DETAILED ACTION
All references to the instant specification have been cited using PG Pub US20240285968A1.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on Apr. 4, 2024; Jan. 30, 2026; and May 8, 2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: “read” in ¶[0022] should be changed to --red--.
Appropriate correction is required.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 27 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the control circuit is configured” in line 10 should be changed to --the control circuit is further configured to--. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 29, 31-35, 37, 40 are objected to because of the following informalities: “the control circuit is configured” in line 1 should be changed to --the control circuit is further configured to--. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 36 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the control circuit is configured” in line 3 should be changed to --the control circuit is further configured to--. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 40 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “substantially” in claim 40 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “substantially” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. For the purposes of examination, “substantially the same luminance” will be interpreted as “within 15% luminance”.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 42 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. As claim 42 is written in the alternative, the claim does not further limit claim 27 in one case, and does not include all of the limitations of claim 27 in another case. Referring to the claim 27 limitation “control the respective light source to alternatingly emit at least a first light and a second light, alternating at a color-flicker frequency, the first light having the determined first set of color components resulting in a first emitted color and the second light having the determined second set of color components resulting in a second emitted color, wherein the color-flicker frequency is high enough to cause the alternatingly emitted first light and second light to be perceived by a human observer as light having a user-perceptible fused color corresponding to the target image color to be represented by the respective light source”:
Claim 42 does not further limit the parent when interpreted as “wherein at least some target image colors are represented by (ii) color fusion of alternatingly emitted colored light that is alternatingly emitted at the color-flicker frequency”, and
Claim 42 does not include all of the limitations of the parent when interpreted as “wherein at least some target image colors are represented by (i) color mixing of concurrently emitted colored light”.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 27-28, 32, 34-35, and 39-44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zao et al. (US 20140058483 A1, published Feb. 27, 2014, hereinafter referred to as “Zao”).
Regarding claims 27 and 43, Zao teaches a phototherapeutic apparatus and a method for controlling the apparatus comprising a plurality of light sources (Fig. 1 “stimuli-generating device 110 includes a first light source 112 and a second light source 114” ¶[0039]) and a control circuit (Fig. 1 “control system 100” ¶[0039]), the plurality of light sources being arranged in a spatial pattern so as to form at least a part of a display area of a display (Fig. 1 “the stimuli-generating device 110 may be a display apparatus 120 using a light-emitting diode (LED)” ¶[0040] and “a display 510 illustrated on the left of FIG. 5 has the same brightness and chroma in each region thereof, while a display 520 illustrated on the right of FIG. 5 has different brightness and chroma in each region thereof. Thereby, different regions on the display may produce different flickering light signals to achieve and effect of partially controlling the light sources” ¶[0055]) and each of the plurality of light sources being individually controllable to emit colored light (Fig. 1 “The first light source 112 is configured to generate a first light L1 with a first wavelength, and the second light source 114 is configured to generate a second light L2 with one or more second wavelengths differing from the first wavelength.” ¶[0039]); wherein the control circuit is configured to: receive image data representing, for each respective light source of the plurality of light sources, a target image color to be represented by the respective light source (¶[0042]-[0043]); and control each respective light source of the plurality of light sources to emit colored light perceivable by a human observer as having the target image color to be represented by the respective light source (¶[0042]-[0043]); and wherein the control circuit is further configured, for each respective light source of at least a first subset of the plurality of light sources, to: determine, responsive to the target image color to be represented by the respective light source, a first set of color components and a second set of color components (¶[0043] The device selects two sets of colors to alternate for the device to replicate the target image); control the respective light source to alternatingly emit at least a first light and a second light, alternating at a color-flicker frequency, the first light having the determined first set of color components resulting in a first emitted color and the second light having the determined second set of color components resulting in a second emitted color (“the first light L1 and the second light L2 generated by the light sources 112 and 114 is modulated, such that the human eyes imperceptibly perceive the flickers of stimuli light signals of the control system 100, and the stimuli light signals may be encoded into videos, images and illumination lights of a display… according to experiments that when the red, green and blue lights are combined respectively at the frequencies of 20 Hz, the human eyes recognize the combination of the lights as continuous images and imperceptibly perceive the flickers. Accordingly, the stimuli lights of the embodiments of the present invention may employ the lowest CFF threshold of 20 Hz, while the highest frequency for the stimuli light is not limited” ¶[0047]), wherein the color-flicker frequency is high enough to cause the alternatingly emitted first light and second light to be perceived by a human observer as light having a user-perceptible fused color corresponding to the target image color to be represented by the respective light source (“in order to induce the human eyes to imperceptibly perceive the flickers of the stimuli light signals, a light frequency of a stimuli light signal (i.e., the combination of the lights L1 and L2) has to be approximate to or higher than a critical fusion frequency (CFF) of human vision… the human eyes recognize the combination of the lights as continuous images and imperceptibly perceive the flickers.” ¶[0047]).
