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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: DISPLAY DEVICE FOR DISPLAYING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC DATA.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitations are: “a polarizing module” and “a control unit” in claims 1-4, 11 and 12.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof. Specifically, PGPub 2025/0347936 provides structure for the module and unit at [0035], “In the present embodiment, the polarizing module 11 can independently control states of polarization in areas 11c and 11d into which the polarizing module 11 is divided in the scanning direction. Instead of being divided into two areas in the scanning direction, the polarizing module 11 may be divided into more than two areas or may be one area. Such a polarizing module 11 is used, for example, as a 3D image display technology or other technologies and can be implemented as an optical structure that switches between states of polarization using liquid crystal cells” and at [0041], “The control unit 20 includes a timing controller 21, a memory 22, a look-up table (LUT) 23, an image generation circuit 24, and a data selector 2”.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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, 2, 4, 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang (US PGPub 2016/0139423) in view of Shahraray et al. (US PGPub 2011/0090233).
Regarding claim 1, Huang discloses a display device (fig. 2, LCD system 20) comprising:
a display panel (fig. 2, LCD panel 21);
a polarizing module (fig. 2, second polarizer 206) placed over a screen of the display panel (where over is a relative term and the second polarizer 206 is shown next to the LCD panel 21 in fig. 2) and configured to actively switch between causing light emitted from the screen of the display panel to be transmitted in a first state of polarization and causing the light to be transmitted in a second state of polarization ([0045], “The polarized glasses 22 include a second polarizer 206. The second polarizer 206 is used for converting the emitting light of the LCD panel 21 into a display light”); and
a control unit (fig. 2, controller 207),
wherein
the control unit generates, ([0046], “The controller 207 is used for controlling the direction of the polarized light axis of the second polarizer 206. The direction of the polarized light axis of the second polarizer 206 controlled by the controller 207 is perpendicular to the direction of the polarized light axis of the first polarizer 202 when the display picture of the LCD panel 21 is displayed on the polarized glasses 22, thereby a real picture content can be confidentially displayed on the polarized glasses 22, as shown in FIG. 1. The direction of the polarized light axis of the second polarizer 206 controlled by the controller 207 is parallel to the direction of the polarized light axis of the first polarizer 202 when the display picture of the LCD panel 21 is not displayed on the polarized glasses 22, thereby the real picture content cannot be displayed on the polarized glasses 22, as shown in FIG. 2”), and
the control unit controls the polarizing module so that a state of polarization of the polarizing module is the first state of polarization ([0046], “The controller 207 is used for controlling the direction of the polarized light axis of the second polarizer 206.”).
While Huang discloses the polarized glasses can be turned on or off by the controller thereby the private display effect of the LCD system is enhanced ([0047]), it has been known to display public and private information by using time division of private data and a reverse image of private data combined with the public image. In a similar field of endeavor of display devices, Shahraray discloses generate, based on data for a secret image and data for a public image, data for a first image with a compressed gradation of the secret image ([0038], “The flow of the method starts at start circle 200 and proceeds to operation 205, which indicates to display periodically a private image sequence on a display in synchronicity with a first signal”) and data for a second image reflecting a reverse image of the first image and the public image ([0038], “The negative image sequence includes an inverse of the private image sequence causing the part of the display to appear white or gray in the public image sequence” also see fig. 4), the control unit causes the first image and the second image to be displayed by time division (fig. 2A, step 205), and during a period of display of the first image and during a period of display of the second image in synchronization with a timing of the time division (fig. 2,A, step 220).
In view of the teachings of Huang and Shahraray, it would be have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a public and private viewing system is also provided that enables a user wearing shuttering goggles to view a private image (Shahraray: [0008]) of Shahraray, within the system of Huang, where Huang teaches a specific structure of polarizing glasses and Shahraray teaches glasses having polarization in general (Shahraray: [0005]), which would improve the user experience by providing private and public viewing where example use cases are discussed at Shahraray [0007].
