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
Claim 7 is cancelled. Claims 1, 2, 5, 6 and 8-18 are amended. Claims 19 and 20 are new. Claims 1-6 and 8-20 are pending.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 9-16 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by El-Ghoroury et al. (US PG Pub. 20170108697).
Regarding claim 1, El-Ghoroury discloses an extended reality projection system (dual-mode AR/VR near-eye wearable display 1 of fig. 1) comprising:
a head-mounted display (dual-mode AR/VR near-eye wearable display 1 of fig. 1);
a set of polychrome pixel panels (plurality of image sources 55 of fig. 3A) including a first panel and a second panel collectively configured to produce a color image for presentation on the head-mounted display (para. 0029; each image source 55 is capable of generating and outputting a digital optical image portion comprising a 2D array of multi-color pixels) and
a waveguide (waveguide structure 40 of fig. 4) having a plurality of input apertures (para. 0029; input aperture 40) including:
a first aperture (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 below) for a first channel to be used by the first panel (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 below), the first channel being configured to guide light from a red pixel of the first panel to a pixel position (para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources disclosed in the above-referenced patents desirably share the same pixel aperture and further, the pixels within the emissive micro-scale array of the image sources of the above-referenced U.S. patents are beneficially provided as individually addressable, spatially, chromatically), and
a second aperture (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 below) for a second channel to be used by the second panel (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 below), the second channel being configured to guide light from a green pixel of the second panel to be superimposed onto the light from the red pixel at the pixel position (para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources disclosed in the above-referenced patents desirably share the same pixel aperture and further, the pixels within the emissive micro-scale array of the image sources of the above-referenced U.S. patents are beneficially provided as individually addressable, spatially, chromatically).
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Regarding claim 2, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the head-mounted display is implemented by an augmented reality glasses device that includes:
a lens (lenses 5 of fig. 4) configured to facilitate displaying the color image while allowing a passage of light from an environment (para. 0022; lenses 5 may comprise non-planar surfaces or piecewise planar surfaces and be configured to operate in an augmented reality (AR), a virtual reality (VR) or a hybrid AR/VR mode); and
a frame (para. 0022; the near-eye wearable display 1 of the invention is preferably configured as a conventional-looking eyewear frame) configured to hold the lens and including:
a left endpiece on a left side of the augmented reality glasses device (on the left…frame's temple assemblies 95 of fig. 2),
a right endpiece on a right side of the augmented reality glasses device (on the right…frame's temple assemblies 95 of fig. 2), and
a bridge between the left endpiece and the right endpiece (frame temple 75 of fig. 2).
Regarding claim 3, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the set of polychrome pixel panels is integrated into the bridge of the frame (illustrated in fig. 3A, the displays are located on the “nose” side of the lenses).
Regarding claim 4, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the set of polychrome pixel panels is integrated into one of the left endpiece of the frame or the right endpiece of the frame (illustrated in figs. 3A and 4, the displays are mounted on the endpiece where the “temples” of the frames is located).
Regarding claim 5, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein: the lens (5) is a left lens and the augmented reality glasses device further includes a right lens configured to facilitate a display of displaying the color image while allowing the passage of light from the environment (para. 0022; lenses 5 may comprise non-planar surfaces or piecewise planar surfaces and be configured to operate in an augmented reality (AR), a virtual reality (VR) or a hybrid AR/VR mode); the frame (95 and 75 of fig. 2) is configured to hold the left lens on the left side and to hold the right lens on the right side (illustrated in fig. 2); the set of polychrome pixel panels (55) is a first set of polychrome pixel panels collectively configured to produce the color image for presentation on the left side (illustrated in fig. 4); and the extended reality projection system further includes a second set of polychrome pixel panels (plurality of panels 55) collectively configured to produce the color image for presentation on the right side (para. 0035; multi-color light, some with spatial modulation capabilities… (preferably multicolor) structure whose on-off state is controlled by drive circuitry, and alternatively may comprise, as an example, an image source 55 comprising an OLED imager device.).
Regarding claim 6, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the further comprising a waveguide (40) is integrated with the lens (5) and is configured to guide light from the set of polychrome pixel panels (55) to achieve the presentation on the head-mounted display (illustrated in fig. 4).
Regarding claim 9, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the panels of the set of polychrome pixel panels are integrated within the head-mounted display in a vertically-stacked arrangement (shown below in the examiners illustration of fig. 3A).