Regarding claim 28, Zao teaches wherein the color-flicker frequency is selected for invoking a therapeutically effective neural response in a brain of the human observer (“generating the imperceptible flickering multi-color visual/photic stimuli, the viewer's brains are evoked to produce measurable responses and/or alter their states by the combination of stimulating and compensating lights.” ¶[0025] and “The PWM signals may modulate parameters of the first light L1 and the second light L2, such as amplitudes, start times, pulse-widths, waveforms and so on, so as to serve as the stimuli light signals used by the control system 100 to induce visual evoked responses.” ¶[0043]); the color-flicker frequency being between 25 Hz and 60 Hz (Fig. 7A-B “Accordingly, when emitting the stimuli lights merely from the central region 710, the stimuli lights has not bad SNR values when being at frequencies from 20 Hz to 65 Hz, and better SNR values when being at frequencies from 25 Hz to 45 Hz. Thereby, it is known that the better frequencies shall be at the range from 25 Hz to 45 Hz.” ¶[0057]), between 30 Hz and 50 Hz (“CFF thresholds of the red, green and blue lights are 30 Hz, 50 Hz and 35 Hz, respectively.” ¶[0047]).
Regarding claim 32, Zao teaches wherein the control circuit is configured to cause each respective light source of the first subset of the plurality of light sources to alternatingly emit the first light and the second light to synchronously alternate between the first set of color components and the second set of color components (“The light stimuli encoder coupled to the first light (stimulating) source and the second (compensating) light source and respectively modulates the flickering frequency, the amplitude and the pulse widths (duty cycles) of each of the first light and the second light, such that the power generated by the first light and the second light during each refresh cycle of the displayed images is equal to a proper ratio determined by the hue and the colorfulness of the displayed images.” ¶[0021] and “The light pulses from the stimulating light source(s) and those from the compensating light(s) may be offset or asynchronous from one another… The stimulating light source or the compensating light source(s) may alternate at the lowest flickering frequency among all light sources while the flickering frequencies of the other light sources are a multiple of that alternating frequency.” ¶[0061] Therefore, this is functional language and they are capable of being configured to be synchronous as well).
Regarding claim 34, Zao teaches wherein the control circuit is configured to select the first subset of the plurality of light sources responsive to the received image data (¶[0042]-[0043]).
Regarding claim 35, Zao teaches wherein the control circuit is configured to only include selected light sources of the plurality of light sources in the first subset, wherein the target image colors to be represented by the selected light sources belong to a predetermined set of target image colors (“The light stimuli encoder 116 is coupled to the first light source 112 and the second light source 114 and configured to respectively modulate frequencies and amplitudes of the first light L1 and the second light L2, such that an average of energies generated by the first light L1 and the second light L2 per cycle is equal to a predetermined energy value of each of the first light L1 and the second light L2” ¶[0043]).
Regarding claim 39, Zao teaches wherein the alternatingly emitted light at the color-flicker frequency is selected to stimulate or to entrain brain waves in a brain of the human observer when the human observer is exposed to the alternatingly emitted light (“steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) responses are widely applied. By the "steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)" technique, the visual nerves of a human viewer's brain are stimulated with signals continuously flickering at a fixed frequency so as to induce the brain to generate electroencephalographic (EEG) signals corresponding to the flickering signals at the frequency. The generated EEG signals are referred to as steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) signals, which may also be referred to as visual evoked responses.” ¶[0005]); the brain waves including at least gamma oscillations (Fig. 7A-B “Accordingly, when emitting the stimuli lights merely from the central region 710, the stimuli lights has not bad SNR values when being at frequencies from 20 Hz to 65 Hz, and better SNR values when being at frequencies from 25 Hz to 45 Hz. Thereby, it is known that the better frequencies shall be at the range from 25 Hz to 45 Hz.” ¶[0057] and CFF thresholds of the red, green and blue lights are 30 Hz, 50 Hz and 35 Hz, respectively.” ¶[0047] The instant spec defines gamma oscillations as occurring within these frequencies, and therefore, Zao inherently teaches the brain waves including gamma oscillations).
