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 .
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 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.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Pub. No. 20240142771 A1 to Tanaka.
As to claim 1, Tanaka discloses an image projection device comprising:
a light source that irradiates a laser beam (Tanaka ¶0040, image laser light source 1);
a scanner that scans the laser beam irradiated from the light source (Tanaka ¶0053, scanning mirror 4 to deflect the image laser beam emitted from the image laser lights source 1);
a projection optical system that irradiates the laser beam scanned by the scanner and projects an image to a user's retina (Tanaka ¶0057-0058, 0060, 0079, retinal projection display including components that reflects the laser beam scanned by the scanner mirror 4 to project an image to the user’s eyeball/retina);
a visual line direction detector that detects a user's visual line direction for which the image is projected (Tanaka ¶0064-0065, 0071, sight-line-direction detection unit to detect the direction of the sight line of the user for a source of an image to be formed); and
an optical system controller that controls the projection optical system based on the visual line direction detected by the visual line direction detector (Tanaka ¶0064-0065, 0071, controller 11 controls the retinal projection display components based on the sight line of the user based on the detection signal of the sight-line-direction detection unit),
wherein the light source comprises: at least one first laser element that irradiates a laser of a first color, at least one second laser element that irradiates a laser of a second color different from the first color, and at least one third laser element that irradiates a laser of a third color different from the first and the second colors (Tanaka ¶0040, 0049, multiple laser light sources that emit laser beams having multiple wavelengths such as a red semiconductor laser, a green semiconductor laser, and a blue semiconductor laser, are used as the image laser light source 1).
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 of this title, 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.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. US Pub. No. 20240142771 A1 to Tanaka in view of US Pub. No. 20180083422 A1 to Castiglia and in further view of US Pub. 20240114226 A1 to Berkovich.
As to claim 2, Tanaka does not expressly disclose wherein each of the first, second, and third laser element is a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) element, or an edge-emitting laser element; and wherein the first laser element has a first active layer, the second laser element has a second active layer, the third laser element has a third active layer, the first active layer includes Aluminum Gallium Indium Phosphide (InGaAlP), and the second and third active layers includes Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN).
Castiglia discloses wherein each of the first, second, and third laser element is a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) element, or an edge-emitting laser element (Castiglia ¶0078, 0081, VSCEL and edge emitting laser); and wherein the first laser element has a first active layer, the second laser element has a second active layer, the third laser element has a third active layer (Castiglia ¶0077-0078, 0081, 0088, 0089, plurality of layers).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka by wherein each of the first, second, and third laser element is a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) element, or an edge-emitting laser element and wherein the first laser element has a first active layer, the second laser element has a second active layer, the third laser element has a third active layer as disclosed by Castiglia. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results using VSCEL providing lower power consumption.
Tanaka and Castiglia do not expressly disclose the first active layer includes Aluminum Gallium Indium Phosphide (InGaAlP), and the second and third active layers includes Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN)
Berkovich the first active layer includes Aluminum Gallium Indium Phosphide (InGaAlP), and the second and third active layers includes Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN) (Berkovich ¶0054, 0056, aluminum gallium indium phosphide (AlInGaP) and indium gallium nitride (InGaN).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka and Castiglia by the first active layer includes Aluminum Gallium Indium Phosphide (InGaAlP), and the second and third active layers includes Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN) as disclosed by Berkovich. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results using a pluralty of different semiconductor materials that provide high brightness and/or increased efficiency.
Claims 3, 4 and 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. US Pub. No. 20240142771 A1 to Tanaka in view of US Pub. No. 20180083422 A1 to Castiglia.
As to claim 3, Tanaka does not expressly disclose wherein an optical output power of each of the first, second, and third laser elements is less than or equal to 1mW, and a threshold current of each of the first, second, and third laser elements is less than or equal to 6mA.
Castiglia discloses wherein an optical output power of each of the first, second, and third laser elements is less than or equal to 1mW (Castiglia ¶0021, below 1mw), and a threshold current of each of the first, second, and third laser elements is less than or equal to 6mA (Castiglia ¶0067, 0132, 0134, less than 6mA).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka by wherein an optical output power of each of the first, second, and third laser elements is less than or equal to 1mW, and a threshold current of each of the first, second, and third laser elements is less than or equal to 6mA as disclosed by Castiglia. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results of providing a low optical power that increases the battery life.
As to claim 4, Tanaka disclose wherein the light source comprises a plurality of each of the first, second, and third laser elements (Tanaka, ¶0049, laser light source with red, green, blue semiconductor laser).
