Appeal No. 96-2744
Application 08/004,734
the fibers are point sources of light and, as such, are only two-
dimensional. Therefore, contends appellant, these fiber ends
cannot be "volumetric" in nature and claims 6 and 46 are not met
by Gery.
We have carefully reviewed the arguments and evidence
regarding this issue and, while we commend the examiner for a
well-written answer and a reasonable rejection, we find ourselves
in agreement with appellant.
The ends 36 of the optical fibers in Gery must be considered
as being only two-dimensional, and not three-dimensional, i.e.,
having some volume, as required by the instant claims, because
even Gery, himself, describes the exit tips of the wave guides,
i.e., optical fibers, as "illumination points" [emphasis ours-see
Gery's abstract]. Points of light are not three-dimensional;
they have no volume and, so, cannot be considered to be discrete
volumetric display elements, or voxels, as required by the
instant claims.
The examiner disagrees, contending that the individual tips
of the fibers are volumetric display elements because each tip
"is a physical element which occupies a certain amount of volume
in space" [answer-page 12]. We would agree if the tip of each
fiber had some third dimension to it but the tip actually lies in
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