Regarding claim 40, Zao teaches wherein the control circuit is configured to control each respective light source of at least the first subset of the plurality of light sources to emit the first light and the second light, and wherein the first set of color components and the second set of color components are selected to cause the alternatingly emitted first light and second light to be perceived by a human observer as light having the image target color to be represented by said light source when the first light and the second light are emitted (“in order to induce the human eyes to imperceptibly perceive the flickers of the stimuli light signals, a light frequency of a stimuli light signal (i.e., the combination of the lights L1 and L2) has to be approximate to or higher than a critical fusion frequency (CFF) of human vision… the human eyes recognize the combination of the lights as continuous images and imperceptibly perceive the flickers.” ¶[0047]).
Regarding the limitation of the light sources being substantially the same luminance, the recitation of functional language must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the functional language, then it meets the claim. In this case, the device of Zao contains all of the structural components of the claim and is capable of adjusting the spatial luminance and therefore can adjust the light sources to have the same luminance (see Zao ¶[0018]); see MPEP 2114(I) and In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d at 1478, 44 USPQ2s at 1432.
Regarding claim 41, Zao teaches wherein each light source includes three or more light-emitting sub-elements that are each configured to emit light having a respective color (“even though the light frequency independently generated by each light source is lower than the CFF threshold of each light wavelength, flickering frequency of the combination of the two or more lights is above the CFF threshold of each light wavelength so as to eliminate the flickering for the viewer. For instance, when the red/green/blue light sources independently generate three color lights, i.e., red/green/blue lights, respectively at a frequency of 20 Hz, the light frequency of the combination of the red/green/blue lights will be 3 times of 20 Hz, i.e., 60 Hz, which is above the CFF threshold.” ¶[0048] and ¶[0049]).
Regarding claim 42, Zao teaches wherein at least some target image colors are represented by (ii) color fusion of alternatingly emitted colored light that is alternatingly emitted at the color-flicker frequency (“the first light L1 and the second light L2 generated by the light sources 112 and 114 is modulated, such that the human eyes imperceptibly perceive the flickers of stimuli light signals of the control system 100, and the stimuli light signals may be encoded into videos, images and illumination lights of a display… according to experiments that when the red, green and blue lights are combined respectively at the frequencies of 20 Hz, the human eyes recognize the combination of the lights as continuous images and imperceptibly perceive the flickers” ¶[0047]).
Regarding claim 44, Zao teaches wherein the color-flicker frequency is selected for invoking gamma waves in a brain of the human observer (Fig. 7A-B “Accordingly, when emitting the stimuli lights merely from the central region 710, the stimuli lights has not bad SNR values when being at frequencies from 20 Hz to 65 Hz, and better SNR values when being at frequencies from 25 Hz to 45 Hz. Thereby, it is known that the better frequencies shall be at the range from 25 Hz to 45 Hz.” ¶[0057] and CFF thresholds of the red, green and blue lights are 30 Hz, 50 Hz and 35 Hz, respectively.” ¶[0047] The instant spec defines gamma oscillations as occurring within these frequencies, and therefore, Zao inherently teaches the brain waves including gamma oscillations).
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.
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.
Claims 31, and 45-46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zao.
Regarding claim 31, Zao teaches wherein the control circuit is configured to select, the first set of color components and the second set of color components such that the user-perceptible fused color of the respective light source corresponds to the respective target image color of the respective light source (¶[0043]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the control circuit is configured to select this for each respective light source of the first subset of the plurality of light sources, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8.
Regarding claim 45, Zao teaches wherein, for each respective light source of the plurality of light sources, the first set of color components and the second set of color components each include color components selected from a set of primary color components (“light-emitting diodes (LED) serving as red/green/blue light sources may generate irradiation spectrums that are quite approximate to original light wavelengths and thus, may adaptively serve as the light sources 112 and 114 of the embodiment of the present invention” ¶[0040] and ¶[0047]).