Tanaka does not expressly disclose wherein the plurality of first, second, and third laser elements are respectively integrated on a same semiconductor substrate.
Castiglia discloses wherein the plurality of first, second, and third laser elements are respectively integrated on a same semiconductor substrate (Castiglia Fig. 2-4, ¶0067, 0078, 0088-0089, 0144, 0145, red, blue, green laser integrated on the semiconductor substrate).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka by wherein the plurality of first, second, and third laser elements are respectively integrated on a same semiconductor substrate as disclosed by Castiglia. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results of integrating multiple lasers on a single semiconductor substrate improving performance, size and/or cost.
As to claim 7, Tanaka disclose wherein the light source comprises: a plurality of each of the first, second, and third laser elements (Tanaka, ¶0049, laser light source with red, green, blue semiconductor laser); and a drive circuit that drives the first, second, and third laser elements (Tanaka ¶0111, 0115, drive circuit 26 to drive the laser light sources).
Tanaka does not expressly disclose wherein the plurality of first, second, and third laser elements are respectively integrated on a same semiconductor substrate.
Castiglia discloses wherein each of the plurality of the first, second, and third laser elements are arranged on the drive circuit in one direction (Castiglia Fig. 4, 18, ¶0144, the plurality of laser beams positioned on the drive circuit in a forward diode direction).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka by wherein each of the plurality of the first, second, and third laser elements are arranged on the drive circuit in one direction as disclosed by Castiglia. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results of providing the laser elements in a single orientation that emits the light in one direction to improve the performance and/or reducing heat.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. US Pub. No. 20240142771 A1 to Tanaka in view of US Pub. No. 20210376564 A1 to Imahigashi and in further view of US Pub. No. 20040125737 A1 to Iwata
As to claim 6, Tanaka discloses wherein the light source further comprises a drive circuit that drives the first, second, and third laser elements (Tanaka ¶0111, 0115, drive circuit 26 to drive the laser light sources).
Tanaka does not expressly disclose wherein the first laser element is disposed on the drive circuit; and the second laser element is disposed on the first laser element; and the third laser element is disposed on the second laser element.
Imahigashi discloses wherein the first laser element is disposed on the drive circuit (Imahigashi ¶0070, 0158, laser mounted on the drive circuit)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka by wherein the first laser element is disposed on the drive circuit as disclosed by Imahigashi. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results of providing stable constant-current delivery for reliable optical output improving system stability.
Tanaka and Imahigashi do not expressly disclose the second laser element is disposed on the first laser element; and the third laser element is disposed on the second laser element.
Iwata discloses the second laser element is disposed on the first laser element; and the third laser element is disposed on the second laser element (Iwata ¶0072, stacking sequentially the first semiconductor laser element 150a, the second semiconductor laser element 150b and the third semiconductor laser element 150c).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka and Imahigashi by the second laser element is disposed on the first laser element; and the third laser element is disposed on the second laser element as disclosed by Iwata. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results of combining a plurality of laser beams to be stacked together in a sequential fashion that provides multiple beams combined, increases total power and/or shaping the light output for a specific task.
Claim 9, 10 and 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. US Pub. No. 20240142771 A1 to Tanaka in view of US Patent No. 10,901,216 B2 to Pierer.
As to claim 9, Tanaka does not expressly disclose wherein the light source further comprises a multiplexing optical system that incidents and multiplexes the laser beam emitted from each of the at least one first, second, and third laser element.
Pierer discloses wherein the light source further comprises a multiplexing optical system that incidents and multiplexes the laser beam emitted from each of the at least one first, second, and third laser element (Pierer Fig. 3, col. 8, ll. 51- col. 10, ll. 34, light source having a beam combiner 316 that optical elements to reflect and combine the laser light beams emitted from each of the laser diodes (red, green blue)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka by wherein the light source further comprises a multiplexing optical system that incidents and multiplexes the laser beam emitted from each of the at least one first, second, and third laser element as disclosed by Pierer. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results of combining a plurality of laser beams to increase color/resolution and/or brighter images thereby increasing the user’s experience.
