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 .
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-11 are currently pending in the present application. Claims 1 and 10-11 are currently amended; and claims 2-9 are original. The amendment dated December 21, 2023 has been entered into the record.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/21/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “1” has been used to designate both the display and a local region of the lens; reference character “3” has been used to designate both light and a helical axis; reference character “4” has been used to designate the reflective lens and cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) pitch and the in-plane pattern periodicity; reference character “5” has been used to designate the reflective lens and the vertical periodicity and the helical axis; and reference character “6” has been used to designate both the pupil and Bragg surface. Note that the examiner does not necessarily identify all the reference characters designating different parts.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
In addition to Replacement Sheets containing the corrected drawing figure(s), applicant is required to submit a marked-up copy of each Replacement Sheet including annotations indicating the changes made to the previous version. The marked-up copy must be clearly labeled as “Annotated Sheets” and must be presented in the amendment or remarks section that explains the change(s) to the drawings. See 37 CFR 1.121(d)(1). Failure to timely submit the proposed drawing and marked-up copy will result in the abandonment of the application.
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 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.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 8 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mathur et al. (US 20190287495, hereinafter “Mathur”) in view of Oh et al. (US 20230393398, hereinafter “Oh”).
Regarding claim 1, Mathur discloses an optical display system (Figs. 30A-30C, 45; see Paras. [0130], [0150] and [0512] identifying the embodiment shown in Figs. 30A-30C, 45), comprising:
an image-generating display (8010 in Figs. 30A-30B, or 23002 in Fig. 45; Paras. [0407], [0512]);
a controllable polarization rotator module (8022, 8060; Paras. [0415] “a polarization rotator 8022” and [0413] “scanning mirror 8060 is configured to reflect the second light beam 8054 … 8060 can be controlled based on the fixation position of the user's eye”), configured to receive light from the image-generating display and output polarized light with a first polarization and/or a second polarization under control (see Figs. 30A-30B and Para. [0410] “the first light beam 8052 can be in a first polarization state, and the second light beam 8054 can be in a second polarization state different from the first polarization state”);
a first reflective lens (the in-coupling grating 21010 in Fig. 45; see Para. [0468] teaching in-coupling elements can be reflective diffraction gratings made of cholesteric liquid crystal material. Regarding the lenses, the examiner considers the Specification (clean copy version, Page 6 lines 6-7) indicating lenses having cholesteric liquid crystal material), configured to reflect the polarized light with a first polarization to the pupil (Fig. 45 and Paras. [0512] “a display system 23000 for projecting image streams to an eye of a user” and [0515] “the high-FOV low-resolution image stream in a first polarization”); and
a second reflective lens (the in-coupling grating 21020 in Fig. 45; Para. [0468]) configured to reflect the polarized light with a second polarization to the pupil (Fig. 45 and Paras. [0512] “a display system 23000 for projecting image streams to an eye of a user” and [0515] “the low-FOV high-resolution image stream in a second polarization different from the first polarization”).
Mathur does not disclose the first reflective lens and the second reflective lens have different optical powers to produce image planes at different depths.
However, Oh teaches a first reflective lens and a second reflective lens (2111 a, 2111 b; Paras. [0117], [0275]), wherein the first reflective lens and the second reflective lens have different optical powers (Paras. [0262], [0276]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at a time before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the reflective lenses as disclosed by Mathur with the teachings of Oh, wherein the first reflective lens and the second reflective lens have different optical powers to produce image planes at different depths, for the purpose of obtaining different depth planes for an user (Oh: Paras. [0059], [0061]).
Regarding claim 2, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 1 above, and Mathur further discloses wherein the first reflective lens and the second reflective lens are on-axis reflective flat lenses (see Para. [0468] teaching the in-coupling elements comprises diffraction gratings made of cholesteric liquid crystal material, thereby indicating the on-axis feature of CLC).
Regarding claim 4, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 2 above, and Mathur further discloses, further comprising: a beam splitter (8030).
Regarding claim 5, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 4 above, and Mathur further discloses wherein the on-axis reflective flat lenses are positioned parallel to the display (Figs. 6 and 30C; Para. [0468]).
