DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Applicant’s amendment dated 10/21/2025 has been received and entered. By the amendment, claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
Applicant’s arguments filed 10/21/2025 have been fully considered and the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made as following:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 1-8, 10 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan et al., US 2017/0219827 A1, in view of Chen et al., US 8,928,854.
Regarding claims 1, Pan et al. disclose a lens system (figs 1, 3) comprising:
. a liquid crystal module 320/330
. an incident side surface on a first side (right side) of the liquid crystal module 320/330
. an exit side surface on a second side (left side) of the liquid crystal module 320/330, wherein at least one of the incident side surface and the exit side surface comprises a curved surface (fig. 3).
Although Pan et al. do not explicitly disclose the liquid crystal module comprising a liquid crystal layer and a plurality of electrodes configured to apply different voltages to different respective regions of the liquid crystal layer, it would have been obvious to one skilled in a display art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to merely find a liquid crystal lens including a liquid crystal layer and electrodes for display driving, as evidence from Chen et al. (see fig. 1), since it is well known structure for a liquid crystal lens
Re claim 2, wherein both the incident side surface and the exit side surface comprise a curved surface (fig 3).
Re claim 3, wherein a radius of curvature of the incident side surface is approximately the same as a radius of curvature of the exit side surface (fig 3).
Re claim 4, the modification to Pan et al. would result the liquid crystal module comprising a driving electrode array 11, a common electrode 12 and the liquid crystal layer 12 disposed between the driving electrode array and the common electrode (Chen et al., fig 1).
Re claim 5, wherein the liquid crystal module extends along a curved path (fig. 3).
Re claim 6, wherein the lens is a first lens 320, and the lens system further comprises a second lens 330 overlapping the first lens (fig. 3).
Re claim 7, wherein the second lens 330 comprises a curved surface facing the incident side surface or exit side surface of the first lens (fig. 3).
Re claim 8, wherein the curved surface of the second lens has a radius of curvature that is approximately the same as a radius of curvature of the facing incident side surface or exit side surface of the first lens (fig. 3).
Re claim 10, wherein a polarizer 244/246 positioned between the second lens 330 (130) and the first lens 320 (120) (fig. 2A-2B).
Re claims 12-13, wherein the incident side surface comprises a convex surface and the exit side surface comprises a concave surface, the exit side surface is laminated onto a convex surface of an abutting optical element (fig. 3).
Re claim 14, Pan et al. also disclose an application of a liquid crystal lens for a display device (head mounted display) comprising a display screen (virtual display screen VI1) with a lens system as claimed (fig. 1, 3).
Re claim 15, wherein the lens system has a first lens 320 and a second lens 330 overlapping the first lens (figs. 1, 3).
Re claim 16, wherein the second lens 330 is disposed between the display screen VI1 and the first lens 320.
Re claim 17, wherein the incident side surface (right side) comprises a convex surface facing the display screen VI1 (figs. 1, 3).
Re claims 18-20, since the method of manufacturing the display device with a lens system is merely a list of forming each component and each component must be formed to make the such device, the method of manufacturing would be inherent to the device.
Claims 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan et al., US 2017/0219827 A1, in view of Chen et al. US 8,928,854, further in view of Jamali et al., US 2020/0348528 A1.
Re claims 9 and 11, the modification to Pan et al. disclose the claimed invention as described above except for the second lens comprising a pancake lens or the lens comprising a plurality of Fresnel reset sections concentrically arranged between a center and an outer periphery of the lens. Jamali et al. do disclose a head-mounted display with a pancake lens ([0034]) as well as the liquid crystal lens may have a Fresnel structure as claimed (fig. 2, [0041], [0046]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing dated of the claimed invention to employ either a pancake liquid crystal lens or a Fresnel liquid crystal lens over the Pan et al. lens system, as shown by Yamali et al. to provide a range of adjustment of optical power for the optical lens assembly (see Abstract).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/DUNG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871