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 .
Response to Amendment of 12/22/2025
The present office action is made in response to the amendment filed on 12/22/2025. It is noted that In the amendment, applicant has made changes to the drawings and the claims. There is not any change being made to the abstract and the specification.
A1) Regarding the drawings, applicant has submitted a set of four replacement sheets contained figures 3-9.
A2) Regarding the claims, applicant has amended claim 1 and canceled claims 9 and 19.
Response to Arguments
The amendments to the drawings and the claims as provided in the amendment of 12/22/2025, and applicant's arguments provided in the mentioned amendment, pages 6-7, have been fully considered and resulted the following conclusions.
A) Regarding the claims, because applicant has canceled claims 9 and 19 and has not added any claim into the application, thus the pending claims are claims 1-3, 7, 10-13, 17 and 20. Note that claims 4-6, 8, 14-16 and 18 were canceled in the amendment of 08/01/2025.
B) Regarding the objections to the drawings, while the four replacement sheets contained figures 3-9 filed by applicant on 12/22/2025 have been entered; however, the drawings as filed on 03/28/2023 and 12/22/2025 are objected to because figures 4-5 and 7-9 are so blurred that it is difficult to read/be printed. Thus, the drawings as filed on 03/28/2023 and 12/22/2025 are objected to as set forth in the present office action.
C) Regarding the rejection of claims 1-9 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as set forth in the office action of 09/24/2025, the amendments to the claims as provided in the amendment of 12/22/2025, and applicant’s arguments provided in the mentioned amendment, pages 6-7, have been fully considered and are sufficient to overcome the rejection of claims 1-9 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as set forth in the mentioned office action.
However, the amendments to the claims raise new problems of 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph, as set forth in the present office action.
D) Regarding the rejections of claims 1 and 11 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen (US Patent No. 5,044,706), the rejections of claims 1-3, 7, 11-13 and 17 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stamenov (US Patent No. 10,422,976) in view of Noda (US Patent No. 7,623,307), and the rejection of claims 1, 3, 7, 10-11, 13, 17 and 20 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (CN 104536129, submitted by applicant) in view of Noda (US Patent No. 7,623,307) as set forth in the office action of 09/24/2025, the amendments to the claims as provided in the amendment of 12/22/2025, and applicant’s arguments provided in the mentioned amendment, pages 6-7, have been fully considered and are sufficient to overcome the rejection of the mentioned claims over the applied arts as set forth in the mentioned office action.
Drawings
The four replacement sheets contained figures 3-9 were received on 12/22/2025.
As a result of the changes to the drawings, the application now contains a total of five sheets of figures 1-9 which includes one sheet of figures 1-2 as filed on 03/28/2023, and four replacement sheets contained figures 3-9 as filed on 12/22/2025. The mentioned total of five sheets of figures 1-9 re objected by the examiner for the following reason(s).
The drawings are objected to because the words/terms appeared in the figures, in particular, figures 4-5 and 7-9 are so blurred that it is difficult to read/be printed. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
7. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
8. Claims 3, 7, 13 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, for the following reasons.
a) Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
The claim recites that the first and second lens each has a positive focal powers, see claim 3 on lines 1-2; however, it base claim recites that the focal power of each first and second lenses is positive and inside a particular range, see claim 1 on lines 8-9. Thus, the features recited in claim 3 fail to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
b) Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, for the similar reason as set forth in element a) above.
c) The remaining claims are dependent upon the rejected base claims and thus inherit the deficiencies thereof.
Allowable Subject Matter
9. Claims 1-2, 10-12 and 20 are allowed.
10. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The optical system having three lenses with two Fresnel surfaces formed in surfaces of two lenses located adjacent and facing to each other wherein there is no any lens surface between the two Fresnel surfaces as recited in the independent claim 1 is allowable with respect to the prior art, in particular, the US Patent Nos. 7,623,307; 10,422,976 and 7,495,845 by the limitations regarding the ranges governing the focal lengths of the three lenses constituted the optical system as recited in the features thereof “an effective focal length … -75 mm ≤ f3 ≤ -35 mm” (claim 1 on lines 8-10). Such an optical system with features regarding the lenses as claimed in claim 1 is not disclosed in the prior art.
Conclusion
11. The Japanese reference No. 2018-525957 is cited as of interest in that it discloses a lens group having lenses wherein at least one surface of at least one lens is a diffractive surface.
12. 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.
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THONG Q NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571) 272-2316. The examiner can normally be reached M - Th: 6:00 ~ 17:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEPHONE B. ALLEN can be reached at (571) 272-2434. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THONG Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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