DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/27/2024 was filed and considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 10, 13 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant submitted prior art, Kristensen et al., WO 2015/155349 A1, in view of Xiong et al., US 2020/0142171 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Kristenesen et al. disclose an assembly of optical elements 100 for the control of light (figs 2A-2B), comprising in order from a first side of the assembly:
. a light source 502’ [modulator configured to actively modulate a wavefront of light passing though through the assembly, the light modulator (1) (2)];
. a first polarization element 116/116’
. an optical element 110 that has a region across which a value of a refractive index of the optical element 110 varies for passively modulating the wavefront of the light received from the first polarization element116/116’ (paragraph bridging pages 13-14)
. a second polarization element 115/115’ configured to define the polarization of the light received from the optical element (paragraph bridging pages 11-12).
Kristensen et al. do not disclose a light modulator for light modulation. Xiong et al. do disclose a light source 1 as a light modulator comprising an electronic interface, e.g., switching and phase shift (figs 1-5, [0052]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the Xiong et al. light modulator over the Kristensen et al. light source for simplifying a light modulator structure and lower cost ([0052]).
Re claims 2 and 17, wherein the assembly further comprising comprises a housing (phone cover, figs 5, 6a-6b) that encapsulates the light modulator, the first and second polarization elements and the optical element (fig 5) the housing (3) has an access for accessing the electronic interface (2), wherein the housing is elongated and comprises a proximal end at the first side of the assembly and a distal end which is opposite to the proximal end, and the housing is configured to lodge the light modulator, the first and second polarization elements and the optical element at respective positions along a longitudinal axis of the housing, said the longitudinal axis coinciding with a propagation axis of the wavefront of light; and the light modulator is a reflection mode or a transmission mode spatial light modulator, and preferably the housing is threaded at the proximal end and/or at the distal end (figs 5 and 6a-6b).
Re claims 3 and 18, wherein the first polarization element 116/116’ and the second polarization element 115/115’ being linear polarizers (page 14, ln 27).
Re claim 5, wherein along at least one desired direction, the optical element a stripe-shaped variation of the value of the refractive index of the optical element (fig 2B).
Re claims 6-7, wherein the optical element 110 comprises a material which has a refractive index of more than 1.3 (e.g., polymer material, pg 10, ln 12), a surface of the optical element comprises a pattern (e.g., stripe) etched or engraved on the surface, the surface is made of the material that is more than 80% transparent to an optical frequency or to a range of optical frequencies (e.g., diamond, pg 10, ln 17), the optical element having a surface made of the material and on which an etched or engraved pattern is formed (fig. 1).
Re claim 10, wherein the assembly is an illumination lens (e.g., light emitting part, figs 6a-6b).
Re claim13, since the method of controlling light is merely corresponding to a list of each component and each component must be formed and operated to make the device, the method of light controlling would be inherent to the device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 19 and 20 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.
Conclusion
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/DUNG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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