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 1 has been amended as per Applicant’s amendment filed on July 27, 2026. Claims 4-6 have been canceled. Claim 7 is newly added. Claims 1, 3, and 7 are pending.
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on July 27, 2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of U.S. Patent No. 12416970 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
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.
Claims 1, 3, 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bitauld (US 2018/0246566 A1, Published August 30, 2018) in view of Fix (US 11,112,865 B1, Filed on February 13, 2019).
As to claim 1, Bitauld discloses an electronic device comprising
a display apparatus (Bitauld at Fig. 3, micro-display 42),
an image processing portion (Bitauld at Fig. 2, processor 20), and
a control portion, wherein the display apparatus comprises a first light-emitting device,… and a light-receiving device (Bitauld at Fig. 3, micro-display 42 an single pixel detector 50; ¶ [0025]),
wherein the first light-emitting device is configured to emit light to a user's eye as a display image (Bitauld at Figs. 3-4, projected image 52; ¶ [0024] discloses “The display 42 in this example is a micro-display which is configured to project an image 52 as indicated by the lines from the display 42 to the lens 44. The projected image 52 may comprise, for example, a picture, a video, a software program interface, etc. The lens 44 focuses the image 52 into the direction through the beam splitter 46 and to the reflector 48 where the image is reflected to the eye 36 of the user.” ¶ [0028]),
wherein the light-receiving device is configured to capture light from the … light-emitting device reflected by a retina of the user's eye as a captured image (Bitauld at Fig. 3, reflected image 54 an single pixel detector 54; ¶ [0025]-[0026] discloses “Near eye displays (no matter which technology they use) project images on the human retina. Referring also to FIG. 4, with features as described herein, instead of merely projecting the image 56 of a scene by the display 42 onto the retina 40, the image 56 is combined with the above mentioned succession of patterns, 58A, 58B, 58C for example, and projected by the display 42 onto the retina 40 as the image 52. The reflected image 54 is then detected at the detector 50. With this reflected image 54, features as described herein may be used to obtain an image of the retina 40. This technique can easily be adapted to different types of micro-display-based HMD configurations. Once the image of the retina 40 is detected, the direction of gaze and/or eye tracking or eye movement may be determined.” Fig. 6, Step 70),…
wherein the image processing portion is configured to detect a macula included in the retina from the captured image and is configured to calculate position data of the macula (Bitauld at Fig. 5, macula 60; ¶ [0027]; Fig. 6, Step 72; ¶ [0030] discloses “Position of well-known retina features (such as, for example, the macula, optic nerve, and/or veins) may be used to determine the direction of the gaze.” ¶ [0033] discloses “Once the system has determined an image of the retina from the multiple outputs from the single pixel detector 50, it is easy to calculate where the user is looking by measuring the positions of the macula (dark region), the optic nerve (bright region) and/or the veins through adapted image recognition.”).
Bitauld does not disclose a second light emitting device.
Bitauld also does not disclose that the light-receiving device is configured to capture light from the second light-emitting device.
However, Fix does disclose a second light emitting device (Fix at Figs. ; col. 2, ll. 59-64 discloses “In some examples, directing infrared light originating from the at least one infrared pixel and reflected from the eye of the user may include detecting infrared light reflected from a retina of the eye of the user. A predetermined pattern of infrared light may be directed to the eye of the user with a plurality of infrared pixels.”).
Fix also discloses that the light-receiving device is configured to capture light from the second light-emitting device (Fix at Figs. 4-6; col. 12, ll. 38-52 discloses “As shown in FIG. 6, both visible light and IR light originating from the respective projectors 608, 610 may be directed through the waveguides 612 to the user's eye 650. The user may view visible images on the display element 606 originating from the visible light projector 608. The IR light may also originate from within the bounds of the display element 606, as viewed by the user. The IR light may be provided as a pattern of glints (as illustrated in FIG. 4), as a grid pattern (as illustrated in FIG. 5), or as another image or pattern. In some embodiments, IR pixels may overlap corresponding visible light pixels of the display element 606. Alternatively, the prism elements 614, 616 of the respective waveguides 612A, 612B may be arranged to position the IR pixels between visible light pixels without overlapping.” Examiner regards the IR pixels as analogous to a second light source).
Bitauld discloses a base display device upon which the claimed invention is an improvement. Fix discloses a comparable display device which has been improved in the same way as the claimed invention. Hence, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify or add to Bitauld the teachings of Fix for the predictable result of improving eye tracking (Fix at col. 1, ll. 34-40).
As to claim 3, the combination of Bitauld and Fix discloses the electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the image processing portion comprises a product-sum operation circuit and a circuit performing an arithmetic operation of an activation function (Bitauld at Fig. 2, processor 20. Examiner takes an official notice that digital processors are well-known in the art to perform product, sum, arithmetic, and conditional operations. Hence, in view of the officially noticed facts it would be obvious to a person to provide such a processor for the well-known purpose of rapidly computing mathematical results and expediting decisions).
As to claim 7, the combination of Bitauld and Fix discloses the electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising a control portion, wherein the control portion is configured to obtain a position of a user's gaze destination on the display image from the position data of the macula (Bitauld at Fig. 6, Step 72; ¶ [0030] discloses “Position of well-known retina features (such as, for example, the macula, optic nerve, and/or veins) may be used to determine the direction of the gaze.” ¶ [0033] discloses “Once the system has determined an image of the retina from the multiple outputs from the single pixel detector 50, it is easy to calculate where the user is looking by measuring the positions of the macula (dark region), the optic nerve (bright region) and/or the veins through adapted image recognition.”).
Claims 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bitauld and Fix as applied to claims 1 and 4 respectively above, and in further view of Kaehler (US 2017/02064412 A1, Published July 20, 2017).
As to claim 2, the combination of Bitauld and Fix discloses the electronic device according to claim 1.
The combination does not disclose that from the captured image, the image processing portion is configured to detect a defocused object included in the captured image and is configured to sense a user's eye blinking.
However, Kaehler does disclose that from the captured image, the image processing portion is configured to detect a defocused object included in the captured image and is configured to sense a user's eye blinking (Kaehler at Claim 12 including claim 1; ¶ [0080], [0234], [0242]).
The combination of Bitauld and Fix discloses a base HMD system upon which the claimed invention is an improvement. Kaehler discloses a comparable HMD system which has been improved in the same way as the claimed invention. Hence, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify or add to the combination of Bitauld and Fix the teachings of Kaehler for the predictable result of providing biometric identification (Kaehler at ¶ [0036]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Sanjiv D Patel whose telephone number is (571)270-5731. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/Sanjiv D. Patel/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2625
08/09/2026
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