DETAILED ACTION
Priority
1. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a) — (d), which papers have been placed of record in the file. Oath/Declaration
Oath/Declaration
2. Oath and declaration filed on 3/19/2024 is accepted.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The prior art documents submitted by application in the Information Disclosure Statement filed on 3/19/2024 have all been considered and made of record ( note the attached copy of form PTO – 1449).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shenzhen Metalenx Technology LTD (CN 113424090A) (note: applicant provide reference).
Regarding claim 1, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses (refer to figures 1-18), a relay redirector, comprising: a metasurface and a supporting part; wherein the metasurface is arranged on the supporting part; and the metasurface is configured to adjust a propagation direction of outgoing light leaving the metasurface by modulating a phase of incident light hitting the metasurface, so as to direct the incident light hitting the metasurface towards a light-outgoing side of the metasurface and form a real image in a preset area on the light-outgoing side of the metasurface (paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 2, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses(refer to figures 1-18), , wherein the metasurface comprises a transmissive metasurface and a reflective element; the transmissive metasurface comprises a plurality of transmissive unit cells being capable of providing a modulation phase; the transmissive unit cells are configured to transmit at least part of incident light hitting the transmissive unit cells to obtain transmitted light leaving the transmissive metasurface; the transmitted light leaving the transmissive metasurface is capable of forming the real image; and the reflective element is configured to reflect incident light hitting the reflective element to the light-outgoing side of the metasurface(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 3, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses(refer to figures 1-18), wherein a first deflection angle is greater than or equal to a second deflection angle; the first deflection angle refers to a deflection angle of a first propagation direction of the incident light entering the transmissive unit cells relative to the transmission reference position; and the second deflection angle refers to a deflection angle of a second propagation direction of transmitted light leaving the transmissive unit cells relative to the transmission reference position; and the transmission reference position is coplanar with the transmissive metasurface (paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 4, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses (refer to figures 1-18), wherein a difference between a cotangent value of the second deflection angle and a cotangent value of the first deflection angle is a constant value; and the constant value is positively correlated to a distance between the transmissive unit cells to the transmission reference position (paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 5, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses (refer to figures 1-18), wherein the transmissive metasurface is configured to transmit the incident light hitting the transmissive unit cells to the reflective element; and the reflective element is configured to reflect the transmitted light leaving the transmissive metasurface to the light-outgoing side of the metasurface; or, the reflective element is configured to reflect the incident light hitting the reflective element to the transmissive metasurface to obtain reflected light leaving the reflective element, and the transmissive metasurface is configured to transmit the reflected light leaving the reflective element to the light-outgoing side of the metasurface(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 6, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology (refer to figures 1-18), discloses wherein the supporting part comprises a relay substrate; and the relay substrate at least comprises a light-entering surface, a reflecting surface and a light-outgoing surface; the reflective element is arranged on the reflecting surface, and is configured to reflect incident light hitting the light-entering surface to the light-outgoing surface; and the transmissive metasurface is provided on the light-entering surface or the light-outgoing surface(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 7, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses (refer to figures 1-18), wherein the transmissive metasurface comprises a first transparent substrate layer and a plurality of nanostructures on the first transparent substrate layer(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 8, wherein the modulation phase provided by the transmissive unit cells is expressed by a following formula:
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wherein, r is a radial coordinate of the transmissive unit cells, λi is an i-th wavelength that needs to be adjusted, ai,j is a preset j-th phase coefficient corresponding to the i-th wavelength, and N is a positive integer and is not less than 3(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 9, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses wherein the metasurface comprises a reflective metasurface; and the reflective metasurface is configured to be divided into a plurality of reflective unit cells capable of providing a modulation phase; the reflective unit cells are configured to direct at least part of light from a first position towards a second position in the preset area, so as to form the real image at the second position; and the first position and the second position are in a one-to-one correspondence(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 10, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses(refer to figures 1-18), wherein the supporting part comprises a supporting layer; the reflective metasurface is provided on the support layer; or the supporting part comprises a relay substrate; the relay substrate at least comprises a light-entering surface, a reflecting surface and a light-outgoing surface; the reflective metasurface is provided on the reflecting surface for directing incident light from the light-entering surface towards the light-outgoing surface(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 11, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses (refer to figures 1-18), wherein the reflective metasurface comprises a reflective layer and a plurality of nanostructures; and the plurality of the nanostructures are provided on a side of the reflective layer close to a light-entering side and the light-outgoing side of the metasurface; or the reflective metasurface comprises a reflective layer, a second transparent substrate layer and a plurality of nanostructures; the second transparent substrate layer is provided on the side of the reflective layer close to the light-entering side and the light-outgoing side of the metasurface; and the plurality of the nanostructures are provided on a side of the second transparent substrate layer away from the reflective layer(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 12, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses(refer to figures 1-18), wherein the light-entering surface of the relay substrate is perpendicular to the light-outgoing surface of the relay substrate (paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 13, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses(refer to figures 1-18), wherein the light-entering surface of the relay substrate is perpendicular to the light-outgoing surface of the relay substrate (paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 14, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses an image combiner; the relay redirector is configured to generate the real image on a light-entering side of the image combiner; and the image combiner is configured to modulate imaging light emitted by the real image to an observation are(paragraph 0005-0188)a.
