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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/01/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/20/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 5, 8, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Son (2023/0213782).
Regarding claim 1, Son discloses a lens assembly (Figure 6, 200, camera module) comprising: a first lens (211, first lens) which is a meniscus lens ([0103] teaches 211, first lens, has a convex object-side surface and concave image-side surface) with positive refractive power ([0103] teaches 211, first lens, has positive refractive power) and comprises a convex surface facing an object side ([0103] teaches 211, first lens, has a convex object-side surface), and a concave surface facing an image side ([0103] teaches 211, first lens, has a concave image-side surface); a second lens which is with negative refractive power (212, second lens; [0104] teaches 212, second lens, has negative refractive power); a third lens which is with positive refractive power (213, third lens; [0105] teaches 213, third lens, has positive refractive power); and a fourth lens which is a meniscus lens with refractive power (214, fourth lens; at least [0072] teaches the fourth lens may have a meniscus shape; [0106]); wherein the first lens, the second lens, the third lens, and the fourth lens are arranged in order from the object side to the image side along an optical axis (Figures 6 and 9); wherein the lens assembly has fixed effective focal length (Figure 9 depicts the focal length is fixed); wherein the lens assembly satisfies at least one of following conditions: −0.1≤R.sub.11/R.sub.42≤0.53 (Figure 9 teaches R11 has a value of 1.2845 and R42 has a value of 67.1220; the values in the condition yield 0.0191, which falls within the claimed range); 0.1≤SD1/f≤0.6 (Figure 9 teaches the effective radius of the first lens is 0.910, which Examiner converts to the effective diameter as 0.910*2=1.82; Figure 9 depicts f to be 3.7577; the values in the condition yield 0.484, which falls within the claimed range); 19≤|f4/BFL|≤52; wherein R.sub.11 is a radius of curvature of the convex surface of the first lens, R.sub.42 is a radius of curvature of the image side surface of the fourth lens, SD1 is an optical effective diameter in mm of the first lens, f is an effective focal length in mm of the lens assembly, f.sub.4 is an effective focal length in mm of the fourth lens, and BFL is an interval in mm from the image side surface of the fourth lens to an image plane along the optical axis.
Regarding claim 2, Son discloses the lens assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second lens comprises a concave surface facing the image side ([0104]).
Regarding claim 5, Son discloses the lens assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fourth lens is with negative refractive power ([0106]).
Regarding claim 8, Son discloses the lens assembly as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second lens comprises a convex surface facing the object side ([0104]).
Regarding claim 15, Son discloses a lens assembly (Figure 6, 200, camera module) comprising: a first lens (211, first lens) which is a meniscus lens ([0103] teaches 211, first lens, has a convex object-side surface and concave image-side surface) with positive refractive power ([0103] teaches 211, first lens, has positive refractive power) and comprises a convex surface facing an object side ([0103] teaches 211, first lens, has a convex object-side surface), and a concave surface facing an image side ([0103] teaches 211, first lens, has a concave image-side surface); a second lens which is with negative refractive power (212, second lens; [0104] teaches 212, second lens, has negative refractive power); a third lens which is with positive refractive power (213, third lens; [0105] teaches 213, third lens, has positive refractive power); and a fourth lens which is a meniscus lens with refractive power (214, fourth lens; at least [0072] teaches the fourth lens may have a meniscus shape; [0106]); wherein the first lens, the second lens, the third lens, and the fourth lens are arranged in order from the object side to the image side along an optical axis (Figures 6 and 9); wherein the lens assembly has fixed effective focal length (Figure 9 depicts the focal length is fixed); wherein the lens assembly satisfies at least one of following conditions: −0.1≤R.sub.11/R.sub.42≤0.53 (Figure 9 teaches R11 has a value of 1.2845 and R42 has a value of 67.1220; the values in the condition yield 0.0191, which falls within the claimed range); 0.1≤SD1/f≤0.6 (Figure 9 teaches the effective radius of the first lens is 0.910, which Examiner converts to the effective diameter as 0.910*2=1.82; Figure 9 depicts f to be 3.7577; the values in the condition yield 0.484, which falls within the claimed range); -10≤f4/BFL≤-3 (using values from Figure 9, BFL is calculated to be 1.6485; Table 4 teaches the focal length of the fourth lens in the second embodiment is -9.1597; the values in the condition yield -5.556, which falls within the claimed range); wherein R.sub.11 is a radius of curvature of the convex surface of the first lens, R.sub.42 is a radius of curvature of the image side surface of the fourth lens, SD1 is an optical effective diameter in mm of the first lens, f is an effective focal length in mm of the lens assembly, f.sub.4 is an effective focal length in mm of the fourth lens, and BFL is an interval in mm from the image side surface of the fourth lens to an image plane along the optical axis.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-19 are allowed.
Claims 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9-14 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claim 16, the prior art fails to teach or disclose wherein the fourth lens comprises a concave surface facing the object side and a convex surface facing the image side while the second lens comprises a convex surface facing the object side, or the fourth lens comprises a convex surface facing the object side and a concave surface facing the image side while the second lens comprises a concave surface facing the object side, along with the structural limitations positively recited in claim 16 in a manner that would be appropriate under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103. Regarding claims 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9-14, the prior art fails to teach the limitations of claims 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, or 14 in a manner that would be appropriate under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103, along with the structural limitations of the claims from which they respectively depend. Claims 6, 7, 11, and 13 are dependent on objected to claims, and are therefore objected to for at least the same reason.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BALRAM T PARBADIA whose telephone number is (571)270-0602. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday - Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bumsuk Won can be reached at (571) 272-2713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BALRAM T PARBADIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872