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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 6/10/2026 and 11/07/2024 have been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because the extra spaces in line 1 of the abstract which states “Disclosed herein is an optical combiner. The optical combiner includes a” and in line 4 which states “discretely distributed, wherein” needs to be deleted. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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.
Claims 1-7 and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guo (US Patent Publication Number 2022/0179222 A1).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 1, an optical combiner (Fig.2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and 8b-10C), comprising: a substrate (202) made of a transmissive material (¶0041 “a transparent substrate 202”), and a layer (201) stacked on the substrate (202) to allow a first surface1 of the layer (201) to come into contact with the substrate (202), and including multiple unit macro-pixels that are discretely distributed (Fig.10a -11C shows the metasurfaces configured as macropixels), wherein the optical combiner combines a first light wave (ambient light shown in Fig. 3b) that is real-world information (¶0041 “The optical combiner 203 transmits ambient light or visible light (for carrying realistic image information) to human eyes 205”,) transmitted through the substrate (See Fig. 2b, 2c and 3b) with a second light wave that is virtual information (Light from optical engine 203/302 in Fig. 2b, 2c and 3b; ¶0041 “the optical signals (for carrying virtual image information) generated by the optical engine”) incident on a second surface (the surface of layer 201/301 the light strikes in 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and 8b-10C) of the layer (201) at an off-axis angle (Fig. 3b and 10a-11c shows the virtual light is off axis).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of the unit macro-pixels is formed such that multiple nanoscale unit pixels are clustered and arranged2 (See Fig. 7c).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 3, wherein the unit macro-pixels are randomly arranged3 (See Fig. 7b).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 4, wherein the unit macro-pixels are arranged to have periodicity (¶0044 “the plurality of metasurface units 403 of the metasurface layer 401 may be periodically arranged on a two-dimensional plane”).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 5, wherein the unit pixels (the metalens in Fig 10a-11c) optically modulate the second light wave4 and redirect the modulated second light wave in a certain direction as a propagation direction (Fig 10a-11c, see the light that goes to the convergence point).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 6, wherein the unit pixels (the metalens in Fig 10a-11c) optically modulate the second light wave5 to compensate for an optical aberration (¶0068 “One challenge of high-NA metalens is its higher order aberrations, which can limit FOV and degrade imaging quality. The metalenses described herein can correct monochromatic aberrations (spherical aberration and astigmatism) and chromatic aberration under normal incidence. To achieve large FOV, the metalens can correct higher order aberrations”) caused by at least one optical element constituting an imaging system (¶0067 “A VR system with large FOV and small form factor can include a high numerical aperture (high-NA) optical eyepiece with good imaging quality and a miniaturized display with high resolution”).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 7, wherein each of the unit pixels is manufactured as one of a metasurface (0052 “As shown in FIG. 10a to FIG. 10c, metasurface units may be disposed on a transparent conductive layer”).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 10, An augmented reality display device (Figs.2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and 8b-10C), comprising: an optical combiner (¶0024 “an augmented reality AR device, including the optical combiner”) configured to combine a first light wave that is real-world information (ambient light shown in Fig. 3b) that is real-world information (¶0041 “The optical combiner 203 transmits ambient light or visible light (for carrying realistic image information) to human eyes 205”) with a second light wave that is virtual information (Light from optical engine 203/302 in Fig. 2b, 2c and 3b; ¶0041 “the optical signals (for carrying virtual image information) generated by the optical engine”), wherein the optical combiner comprises a substrate (202) made of a transmissive material (¶0041 “a transparent substrate 202”), and a layer (201) stacked on the substrate (202) to allow a first surface6 of the layer (201) to come into contact with the substrate (202), and including multiple unit macro-pixels that are discretely distributed (Fig.10a -11C shows the metasurfaces configured as macropixels), and wherein the optical combiner combines a first light wave that is transmitted through the substrate with a second light wave (Fig. 3a, see combined image) that is incident on a second surface (the surface of layer 201/301 the light strikes in 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and 8b-10C) of the layer at an off-axis angle (Fig. 3b and 10a-11c shows the virtual light is off axis).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 11, wherein each of the unit macro-pixels is formed such that multiple nanoscale unit pixels are clustered and arranged7 (See Fig. 7c).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 12, wherein the unit pixels (the metalens in Fig 10a-11c) optically modulate the second light wave8 and redirect the modulated second light wave in a certain direction as a propagation direction (Fig 10a-11c, see the light that goes to the convergence point).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 13, wherein each of the unit pixels is manufactured as one of a metasurface (0052 “As shown in FIG. 10a to FIG. 10c, metasurface units may be disposed on a transparent conductive layer”).