Regarding claim 15, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses(refer to figures 1-18), wherein the image combiner comprises a free-form prism and a compensator; the free-form prism comprises a transmissive surface, a transflective surface and a light-splitting surface; the compensator is provided on the light-splitting surface; the transmissive surface is configured to transmit the imaging light emitted by the real image and direct the transmitted imaging light towards the transflective surface; the transflective surface is configured to totally reflect the imaging light transmitted by the transmissive surface to the light-splitting surface; the light-splitting surface is configured to reflect the imaging light totally reflected by the transflective surface to the transflective surface; the transflective surface is also configured to transmit the imaging light reflected by the light-splitting surface; and the compensator is configured to compensate dioptric power of the free-form prism, so that the image combiner is a focal(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 16, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses wherein the compensator comprises a prism substrate and a compensation element; the compensation element is configured to be divided into a plurality of metasurface unit cells; the compensation element is provided on a side of the prism substrate; the metasurface unit cells of the compensation element are configured to provide a compensation phase for light passing through the metasurface unit cells; and a propagation direction of incident light traveling towards the compensator is the same as a propagation direction of outgoing light obtained after the incident light sequentially passes through the metasurface unit cells, the prism substrate and the free-form prism arranged on a light-outgoing side of the prism substrate(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 17, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses (refer to figures 1-18), wherein phase errors of the metasurface unit cells at a plurality of target wavelengths meet a minimum error condition; and respective phase errors refer to a difference between an actual compensation phase provided by the metasurface unit cells at the target wavelengths and a theoretical compensation phase required to be provided by the metasurface unit cells at the same target wavelengths(paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 18, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses wherein the minimum error condition is satisfied when a weighted sum of the phase errors is minimum, and the weighted sum of the phase errors is expressed by a following formula:
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; wherein, (x, y) represents coordinates of respective metasurface unit cells, m is a serial number of a metasurface unit cell at (x, y) in a structural database, λi is an i-th target wavelength, and ci is a weight coefficient of the i-th target wavelength λi;
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is an actual compensation phase provided by the metasurface unit cell at (x, y) at the i-th target wavelength λi;
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is a theoretical compensation phase required to be provided by the metasurface unit cell at (x, y) at the i-th target wavelength λi and is expressed by a following formula:
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; wherein, n1 is a refractive index of the prism substrate, tx,y is a thickness of the prism substrate in a light propagation direction corresponding to the metasurface unit cell at (x, y), and n2 is a refractive index of the free-form prism, Tx,y is a thickness of the free-form prism in a light propagation direction corresponding to the metasurface unit cell at (x, y).
Regarding claim 19, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses (refer to figures 1-18), wherein the compensation element comprises a third transparent substrate layer and a plurality of second nanostructures; respective second nanostructures are of an upright structure having a central axis in a height direction of the upright structure; and the upright structure has a first symmetric plane and a second symmetric plane that are perpendicular to each other; and the first symmetric plane and the second symmetric plane intersect at the central axis of the upright structure; an intersection between the first symmetric plane and the upright structure forms a first intersection line, and an intersection between the second symmetric plane and the upright structure forms a second intersection line; a shape of the first intersection line is the same as a shape of the second intersection line (paragraph 0005-0188).
Regarding claim 20, Shenzhen Metalenx Technology discloses(refer to figures 1-18) a near-eye display system, comprising the display device (paragraph 0005-0188).
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED A HASAN whose telephone number is (571)272-2331. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 6 AM -4 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bumsuk Won can be reached at 571-272-2713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMED A HASAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872 3/30/2026