DETAILED ACTION
This is a first office action in response to application 19/164,740 filed 09/12/2025, in which claim 1-11 are presented for examination. A preliminary amendment was filed concurrently therewith cancelling claims 1-11 and adds new claims 12-22.
Currently claims 12-22 are pending.
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 § 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) 12-15, 18, 20-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Meyer et al. Non-Patent Literature Publication Titled "A Highly Integrated Ambient Light Robust Eye-Tracking Sensor for Retinal Projection AR Glasses Based on Laser Feedback Interferometry" Published in May of 2022, hereinafter Meyer.
Consider Claim 12:
Meyer discloses a pupil detection method for a pair of smart glasses, comprising the following steps: (Meyer, Page 1, "In this work, we present a novel approach to track the user's eye by scanned laser feedback interferometry sensing. The main advantages over modern video-oculography (VOG) systems are the seamless integration of the eye-tracking sensor and the excellent robustness to ambient light with significantly lower power consumption.")
in at least one scanning step, scanning an infrared laser beam of at least one laser feedback interferometry (LFI) sensor over at least a majority of a visible portion of an eye of a user, using a in particular by means of a microelectromechanical system (MVEMS) micromirror system; (Meyer, Page 5, "The IR laser of the VCSEL is coupled via a prism into the beam path of the visible light of the RGB lasers and the combined beam is scanned via a MEMS mirror module over the HOE surface. The HOE acts as a wavelength selective mirror which parallelised the incoming beam pattern and redirects it towards the eye region.")
in at least one capturing step, at least partially capturing a backscattered portion of the laser beam using the LFI sensor, the backscattered portion being backscattered by the eye of the user, and converting the at least partially captured backscattered portion of the laser beam into an electrical signal; and (Meyer, Page 4, "The scan path was formed using two 1D MEMS mirrors for vertical and horizontal deflection. Backscattered light from the eye is measured by a photodiode, which is placed in the frame temple. The measured intensity variation over both the horizontal and the vertical scan angles is used to construct a gray scale image of the eye's surface")
in at least one recording step, recording signal spikes in the electrical signal which in particular exceed a definable threshold value, together with scan coordinates of the MVEMS micromirror system, which are associated with the signal spikes, to detect a pupil of the eye of the user. (Meyer, Page 7-8, "Fig. 5. a) Image of the scan area (bright area inside red box) on a person's eye taken with an IR camera looking directly through the HOE from the outside. b) Background: Modulated feedback power P'₀ measured by the integrated photodiode of the LFI sensor over the scan area. Foreground: Histogram of the retinal area pixel intensity distribution (green and grey) and the non-retinal area distribution (blue). c) Segmented bright retinal area pupil pixels from b) using the intensity boundary (red dashed line). d) Multivariate Gaussian fit of the retinal area pixels in c) with pupil center in blue and pupil contour in yellow.")
Consider Claim 13:
Meyer discloses the pupil detection method according to claim 12, wherein, in at least one contour ascertainment step, at least a portion of a pupil contour of the pupil of the eye of the user is ascertained from a plurality of first signal spikes in different scan rows of the scanned laser beam and/or from a plurality of last signal spikes in different scan rows of the scanned laser beam. (Meyer, Page 8, "Pupil segmentation: Similar to VOG-based eye-tracking sensors, segmentation of the pupil is required to determine the pupil contour and center. To separate the retinal area pixels from the non-retinal area pixels of the image, a histogram-based approach is used. In Figure S b) the normalized histogram of the image is shown in gray and green, containing information about both the retinal area and the non-retinal area. This histogram is overlaid by a second normalized histogram (in blue), which includes only the first ten lines of the image and represents the non- retinal area area probability density distribution (PDF) Nb (µb, σb), since there is no pupil in the first ten lines of the image. To extract the retinal area and thus separate the pupil from the non-retinal area, the intensity limit Iₕ (red dashed line in Figure 5 b)) is calculated by Iₕ = µₕ + of based on the non-retinal area PDF. Using this limit, the normalized histogram of the image is divided into non-retinal area intensity values (gray) and retinal area intensity values (green). Figure 5 c) shows a cropped area around the bright pupil pattern for illustration. The remaining retinal area pixels are highlighted in green.")
