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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/15/2026 has been entered.
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 nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent Application Publication No. US 2016/0282621 A1 to Widulle et al. (hereinafter “Widulle”) in view of CN 114660816 A (hereinafter “CN’816”).
Regarding claim 1, Widulle discloses a waveguide comprising a carrier plate (20 in Fig. 2), a prism element (22 in Fig. 4) disposed within a pocket (21 in Fig. 4) of the carrier plate, wherein the prism element is bonded to the carrier plate with an optical adhesive (paragraph [0057]).
However, Widulle does not explicitly disclose the use of additional prisms (such as input prism or secondary prism element as claimed in the present application) disposed within additional pockets or recesses of the carrier plate in the manner claimed in the present application. However, the use of plurality of prisms in a waveguide carrier plate is wearable display device is known in art. For example, CN’816 discloses a waveguide device comprising multiple prisms (400 in Fig. 2) disposed within multiple pockets (302 in Fig. 4) of the waveguide carrier plate (202 in Fig. 2). One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize such use of multiple prism elements and multiple pockets/recesses as advantageous and desirable since it would allow for adjustable control over the in-coupling and out-coupling characteristics of display light into and out of the waveguide carrier plate. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Widulle to have additional prisms (such as input prism or secondary prism element as claimed in the present application) disposed within additional pockets or recesses of the carrier plate in the manner claimed in the present application.
Regarding claims 2-3, Widulle does not explicitly disclose the prism element comprising a glass material or a polymer material as claimed in the present application. On the other hand, the use of glass or polymer prisms is well known and common in the art. Both glass and polymers materials are well known to provide optically superior prism elements capable of transmitting light beams with low optical attenuation. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Widulle and CN’816 to have glass or polymer prism elements in the manner claimed in the present application.
Regarding claims 4 and 6, modification of Widulle in view of CN’816 in the manner discussed above regarding claim 1 renders the use of two prism elements obvious as already discussed. In addition, CN’816 discloses the use of two prisms that are made of same material (page 6 of the English translation of CN’816). As such, the claimed limitations of claims 4 and 6 are also rendered obvious for the same reasons as claim 1.
Regarding claim 7, Widulle discloses the prism element having an array of parallel facets (i.e. 33 in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 8, Widulle discloses the prism element comprising an array of facets that merge with a complementary structure formed in the pocket of the carrier plate (Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 9, Widulle discloses a surface of the prism element opposite to the prism element array of facets is substantially planar (31 in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 10, Widulle discloses further comprising a capping layer (i.e. further coating) disposed over a surface of the prism element opposite to the prism element array of facets (paragraph [0044]).
Regarding claim 11, Widulle discloses that the capping layer that is a reflective layer (paragraph [0044]), but it does not explicitly disclose that the capping layer has refractive index less than that of the prism element in the manner claimed. On the other hand, the having a reflective layer with lower refractive index is well known and common in the art. Such lower refractive index value would ensure that the light reflection occurs at the boundary surface with high reflective efficiency and low light leakage. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Widulle to have the capping layer with lower refractive index than the prism element, in the manner claimed.
Regarding claim 12, CN’816 discloses the light incident on the primary prism element being directed to the secondary prism element (i.e. see Fig. 1 of CN’816). As such the claimed limitations of claim 12 are also obvious for the same reasons as discussed regarding claim 1.
Regarding claim 13, Widulle in view of CN’816 renders the claimed waveguide device of claim 1 obvious as already discussed above. In addition, CN’816 discloses the array of facets of first prism element oriented at an angle different from the array of facets of second prism element (Fig. 5). One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize such differences in angles as advantageous and desirable since it would allow for variability over the input and output light beam angles for the wearable display device and allows for a compact display device footprint. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the present application to modify the device of Widulle to have first and second prism elements wherein the array of facets of the first prism element is orientated and a different angle from the array of facets of the second prism element as claimed in the present application.
Regarding claim 14, Widulle discloses wherein a top surface of the carrier plate is coplanar with the top surface of the prism element (Fig. 5- also, the term “top” and “bottom” are relative terminologies in which the orientation surface is relative depending on the observer of the device).
Regarding claim 15, Widulle discloses the refractive index of the carrier plate and the refractive index of the prism element being substantially equal (paragraph [0059]).
Regarding claim 16, Widulle discloses the top and bottom surfaces of the carrier plate being coplanar (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 17, Widulle in view of CN’816 renders the waveguide device of claim 1 obvious as already discussed above. In addition, Widulle in view of CN’816 renders the capping layer (i.e. reflective coating) obvious as already discussed above regarding claim 10. As such, Widulle in view of CN’816 renders obvious a method of forming such a waveguide device comprising forming a primary and a secondary prism element; forming a functional coating over an active surface of the prism elements (i.e. reflective layer); and aligning and bonding the primary and secondary prism elements to the carrier plate with an optical adhesive (see above discussion regarding claim 1).
Regarding claim 18, neither Widulle nor CN’816 explicitly discloses the method steps of forming a prism element comprising molding an optical polymer as claimed. On the other hand, the steps of forming a prism element by molding an optical polymer is well known and common in the art. Such a molding step is advantageously used in the art because it allows for fast and cost-effective mass production of optical element with high degree of accuracy and precision. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Widulle and CN’816 to utilize a step of forming a prism element by molding an optical polymer in the manner claimed in the present application.
Regarding claim 19, Widulle discloses that the capping layer that is a reflective layer (paragraph [0044]), but it does not explicitly disclose that the capping layer has refractive index less than that of the prism element in the manner claimed. On the other hand, the having a reflective layer with lower refractive index is well known and common in the art. Such lower refractive index value would ensure that the light reflection occurs at the boundary surface with high reflective efficiency and low light leakage. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Widulle to have the capping layer with lower refractive index than the prism element, in the manner claimed.
Regarding claim 20, Widulle discloses opposing surfaces of the carrier plate being planar. As such, Widulle necessarily renders obvious a method step of planarizing opposing surfaces of the carrier plate, as claimed in the present application.
Regarding claim 21, Widulle discloses the top and the bottom surfaces of the carrier plate being planar. However, neither Widulle nor CN’816 discloses polishing the carrier plate to adjust the thickness of the waveguide in the manner claimed in the present application. On the other hand, polishing a waveguide surface to adjust its thickness is well known and common in the waveguide art. Such a polishing step allows for the formation of a high-fidelity waveguide device with precise surface morphology and dimensions capable of very precise optical beam propagation. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of Widulle to have the top and the bottom surfaces of the carrier plate configured to be polished to adjust the thickness of the waveguide in the manner claimed in the present application.
Conclusion
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/SUNG H PAK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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