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 .
DETAILED ACTION
In the response to this office action, the Examiner respectfully requests that support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line numbers in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the Examiner in prosecuting this application.
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 final rejection. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/24/2025 has been entered.
ALLOWABLE SUBJECT MATTER
Claims 1-6, 9-15, and 20 are allowable.
Claim 1-6, 9-15 are allowable because the cited references do not disclose “a metal coating on the waveguide, wherein the metal coating is patterned to form a fiducial coupled to the waveguide” with all other limitations recited in claim 1. Claim 20 is allowable because the cited references do not disclose “the output coupler is selected from the group consisting of: beam splitter, a prism, holographic coupler and a diffraction grating, and the wave further includes a fiducial formed on the output coupler” with all other limitations cited in claim 20.
RESPONSE TO AMENDMENT
Acknowledgment is made of the amendment filed 12/24/2025, in which:claims 1-2, 6, 10, 13-14, 16, 18, and 20 are amended; claims 7-8 and 17 are canceled; and the rejections of the claims are traversed. Claims 1-6,9-16 and 18-20 are currently pending and an Office Action on the merits follows.
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.
4. Claims 16 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ouderkirk et al. US 10698204 in view of Sztuk et al. US 11269406 and further in view of Ouderkirk et al. US 10852817 hereinafter “Ouderkirk2”.
Consider claim 16. Ouderkirk discloses a head-mounted device col. 5 lines 58-60 near eye display e.g. glasses fig. 4 400, comprising:
a head-mounted frame frame 405 which includes main frame which holds the lenses and attached temple;
a display in the head-mounted frame fig. 4 display 410 coupled to frame 405 and configured to display an image Col. 16 lines 33-34 display 410 may display images;
a waveguide configured to receive the image fig. 4 display optics 420 may display image content optically using waveguides and optical couplers Col. 16 lines 37-39;
a gaze tracking camera configured to gather respective gaze tracking images directly from an eye box Col. 16 lines 56-58 eye tracking unit includes light source and camera fig. 4 camera 440 also see fig. 8 camera 840;
and fiducials within waveguide fig. 8 824 fig. 11 1124 hot mirrors are embedded within display optics 820 or 1120 which include waveguide, wherein the gaze tracking camera is configured directly to capture images of the fiducials see fig. 11 camera 1140 directly images the hot mirrors. also see fig. 8 where the camera 840 captures images of the fiducials directly from the eyebox.
Ouderkirk does not disclose and fiducials that overlap waveguide.
Sztuk however discloses and fiducials that overlap waveguide fig. 2 display 164 includes waveguide 228. Also see fig. 4 which shows 164 with calibration indicators (or fiducials) coupled to display 164. Also see fig. 9 which shows fiducials places on either surface of 164 and also embedded within.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the HMD of Ouderkirk to include and fiducials that overlap waveguide, as taught by Sztuk, to capture calibrations data for gaze tracking and also for correcting distortion related to prescription lenses (Col. 1 lines 25-65).
a layer embedded in the waveguide; wherein the layer comprises a stack of thin-film dielectric layers, and the fiducial is formed from a pattern in the layer. See Ouderkirk fig. 7 hot mirror dielectric layers fig. 12 and 13 a coat is formed inside the waveguide and etched away to leave the fiducials. Col. 21 lines 23-24 hot mirrors.
Ouderkirk as modified by Sztuk do not explicitly disclose a layer coupled to the waveguide.
Ouderkirk2 however discloses a layer coupled to the waveguide. see fig. 9 where the hot mirrors are formed on the surface of substrate 910 (which includes waveguide) Col. 24 lines 13-27 the light deflectors may include reflective coating reflective thin film coating. Also see fig. 11a col. 25 lines 58-67 which disclose that the substrate which has the waveguide is coated with reflective coating. Also see Col. 26-line 58-Col. 27 line 11.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the HMD of Ouderkirk as modified by Sztuk and Kim to include a layer coupled to the waveguide, as taught by Ouderkirk2, for more accurate eye tracking (Col. 1 lines 58-62).
Consider claim 18. Ouderkirk as modified by Sztuk and Ouderkirk2 discloses the head-mounted device of claim 16, further comprising:
a lens that overlaps the waveguide; and additional fiducials coupled to the lens Sztuk fig. 8 and fig. 9 the additional fiducials 230 are formed on or in the lens 244.
Motivation to combine is similar to motivation in claim 16.
Consider claim 19. Ouderkirk as modified by Sztuk and Ouderkirk2 discloses the head-mounted device of claim 18, wherein the lens is a removable lens configured to be attached to the waveguide Sztuk 244 is prescription lens col. 18 line 43. Col. 22 lines 16-18 swappable lenses.
RESPONSE TO ARGUMENTS
Claims 1-6, 9-15 and 20 are allowed.
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 16 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Regarding claims 16 Applicant argues (pages 10-11) that Ouderkirk, Sztuk, and Ouderkirk2 do not disclose “a gaze tracking camera configured to gather respective gaze tacking images directly from an eye box” and “the gaze tracking camera is configured to directly capture images of the fiducials”.
The Office respectfully disagrees. Ouderkirk illustrates in fig. 8 the camera 840 imaging the eye box and also capturing images of the fiducials directly from the eye box reflected from the eyes. Fig. 11 shows a camera 1140 which directly captures images of the fiducials as well.
for at least these reasons the cited references read on the claimed invention.
CONCLUSION
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Popovich et al. US 10712571 discloses a holographic waveguide.
Yao et al. US 20220019086 discloses using a metal fiducial.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IBRAHIM A KHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7998. The examiner can normally be reached on 10am-6pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, LunYi Lao can be reached on 5712727671. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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IBRAHIM A. KHAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2621
/IBRAHIM A KHAN/ 02/06/2026Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621