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Regarding claim 10, El-Ghoroury discloses a method comprising:
producing, by a red pixel of a first panel of a set of polychrome pixel panels within a head-mounted display (dual-mode AR/VR near-eye wearable display 1 of fig. 1), red light for a color image presented on the head-mounted display (para. 0029; image source 55 is capable of generating and outputting a digital optical image portion comprising a 2D array of multi-color pixels);
producing, by a green pixel of a second panel of the set of polychrome pixel panels, green light for the color image (para. 0029; 2D array of multi-color pixels);
producing, by a blue pixel of a third panel of the set of polychrome pixel panels, blue light for the color image (para. 0029; 2D array of multi-color pixels); and
guiding, by a waveguide having a plurality of input apertures (plurality of apertures 40 of fig. 4), light from the red pixel, the green pixel, and the blue pixel to be superimposed at a pixel position (para. 0035; solid state light-emitting (preferably multicolor) structure whose on-off state is controlled by drive circuitry, and alternatively may comprise, as an example, an image source 55 comprising an OLED imager device), wherein the plurality of input apertures (40) includes a first aperture for a first channel to be used by the first panel, a second aperture (shown above in the examiners illustration of fig. 4) for a second channel to be used by the second panel, and a third aperture for a third channel to be used by the third panel (shown above in the examiners illustration of fig. 4).
Regarding claim 11, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the head-mounted display is implemented by an augmented reality glasses device that includes:
a lens (lenses 5 of fig. 4) configured to facilitate displaying the color image while allowing a passage of light from an environment (para. 0022; lenses 5 may comprise non-planar surfaces or piecewise planar surfaces and be configured to operate in an augmented reality (AR), a virtual reality (VR) or a hybrid AR/VR mode); and
a frame (para. 0022; the near-eye wearable display 1 of the invention is preferably configured as a conventional-looking eyewear frame) configured to hold the lens and including:
a left endpiece on a left side of the augmented reality glasses device (on the left…frame's temple assemblies 95 of fig. 2),
a right endpiece on a right side of the augmented reality glasses device (on the right…frame's temple assemblies 95 of fig. 2), and
a bridge between the left endpiece and the right endpiece (frame temple 75 of fig. 2).
Regarding claim 12, El-Ghoroury discloses further comprising: presenting, at the pixel position and by way of the first aperture (40) of the waveguide the red light (para. 0029; 2D array of multi-color pixels and illustrated in fig. 4); presenting, at the pixel position and receiving, by way of the second input aperture of the waveguide, the green light; and presenting, at the pixel position and receiving, by way of the third input aperture of the waveguide (illustrated in fig. 4), the blue light (para. 0029; 2D array of multi-color pixels and illustrated in fig. 4).
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Regarding claim 13, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the head-mounted display is implemented by an augmented reality glasses device that includes a lens into which the waveguide is integrated, the lens configured to allow a passage of light from an environment while facilitating displaying the color image (dual-mode AR/VR near-eye wearable display 1 of fig. 1).
Regarding claim 14, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the head-mounted display is implemented by an augmented reality glasses device that includes:
a lens (lenses 5 of fig. 4) configured to facilitate displaying the color image while allowing a passage of light from an environment (para. 0022; lenses 5 may comprise non-planar surfaces or piecewise planar surfaces and be configured to operate in an augmented reality (AR), a virtual reality (VR) or a hybrid AR/VR mode); and
a frame (para. 0022; the near-eye wearable display 1 of the invention is preferably configured as a conventional-looking eyewear frame) configured to hold the lens and including:
a left endpiece on a left side of the augmented reality glasses device (on the left…frame's temple assemblies 95 of fig. 2),
a right endpiece on a right side of the augmented reality glasses device (on the right…frame's temple assemblies 95 of fig. 2), and
a bridge between the left endpiece and the right endpiece (frame temple 75 of fig. 2),
a set of polychrome pixel panels (plurality of image sources 55 of fig. 3A) including a first panel and a second panel collectively configured to produce a color image for presentation on the head-mounted display (para. 0029; each image source 55 is capable of generating and outputting a digital optical image portion comprising a 2D array of multi-color pixels) and
a waveguide (waveguide structure 40 of fig. 4) having a plurality of input apertures (para. 0029; input aperture 40) including:
a first aperture (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 below) for a first channel to be used by the first panel (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 below), the first channel being configured to guide light from a red pixel of the first panel to a pixel position (para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources disclosed in the above-referenced patents desirably share the same pixel aperture and further, the pixels within the emissive micro-scale array of the image sources of the above-referenced U.S. patents are beneficially provided as individually addressable, spatially, chromatically), and
a second aperture (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 below) for a second channel to be used by the second panel (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 below), the second channel being configured to guide light from a green pixel of the second panel to be superimposed onto the light from the red pixel at the pixel position (para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources disclosed in the above-referenced patents desirably share the same pixel aperture and further, the pixels within the emissive micro-scale array of the image sources of the above-referenced U.S. patents are beneficially provided as individually addressable, spatially, chromatically).
