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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group III, Claims 9-10, 19-25, 29-39 in the reply filed on 2/10/26 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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.
Claims 19-21, 23-25, 32-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Koito (US Publication No.: US 20180031878 A1).
Regarding Claim 19, Koito discloses an air floating video display apparatus (Figure 21) forming a three-dimension air floating video (Paragraph 0031; Paragraph 0126), comprising:
An opening portion transmitting video light of a specific polarization wave forming the three-dimensional air floating video therethrough (Figure 1, opening portion I1; Paragraph 0033);
A liquid crystal panel serving as a video source (Figure 1, liquid crystal panel PNL; Paragraph 0034);
A light source supplying light of a specific polarization directionality to the video source (Figure 1, light source LS1; Paragraph 0032);
A retroreflection optical member having a retroreflection surface provided with a waveplate (Figure 1, retroreflection optical member 20, waveplate RA is disposed on a retroreflection surface 20; Paragraph 0048); and
A polarization splitter arranged in a space connecting an imaging position of the air floating video and the retroreflection optical member (Figure 1, polarization separation member 10 disposed between imaging position I1 and retroreflection optical member 20; Paragraphs 0040-0041), wherein
Video light of one specific polarization wave emitted from the video source is transmitted through or reflected by the polarization splitter (Figure 1, the polarization splitter 10 emits a light L2 and reflects a light L1; Paragraph 0076),
The video light having been transmitted through or reflected by the polarization splitter is converted in terms of light polarization by the retroreflection optical member (Figure 1, video light L1 is reflected by the polarization splitter 10 and converted by the retroreflection optical member 20; Paragraph 0048),
The light-polarized video light of the other polarization wave is reflect by or transmitted through the polarization splitter (Paragraph 0032; Paragraph 0049), and
The three-dimensional air floating video that is an actual image is displayed outside the opening portion, based on the video light having been reflected by or transmitted through the polarization splitter (Figure 1, image I1 is displayed outside of the opening area via light L1).
Regarding Claim 20, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising an optical element arranged at a position through which video luminous flux emitted for each pixel of the video source is transmitted (Figure , optical element 21; Paragraph 0042), wherein center of the optical element is eccentric from an optical axis connecting center of a video display region of the video source and center of an outer shape of the retroreflection optical member, and center of the three-dimensional air floating video in a height direction is on an extension line of the eccentric center of the optical element (Figure 1 discloses an eccentric optical axis, where the three-dimensional air floating video is on an extension line of the eccentric center ).
Regarding Claim 21, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising: an optical element arranged at a position through which video luminous flux emitted for each pixel of the video source is transmitted, wherein an area of the three-dimensional air floating video at an imaging position is made larger than a video display area of the video source by a lens function of the optical element (Figure 1, optical element FS2/AG2; Paragraph 0038).
Regarding Claim 23, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to claim 19, wherein at least one or more reflection mirror(s) as a reflection mirror reflecting video luminous flux is arranged in an optical path connecting the imaging position of the three- dimensional air floating video and the polarization splitter, a reflection mirror that is the closest to the imaging position of the three-dimensional air floating video in the optical path among the reflection mirrors is made of a metal multilayer film reflecting one polarization wave of the video light but transmitting the other polarization wave (Figure 1, reflection mirror PL2; Paragraph 0041).
Regarding Claim 24, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the polarization splitter is made of a reflection-type light polarizer or a metal multilayer film reflecting a specific polarization wave (Paragraph 0041).
Regarding Claim 25, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to claim 19, wherein a video-light entering surface of a transparent member of the opening portion is provided with an anti-reflection film or an absorbing-type light polarizer (Figure 1, anti-reflection film AG2).
Regarding Claim 32, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to The air floating video display apparatus according to wherein a video displayed on the liquid crystal display panel is a video resulted from correction of image distortion generated in an optical system forming the three-dimensional air floating video (Paragraph 0038).
Regarding Claim 33, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the light source includes: a point-type or surface-type light source; an optical member reducing a divergence angle of light emitted from the light source; a polarization converter unifying the light emitted from the light source to be polarization light of specific directionality; and a light guiding body having a reflection surface propagating the light to the video source ,the video light is controlled by a shape and a surface roughness of the reflection surface of the light source, and video luminous flux having a narrow divergence angle emitted from the video source is reflected by the retroreflection optical member so that the three-dimensional air floating video is aerially formed (Paragraph 0032; Paragraphs 0042-0046).