Consider Claim 14:
Meyer discloses the pupil detection method according to claim 13, wherein, in at least one pupil ascertainment step, a pupil shape and/or a pupil position of the pupil of the eye of the user is ascertained from an approximately half pupil contour or from a full-periphery pupil contour. (Meyer, Page 8, "Pupil segmentation: Similar to VOG-based eye-tracking sensors, segmentation of the pupil is required to determine the pupil contour and center. To separate the retinal area pixels from the non-retinal area pixels of the image, a histogram-based approach is used. In Figure Sb) the normalized histogram of the image is shown in gray and green, containing information about both the retinal area and the non-retinal area. This histogram is overlaid by a second normalized histogram (in blue), which includes only the first ten lines of the image and represents the nonretinal area area probability density distribution (PDF) Nb (μb, CJb), since there is no pupil in the first ten lines of the image. To extract the retinal area and thus separate the pupil from the non-retinal area, the intensity limit h (red dashed line in Figure 'j b)) is calculated by h = μb + CJb based on the non-retinal area PDF. Using this limit, the normalized histogram of the image is divided into non-retinal area intensity values (gray) and retinal area intensity values (green). Figure') c) shows a cropped area around the bright pupil pattern for illustration. The remaining retinal area pixels are highlighted in green.")
Consider Claim 15:
Meyer discloses the pupil detection method according to claim 12, wherein the signal spikes recorded in the recording step correspond to speckles which are generated by backscattering of the laser beam, which is applied in the scanning step, at a retina of the user eye. (Meyer, Page 4, "The scan path was formed using two 1D MEMS mirrors for vertical and horizontal deflection. Backscattered light from the eye is measured by a photodiode, which is placed in the frame temple. The measured intensity variation over both the horizontal and the vertical scan angles is used to construct a gray scale image of the eye's surface")
Consider Claim 18:
Meyer discloses the pupil detection method according to claim 12, wherein, in the scanning step, the laser beam is scanned in alternating directions, including sinusoidally, at least over a majority of the visible portion of the eye of the user. (Meyer, Page 5, "The MEMS mirror module contains two lD MEMS mirrors to scan in a 2D pattern over the HOE. The horizontal mirror scans in a sinusoidal pattern, while the vertical MEMS mirror is non resonantly actuated using an electrodynamic driver to steer the sinusoidal pattern vertically over the HOE. With the known geometry and the mirror deflection angles ah(t) and /3v(t), the corresponding intersection point of the laser beam with the HOE can be calculated. For a detailed description of the geometry and the image generation we refer to [24].")
Consider Claim 20:
Meyer discloses the pupil detection method according to claim 12, wherein the electrical signal is a voltage signal and, in the conversion of the portion of the laser beam that is backscattered into the LFI sensor into the electrical signal in the capturing step, a photocurrent of a photodiode of the LFI sensor is converted into a voltage signal proportional to the photocurrent, using a transimpedance amplifier. (Meyer, Page 9, "The low required optical power is favorable to minimizes power consumption of our scanned LFI eye-tracking sensor. Using off-the-shelf components, the power consumption of our system is estimated roughly at 30 mW. The main components contributing to the overall systems power consumption are the transimpedance amplifier (TIA) (THS456 7 10 mW), which is used to amplify the interference signal P~(t) measured by the integrated photodiode, and the analog digital converter (ADC) (MAX19191 with 15.3 mW). The gain of the TIA was set to 940 during the experiments. With further integration, additional power reduction is expected. The estimated power consumption is comparable to reported power consumption of other scanned IR laser eye-tracking sensors. In example, [3'.7] reported a power consumption of 15 mW for their system.")
Consider Claim 21:
Meyer discloses a pupil detection device for a pair of smart glasses, comprising: (Meyer, Page 1, "Robust and highly integrated eye-tracking is a key technology to improve resolution of near-eye-display technologies for augmented reality (AR) glasses such as focus-free retinal projection as it enables display enhancements like foveated rendering. ")
at least one projector unit which includes at least one laser feedback interferometry (LFI) sensor and which is configured to scan an infrared laser beam over at least a majority of a visible portion of an eye of a user, using a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) micromirror system of the projector unit, and (Meyer, Page 1, "In this work, we present a novel approach to track the user's eye by scanned laser feedback interferometry sensing. The main advantages over modern video-oculography (VOG) systems are the seamless integration of the eye-tracking sensor and the excellent robustness to ambient light with significantly lower power consumption.")