As to claim 10, Pierer discloses wherein the multiplexing optical system comprises: a first reflecting optical system disposed to reflect the laser beam emitted from the first laser element to a scanner side (Pierer Fig. 3, col. 8, ll. 51- col. 10, ll. 34, optical elements 328, 330, 332 to reflect the laser beam from its respective laser diode to a scan mirror 318); a second reflecting optical system disposed to reflect the laser beam emitted from the second laser element to the scanner side (Pierer Fig. 3, col. 8, ll. 51- col. 10, ll. 34, optical elements 328, 330, 332 to reflect the laser beam from its respective laser diode to a scan mirror 318); and a third reflecting optical system disposed to reflect the laser beam emitted form the third laser element to the scanner side (Pierer Fig. 3, col. 8, ll. 51- col. 10, ll. 34, optical elements 328, 330, 332 to reflect the laser beam from its respective laser diode to a scan mirror 318), wherein the first, second, and third reflecting optical systems are disposed such that the laser beam reflected by each of the first, second, and third reflecting optical systems are multiplexed on a same optical axis (Pierer Fig. 3, col. 8, ll. 51- col. 10, ll. 34, optical elements 328, 330, 332 to reflect the laser beam from its respective laser diode to a scan mirror 318 where the scan mirror may be two single-axis scan mirrors).
As to claim 12, Pierer discloses wherein the light source comprises: a plurality of the first, second, and third laser elements;
a first collimate lens disposed between the first laser element and the multiplexing optical system, that collimates the laser beam emitted from the first laser element (Pierer Fig. 1, 3, col. 7, ll. 12-50, col. 8, ll. 51- col. 10, ll. 34, collimation lenses located between its respective laser diodes and the beam combiner, collimating the laser beam from the respective optical elements);
a second collimate lens disposed between the second laser element and the multiplexing optical system, that collimates the laser beam emitted from the second laser element (Pierer Fig. 1, 3, col. 7, ll. 12-50, col. 8, ll. 51- col. 10, ll. 34, collimation lenses located between its respective laser diodes and the beam combiner, collimating the laser beam from the respective optical elements); and
a third collimate lens disposed between the third laser element and the multiplexing optical system, that collimates the laser beam emitted from the third laser element (Pierer Fig. 1, 3, col. 7, ll. 12-50, col. 8, ll. 51- col. 10, ll. 34, collimation lenses located between its respective laser diodes and the beam combiner, collimating the laser beam from the respective optical elements).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. US Pub. No. 20240142771 A1 to Tanaka in view of US Pub. No. 20230060689 A1 to Ogawa.
As to claim 15, Tanaka does not expressly disclose wherein the light source comprises a waveguide type optical multiplexer that incidents into the waveguide and multiplexes the laser beams emitted from each of the first, second, and third laser elements.
Ogawa discloses wherein the light source comprises a waveguide type optical multiplexer that incidents into the waveguide and multiplexes the laser beams emitted from each of the first, second, and third laser elements (Ogawa Fig. 2-3, ¶0132-0134, optical waveguide 1-2 multiplexes the last beams/lights from the first, second and third laser arrays)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Tanaka by wherein the light source comprises a waveguide type optical multiplexer that incidents into the waveguide and multiplexes the laser beams emitted from each of the first, second, and third laser elements as disclosed by Ogawa. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to yield predictable results of using a waveguide type optical multiplexer that allows for ultra-thin form factor and/or compact design for high density laser light into the user’s retina.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16-20 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
-US Pub. No. 20240310906 A1 to Najer discloses a device that uses self-mixing interferometry between light emitted from a resonant light source (such as a laser) and light redirected from a user's eye to directly determine the direction of movement of the user's eye.
-US Pub. No. 20220299762 A1 to Yoshikawa discloses an optical device, a method of detecting the degree of inclination of a three-dimensional object, and a method of detecting a line of sight. The optical device includes a plurality of light emitters configured to irradiate an object with light, a detector configured to detect the light reflected by the object and output a signal based on the light reflected by the object, and circuitry configured to output data of a degree of inclination of the object obtained based on an output signal output from the detector.
-US Patent No. 11,157,072 B1 to Topliss discloses a beam focusing system for a direct retinal projector system are described. In some embodiments, the beam focusing system may include an adjustable focusing element to provide adaptive optical functionality for the projector. In some embodiments, the adjustable focusing element may be located on the path of a combined light beam generated by light sources of the projector component of the direct retinal projector system and a scanning mirror of the projector component.
Claims 1-4, 6-7, 9-10, 12 and 15 have been rejected.
Claims 5, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16-20 are objected.
Correspondence Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYU CHAE whose telephone number is (571)270-5696. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00am -4:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NASSER MOAZZAMI can be reached on 571-272-4195. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYU CHAE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426
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