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 is accepted.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The prior art documents submitted by application in the Information Disclosure Statement filed on 6/21/2024 have all been considered and made of record ( note the attached copy of form PTO – 1449).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morohashi et al (2021/0011286 A1) in view of Ozawa (2023/0362495 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Morohashi et al discloses (refer to figures 1 and 2) an image irradiation device (1,10) for a vehicle configured to be able to display a plurality of virtual (M1,M2) at different distances (paragraph 0016 and paragraph 0019), the image irradiation device (1,10) comprising: an image generation unit (20) configured to generate a first image for forming a first virtual image (M1) and a second image for forming a second virtual image (M2) to be displayed nearer than the first virtual image.
Morohashi et al discloses all of the claimed limitations except an optical member configured to be able to reduce an amount of external light incident on the image generation unit and to be movable between a position through which first light constituting the first image emitted from the image generation unit passes and a position through which the first light does not pass.
Ozawa discloses an optical member configured to be able to reduce an amount of external light incident on the image generation unit and to be movable between a position through which first light constituting the first image emitted from the image generation unit passes and a position through which the first light does not pass (i.e., image irradiator device [paragraph 0001] and external light outside of the vehicle [ paragraph 0104] and external light can be reduces [paragraph 0015].
It would have been obvious teaching of Ozawa an optical member configured to be able to reduce an amount of external light incident on the image generation unit and to be movable between a position through which first light constituting the first image emitted from the image generation unit passes and a position through which the first light does not pass in to the Morohashi et al an image irradiation device improve the visibility as taught by Ozawa (paragraph 0037).
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Regarding claim 2, combination of Morohashi et al in view of Ozawa discloses wherein the position through which the first light does not pass is between a position through which the first light constituting the first image emitted from the image generation unit passes and a position through which second light constituting the second image emitted from the image generation unit passes (Ozawa , figure 3 first image X1 and second image X2 [paragraph 0068] and image generation unit 424 [paragraph 0064].
Regarding claim 3, Morohashi et al discloses, further comprising: a reflection unit (2) figure 1 ) configured to reflect the first light constituting the first image and the second light constituting the second image emitted from the image generation unit, wherein the optical member is provided between the image generation unit and the reflection unit (2).
Regarding claim 4, Morohashi et al discloses, wherein the optical member is attached to the image generation unit (20) (as shown in figure 1).
Regarding claim 5, combination of Morohashi et al in view of Ozawa discloses further comprising: a controller (2) (Ozawa et al ) configured to control the optical member, wherein the controller (2) is configured to control the optical member so that the optical member is arranged at a position through which the first light does not pass when the first light is emitted from the image generation unit, and is arranged at a position through which the first light passes when the first light is not emitted from the image generation unit.
Regarding claim 6, combination of Morohashi et al in view of Ozawa discloses further comprising: a controller (2) (Ozawa et al ) configured to control the optical member, wherein the controller is configured to control the optical member to be arranged at a position through which the first light passes when a temperature of the image generation unit becomes a predetermined value or greater(i.e., image irradiator device [paragraph 0001] and external light outside of the vehicle [ paragraph 0104] and external light can be reduces [paragraph 0015].
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claim 7 is 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.
6. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: further comprising: a controller configured to control the optical member, wherein the controller is configured to control the optical member so that the optical member is arranged at a position through which the first light does not pass when the first light is emitted from the image generation unit, and is arranged at a position through which the first light passes when the first light is not emitted from the image generation unit, and wherein the controller is configured to control the optical member to be arranged at a position through which the first light passes when a temperature of the image generation unit becomes a predetermined value or greater while the first light is emitted.
Conclusion
7.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 6/17/2026
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