Regarding claim 15, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the set of polychrome pixel panels is integrated into the bridge of the frame (illustrated in fig. 3A, the displays are located on the “nose” side of the lenses).
Regarding claim 16, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the set of polychrome pixel panels is integrated into one of the left endpiece of the frame or the right endpiece of the frame (illustrated in figs. 3A and 4, the displays are mounted on the endpiece where the “temples” of the frames is located).
Regarding claim 18, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein the panels of the set of polychrome pixel panels are integrated within the head-mounted display in a vertically-stacked arrangement (shown below in the examiners illustration of fig. 3A).
Regarding claim 19, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein: the set of polychrome pixel panels further includes a third panel configured (shown above in the examiners illustration of fig. 4), collectively with the first panel and the second panel (shown above in the examiners illustration of fig. 4), to produce the color image (para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources disclosed in the above-referenced patents desirably share the same pixel aperture); and the plurality of input apertures (40 illustrated in fig. 4) further includes a third aperture for a third channel to be used by the third panel (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 above), the third channel being configured to guide light from a blue pixel of the third panel to be superimposed onto the light from the red pixel and the green pixel at the pixel position (para. 0029; 2D array of multi-color pixels and para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources disclosed in the above-referenced patents desirably share the same pixel aperture).
Regarding claim 20, El-Ghoroury discloses wherein: the set of polychrome pixel panels further includes a third panel configured (shown above in the examiners illustration of fig. 4), collectively with the first panel and the second panel (shown above in the examiners illustration of fig. 4), to produce the color image (para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources disclosed in the above-referenced patents desirably share the same pixel aperture); and the plurality of input apertures (40 illustrated in fig. 4) further includes a third aperture for a third channel to be used by the third panel (shown in the examiners illustration of fig. 4 above), the third channel being configured to guide light from a blue pixel of the third panel to be superimposed onto the light from the red pixel and the green pixel at the pixel position (para. 0029; 2D array of multi-color pixels and para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources disclosed in the above-referenced patents desirably share the same pixel aperture).
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.
Claim(s) 8 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable El-Ghoroury et al. (US PG Pub. 20170108697) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Li et al. (S PG Pub. 20210096283).
Regarding claim 8, El-Ghoroury discloses an extended reality projection system (dual-mode AR/VR near-eye wearable display 1 of fig. 1) comprising: a head-mounted display (dual-mode AR/VR near-eye wearable display 1 of fig. 1); a set of polychrome pixel panels (plurality of image sources 55 of fig. 3A)
El-Ghoroury fails to teach wherein the panel of the set of polychrome pixel panels are integrated within the head-mounted display in a triangular arrangement.
Li discloses wherein the panel of the set of polychrome pixel panels are integrated within the head-mounted display in a triangular arrangement (illustrated in fig. 3B).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the application to modify polychromatic pixels of El-Ghoroury with the triangular arrangement of Li in order to decrease the pixel pitch thereby increasing display resolution.
Regarding claim 17, El-Ghoroury discloses an extended reality projection system (dual-mode AR/VR near-eye wearable display 1 of fig. 1) comprising: a head-mounted display (dual-mode AR/VR near-eye wearable display 1 of fig. 1); a set of polychrome pixel panels (plurality of image sources 55 of fig. 3A)
El-Ghoroury fails to teach wherein the panel of the set of polychrome pixel panels are integrated within the head-mounted display in a triangular arrangement.
Li discloses wherein the panel of the set of polychrome pixel panels are integrated within the head-mounted display in a triangular arrangement (illustrated in fig. 3B).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing date of the application to modify polychromatic pixels of El-Ghoroury with the triangular arrangement of Li in order to decrease the pixel pitch thereby increasing display resolution.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 10 and 14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant argues El-Ghoroury, like Vieira, is completely silent regarding "a waveguide having a plurality of input apertures" for different optical channels such that one of the channels is "configured to guide light from a green pixel of the second panel to be superimposed onto the light from the red pixel from the first panel) at the pixel position," as recited in claim 1 (emphasis added), and as similarly included within independent claims 10 and 14.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. El-Ghoroury discloses a plurality of input apertures ((40) of fig. 4), El-Ghoroury further discloses in para. 0036; multiple colors emitted by the image sources (55) is capable of generating and outputting a digital optical image portion comprising a 2D array of multi-color pixels.
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 fil ed 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANELL L OWENS whose telephone number is (571)270-5365. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am-5:00pm M-F.
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/DANELL L OWENS/Examiner, Art Unit 2882 1 September 2026
/BAO-LUAN Q LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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