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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akiyama (JP 2019-061110 A), referred to hereafter as Akiyama110, machine translation into English provided by Applicant, in view of Akiyama (US 9,946,143 B1), referred to hereafter as Akiyama143.
Regarding claim 1, Akiyama110 teaches a first light source to emit first light in a first wavelength band (711B, figure 1),
A second light source (711R or 711G, figure 1) configured to emit second light in a second wavelength band different form the first wavelength band (red or green),
A rotary diffusion device (740, figure 1; paragraph 0027) having a substrate including a diffusing surface (743, figure 5; paragraph 0064) configured to diffusively reflect the illumination light emitted from the light source, and a driver (745, figure 1, paragraph 0062) configured to rotate the substrate centering on a rotational axis;
A condenser (720, figure 1) disposed between the light source and the light source and the rotary diffusion device, and configured to condense the illumination light emitted from the light source toward the rotary diffusion device (paragraph 0027); and
A collimator (730, paragraph 0076) configured to collimate diffusion light of the illumination light emitted from the rotary diffusion device.
Akiyama110 does not specify a light combining member configured to combine the first light and the second light with each other to emit illumination light; nor that the diffusing surface of the substrate includes a first area where a first uneven structure is disposed, and a second area where a second uneven structure different form the first uneven structure is disposed.
Akiyama143 teaches a light combining member (31, figure 1) configured to combine the first light and the second light with each other to emit illumination light; wherein the condensing lens (20, figure 1) is placed after the light combining member; and
That the diffusing surface of the substrate includes a first area (61, figure 3) where a first uneven structure is disposed, and a second area (62, figure 3) where a second uneven structure different form the first uneven structure is disposed (column 12 line 35-49).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the projector of Akiyama110 to include the dual diffusion architecture of Akiyama143 in order to better reduce speckle in the projected image (column 12 lines 55-62).
Regarding claim 10, Akiyama110 further teaches a light modulator (400R-B, figure 1) configured to modulate the light from the illuminate device; and
A projection optical device (600, figure 10) configured to project the light modulated by the light modulator.
Claim(s) 2-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akiyama (JP 2019-061110 A), referred to hereafter as Akiyama110, machine translation into English provided by Applicant, in view of Akiyama (US 9,946,143 B1), referred to hereafter as Akiyama143, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hwang (KR 101216601 B1), Machine translation into English provided by examiner.
Regarding claim 2, Akiyama110 teaches the diffusing structure can be made of a lens array (paragraph 0065).
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 further teaches the two different types of diffusing structures (61, 62, figure 3 in Akiyama143). Making both the uneven structures into micro-lens arrays would require no undue experimentation for one of ordinary skill in the art, which would mean that the first small lens surfaces and the second small lens surfaces are different in at least one of pitch and curvature radius between the different lens arrays.
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 does not specify that the first and second lens arrays are regular lens arrays.
Hwang teaches the diffusing structure can be a regular array (paragraph 0125).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the lens arrays of Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 to use a regular array of diffusion elements to optimize the degree of diffusion relative to brightness (paragraph 0125).
Regarding claim 3, Akiyama110 teaches the diffusing structure can be made of a lens array (paragraph 0065).
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 further teaches the two different types of diffusing structures (61, 62, figure 3 in Akiyama143). Making both the uneven structures into micro-lens arrays would require no undue experimentation for one of ordinary skill in the art, which would mean that the first small lens surfaces and the second small lens surfaces are different in at least one of pitch and curvature radius between the different lens arrays.
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 does not specify that the first and second lens arrays are random lens arrays.
Hwang teaches the diffusing structure can be a random array (paragraph 0125).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the lens arrays of Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 to use a random array of diffusion elements to optimize the degree of diffusion relative to brightness (paragraph 0125).
Regarding claim 4, Akiyama110 teaches the diffusing structure can be made of an uneven pattern (paragraph 0065).
