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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “each respective high-speed signal bus of the plurality of high-speed signal busses is arranged in a single z-stack”; “each respective high-speed signal bus of the plurality of high-speed signal busses are separated from one another by a set of electrical ground layers”; “each flex assembly of the first set of flex assemblies and/or the second set of flex assemblies includes an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shield configured to prevent electromagnetic interference between respective flex assemblies of the first and/or second set of flex assemblies”; and “a bi-stable locking mechanism” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-14 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Anonymous: "Valve Index HMD detailed teardown", , 11 August 2020 (2020-08-11), pages 1-25, XP093219949, Retrieved from the Internet: URL:https://www.thevrist.com/indexteardown [retrieved on 2024-11-03] presented in IDS of 05/23/2025 hereinafter referred to as D1.
Regarding claim 1, D1 discloses a head-wearable device, comprising:
a body (body shown in image of pg. 3) comprising
a housing (housing shown in image of pg. 3) and a plurality of electrical components (electrical components shown on logic board of image of pg. 4) arranged in the housing and configured to provide artificial-reality content,
the plurality of electrical components including a logic board with one or more processors (as depicted in image of pg. 4);
a front-facing outer cover (front-facing outer cover shown in image of pg. 3) having a front-facing outer surface (front-facing outer surface shown in image of pg. 3),
the front-facing outer cover configured to detachably couple to the housing (as depicted in image of pg. 3-4), and comprising:
a first set of components mounted to the front-facing outer surface,
each respective component of the first set of components comprising a first set of sensors (sensors at bottom left shown in image of pg. 3); and
a second set of components mounted to the front-facing outer surface,
each respective component of the second set of components comprising a second set of sensors (sensors at bottom right shown in image of pg. 3);
a first set of flex assemblies (first set of flex assemblies at bottom left shown in image of pg. 7),
each respective flex assembly of the first set of flex assemblies configured to communicatively couple a respective sensor of the first set of sensors to the logic board (as depicted in image of pg. 7); and
a second set of flex assemblies (second set of flex assemblies at bottom right shown in image of pg. 7) configured to communicatively couple respective components of the second set of second set of components to the logic board (as depicted in image of pg. 7).
Regarding claim 2, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein:
each flex assembly of the first set of flex assemblies comprises a respective first multi-layer flex assembly (top multi-layer flex assembly depicted in image of pg. 8), and
each respective first multi-layer flex assembly is configured to electrically couple two or more distinct sensor types of the first set of sensors to the logic board (as depicted in image of pg. 8).
Regarding claim 3, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 2, wherein:
each flex assembly of the second set of flex assemblies comprises
a respective second multi-layer flex assembly (bottom multi-layer flex assembly depicted in image of pg. 8), distinct from the respective first multi-layer flex assembly, and
each respective second multi-layer flex assembly is configured to electrically couple two or more distinct sensor types of the second set of sensors to the logic board (as depicted in image of pg. 8).
Regarding claim 4, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein each flex assembly of the first set of flex assemblies and/or the second set of flex assemblies is configured to support a plurality of high-speed signal busses (as depicted in image of pg. 8).
Regarding claim 5, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 4, wherein each respective high-speed signal bus of the plurality of high-speed signal busses is arranged in a single z-stack (as depicted in image of pg. 8).
Regarding claim 7, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein each flex assembly of the first set of flex assemblies and/or the second set of flex assemblies includes an electromagnetic interference (EMI) shield configured to prevent electromagnetic interference between respective flex assemblies of the first and/or second set of flex assemblies (as depicted in image of pg. 7-8).
Regarding claim 8, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein each component of the first set of components and the second set of components is arranged along a first dimension of the front-facing outer surface (as depicted as depicted in image of pg. 3).
Regarding claim 9, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein the first set of flex assemblies and/or the second set of flex assemblies comprises a jumper wire (as depicted as depicted in image of pg. 4, 7 and 8).
Regarding claim 10, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein, while each flex assembly of the first and second sets of flex assemblies are coupling respective sensors of the first and second sets of components to the logic board (as depicted as depicted in image of pg. 3-4),
the front-facing outer cover is configured to articulate away from the body of the head-wearable device, such that at least a subset of the plurality of electrical components are accessible from a front side of the body of the head-wearable device (as depicted as depicted in image of pg. 3-4).
Regarding claim 12, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein: the front-facing outer cover has a cover height and a cover width (as depicted in image of pg. 3), the body of the head-wearable device has a body height and a body width, and the cover height is at least 80% of the body height, and the cover width is at least 60% of the body width (as depicted in image of pg. 3-4).
Regarding claim 13, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein at least one flex assembly of the first set of flex assemblies is vertically stacked with a respective flex assembly of the second set of flex assemblies (as depicted in image of pg. 8).
