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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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 factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Haruyama (US 2012/0236218 A1) in view of ARIHARA et al. (US 2020/0073222 A1; ARIHARA).
As of claim 1, Haruyama teaches a projector 1 [fig 1] comprising: a light source 13 [fig 1] [0026] outputting a white light [0026]; a parallelizing lens 16 (micro lenses) [fig 1] [0028] having a lens face parallelizing (micro lenses form uniform parallel light) the white light [0026] outputted from the light source 13 [fig 1] and a planar face (shown with fig 1 below) opposite to the lens face (shown with fig 1 below); a first polarizer 17 (polarization converting element) [fig 1] having a light incident surface and a light exiting surface (shown with fig 1 below) and transmitting a light of the first polarization component of the white light and blocking a light of the second polarization component (the polarization converting element 17 is disposed in a light path between the second lens array 16 and the superimposing lens 18. The partial light flux incident on each cell of the polarization converting element 17 is separated into P-polarized light and S-polarized light for the PBS film) [0031]; a single light modulation device 27 (liquid crystal panel) [fig 1] [0057] modulating the light based on an image signal and generating an image light [0039]; and a projection lens 7 (projection optical system) [fig 1] projecting the image light [0075], wherein the light of the first polarization component 17 [fig 1] transmitted through the first polarizer enters the single light modulation device 27 [fig 1], and the planar face of the parallelizing lens 16 [fig 1] and one of the light incident surface of the first polarizer 17 [fig 1] and the light exiting surface of the first polarizer are in optical contact (parallelizing lens 16 and first polarizer 17 are in optical contact as shown in fig 1).
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Haruyama does not teach the light source outputting a white light containing a first polarization component and a second polarization component.
ARIHARA teaches a display device 100 [fig 1] having a light source 1 [fig 1] outputting a white light [0022] containing a first polarization component and a second polarization component (P-polarized light and S-polarized light) [0022].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the light source outputting a white light containing a first polarization component and a second polarization component as taught by ARIHARA to the projector as disclosed by Haruyama to improve the performance of the illumination optical system (Haruyama; [0003]).
As of claim 2, Haruyama teaches the planar face of the parallelizing lens 16 (shown with fig 1 above) and the one surface of the light incident surface (Lens face of 16 as shown with fig 1 above) and the light exiting surface of the first polarizer 17 [fig 1] are in physical contact [fig 1].
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Haruyama (US 2012/0236218 A1) in view of ARIHARA et al. (US 2020/0073222 A1; ARIHARA) and further in view of IKEDA et al. (US 2022/0208041 A1; IKEDA) and further in view of TANG (US 2016/0342020 A1).
Haruyama in view of ARIHARA teaches the invention as cited above except for the parallelizing lens is a resin Fresnel lens.
IKEDA teaches a polarized bifocal lens 60 [fig 5] having a parallelizing lens 66 [fig 5] which is a resin Fresnel lens [0065].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the parallelizing lens is a resin Fresnel lens as taught by IKEDA to the projector as disclosed by Haruyama in view of ARIHARA in order for crosstalk between the first image and the second image can be suppressed (IKEDA; [0080]).
Haruyama in view of ARIHARA and IKEDA teaches the invention as cited above except for the first polarizer is an organic polarizer.
TANG teaches a liquid crystal panel 10 [fig 1] having the first polarizer 13 [fig 1] is an organic polarizer [0036].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the first polarizer is an organic polarizer as taught by TANG to the projector as disclosed by Haruyama in view of ARIHARA and IKEDA in order to have better contrast and a wider view angle (TANG; [0006]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 are 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.
As of claim 3, the closest prior art Haruyama (US 2012/0236218 A1) teaches a projector 1 which includes an illumination optical system 2, a blue image forming system 3, a green image forming system 4, a red image forming system 5, a color synthesizing unit (color synthesizing prism) 6, and a projection optical system 7. The illumination optical system 2 can separately emit blue light (second light) L1, green light (first light) L2, and red light (third light) L3. The illumination optical system 2 according to this embodiment includes a light source unit 10, an integrator optical system 11, and a color separation optical system 12. The light source unit 10 can emit white light L which includes the blue light L1 with a wavelength equal to or greater than 450 nm and less than 495 nm, the green light L2 with a wavelength equal to or greater than 495 nm and less than 570 nm, and the red light L3 with a wavelength equal to or greater than 620 nm and less than 750 nm. Among the blue light L1, the green light L2, and the red light L3, the green light L2 is color light which has the highest human visual sensitivity (the optical absorptance of human pyramidal cells). The integrator optical system 11 can unformalized the illuminance of the white light L emitted from the light source unit 10 and align a polarized state. The color separation optical system 12 can separate the white light L emitted from the integrator optical system 11 into the blue light L1, the green light L2, and the red light L3. The light source unit 10 according to this embodiment includes a light source lamp 13 that emits white light and a reflecting mirror 14 that has a reflection surface with a rotation paraboloid shape. The white light emitted from the light source lamp 13 is reflected in one direction from the reflecting mirror 14 and becomes a substantially parallel light flux. The light source lamp 13 is configured by, for example, a metal halide lamp, a xenon lamp, a high-pressure mercury lamp, or a halogen lamp. The light is incident on the integrator optical system 11 by the reflecting mirror 14. The reflecting mirror 14 may have a reflection surface with a rotation elliptical shape. In this case, a parallelizing lens may be used to parallelize the white light exiting from the reflecting mirror. The integrator optical system 11 according to this embodiment includes a first lens array 15, a second lens array 16, a polarization converting element 17, and a superimposing lens 18. Haruyama does not anticipate or render obvious, alone or in combination, the planar face of the parallelizing lens and the one surface of the light incident surface and the light exiting surface of the first polarizer are bonded via an optical adhesive material.
