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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of claims 1-2,4-14 in the reply filed on 5/13/24 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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(s) 1,4,6-7,10,12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zou (US 20210389557).
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Regarding claim 1, Zou teaches (Fig. 4a, Table 4a) An optical imaging lens group, sequentially comprising from an object side to an image side along an optical axis:
a first lens with a negative refractive power;
a second lens with a refractive power;
a third lens with a refractive power, an image-side surface thereof is a concave surface;
a fourth lens with a negative refractive power;
a fifth lens with a refractive power; and
a sixth lens with a refractive power;
wherein Semi-FOV is a half of a maximum field of view of the optical imaging lens group, and Semi-FOV satisfies 45°<Semi-FOV (63.2); and
a curvature radius R1 of an object-side surface of the first lens, a curvature radius R2 of an image-side surface of the first lens, a curvature radius R3 of an object-side surface of the second lens and a curvature radius R4 of an image-side surface of the second lens satisfy 0.5<(R1+R2)/(R3−R4)<1.5 (5.7/5.7).
Zou does not explicitly teach Semi-FOV<55°.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having Semi-FOV<55° would have been known to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the purposes of having desired field of view or smaller image by cropping/selecting a smaller image.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Zou by having Semi-FOV<55° for the purposes of having desired field of view or smaller image.
Regarding claim 4, Zou further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein an effective focal length f4 of the fourth lens, an effective focal length f5 of the fifth lens and an effective focal length f6 of the sixth lens satisfy 0<(f6−f5)/f4<1.0 (5.27/23.8).
Regarding claim 6, Zou further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein an object-side surface of the sixth lens has at least one point of inflection, and a vertical distance Yc61 from the point of inflection to the optical axis and a maximum effective radius DT61 of the object-side surface of the sixth lens satisfy 0<Yc61/DT61<1.0 (Fig. 4a).
Regarding claim 7, Zou further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein a maximum effective radius DT21 of the object-side surface of the second lens and a maximum effective radius DT41 of an object-side surface of the fourth lens satisfy 0.3<DT21/DT41<0.8 (Fig. 4a).
Regarding claim 10, Zou further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein a center thickness CT5 of the fifth lens on the optical axis and a center thickness CT6 of the sixth lens on the optical axis satisfy 0.2<CT6/CT5<0.7 (0.5).
Regarding claim 12, Zou further teaches (Table 4a) The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein
the object-side surface of the first lens is a convex surface, and the image-side surface of the first lens is a concave surface;
the second lens has a positive refractive power, the object-side surface thereof is a convex surface, and the image-side surface thereof is a convex surface;
the third lens has a negative refractive power;
the fifth lens has a positive refractive power, an image-side surface thereof is a convex surface;
the sixth lens has a negative refractive power, an object-side surface thereof is a convex surface, and an image-side surface thereof is a concave surface.
Claim(s) 1-2,5,11,13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 20190196144).
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Regarding claim 1, Chen teaches (Fig. 15, Table 15) An optical imaging lens group, sequentially comprising from an object side to an image side along an optical axis:
a first lens with a negative refractive power;
a second lens with a refractive power;
a third lens with a refractive power, an image-side surface thereof is a concave surface;
a fourth lens with a negative refractive power;
a fifth lens with a refractive power; and
a sixth lens with a refractive power;
wherein Semi-FOV is a half of a maximum field of view of the optical imaging lens group, and Semi-FOV satisfies Semi-FOV<55° (44.8); and
a curvature radius R1 of an object-side surface of the first lens, a curvature radius R2 of an image-side surface of the first lens, a curvature radius R3 of an object-side surface of the second lens and a curvature radius R4 of an image-side surface of the second lens satisfy 0.5<(R1+R2)/(R3−R4)<1.5 (8.8/6.8).