Zao does not explicitly teach the steps of wherein the determining comprises, for each respective light source of the plurality of light sources: adding a first primary color component of the set of primary color components to the first set of color components and adding a second primary color component of the set of primary color components to the second set of color components at respective amounts to enable luminance-matched color fusion of the first primary color component and the second primary color component resulting in a perceived fused color, the second primary color component being different from the first primary color component; and adding a supplementary set of one or two primary color components to both the first set of color components and the second set of color components, the supplementary set of primary color components including a third primary color component of the set of primary color components that is different from the first primary color component and the second primary color component, the one or two primary color components having respective amounts such that concurrently emitting the one or two primary color components with the fused color results in the target image color.
Zao teaches that the first light source is configured to generate one or more color light(s), each of which has a specific wavelength, a special spatial luminance distribution and a specific temporal waveform along with specific flickering frequency, amplitude and phase to serve the purpose of inducing specific neural responses and/or causing specific changes of brain states of the human viewers. The second light source is configured to generate one or more color light(s) with specific or randomized spatial luminance distributions and temporal waveforms to serve the purpose of compensating the stimulating light in order to minimize viewer's flickering sensation and to preserve the hue, the colorfulness and the general display effects of the color image (¶[0018]). The red/green/blue light sources commonly used in the display are illustrated for example, and the person who applies the present embodiment may adjust light colors by modulating light wavelengths as needed. However, a yellow light source and a white light source, for example, may also be employed in the illumination system according to the embodiments of the present invention, and thus, the present invention is not limited to using only the aforementioned light colors (¶[0047]).
Given that Zao is capable of moderating the light luminance and applying three different primary colors to the first color set and second color set based on the target image in order to produce the desired color of the target image, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to try to modify the colors in the claimed fashion in order to reach the desired perceived color and there are a finite number of solutions that could have a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 46, Zao teaches wherein, for each respective light source of the plurality of light sources, the first set of color components and the second set of color components each include color components selected from a set of primary color components (“light-emitting diodes (LED) serving as red/green/blue light sources may generate irradiation spectrums that are quite approximate to original light wavelengths and thus, may adaptively serve as the light sources 112 and 114 of the embodiment of the present invention” ¶[0040] and ¶[0047]).
Zao does not explicitly teach the septs of wherein the determining comprises, for each respective light source of the plurality of light sources: adding a first primary color component of the set of primary color components and a second primary color component of the set of primary color components to both the first set of color components and the second set of color components at respective amounts to cause concurrent emission of the first primary color component and the second primary color components to result in a mixed color, the second primary color component being different from the first primary color component; adding a supplementary set of one or two primary color components to the first set of color components, the supplementary set of primary color components including a third primary color component of the set of primary color components that is different from the first primary color component and the second primary color component, the one or two primary color components of the supplementary set of primary color components having respective amounts selected to enable luminance-matched color fusion of (i) a color resulting from concurrently emitting the one or two primary color components and (ii) the mixed color to form a perceived fused color, wherein the fused color is located on a line in a color space spanned by the three primary color components, the line extending between the mixed color and the resulting color and intersecting the image target color; and adding selected amounts of the supplementary set of one or two primary color components or of the mixed color to both the first set of color components and the second set of color components, the selected amounts being selected such that the concurrent emission of the selected amounts and the fused color are perceivable as the target image color.
Zao teaches that the first light source is configured to generate one or more color light(s), each of which has a specific wavelength, a special spatial luminance distribution and a specific temporal waveform along with specific flickering frequency, amplitude and phase to serve the purpose of inducing specific neural responses and/or causing specific changes of brain states of the human viewers. The second light source is configured to generate one or more color light(s) with specific or randomized spatial luminance distributions and temporal waveforms to serve the purpose of compensating the stimulating light in order to minimize viewer's flickering sensation and to preserve the hue, the colorfulness and the general display effects of the color image (¶[0018]). The red/green/blue light sources commonly used in the display are illustrated for example, and the person who applies the present embodiment may adjust light colors by modulating light wavelengths as needed. However, a yellow light source and a white light source, for example, may also be employed in the illumination system according to the embodiments of the present invention, and thus, the present invention is not limited to using only the aforementioned light colors (¶[0047]).