As of claim 4, the closest prior art Haruyama (US 2012/0236218 A1) teaches a projector 1 which includes an illumination optical system 2, a blue image forming system 3, a green image forming system 4, a red image forming system 5, a color synthesizing unit (color synthesizing prism) 6, and a projection optical system 7. The illumination optical system 2 can separately emit blue light (second light) L1, green light (first light) L2, and red light (third light) L3. The illumination optical system 2 according to this embodiment includes a light source unit 10, an integrator optical system 11, and a color separation optical system 12. The light source unit 10 can emit white light L which includes the blue light L1 with a wavelength equal to or greater than 450 nm and less than 495 nm, the green light L2 with a wavelength equal to or greater than 495 nm and less than 570 nm, and the red light L3 with a wavelength equal to or greater than 620 nm and less than 750 nm. Among the blue light L1, the green light L2, and the red light L3, the green light L2 is color light which has the highest human visual sensitivity (the optical absorptance of human pyramidal cells). The integrator optical system 11 can unformalized the illuminance of the white light L emitted from the light source unit 10 and align a polarized state. The color separation optical system 12 can separate the white light L emitted from the integrator optical system 11 into the blue light L1, the green light L2, and the red light L3. The light source unit 10 according to this embodiment includes a light source lamp 13 that emits white light and a reflecting mirror 14 that has a reflection surface with a rotation paraboloid shape. The white light emitted from the light source lamp 13 is reflected in one direction from the reflecting mirror 14 and becomes a substantially parallel light flux. The light source lamp 13 is configured by, for example, a metal halide lamp, a xenon lamp, a high-pressure mercury lamp, or a halogen lamp. The light is incident on the integrator optical system 11 by the reflecting mirror 14. The reflecting mirror 14 may have a reflection surface with a rotation elliptical shape. In this case, a parallelizing lens may be used to parallelize the white light exiting from the reflecting mirror. The integrator optical system 11 according to this embodiment includes a first lens array 15, a second lens array 16, a polarization converting element 17, and a superimposing lens 18. Haruyama does not anticipate or render obvious, alone or in combination, a second polarizer transmitting the light of the first polarization component of the white light and blocking the light of the second polarization component.
Claims 5-7 would be allowed as being dependent on claim 4.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
- Prior Art AKIYAMA (US 20200401032 A1) teaches a light source device which includes a light emitting device that outputs a first light having a first wavelength in a first polarization direction, a first optical element having a first area and a second area, a second optical element into which the first light reflected by the first area is entered, converting the first light into a circularly-polarized second light having the first wavelength, and a diffuser element into which the second light is entered. The second light entering the second optical element is converted into a third light having the first wavelength in a second polarization direction, the third light is transmitted through the first area, the second light is transmitted through the second area, and a fourth light output from the diffuser element and entered into the first area and the second area is transmitted through the first area and the second area;
- Prior Art IMAE et al. (US 20190155135 A1) teaches a light source device which includes: a light source section emitting excitation light; homogenizer optical element; first condensing element converging the excitation light; wavelength conversion element on which the converged excitation light is incident and that emits fluorescent light; and light separation element. The light source section, homogenizer optical element, and light separation element are disposed on a first illumination optical axis. The light separation element emits at least a portion of the excitation light incident from the homogenizer optical element toward the first condensing element, and emits the fluorescent light incident from the wavelength conversion element through the first condensing element in a direction of a second illumination optical axis intersecting the first illumination optical axis at the light separation element, the homogenizer optical element includes first and second multi-lenses, and the first and second multi-lenses are movable along an orthogonal plane with respect to the first illumination optical axis.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SULTAN U. CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3336. The examiner can normally be reached on 5:30 AM-5:30 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minh-Toan Ton can be reached on 571-272-2303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SULTAN CHOWDHURY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882