Appeal No. 96-2744
Application 08/004,734
a two-dimensional plane and the emitted light is seen from that
two-dimensional tip. Now, while the examiner has not suggested
this, one might consider that since there is usually some light
leakage from a fiber, especially in transparent fibers with which
Gery is concerned, and light is emitted from other parts of the
fiber, the whole, or a certain portion of, the fiber might be
considered a "discrete volumetric display element." However,
such an interpretation would require the entire fiber to be a
display element which it is not. Undesirable light leakage from
a fiber cannot, in any way, be considered controlled in the sense
that a display element is controlled. Therefore, we are back to
only the fiber tip emitting the desired light as constituting the
display element and the tip of the fiber, in our view, is not a
"volumetric" display element.
It is also interesting to note that, while not part of the
rejection against claims 6 and 46, Nixon, in the abstract
thereof, indicates a "plurality of pixels formed by optical fiber
ends..." Thus, in related art, it is recognized that optical
fiber ends, such as elements 36 of Gery, constitute pixels, i.e.,
two-dimensional picture elements, and not voxels, i.e., three-
dimensional picture elements.
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