Regarding claim 14, D1 discloses the head-wearable device of claim 1, wherein: the front-facing outer cover includes one or more protrusions extending outward from an inner surface of the front-facing outer cover (protrusions of screws of front-facing cover as depicted as depicted in image of pg. 3), and
a front-facing surface of the body of the head-wearable device defines one or more openings (screw openings of the body as depicted as depicted in image of pg. 4),
each of the openings configured to receive a respective protrusion of the one or more protrusions on the inner surface of the front-facing outer cover (as depicted as depicted in image of pg. 3-4).
Regarding claim 18, D1 discloses (a structure that would follow steps of) a method of assembling a head-wearable device, comprising:
providing (i) a body (body shown in image of pg. 3-4) and (ii) a front-facing outer cover (front-facing outer cover shown in image of pg. 3) of the head-wearable device,
wherein the front-facing outer cover is configured to detachably couple with a front-facing surface of the body (front-facing surface shown in image of pg. 4) of the head-wearable device (as depicted image of pg. 3-4);
attaching a first set of components (sensors at bottom left shown in image of pg. 3) to the front-facing outer cover,
each component of the first set of components including a first set of sensors (sensors at bottom left shown in image of pg. 3);
attaching a second set of components (sensors at bottom right shown in image of pg. 3) to the front-facing outer cover,
each component of the second set of components including a second set of sensors (sensors at bottom right shown in image of pg. 3);
electronically coupling each sensor of the first set of sensors to a logic board (logic board of image of pg. 4) within the body of the head-wearable device (as depicted in image of pg. 3-4 and 7);
electronically coupling each sensor of the second set of sensors to the logic board within the body of the head-wearable device (as depicted in image of pg. 3-4 and 7); and
after electronically coupling each respective sensor of the first and second sets of sensors to the logic board,
mounting the front-facing outer cover of the head-wearable device to the front-facing surface of the body of the head-wearable device (as depicted in image of pg. 7-3).
Regarding claim 19, D1 discloses the method of claim 18, wherein electronically coupling each sensor of the first and second sets of sensors to the logic board includes:
electronically coupling respective sensors of the first set of sensors (sensor at bottom left in image of pg. 3) to a first connection point of the logic board, and after electronically coupling the respective sensors of the first set of sensors,
electronically coupling respective sensors of the second set of sensors (sensor at bottom right in image of pg. 3) to a second connection point of the logic board (as depicted in image of pg. 7).
Regarding claim 20, D1 discloses the method of claim 18, further comprising:
attaching a first set of cover windows (cover windows at bottom left in image of pg. 3) to the front-facing outer cover such that each cover window of the first set of cover windows covers a respective component of the first set of components (sensor at bottom left in image of pg. 3),
wherein the first set of cover windows are a first type of cover windows; and
attaching a second set of cover windows (cover windows at bottom right in image of pg. 3) to the front-facing outer cover such that each cover window of the second set of cover windows covers a respective component of the second set of components, wherein the second set of cover windows are a second type of cover windows (as depicted in image of pg. 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 15-17 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 6, the prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, fails to teach or fairly suggest, in combining with other limitations recited in claims 1 and 4, a combination of limitations that “wherein each respective high-speed signal bus of the plurality of high-speed signal busses are separated from one another by a set of electrical ground layers”.
None of the reference art of record discloses or renders obvious such a combination.
Regarding claim 11, the prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, fails to teach or fairly suggest, in combining with other limitations recited in claims 1 and 10, a combination of limitations that “further comprising:
a bi-stable locking mechanism configured to cause the front-facing outer cover to maintain a first articulated position while the front-facing outer cover is articulated away from the body of the head-wearable device”.
None of the reference art of record discloses or renders obvious such a combination.
Regarding claim 15, the prior art of record, taken alone or in combination, fails to teach or fairly suggest, in combining with other limitations recited in claim 1, a combination of limitations that “wherein:
the first set of flex assemblies comprise side flex assemblies configured to couple sensors on respective sides of the front-facing outer cover to the logic board, and
at least one of the side flex assemblies couples another electronic component, distinct from the first set of components, to the logic board,
wherein the other electronic component is one or more of:
an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for detecting head movements of a wearer of the head-wearable device;
a microphone for detecting audible signals from physical surroundings of the wearer of the head-wearable device; and
a flicker sensor configured to detect one or more respective frequencies of respective pulsed lights within the physical surroundings of the wearer”.
None of the reference art of record discloses or renders obvious such a combination.
Claims 16-17 depending from claim 15 would therefore also be allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hudman US 11073906 Fig. 2-4; Zimmerman US 12061339 Fig. 1-1a to 1-4; Black US 20170282062 Fig. 3-4; Rydberg US 20190356848 Fig. 2 disclose a head-wearable device with a front cover and sets of sensors.
Codd US 20170295642 Fig. 13-14 disclose a flex assembly having a ground plane and a grounded component.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER L AUGUSTIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7659. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 am - 3 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Allen L Parker can be reached at 303-297-4722. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER L AUGUSTIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2841
/JAMES WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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