Regarding claim 8, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 1 above, and Mathur further discloses wherein the flat reflective lenses are positioned parallel to the pupil (Figs. 6 and 29B).
Mathur does not disclose the first and/or second reflective lenses are off-axis flat reflective lenses.
However, Oh teaches reflective lenses can be configured as an off-axis or on-axis mirror configured to selectively reflect different ranges of wavelengths (Paras. [0117], [0253]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at a time before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the reflective lenses as disclosed by Mathur with the teachings of Oh, wherein the first and/or second reflective lenses are off-axis flat reflective lenses, for the purpose of selectively reflecting different ranges of wavelengths (Para. [0253]).
Regarding claim 10, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 1 above, and Mathur further discloses wherein the controllable polarization rotator module converts the light with the first polarization into a polarized light with the second polarization under a converting control and transmits the light with the first polarization without the converting control (see Para. [0412] teaching 8030 may be replaced with a switchable reflector, such as a liquid crystal switchable reflector, where such optical switching elements are known to use the direction of the liquid crystal to convert or not convert a polarization of the light based on a converting control).
Regarding claim 11, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 1 above, and Mathur further discloses an electronics device for providing 3D vision (Paras. [0356], [0417]), comprising an optical display system according to claim 1.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mathur in view of Oh, and in further view of Sato et al. (US 20200326579, hereinafter “Sato”).
Regarding claim 9, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 1 above.
Mathur does not necessarily disclose at least one of the first reflective lens and the second reflective lens is fabricated with a patterned bottom photo-alignment layer and cholesteric liquid crystal placed on the photo-alignment layer.
However, Sato teaches a reflective lens comprising a cholesteric liquid crystal layer (Fig. 1; Para. [0078]), wherein the reflective lens is fabricated with a patterned bottom photo-alignment layer and cholesteric liquid crystal placed on the photo-alignment layer (Paras. [0086], [0109]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at a time before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the reflective lenses as disclosed by Mathur with the teachings of Sato, wherein at least one of the first reflective lens and the second reflective lens is fabricated with a patterned bottom photo-alignment layer and cholesteric liquid crystal placed on the photo-alignment layer, for the purpose of using known cholesteric liquid crystal layers as reflective lenses to reflect light for desired wavelengths (Sato: Para. [0078]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 6 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 3, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 2 above.
However, Mathur and Oh fail to disclose, in light of the specification, “the first reflective lens and the second reflective lens are positioned at 22.5° relative to the pupil”.
The examiner further considered Osterhout et al. (US 20210173480, hereinafter “Osterhout”), McEldowney et al. (US 20220066212, hereinafter “McEldowney”) and Huang et al. (US 20210199970, hereinafter “Huang”). For example, Osterhout teaches a waveguide titled relative to the pupil (see the waveguide 508 near the coupling lens 504 in Fig. 5), but fails to disclose the first reflective lens and the second reflective lens as recited in claims 1 and 3. Mathur, Oh, Osterhout, McEldowney and Huang, applied alone or in combination fails to teach or suggest the combination and arrangement of elements recited in Applicant's claim 3.
Regarding claim 6, Mathur as modified by Oh discloses the limitations of claim 5 above.
However, Mathur and Oh fail to disclose, in light of the specification, “the beam splitter is placed in an optical path between the controllable polarization rotator module and the on-axis reflective flat lenses and directs the light from the on-axis reflective flat lenses to the pupil”.
The examiner further considered the Figures 34A-34B embodiment of Mathur, in which a beam splitter (12030) is placed in an optical path between a controllable rotator module (12070) and an on-axis reflective flat lenses (12040; [0446]) and directs the light from the on-axis reflective flat lenses to the pupil”, but the embodiment fails to explicitly disclose the controllable rotator module being a controllable polarization rotator module and the on-axis flat lenses being the on-axis reflective flat lenses. The prior art of Mathur, Oh, Osterhout, McEldowney and Huang, applied alone or in combination fails to teach or suggest the combination and arrangement of elements recited in Applicant's claim 6.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN Y JUNG whose telephone number is (469)295-9076. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael H Caley can be reached on (571)272-2286. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JONATHAN Y JUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871