Claims 8 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo (US Patent Publication Number 2022/0179222 A1) in view of Li (US Patent Publication Number 2021/0356754 A1).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 8, wherein the layer comprises: multiple unit macro-pixels configured to optically modulate the second light wave9 and a transparent area (gaps in between nanostructures) configure to transmit the first light wave, Guo fails to teach wherein the transparent area is made of a material having a transmittance similar to an average transmittance of light information transmitted through the unit pixels. In a related art, Li teaches, wherein the layer comprises: multiple unit pixels (nanostructures of the metalens) configured to optically modulate the second light wave10, and a transparent area (the area of substrate (under the nanostructure) where the light transmit through) configured to transmit the first light wave (See Annotated figure), wherein the transparent area is made of a material having a transmittance similar to an average transmittance of light information transmitted through the unit pixels (¶0089 “nanoscale elements may include a dielectric material. Examples of suitable dielectric materials include metal and non-metal oxides (such as an oxide of aluminum)” and ¶0089 “substrate is transparent in the visible spectrum… the visible spectrum can have a light transmittance of at… least about 85%, at least about 90%, or at least about 95%, over the visible spectrum or a design or working wavelength in the visible spectrum”)11.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the optical combiner, as taught by Guo, with the transparent area, as taught by Li, for the purpose of providing RGB-achromatic metalenses that can address higher order aberrations (coma and field curvature) and chromatic aberration (¶0068).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 14, wherein the layer comprises: multiple unit macro-pixels configured to optically modulate the second light wave12 and a transparent area (gaps in between nanostructures) configure to transmit the first light wave, Guo fails to teach wherein the transparent area is made of a material having a transmittance similar to an average transmittance of light information transmitted through the unit pixels. In a related art, Li teaches, wherein the layer comprises: multiple unit pixels (nanostructures of the metalens) configured to optically modulate the second light wave13, and a transparent area (the area of substrate (under the nanostructure) where the light transmit through) configured to transmit the first light wave (See Annotated figure), wherein the transparent area is made of a material having a transmittance similar to an average transmittance of light information transmitted through the unit pixels (¶0089 “nanoscale elements may include a dielectric material. Examples of suitable dielectric materials include metal and non-metal oxides (such as an oxide of aluminum)” and ¶0089 “substrate is transparent in the visible spectrum… the visible spectrum can have a light transmittance of at… least about 85%, at least about 90%, or at least about 95%, over the visible spectrum or a design or working wavelength in the visible spectrum”)14,
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the optical combiner, as taught by Guo, with the transparent area, as taught by Li, for the purpose of providing RGB-achromatic metalenses that can address higher order aberrations (coma and field curvature) and chromatic aberration (¶0068).
Claims 9 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo (US Patent Publication Number 2022/0179222 A1) in view of Riley (US Patent Publication Number 2022/0091428 A1).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 9, wherein the layer comprises: multiple unit macro-pixels configured to optically modulate the second light wave15 and a transparent area (gaps in between nanostructures) configure to transmit the first light wave, Guo fails to teach wherein the transparent area is made of a material having a refractive index between a refractive index of the substrate and a refractive index of air. In a related art, Riley teaches wherein the layer comprises: unit pixels (18) and a transparent area (24) configure to transmit a light wave, wherein the transparent area is made of a material (¶0027 “the embedding material is a solid film selected from the group consisting of… spin-on-glass”) having a refractive index16 between a refractive index of the substrate17 and a refractive index of air18.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the optical combiner, as taught by Guo, with the transparent area, as taught by Riley, for the purpose of providing mechanical stability and protection as well as an additional design degree of freedom that enables the metasurface to perform a desired optical function (¶0209).
Guo teaches, as claimed in claim 15, wherein the layer comprises: multiple unit macro-pixels configured to optically modulate the second light wave19 and a transparent area (gaps in between nanostructures) configure to transmit the first light wave, Guo fails to teach wherein the transparent area is made of a material having a refractive index between a refractive index of the substrate and a refractive index of air. In a related art, Riley teaches wherein the layer comprises: unit pixels (18) and a transparent area (24) configure to transmit a light wave, wherein the transparent area is made of a material (¶0027 “the embedding material is a solid film selected from the group consisting of… spin-on-glass”) having a refractive index20 between a refractive index of the substrate21 and a refractive index of air 22.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill of art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the optical combiner, as taught by Guo, with the transparent area, as taught by Riley, for the purpose of providing mechanical stability and protection as well as an additional design degree of freedom that enables the metasurface to perform a desired optical function (¶0209).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yang (US Patent Publication Number 2024/0272426 A1) which is considered the cloestest prior art teaches an optical device (Fig. 5a,5b, 6a and 6b) comprising: a substrate made of a transmissive material; and a layer including multiple unit macro-pixels (610-1 through 610-4) that are discretely distributed), wherein the optical combiner combines a first light wave (308) and second light wave (A and B)).
Carbone (US Patent Number US 11,143,806 B1) teaches an optical device comprising: a substrate made of a transmissive material; and a layer including pixels.
Fu (US Patent Publication Number 2020/0393599 A1) teaches an optical device comprising: a substrate made of a transmissive material and a layer including pixels.
Lin (US Patent Publication Number 2017/0131460 A1) teaches an optical device comprising: a substrate made of a transmissive material and a layer including pixels.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOURNEY F SUMLAR whose telephone number is (571)270-0656. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Mack can be reached at 571-272-2333. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
JOURNEY F. SUMLAR
Examiner
Art Unit 2872
19 August 2026
/RICKY L MACK/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872
1 The surface in between the metasurface layer and the transparent surface.
2 See Fig. 7c the components are together and form a pattern
3 Pixels spacing on the left does not match the right. Therefore, the units are considered random because they don’t follow a repeating pattern.
4 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
5 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
6 The surface in between the metasurface layer and the transparent surface.
7 See Fig. 7c the components are together and form a pattern
8 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
9 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
10 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
11 Aluminum oxide has an average transmittance of 85% to 95% in the visible spectrum which would match the substrate.
12 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
13 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
14 Aluminum oxide has an average transmittance of 85% to 95% in the visible spectrum which would match the substrate.
15 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
16 Refractive index of spin-on-glass ranges from 1.35 to 1.46.
17 ¶0216 states “substrate materials that have been successfully implemented using the processes described in embodiments include, for example, fused silica” and fused silica has a refractive index of 1.40 and 1.55.
18 The refractive index of air is approximately 1.0003.
19 Inherit function of the metalens. The metalens would modulate the light once incident on the meta lens.
20 Refractive index of spin-on-glass ranges from 1.35 to 1.46.
21 ¶0216 states “substrate materials that have been successfully implemented using the processes described in embodiments include, for example, fused silica” and fused silica has a refractive index of 1.40 and 1.55.
22 The refractive index of air is approximately 1.0003.
Prosecution Insights