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 .
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.
Disposition of the Claims
Claims 1-18 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-4, and 9-12 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hadad (US 20100067110 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Hadad discloses an optical arrangement (Fig. 3) comprising:
(a) an optical waveguide (20) having first and second mutually parallel planar faces and an end surface (top and bottom, and the coupling surface 48 shared by the prism 46 and waveguide 20); and
(b) a coupling prism (46 and 50) optically coupled to said end surface for coupling in light (at their shared surface 48) corresponding to a collimated image (collimated by lens 54) so as to propagate within said optical waveguide (20) by internal reflection at said first and second faces (e.g. Abstract, ¶35),
wherein said coupling prism provides a coupling surface that is parallel to said second face and external to said optical waveguide (as in Fig. 3) such that there is a step (the 46 portion of the prism extending above the waveguide forming the step that itself defines the entrance aperture and is thus considered optically between) between said coupling surface (48) and an entrance aperture of said optical waveguide (right end face of waveguide 20), said light corresponding to a collimated image illuminating said entrance aperture of said optical waveguide both directly and after internal reflection at said coupling surface (Fig. 3, and ¶35, input light from display 38 is collimated by lens 54 before coupling into the waveguide by coupling prism 46’s coupling surface 48, which light encountering the flat coupling surface 48).
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Regarding claim 2, Hadad discloses the optical arrangement of claim 1, and further discloses wherein an edge defined by an intersection of said first face with said end surface defines an optical cutoff of said entrance aperture of said optical waveguide (Fig. 3, the step between waveguide 20 and prism 46 defining the aperture of display light 38).
Regarding claim 3, Hadad discloses the optical arrangement of claim 1, and further discloses wherein said entrance aperture has an aperture dimension in a direction parallel to said coupling surface, wherein said coupling surface has a width that is greater than said aperture dimension (Fig. 3, coupling surface 48 being broader than the entrance surface).
Regarding claim 4, Hadad discloses the optical arrangement of claim 1, and further discloses show wherein said coupling prism provides an input surface (46 receiving light from display 38) oriented such that image rays injected perpendicular to said input surface (as in Fig. 3) enter said optical waveguide and undergo internal reflection at said first and second faces (Abstract, ¶35).
Regarding claim 9, Hadad discloses an optical arrangement comprising:
(a) an optical waveguide (20) having at least a first pair of parallel faces for conveying an image via total internal reflection (Abstract, ¶35); and
(b) an image projecting arrangement optically coupled to said optical waveguide for introducing into said optical waveguide a collimated image (Fig. 3, everything else attached to waveguide 20), said image projecting arrangement comprising
a polarized beam splitter prism (prisms 46 and 50 with polarizing splitting surface 48 therebetween) having:
(i) an image input surface (prism 46 receiving from display 38);
(ii) reflective collimating optics (54) deployed on a second surface of said polarized beam splitter prism, said reflective collimating optics having an optical axis (as in Fig. 3); and (iii) a polarized beam splitter (48) deployed on an obliquely inclined plane so as to direct image illumination from said image input surface towards said collimating optical element (Fig. 3, optical axis of the display light propagating toward the collimator obliquely inclined to the waveguide), said polarized beam splitter prism being optically coupled to said optical waveguide (collimated light reflected in by splitter 48) with said optical axis tilted relative to said first pair of parallel faces (Fig. 3), said polarized beam splitter prism (the left prism 50 of the polarizing beam splitter) further comprising a coupling surface lying on a side of said polarized beam splitter away from said collimating optical element (Fig. 3, lying along the waveguide separate from collimator 54), coplanar with, or parallel to, a first of said first pair of parallel faces (along the bottom surface of the waveguide 20).
Regarding claim 10, Hadad discloses the optical arrangement of claim 9, and further discloses wherein at least part of said coupling surface lies within a cuboid defined by said image input surface and said second surface (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 11, Hadad discloses the optical arrangement of claim 9, and further discloses wherein said polarized beam splitter prism is optically coupled to said waveguide via a coupling prism (46 and 50), and wherein at least part of said coupling surface is provided by said coupling prism (Fig. 3, along bottom and end faces of the waveguide).
Regarding claim 12, Hadad discloses the optical arrangement of claim 9, and further discloses further comprising an image projecting source (38) optically coupled to said image input surface (of 46) so as to project an image into said polarized beam splitter prism (Fig. 3), said image projecting source and said collimating optical element (54) defining an angular field of view for rays of a collimated image projected from said collimating optical element (sequitur), wherein a second of said first pair of parallel faces terminates at an edge (Fig. 3, into the top portion of prism 46), and wherein said first of said first pair of parallel faces and/or said coupling surface form an extended surface extending sufficiently that said edge (defined by the waveguide 20’s top surface and polarizing splitter surface) is illuminated by rays of said collimated image of all angles within said angular field of view after reflection at said extended surface (thus defining the entrance aperture of the display light from 38).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8, 13-18 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.
Regarding claim 5, Hadad teaches the optical arrangement of claim 1, and explicitly shows wherein said coupling prism is integrated with a polarizing beam splitter prism (Fig. 3) having:
(i) an image input surface (46’s surface receiving from display 38);
(ii) reflective collimating optics (54) deployed on a second surface of said polarized beam splitter prism (Fig. 3), said reflective collimating optics having an optical axis (sequitur); and
(iii) a polarized beam splitter deployed on an obliquely inclined plane so as to direct image illumination from said image input surface towards said collimating optical element, wherein said optical axis of said reflective collimating optics is inclined relative to said coupling surface such that the light corresponding to an image injected at said image input surface and reflected by said polarized beam splitter towards said reflective collimating optics passes through said polarized beam splitter and enters said waveguide entrance aperture both directly and after internal reflection at said coupling surface.
Regarding claim 7, Hadad teaches the optical arrangement of claim 1, but does not explicitly show wherein said optical waveguide further comprises third and fourth mutually parallel planar faces perpendicular to said first and second faces so that said optical waveguide conveys an image via four-fold internal reflection, and wherein said coupling prism provides a second coupling surface that is parallel to said fourth face in a plane external to said optical waveguide such that said light corresponding to a collimated image illuminates said entrance aperture of said optical waveguide after internal reflection at said second coupling surface alone and after internal reflection at both said coupling surface and said second coupling surface.
Regarding claim 13, Hadad teaches the optical arrangement of claim 9, but does not explicitly show wherein said collimated image is injected into said optical waveguide at an entrance aperture, said entrance aperture having an aperture dimension in a direction parallel to said coupling surface, wherein said coupling surface has a width that is greater than said aperture dimension.
Regarding claim 14, Hadad teaches the optical arrangement of claim 9, but does not explicitly show wherein said optical waveguide further comprises a second pair of parallel faces so that said optical waveguide conveys an image via four-fold internal reflection, said image input surface and said second surface being tilted relative to both said first and said second pairs of parallel faces, and wherein said polarized beam splitter prism further comprises a second coupling surface lying on a side of said polarized beam splitter away from said collimating optical element, coplanar with, or parallel to, one of said second pair of parallel faces.
Regarding claim 6, 8, 15-18, the dependent claims depend from a claim that recites allowable subject matter and therefore recite allowable subject matter.
Conclusion
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/COLLIN X BEATTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872