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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 2, 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ashimine (US 2022/0308348 A1) in view of YAMADA (US 2023/0333405 A1) in view of Rakib et al. (US 2017/0040711 A1; Rakib).
Ashimine teaches a display device 100 [fig 1] capable of displaying an aerial image 170 [fig 1] by using retroreflection 150 [fig 1], the display device comprising: an optical member (polarization beam splitter) 130 [fig 2] configured to transmit a part of incident light and to reflect the rest [0023]; a retroreflective member 150 (retroreflective member) [fig 1] [0026] that is arranged so as to face the optical member 130 [fig 2] and having a notch or an opening (back portion of 150 has notches) [fig 2] for generating a design of an original image P1 [fig 2] of an aerial image 170 [fig 1].
Ashimine does not teach a light source configured to illuminate the retroreflective member from a back surface side.
YAMADA teaches aerial image display system [fig 3] having a light source 16 [fig 3] [0097] configured to illuminate the retroreflective member 14 [fig 3] [0085] from a back surface side [fig 3].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a light source configured to illuminate the retroreflective member from a back surface side as taught by YAMADA to the display device as disclosed by Ashimine o provide a thin aerial image display system that can display an aerial image and an input device capable of a touch operation on a video displayed in the air without touch on a screen (YAMADA; [0008]).
Ashimine in view of YAMADA teaches the invention except for a transparent intermediate layer having a material with a refractive index of less than 1.
Rakib teaches antenna systems having transparent metamaterials [0100] having a material (photonic crystals) [0100] with a refractive index of less than 1 (refractive index that is typically less than zero) [0100].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a transparent intermediate layer having a material with a refractive index of less than 1 as taught by Rakib to the display device as disclosed by Ashimine in view of YAMADA to reduce cross talk between transmitting antenna sets and receiving antenna sets (Rakib; [0101]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 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. The closest prior art Ashimine (US 2022/0308348 A1) teaches a display device 100 which includes a light source 110, a light guide plate 120, a polarization beam splitter 130, a λ/4 plate 140, a retroreflective member 150, and a transparent protective member 160. These members are accommodated in, for example, a rectangular parallelepiped housing, a housing. The light source 110 emits light L having a constant emission angle (or oblique angle) in the X-direction. The emitted light L enters the inside from a side portion 122 of the transparent light guide plate 120, and uniformly irradiates the inside of the light guide plate 120. The light source 110 is not particularly limited, but for example, a light emitting diode, a laser diode, or the like may be used. If the side portion 122 of the light guide plate 120 has a certain length in the Y-direction, the plurality of light sources 110 may be arranged along the Y-direction of the side portion 122 of the light guide plate 120. Here, light is incident from one side portion of the light guide plate 120, but the light may be incident from a plurality of side portions. The light guide plate 120 is a transparent plate-like optical member including a flat upper surface, a flat lower surface, and side surfaces connecting the upper surface and the lower surface. A known plate can be used as the light guide plate 120, and may be, for example, an acrylic plastic plate, or a plate made of a polycarbonate resin, a cycloolefin-based resin, or the like. The light guide plate 120 has a constant thickness in the Z-direction in order to allow light L of the light source 110 to enter from the side portion 122. A diffusion pattern for diffusing the incident light may be formed on the bottom portion or a bottom surface 124 of the light guide plate 120. For example, a dot pattern may be formed by laser processing or printing. In this way, the light L incident from the side portion 122 of the light guide plate 120 is diffused or scattered by the diffusion pattern of the bottom portion 124 of the light guide plate 120, and the light guide plate 120 functions as if it were a surface light source. Ashimine does not anticipate or render obvious, alone or in combination, the aerial image is displayed at a position floating over the optical member at a floating distance that corresponds to the refractive index of the transparent intermediate layer.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
- Prior Art Mathur (US 11640816 B1) teaches an acoustic metamaterial (AMM) passive impedance matching device for headphone-type devices for matching the complex acoustic impedance load of a human ear to enhance acoustic performance of a headphone is disclosed. The device includes shunt compliance chambers stacked concentrically relative to one another from an upper end to a lower end. Each of the shunt compliance chambers includes side connecting inductive channels positioned annularly around a circumference of at least one of the shunt compliance chambers. The shunt compliance chambers define a predetermined volume of air. The inductive channels connect the shunt compliance chambers to the main headphone volume, generating an acoustic resistance and reactive impedance that matches the complex acoustic impedance load of the human ear canal. The AMM device also includes an inductive channel, as a design parameter, extending from the main headphone volume to the ambient air serving as an additional resistive and reactive load;
- Prior Art Yuza (US 20220375699 A1) teaches an input device which includes a display unit that displays an aerial image, and a detection unit that detects a user operation related to the aerial image. The display unit includes a light guide plate disposed between a half mirror and a retroreflective plate and a light source irradiating the light guide plate. The display unit displays the aerial image of a light diffusion surface formed on the light guide plate in response to incident light. When the user operation related to the aerial image is detected, the display unit turns off the light source to notify a user of input confirmation.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SULTAN U. CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3336. The examiner can normally be reached on 5:30 AM-5:30 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Minh-Toan Ton can be reached on 571-272-2303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SULTAN CHOWDHURY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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