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 .
1.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) 12, 13, 15 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over European Patent Application 3,754,388 in view of PCT Publication WO 2019/119101 essentially for reasons of record ae set forth in the last office action.
Note that these claims have not been amended and would therefor stand as rejected for reasons of record.
2.Applicant's arguments filed April 7, 2026 have been fully considered and are persuasive with respect to amended claims 1-8, 10, 11 and 17-20. However, it is noted that claims 12, 13, 15 and 16 have not been amended accordingly and these claims remain rejected for reasons of record. Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive concerning the obviousness rejection—at least for these claims. Since meta surfaces are obviously provided to change the refractive index of single piece lenses as taught in PCT -101, such surfaces would surely have been used in lieu of hologram bearing elements to impart a refractive index change in the system of EP -388. The fact that meta surfaces and hologram bearing surfaces are known to impart a refractive index change upon an optical surface is in and of itself sufficient to establish a reasonable expectation of success. Indeed, applicant’s comments are directed to each reference alone in an attempt to obviate the rejection by arguing the references separately when the rejection is based on a valid combination of references. One of ordinary skill in this art would understand—from the references applied-- that holograms and meta surfaces are both capable of providing a refractive index change for an optical element containing either one. Hence, one of ordinary skill would realize that either would be substituted for the other to achieve the desired refractive index change in the desired optical element. Hence, it is not germane to the rejection that certain aspects of the invention are taught in one reference and certain aspects are taught in the other reference. The aspect of optimizing the second power distribution with respect to the first power distribution is noted and such has been allowed in claim 1 and its dependents. However, rejected claims 12, 13, 15 and 16 contain no such disclosure. While indeed there are differences between a meta surface and a holographic surface, it has not been shown that such differences would obviate the instant combination. At this juncture, such an argument is submitted to constitute mere conjecture. It is respectfully submitted that applicant has failed to rebut a prime facie case of obviousness for instant claims 12, 13, 15 and 16 and the rejection of these claims must be maintained.
3.Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATHIEU D VARGOT whose telephone number is (571)272-1211. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri from 9 to 6.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christina A Johnson, can be reached at telephone number 571 272-1176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATHIEU D VARGOT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1742
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