Chen does not explicitly teach 45°<Semi-FOV.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having 45°<Semi-FOV would have been known to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the purposes of having higher production by allowing some manufacturing errors (since the difference is less than 0.5%).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Chen by having 45°<Semi-FOV for the purposes of having higher production.
Regarding claim 2, Chen further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein an effective focal length f2 of the second lens and the curvature radius R3 of the object-side surface of the second lens satisfy 0.4<f2/R3<0.9 (3.21/3.761).
Regarding claim 5, Chen further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein SAG22 is a distance from an intersection point of the image-side surface of the second lens and the optical axis to an effective radius vertex of the image-side surface of the second lens on the optical axis, SAG52 is a distance from an intersection point of an image-side surface of the fifth lens and the optical axis to an effective radius vertex of the image-side surface of the fifth lens on the optical axis, and SAG22 and SAG52 satisfy 0.2<SAG22/SAG52<0.7 (~ 0.45).
Regarding claim 11, Chen further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein ΣAT is a sum of spacing distances of any two adjacent lenses in the first lens to the sixth lens, and ΣAT and a spacing distance T34 of the third lens and the fourth lens on the optical axis satisfy 0.3<T34/ΣAT<0.8 (0.798/1.204).
Regarding claim 13, Chen further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein EPD is an entrance pupil diameter of the optical imaging lens group, and EPD and a total effective focal length f of the optical imaging lens group satisfy f/EPD<1.7 (1.68).
Regarding claim 14, Chen further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein TTL is a distance from the object-side surface of the first lens to an imaging surface of the optical imaging lens group on the optical axis, ImgH is a half of a diagonal length of an effective pixel region on the imaging surface of the optical imaging lens group, and TTL and ImgH satisfy TTL/ImgH<1.5 (1.42).
Claim(s) 1,8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jia (CN 109100854, as evidenced by US 20210109326).
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Regarding claim 1, Jia teaches (Fig. 9, Table 17) An optical imaging lens group, sequentially comprising from an object side to an image side along an optical axis:
a first lens with a negative refractive power;
a second lens with a refractive power;
a third lens with a refractive power, an image-side surface thereof is a concave surface;
a fourth lens with a negative refractive power;
a fifth lens with a refractive power; and
a sixth lens with a refractive power;
wherein Semi-FOV is a half of a maximum field of view of the optical imaging lens group, and Semi-FOV satisfies 45°<Semi-FOV (60.3); and
a curvature radius R1 of an object-side surface of the first lens, a curvature radius R2 of an image-side surface of the first lens, a curvature radius R3 of an object-side surface of the second lens and a curvature radius R4 of an image-side surface of the second lens satisfy 0.5<(R1+R2)/(R3−R4)<1.5 (3/4.2).
Jia does not explicitly teach Semi-FOV<55°.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having Semi-FOV<55° would have been known to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the purposes of having desired field of view or smaller image by cropping/selecting a smaller image.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Jia by having Semi-FOV<55° for the purposes of having desired field of view or smaller image.
Regarding claim 8, Jia further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein a curvature radius R6 of the image-side surface of the third lens, a curvature radius R10 of an image-side surface of the fifth lens, a curvature radius R11 of an object-side surface of the sixth lens and a curvature radius R12 of an image-side surface of the sixth lens satisfy 0.3<(R11+R12)/(R6−R10)<2.0 (4/4.6).
Regarding claim 9, Jia further teaches The optical imaging lens group according to claim 1, wherein a center thickness CT1 of the first lens on the optical axis, a center thickness CT3 of the third lens on the optical axis, an edge thickness ET1 of the first lens and an edge thickness ET3 of the third lens satisfy 1.5<CT1/ET1+CT3/ET3<2.0 (~1.6 as seen in Fig. 9, with smaller image size, the ratio appears roughly the same or increasing slightly but still <2).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEN HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-0234. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 9:00AM-4:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Pinping Sun can be reached on (571) 270-1284. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WEN HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
wen.huang2@uspto.gov
(571)270-0234