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Huang and Shahraray further discloses wherein the first state of polarization and the second state of polarization are linear polarizations whose transmission axes are orthogonal to each other (Huang: [0050], “On the basis of the first preferred embodiment of the LCD system, the polarized glasses 32 in the LCD system 30 of the preferred embodiment further include a controller 307 and a third polarizer 308. The controller is used for controlling the direction of the polarized light axis of the third polarizer 308. The direction of the polarized light axis of the third polarizer 308 is parallel to the direction of the polarized light axis of the second polarizer 306 when the display picture of the LCD panel 31 is displayed on the polarized glasses 32. The direction of the polarized light axis of the third polarizer 308 is perpendicular to the direction of the polarized light axis of the second polarizer 306 when the display picture of the LCD panel 31 is not displayed on the polarized glasses 32”).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Huang and Shahraray further discloses wherein a length of a first period during which the display panel displays the first image is different from a length of a second period during which the display panel displays the second image (Shahraray: [0029], “Additionally, the non-private image may be displayed for a greater number of cycles than the private image and therefore may not need to be displayed at the same intensity as image Y”).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Huang and Shahraray discloses a display system (Huang: fig. 2) comprising:
the display device according to Claim 1; and
glasses on which a polarizing plate is placed in the first state of polarization (Huang: fig. 2, polarized glasses 22).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Huang and Shahraray further discloses wherein
a first viewer visually recognizes the first image by viewing the screen of the display panel via the polarizing module and the glasses, and by viewing the screen via the polarizing module, a second viewer who does not wear the glasses visually recognizes, as the public image, a composite image made up of the first image and the second image (Shahraray: [0010], “Another method is provided for sharing a display. The method includes displaying periodically a private image sequence on the display in synchronicity with a first signal, and displaying periodically a non-private image sequence on the display. In the method, the private image sequence and the non-private image sequence combine to form a public image sequence on the display. The non-private image sequence may be an inversion of the private image, in which the inversion of the private image and the private image combine to prevent the private image from being visible to the public users not using the goggle”).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang and Shahraray further in view of Murzyn (US PGPub 2025/0189834).
Regarding claim 3, while the combination of Huang and Shahraray discloses vertical and horizontal polarization, circular polarization has been known. In a similar field of endeavor of display devices, Murzyn discloses wherein the first state of polarization and the second state of polarization are circular polarizations one of which is a right-handed circular polarization and the other of which is a left-handed circularly polarization ([0076], “The display panel 100g is not limited to linear polarization dichroism and may use circular polarization dichroism. The quarter-wave plate 178 is mounted between the first liquid crystal retarder 124 and the dichroic element exhibiting the circular polarization dichroism. The linear polarization of the light presented from the first liquid crystal retarder 124 is changed to a circular polarization by the quarter-wave plate 178. The circular polarization may be right-hand or left-hand circularly polarized light. The passive dichroic dye film 126a has selective transmission of light depending on the direction of circular polarization”).
In view of the teachings of Huang, Shahraray and Murzyn, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use circular polarization of Murzyn, in the system of Huang and Shahraray, as a known alternative type of polarization where Murzyn discloses linear or circular polarization can be used interchangeably (Murzyn: [0076]).
Claims 5-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang and Shahraray further in view of Miyasaka et al. (US PGPub 2010/0177112).
Regarding claim 5, while the combination of Huang and Shahraray discloses a controller 207 (Huang: fig. 2) and a computer 500 contains processor 510 based on computer program instructions stored in storage 520 and loaded into memory 530 (Shahraray: [0048]), it has been known to use a memory to store information about image data. In a similar field of endeavor of display devices, Miyasaka discloses wherein
the control unit includes an image generation circuit (fig. 4, data allocation circuit 102) and a look-up table (fig. 4, memory 101), and
the image generation circuit generates the data for the first image and the data for the second image with reference to the look-up table from the data for the secret image and the data for the public image ([0032], “a memory 101 storing a secret image (a first image), a reverse image (a second image) and a public image (a third image) inputted sequentially” and [0034], “The data allocation circuit 102 allocates data for outputting the secret, reverse and public images, at every period based on a synchronization signal, and outputs them to the display device”).
In view of the teachings of Huang, Shahraray and Miyasaka, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the memory of Miyasaka to store the secret image, reverse image and public image data within the system of Huang and Shahraray as storing data in a memory is a known concept which facilitates the processing and displaying of visual information since memory allows for efficient retrieval and manipulation of image data.
