,
wherein the method further comprises:
applying a local phase-ramp function to at least one of the first area component and second area component,
wherein a displacement associated with the local phase-ramp function aligns the point-spread functions formed by the respective sub-hologram components when illuminated, as generally set forth in claims 1 and 2.
Other Related Art
This prior art, made of record, but not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure since the following references have similar structure and/or use similar optical elements to what is claimed and/or disclosed in the instant application:
Christmas et al., US 2021/0191321 A1, already of record, is considered the closest prior at which discloses using a phase-ramp function/grating function to align first and second holographic color channels (paras. [0029]-[0032]), but does not disclose determining an area delimited by straight line paths from the virtual image point to the perimeter of an entrance pupil of a viewer; determining a first sub-hologram component of the virtual image point within the first area component and a second sub-hologram component of the virtual image point within the second area component; and superimposing the first sub-hologram component and second sub-hologram component to form a sub-hologram of the virtual image point, wherein the method further comprises: applying a local phase-ramp function to at least one of the first area component and second area component, wherein a displacement associated with the local phase-ramp function aligns the point-spread functions formed by the respective sub-hologram components when illuminated; and
Christmas et al., US 2021/0084270 A1, discloses using a phase-ramp function/grating function to interlace first and second holographic reconstructions to reduce pixel crosstalk (paras. [0117], [0134]-[0136], [0145], [0174]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEREK S. CHAPEL whose telephone number is (571)272-8042. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30am-6pm.
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, Stephone B. Allen can be reached at 571-272-2434. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Derek S. Chapel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872 8/21/2026
Derek S. CHAPEL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2872
Prosecution Insights