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 further teaches the two different types of diffusing structures (61, 62, figure 3 in Akiyama143). Making both the structures uneven patterns would require no undue experimentation for one of ordinary skill in the art.
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 does not specify that the first and second uneven structures are random.
Hwang teaches the diffusing structure can be a random structure (paragraph 0125).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the lens arrays of Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 to use a random array of diffusion elements to optimize the degree of diffusion relative to brightness (paragraph 0125).
Regarding claim 5, Akiyama110 teaches the diffusing structure can be made of a lens array (paragraph 0065).
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 further teaches the two different types of diffusing structures (61, 62, figure 3 in Akiyama143). Making both the lens structures micro-lens arrays would require no undue experimentation for one of ordinary skill in the art.
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 does not specify that the first lens array is a regular array and the second is a random array.
Hwang teaches the diffusing structure can be a regular array or a random array (paragraph 0125).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the lens arrays of Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 to use a regular array of diffusion elements and a random array to optimize the degree of diffusion relative to brightness (paragraph 0125).
Regarding claim 6, Akiyama110 teaches the diffusing structure can be made of a lens array or an uneven pattern (paragraph 0065).
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 further teaches the two different types of diffusing structures (61, 62, figure 3 in Akiyama143). Making one of the diffusion structures a lens array structure and one an uneven surface would require no undue experimentation for one of ordinary skill in the art.
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 does not specify that the first lens array structure is regular and the second uneven structure is a random nature uneven pattern.
Hwang teaches the diffusing structure can be a regular array or a random array (paragraph 0125).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the lens arrays of Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 to use a regular lens array with a random array of diffusion elements to optimize the degree of diffusion relative to brightness (paragraph 0125).
Regarding claim 7, Akiyama110 teaches the diffusing structure can be made of a lens array or an uneven pattern (paragraph 0065).
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 further teaches the two different types of diffusing structures (61, 62, figure 3 in Akiyama143). Making one of the diffusion structures a lens array structure and one an uneven surface would require no undue experimentation for one of ordinary skill in the art.
Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 does not specify that the first lens array structure is regular and the second uneven structure is a random nature uneven pattern.
Hwang teaches the diffusing structures can be a random array (paragraph 0125).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the lens arrays of Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 to use a random lens array with a random array of diffusion elements to optimize the degree of diffusion relative to brightness (paragraph 0125).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akiyama (JP 2019-061110 A), referred to hereafter as Akiyama110, machine translation into English provided by Applicant, in view of Akiyama (US 9,946,143 B1), referred to hereafter as Akiyama143, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fan et al. (US 2020/0371417 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 does not specify that the thickness of the first area in a direction along the rotational axis and a thickness in the second area in the direction along the rotational axis are different form each other.
Fan teaches the thickness of the first area in a direction along the rotational axis and a thickness in the second area in the direction along the rotational axis are different form each other (paragraph 0075-0076).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the projector o Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 to use the different thicknesses of the diffuser elements as taught in Fan in order to compensate for chromatic aberration (0045).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akiyama (JP 2019-061110 A), referred to hereafter as Akiyama110, machine translation into English provided by Applicant, in view of Akiyama (US 9,946,143 B1), referred to hereafter as Akiyama143, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kawasumi (US 2022/0043330 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Akiyama110 in view of Akiyama143 does not teach the third light source configured to emit light in a third wavelength band different form the first wavelength band and the second wavelength band, wherein the light combining member is configured to combine the third light with the first light and the second light.
Kawasumi teaches the third light source (4, 2a-c, figure 1 and 2a; or 5, figure 1) configured to emit light in a third wavelength band different form the first wavelength band and the second wavelength band, wherein the light combining member is configured to combine the third light with the first light and the second light (see 8, figure 1).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the projector of Akiyama110 in view Akiyama143 with the light source structure of Kawasumi in order to make the light source more compact.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN D HOWARD whose telephone number is (571)270-5358. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5:00.
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/RYAN D HOWARD/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882 2/18/2026