Koito fails to explicitly disclose that a surface roughness of a reflection surface of the retroreflection optical member is set so that a ratio between a blur amount of the three-dimensional air floating video and a pixel size of the video source is equal to or lower than 40%. However, Koito discloses a general environment of optimizing the surface roughness of the retroreflection surface to improve contrast of the display image (Koito, Paragraphs 0042-0046). When a limitation of a claim is a result-effective variable, i.e., a variable which when modified achieves a recognized result, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges for the variable by routine experimentation (MPEP 2144.05). In the instant claim recitation, the limitation that regarding the ratio is the result-effective variable, and when this ratio is optimized to the appropriate value within the specified parameters of a given display device, the recognized results of improving contrast are realized. While Koito does not directly disclose the exact surface roughness of the retroreflector, Koito does disclose the general conditions recited in the instant claim, as noted above. In light of the disclosure of Koito, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to discover the limitation by routine experimentation that a surface roughness of a reflection surface of the retroreflection optical member is set so that a ratio between a blur amount of the three-dimensional air floating video and a pixel size of the video source is equal to or lower than 40% for the purpose of improving image contrast.
Regarding Claim 34, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to claim 19, wherein, in the light source, a part or all of a divergence angle of luminous flux is controlled by the shape and the surface roughness of the reflection surface of the light source so that a light beam divergence angle of the liquid crystal display panel is within + 30 degrees (Paragraph 0051 discloses an angle between 0 and 90 degrees, which overlaps with the claimed range).
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 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koito in view of Kikuta (US Publication No.: US 2022/0155614 A1).
Regarding Claim 22, Koito discloses the air floating video display apparatus according to claim 19.
Koito fails to disclose a structure capable of changing an optical distance between the video source and the retroreflection optical member is provided, and a position and a size of the three-dimensional air floating video to be formed are changed by the structure to change the optical distance.
However, Kikuta discloses a similar apparatus comprising a structure capable of changing an optical distance between the video source and the retroreflection optical member is provided, and a position and a size of the three-dimensional air floating video to be formed are changed by the structure to change the optical distance (Kikuta, Paragraph 0028).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus as disclosed by Koito to include a structure that can change the optical distance as disclosed by Kikuta. One would have been motivated to do so for the purpose of optimizing brightness and image quality (Kikuta, Paragraph 0028).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-10, 29-31, 35-39 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding independent claims 9 and 29, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest an air floating video display apparatus forming an air floating video comprising: an opening portion transmitting video light of a specific polarization wave; a transparent member arranged in the opening portion; a liquid crystal display panel serving as a video source; a light source supplying light of a specific polarization directionality to the video source; a retroreflection optical member provided with a waveplate; and a polarization splitter arranged in a space connecting the video source and the retroreflection optical member; wherein the video light of one specific polarization wave emitted from the video source is transmitted through the polarization splitter, the video light having been transmitted through the polarization splitter is caused to enter the retroreflection optical member and the waveplate to be converted in terms of light polarization, the light-polarized video light of the other polarization wave is reflected toward the opening portion by the polarization splitter, the air floating video that is an actual image is display outside the transparent member, based on the video light having been reflected by the polarization splitter, the liquid crystal display panel emits the video light of a specific polarization wave in a state in which a display surface is divided into a plurality of regions by arranged a λ/2 plate onto one region of the display surface, the retroreflection optical member is arranged for each region, the video light of the one polarization wave emitted from a first region is converted in terms of light polarization by a first retroreflection optical member and a first waveplate, while the light-polarized video light of the other polarization wave is reflected, the air floating video is displayed outside the transparent member of the opening portion by composing the first air floating video and the second air floating video corresponding to the plurality of regions of the video source, in combination with the remaining features recited in the claim.
The prior art of Koito (US 20180031878 A1) discloses an air floating video display apparatus forming an air floating video comprising: an opening portion transmitting video light of a specific polarization wave; a transparent member arranged in the opening portion; a liquid crystal display panel serving as a video source; a light source supplying light of a specific polarization directionality to the video source; a retroreflection optical member provided with a waveplate; and a polarization splitter arranged in a space connecting the video source and the retroreflection optical member; wherein the video light of one specific polarization wave emitted from the video source is transmitted through the polarization splitter (Koito, Figure 1). However, Koito fails to explicitly disclose that the polarization light that is transmitted through the polarization splitter is caused to enter the retroreflection optical member and the waveplate to be converted in terms of light polarization. Koito also fails to disclose a λ/2 plate arranged onto one region of the display surface, forming two different regions. The prior art of Kikuta (US 2022/0155614 A1) discloses a retroreflective optical member that sends light toward the polarized beam splitter to be transmitted on to form the air floating image (Kikuta, Figure 3; Paragraph 0017). However, Kikuta also fails to disclose that the liquid crystal display panel emits the video light of a specific polarization wave in a state in which a display surface is divided into a plurality of regions by arranged a λ/2 plate onto one region of the display surface, the retroreflection optical member is arranged for each region, the video light of the one polarization wave emitted from a first region is converted in terms of light polarization by a first retroreflection optical member and a first waveplate, while the light-polarized video light of the other polarization wave is reflected, the air floating video is displayed outside the transparent member of the opening portion by composing the first air floating video and the second air floating video corresponding to the plurality of regions of the video source.
Therefore, Claims 9 and 29 are allowed. Claims 10 and 30-31, 35-39 are allowed by virtue of their dependence on the allowed claims.
Conclusion
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/MARIAM QURESHI/Examiner, Art Unit 2871