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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 5: “the secondary optical element” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 8: the use of “can” is indefinite as it refers to a possibility
Claim 10: “the sensor” lacks antecedent basis.
Claim 8: the use of “may” is indefinite as it refers to a possibility
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Mohawad (US 20100073791)
Mohawad discloses
1. An apparatus for hybrid backlighting of a display screen, comprising:
an external light unit (sun 495, par. 54, 58, Fig. 3) configured to illuminate the display screen (112) with light from an external light source;
an internal light unit (116, Fig. 1) configured to illuminate the display screen with light from an internal light source; and
a display housing member adapted to receive the display screen (Fig. 2);
wherein, the apparatus is capable of illuminating the display screen using an external light source, the internal light source, or a combination thereof.
2.1, wherein the external light unit comprises a port configured to receive light from an external light source, said port being capable of connecting to various light delivery systems including optical fiber cables, solar light collector devices, electric light sources, or other external light sources (abstract, par. 65-66).
3.1, wherein the internal light source comprises one or more light emitting elements chosen from the group consisting of incandescent light sources, light emitting diodes, organic light emitting diodes, and other suitable electric light sources (par. 29, 47).
4.1, having a secondary optical element (see manifolds 300, 400, Figs. 3-4) configured to project light from both the external light unit and the internal light unit towards the display screen (par. 57-61, 63-64).
5.1, wherein the secondary optical element has a freeform shape for optimal efficiency and homogeneous light intensity distribution across the display screen (par. 27: “interior surface of a wall portion of the manifold may include reflective material to improve the uniformity of the exiting light by aiming all light reflected within the manifold in one or more specific directions”).
8.1, wherein the display can be configured in various configurations, including but not limited to single display panels, binocular display systems, video walls, or tiled displays (Fig. 2, par. 42).
Claim(s) 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a2 as being anticipated by Rodrigues (US 20240176058 )
Rodrigues discloses
9. A method for hybrid backlighting of a display screen, comprising the steps of: obtaining incoming light data from an external light source (abstract, summary, Fig. 3, 8, 10, par. 36, 46, 51); determining a hybrid lighting configuration (Fig. 3, 8, 10, par. 36, 46, 51); controlling filtering configuration for the external light source; and controlling light configuration for the internal light source based on the hybrid lighting configuration (par. 36-38, 56: light sources including ambient source and internal sources are switched and/or supplemented each other in a color-synchronized manner).
10.9, further comprising obtaining light data from the sensor (par. 27, 41).
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.
Claim(s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mohawad (US 20100073791) in view of Zheng (US 20190317258 )
Re claim 6.1, Mohawad is silent to further comprising a dimmer element within the external light unit for adjusting light intensity, spectral composition, or both.
Zheng discloses An electronic device may be provided with a color ambient light sensor. The color ambient light sensor may be used to measure an ambient light spectrum over a wavelength range of interest. Control circuitry in the electronic device can take actions based on the measured ambient light spectrum such as adjusting the brightness and color cast of content on a display. A display may have a display cover layer. The color ambient light sensor can be mounted under the display cover layer and may receive ambient light through the display cover layer. The color ambient light sensor may have a tunable wavelength filter such as an electrically adjustable Fabry-Perot resonator. A light collimator may be interposed between the display cover layer and the Fabry-Perot resonator to collimate ambient light that is passed to the Fabry-Perot resonator. A light detector measures the light passing through the Fabry-Perot resonator (abstract)
[0030] Color ambient light sensor 31 may have one or more light detectors such as photodiode 36. Photodiode (photodetector) 36 may measure incoming ambient light 38 after light 38 has passed through material 26′, light collimator 30, tunable filter 32, and a fixed wavelength filter such as filter 34 (e.g., an infrared-light-blocking-and-visible-light-transmitting filter). Color ambient light sensor control circuitry such as portions of control circuitry 16 may gather signals from photodiode 36 while sweeping a passband associated with tunable filter 32 across a wavelength range of interest. This allows control circuitry 16 to gather light spectrum measurements on ambient light 38.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date the invention was made to incorporate the teachings of Zheng for providing a better viewing experience on the display.
Re claim 7.1, a sensor within the external light unit for measuring light intensity, spectral composition, or both (Zheng, par. 27-30)
Claim(s) 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rodrigues (US 20240176058 ) in view of Zheng (US 20190317258 )
Re claim 11.9, Rodrigues is silent to wherein a filtering configuration for the display screen may also be controlled to optimize spectral output to user needs.
Zheng discloses An electronic device may be provided with a color ambient light sensor. The color ambient light sensor may be used to measure an ambient light spectrum over a wavelength range of interest. Control circuitry in the electronic device can take actions based on the measured ambient light spectrum such as adjusting the brightness and color cast of content on a display. A display may have a display cover layer. The color ambient light sensor can be mounted under the display cover layer and may receive ambient light through the display cover layer. The color ambient light sensor may have a tunable wavelength filter such as an electrically adjustable Fabry-Perot resonator. A light collimator may be interposed between the display cover layer and the Fabry-Perot resonator to collimate ambient light that is passed to the Fabry-Perot resonator. A light detector measures the light passing through the Fabry-Perot resonator (abstract)
[0030] Color ambient light sensor 31 may have one or more light detectors such as photodiode 36. Photodiode (photodetector) 36 may measure incoming ambient light 38 after light 38 has passed through material 26′, light collimator 30, tunable filter 32, and a fixed wavelength filter such as filter 34 (e.g., an infrared-light-blocking-and-visible-light-transmitting filter). Color ambient light sensor control circuitry such as portions of control circuitry 16 may gather signals from photodiode 36 while sweeping a passband associated with tunable filter 32 across a wavelength range of interest. This allows control circuitry 16 to gather light spectrum measurements on ambient light 38.
12.9, further comprising adjusting the hybrid lighting configuration dynamically based on user settings, environmental parameters, or both (Zheng, abstract, par. 20-22, 33-36)
13.9, wherein the hybrid lighting configuration is determined based on user profiles or preferences regarding visual or physiological effects of light exposure (par. 20-22: user preference causes display 14 becomes yellower in warm condition and bluer in cold ambient condition).
Conclusion
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/THIEN T MAI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2876