which is configured at least to capture using the LFI sensor, at least partially, a backscattered portion of the laser beam, the backscattered portion being backscattered by the eye of the user, and which is configured to convert the backscattered portion into an electrical signal; and (Meyer, Page 4, "The scan path was formed using two 1D MEMS mirrors for vertical and horizontal deflection. Backscattered light from the eye is measured by a photodiode, which is placed in the frame temple. The measured intensity variation over both the horizontal and the vertical scan angles is used to construct a gray scale image of the eye's surface")
an electronic unit configured to recognize signal spikes in the electrical signal which exceed a definable threshold value and to record the signal spikes together with scan coordinates of the MEMS micromirror system which are associated with the signal spikes, to detect a pupil of the eye of the user. (Meyer, Page 7-8, 12, "Fig. 5. a) Image of the scan area (bright area inside red box) on a person's eye taken with an IR camera looking directly through the HOE from the outside. b) Background: Modulated feedback power P'₀ measured by the integrated photodiode of the LFI sensor over the scan area. Foreground: Histogram of the retinal area pixel intensity distribution (green and grey) and the non-retinal area distribution (blue). c) Segmented bright retinal area pupil pixels from b) using the intensity boundary (red dashed line). d) Multivariate Gaussian fit of the retinal area pixels in c) with pupil center in blue and pupil contour in yellow.")
Consider Claim 22:
Meyer discloses a pair of smart glasses, comprising: (Meyer, Page 1, "Robust and highly integrated eye-tracking is a key technology to improve resolution of near-eye-display technologies for augmented reality (AR) glasses such as focus-free retinal projection as it enables display enhancements like foveated rendering. ")
a pupil detection device, including: at least one projector unit which includes at least one laser feedback interferometry (LFI) sensor and which is configured to scan an infrared laser beam over at least a majority of a visible portion of an eye of a user, using a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) micromirror system of the projector unit, and (Meyer, Page 1, "In this work, we present a novel approach to track the user's eye by scanned laser feedback interferometry sensing. The main advantages over modern video-oculography (VOG) systems are the seamless integration of the eye-tracking sensor and the excellent robustness to ambient light with significantly lower power consumption.")
which is configured at least to capture using the LFI sensor, at least partially, a backscattered portion of the laser beam, the backscattered portion being backscattered by the eye of the user, and which is configured to convert the backscattered portion into an electrical signal, and (Meyer, Page 4, "The scan path was formed using two 1D MEMS mirrors for vertical and horizontal deflection. Backscattered light from the eye is measured by a photodiode, which is placed in the frame temple. The measured intensity variation over both the horizontal and the vertical scan angles is used to construct a gray scale image of the eye's surface")
an electronic unit configured to recognize signal spikes in the electrical signal which exceed a definable threshold value and to record the signal spikes together with scan coordinates of the MEMS micromirror system which are associated with the signal spikes, to detect a pupil of the eye of the user. (Meyer, Page 7-8, "Fig. 5. a) Image of the scan area (bright area inside red box) on a person's eye taken with an IR camera looking directly through the HOE from the outside. b) Background: Modulated feedback power P'₀ measured by the integrated photodiode of the LFI sensor over the scan area. Foreground: Histogram of the retinal area pixel intensity distribution (green and grey) and the non-retinal area distribution (blue). c) Segmented bright retinal area pupil pixels from b) using the intensity boundary (red dashed line). d) Multivariate Gaussian fit of the retinal area pixels in c) with pupil center in blue and pupil contour in yellow.")
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-17 and 19 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
Prior art made of record and not relied upon which is still considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is cited in a current or previous PTO-892. The prior art cited in a current or previous PTO-892 reads upon the applicants claims in part, in whole and/or gives a general reference to the knowledge and skill of persons having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention. Applicant, when responding to this Office action, should consider not only the cited references applied in the rejection but also any additional references made of record.
In the response to this office action, the Examiner respectfully requests support be shown for any new or amended claims. More precisely, indicate support for any newly added language or amendments by specifying page, line numbers, and/or figure(s). This will assist The Office in compact prosecution of this application. The Office has cited particular columns, paragraphs, and/or line numbers in the applied rejection of the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within each claim, however other passages and figures may apply. Applicant, in preparing a response, should fully consider the cited reference(s) in its entirety and not only the cited portions as other sections of the reference may expand on the teachings of the cited portion(s).
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/Michael J Jansen II/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2626
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