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Huang, Shahraray and Miyasaka further discloses wherein
the public image is constituted by at least two different tones of luminance including a maximum luminance and a minimum luminance (Miyasaka: [0062], “the image processing section 131 determines whether both of a reminder of the X value of the pixel divided by 8 and a reminder of the Y value of the pixel divided by 8 are smaller than 4, or bigger than 3 (Step S3), and when the determined value is true, a value of 255 (which is "white") is selected as a value of the public image P (Step S4), and when the determined value is false, a value of 0 (which is "black") is selected as a value of the public image P (Step S5)” where white is a maximum and black is a minimum), the look-up table includes at least two sub-look-up tables including a sub-look-up table for a tone of the maximum luminance of the public image and a sub-look-up table for a tone of the minimum luminance of the public image, and each of the sub-look-up tables includes a data set in which luminance tone values of the first image and luminance tone values of the second image are associated with luminance tone values of the secret image (Miyasaka: [0064], “In this case, one frame will be divided into 6 sub-frames (Step S6), in the same manner as the case in the third embodiment. The image processing section 131 selects and outputs an image in response to the order of a sub-frame to which the image is going to be outputted. Specifically, the image processing section 131 selects Sin for a first sub-frame, Rin for a second one, P for a third one, P for a fourth one, Sin for a fifth one, and Rin for a sixth one. The secret images are outputted so as not to be adjacent to each other (Step S7). The image processing section 131 also makes an image resulted by luminance addition Sin+Rin at every pixel be no correlated with the secret image.”).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Huang, Shahraray and Miyasaka further discloses wherein in each of the sub-look-up tables, the luminance tone values of the second image with respect to the luminance tone values of the first image are determined based on display responsiveness of the display panel (Miyasaka: [0044], “For example, a public image pattern is selected, in response to the spatial-frequency of a secret image, from some patterns that are previously stored in the memory. It is more effective that a secret image is divided into a plurality of blocks and a public image pattern having an optimal spatial-frequency is selected for each block”).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Huang, Shahraray and Miyasaka further discloses wherein the second period is longer than the first period (Shahraray: [0029], “Additionally, the non-private image may be displayed for a greater number of cycles than the private image and therefore may not need to be displayed at the same intensity as image Y”).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Huang, Shahraray and Miyasaka further discloses wherein
the luminance tone values of the first image and the luminance tone values of the second image in the sub-look-up table for the tone of the minimum luminance are a combination of luminance tone values of the display panel during the first period and luminance tone values of the display panel during the second period selected so that a luminance is attained that is equal to a luminance of the display panel as measured in a case where the display panel is driven under a first condition where a time-division display is performed at a maximum luminance tone value during the first period and at a minimum luminance tone value during the second period, and
the first condition corresponds to a maximum luminance tone value of the first image (Miyasaka: [0062], “when the determined value is true, a value of 255 (which is "white") is selected as a value of the public image P (Step S4), and when the determined value is false, a value of 0 (which is "black") is selected as a value of the public image P (Step S5)”).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Huang, Shahraray and Miyasaka further discloses wherein
the luminance tone values of the first image and the luminance tone values of the second image in the sub-look-up table for the tone of the maximum luminance are a combination of luminance tone values of the display panel during the first period and luminance tone values of the display panel during the second period selected so that a luminance is attained that is equal to a luminance of the display panel as measured in a case where the display panel is driven under a second condition where a time-division display is performed at a minimum luminance tone value during the first period and at a maximum luminance tone value during the second period, and
the second condition corresponds to a minimum luminance tone value of the first image (Miyasaka: fig. 8, steps S3-S7).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Browne et al. (US 12,314,627) discloses “Each user can view “public” images displayed by the shared display 103, while also viewing “private” user-specific virtual objects overlaid on the public images (via the HMDs 107A-C)” (column 2, lines 11, 14).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EMILY J FRANK whose telephone number is (571)270-7255. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8AM-6PM.
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, Benjamin C Lee can be reached at (571)272-2963. 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.
/EJF/
/BENJAMIN C LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2629