Given that Zao is capable of moderating the light luminance and applying three different primary colors to the first color set and second color set based on the target image in order to produce the desired color of the target image, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to try to modify the colors in the claimed fashion in order to reach the desired perceived color and there are a finite number of solutions that could have a reasonable expectation of success.
Claims 29, 33, and 36-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zao, as applied to claims 27 and 34 above, and in further view of Shalit (US 5345315 A, published Sept. 6, 1994, hereinafter referred to as “Shalit”).
Regarding claim 29, Modified Zao teaches the phototherapeutic apparatus of claim 27. Zao does not explicitly teach wherein the control circuit is configured to control the plurality of light sources so as to cause a simulated movement of a first light-emitting area of the display area that emits light having a first user-perceptible target image color relative to a second light-emitting area of the display area that emits light having a second user-perceptible target image color, such that an image displayed by the plurality of light sources changes over time (“the combination of the two or more lights may be hidden in a video” ¶[0038] and “After each element and the related function of the control system 100 of the present embodiment is described, description will be made with respect to how each of the first light L1 and the second light L2 generated by the light sources 112 and 114 is modulated, such that the human eyes imperceptibly perceive the flickers of stimuli light signals of the control system 100, and the stimuli light signals may be encoded into videos” ¶[0047]).
Although Zao is capable of embedding the imperceptible flickering into a video, Zao does not explicitly teach a simulated movement of a first light-emitting area of the display area that emits light having a first user-perceptible target image color relative to a second light-emitting area of the display area that emits light having a second user-perceptible target image color.
Shalit’s invention is concerned with the common goal of displaying perceived image color. The computer, using its look-up table memory, will determine the required compensation, on a dot-by-dot basis. That compensation is applied to each video frame which passes through the computer's image memory (Col. 5, ln. 1-5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to control the light sources to shift from one set of target colors to a second set of target colors as taught by Shalit in the phototherapeutic apparatus of Zao in order to allow the display to show a video as the light at each pixel changes from frame to frame.
Regarding claim 33, Zao does not disclose wherein the control circuit is configured to determine the first and second sets of color components from a look-up table, the look-up table mapping target image colors to respective first and second sets of color components for at least each light of the first subset of the plurality of light sources.
Shalit shows a video source 19A is a source of color video, for example, a color computer display, a color TV picture, or a color medical image in Fig. 9. In a color computer display, for example, each pixel of the monitor screen is assigned, in corresponding location in computer memory, an 8-bit number (between 0 and 255). Each number corresponds to a description of a color from a color look-up table in RAM computer memory. The look-up table tells the video circuits of the video monitor 20A how much red, green and blue light to display on the color monitor screen 21A for each pixel. The video tube's electron guns fire at the video tube's phosphors, causing them to glow and the user's eyes see red, green and blue triads causing the colors to merge and form a colored pixel (Col. 14, ln. 63-Col. 15 ln. 9).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use a color lookup table as taught by Shalit in the phototherapeutic apparatus of Zao in order for the controller to tell how much of each color is needed for each pixel to generate the target image based on its stored memory of that color.
Regarding claim 36, although Zao teaches the system can be embedded in a video, Zao does not teach wherein the received image data is time varying image data representing, for each light source of the plurality of light sources, a series of respective target image colors, and wherein the control circuit is configured to change the light sources in the first subset of the plurality of light sources responsive to the time-varying image data.
Shalit’s computer, using its look-up table memory, will determine the required compensation, on a dot-by-dot basis. That compensation is applied to each video frame which passes through the computer's image memory (Col. 5, ln. 1-5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to control the light sources to shift from one set of target colors to a second set of target colors as taught by Shalit in the phototherapeutic apparatus of Zao in order to allow the display to show a video as the light at each pixel changes from frame to frame.
Regarding claim 37, Zao teaches wherein the control circuit is configured to only include selected light sources of the plurality of light sources in the first subset (“The light stimuli encoder 116 is coupled to the first light source 112 and the second light source 114 and configured to respectively modulate frequencies and amplitudes of the first light L1 and the second light L2, such that an average of energies generated by the first light L1 and the second light L2 per cycle is equal to a predetermined energy value of each of the first light L1 and the second light L2” ¶[0043]), and wherein the target image colors to be represented by the selected light sources persist for at least a minimum period of time (since the target image colors are represented for any period of time, they inherently persist for at least a minimum period of time).
Claim 30 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zao and Shalit, as applied to claim 29 above, and in further view of Carstensen et al. (Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging, SPIE – International Society for Optical Engineering, Vol. 11221, published Mar. 11, 2020, previously cited on the Apr. 4, 2024 IDS, hereinafter referred to as “Carstensen”).
Regarding claim 30, Zao does not teach wherein the first user-perceptible target image color and the second user-perceptible target image color are visually indistinguishable for a human observer but have different spectral distributions.
Carstensen’s study relates to using multiple LEDs to generate invisible spectral flicker for treating Alzheimer’s and dementia. Metamerism is the term used when two light stimuli are perceived similarly by the human eye, despite having different spectral power distributions (SPD). The effect is caused by the lights triggering the same response in the photoreceptors of the eye (pg. 3, section 1.1). The 40 Hz metameric light source is built by designing two different spectral distributions with the same chromaticity coordinates around the Planckian locus. Then the two spectral distributions will appear almost identical to human perception when keeping the luminance, the same for both spectral distributions, and using the CIE 1931 diagram for color matching of chromaticity coordinates. Measuring temporal light artifacts on ten different 40 Hz light sources, we see that there is a plausible reason for investigating Pst and SVM values for various types of light sources, while weighting it up against the discomfort of flicker and the electroencephalography response (pg. 10). Therefore, the various spectral differences are invisible to the human eye while producing different neural signals.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have the first user-perceptible target image color and the second user-perceptible target image color be visually indistinguishable for a human observer but have different spectral distributions as taught by Carstensen in the phototherapeutic apparatus of Zao and Shalit in order to make a system that produces different neural signals and effects on the brain while being indiscernible to the viewer.
Claim 38 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zao, as applied to claim 27 above, and in further view of Tsai et al. (US 20190105509 A1, published Apr. 11, 2019, hereinafter referred to as “Tsai”).
Regarding claim 38, Zao teaches the phototherapeutic apparatus of claim 27. Zao does not disclose the phototherapeutic apparatus further comprising an audio output device, the phototherapeutic apparatus being configured to cause the audio output device to output a sound signal that is modulated at the color-flicker frequency.
Tsai’s invention relates to combined auditory and visual stimuli that induce gamma oscillations in the brain of a subject according to various techniques referred to generally herein as “Gamma ENtrainment Using Sensory stimuli (GENUS).” Combined auditory and visual stimuli as disclosed herein (e.g., combined visual and auditory GENUS) unexpectedly generates positive physiological and behavioral changes not observed for visual or auditory GENUS alone. Positive effects on the brain arising from combined auditory and visual GENUS are not confined to the auditory cortex (AC) and hippocampus (HPC), but notably they extended to inducing a microglia-clustering response in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and reducing amyloid load throughout the neocortex (¶[0008]). The method comprising controlling at least one visual stimulator to emit a visual stimulus at a frequency of about 35 Hz to about 45 Hz; controlling at least one electroacoustic transducer to convert an electrical audio signal into a corresponding auditory stimulus at a frequency of about 35 Hz to about 45 Hz; and non-invasively delivering a combined stimulus to the subject, the combined stimulus including the visual stimulus and the sound stimulus synchronously aligned, the combined stimulus to induce synchronized gamma oscillations in at least one brain region of the subject. The synchronized gamma oscillations result in an improvement of the cognitive function in the subject (¶[0021]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have an audio output device that outputs a sound signal at the same frequency as the color-flicker frequency as taught by Tsai in the phototherapeutic apparatus of Zao in order to induce gamma oscillations and improve cognitive function of the subject more positively than visual stimulation alone.
Conclusion
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Kim et al. (US 20100008071 A1, published Jan. 14, 2010) – Color mixing on displays
Oota et al. (US 8237636 B2, published Aug. 7, 2012) – color mixing on displays
Wyatt (US 20210097943 A1, published Apr. 1, 2021) – display color mixing is well known
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/E.N.C./Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3792
/ALLEN PORTER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3796
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