DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This office action is in response to a filing of 3/6/2026.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Continued Examination
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/6/2026 has been entered.
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, 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.
Claims 1-4 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeh et al. (US20220187578) in view of Kim (US20180180853).
Regarding claim 1, Yeh teaches an optical system (Yeh, figs.1-33, abstract, an optical image lens assembly includes five lens elements which are, in order from an object side to an image side along an optical path: a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. Each of the five lens elements has an object-side surface facing toward the object side and an image-side surface facing toward the image side) comprising:
first to fifth lenses sequentially arranged along an optical axis from an object side to an image side (Yeh, figs.1-33, abstract, “an optical image lens assembly includes five lens elements which are, in order from an object side to an image side along an optical path: a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element”),
wherein the first lens (Yeh, fig.5, lens 310) has a positive refractive power (paragraph [0159] “The first lens element 310 with positive refractive power”),
wherein the second lens (fig.5, lens 320) has a positive refractive power (paragraph [0160], “the second lens element 320 with positive refractive power”),
wherein each of the first (fig.5, lens 310) to fifth lenses (fig.4, lens 350) includes an object-side surface and an image-side surface (see Yeh, fig.5, each of the first lens 310 to fifth lens 350 includes an object-side surface and an image-side surface),
wherein an effective focal length of the optical system (Yeh, fig.5, paragraph [0007], a focal length of the optical image lens assembly is f) satisfies the following Equation 2: [Equation 2]
8 mm < EFL< 30 mm (21.26 mm; Yeh, paragraph [0166], f = EFL = 21.26 mm),
wherein EFL means the effective focal length of the optical system (Yeh, paragraph [0007], “a focal length of the optical image lens assembly is f”),
wherein an object-side surface (Yeh, fig.5, surface 331) of the third lens (Yeh, fig.5, lens 330) serves as an aperture stop (see Yeh, fig.5, serves as an aperture stop 300) for controlling an amount of light incident on the optical system (Yeh, paragraph [0104], “Said glare stop or said field stop is set for eliminating the stray light and thereby improving image quality thereof”; paragraph [0106], ”The aperture control unit may be a mechanical component or a light modulator”; “The mechanical component can include a movable member, such as a blade assembly or a light shielding sheet.”; “the aperture control unit controls the amount of incident light or exposure time to enhance the capability of image quality adjustment”).
Yeh does not explicitly teach wherein the object-side surface of the first lens is concave in a region corresponding to the optical axis,
wherein at least one of the image-side surface of the first lens and the object-side surfaces and the image-side surfaces of the second to fifth lenses has a clear aperture larger than a clear aperture of the object-side surface of the first lens, and wherein the clear aperture of the image side surface of the first lens is largest among the object-side surfaces and the image-side surfaces of the first to fifth lenses.
However, Kim teaches the analogous optical system (Kim, fig.5, paragraph [0095], “the first lens 210 has a positive refractive power, and a first surface thereof is concave in the paraxial region and a second surface thereof is convex in the paraxial region.”; [0096] “The second lens 220 has a positive refractive power”; paragraph [0052] “a stop controlling an amount of light”), and further teaches wherein
the object-side surface (Kim, fig.5, paragraph [0095], “a first surface”) of the first lens (Kim, fig.5, the first lens 210) is concave in a region corresponding to the optical axis (Kim, fig.5, paragraph [0095], “the first lens 210 has a positive refractive power, and a first surface thereof is concave in the paraxial region”),
wherein at least one of the image-side surface of the first lens and the object-side surfaces and the image-side surfaces of the second to fifth lenses has a clear aperture larger than a clear aperture of the object-side surface of the first lens (see annotated image, Kim, fig.5, referring to the scale in the image, the image-side surface of the first lens 210 has a clear aperture larger than a clear aperture of the object-side surface of the first lens 210), and
wherein the clear aperture of the image side surface of the first lens is largest among the object-side surfaces and the image-side surfaces of the first to fifth lenses (see annotated image, Kim, fig.5, referring to the scale in the image, the clear aperture of the image side surface of the first lens 210 is largest among the object-side surfaces and the image-side surfaces of the first 210 to fifth lens 250).(note: as evidenced by Gross “Handbook of Optical Systems”, hereafter called Gross, Gross teaches in page 378 , “Zero Power Operations” that amongst the typical operations which help in finding a design with better performance, there are ones which do not introduce any change in the refractive power amongst which is “8. Moving the stop position”)
Thus, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the apparatus of Yeh with the specific positions as taught by Kim for the purpose to have a small size and high image quality (Kim, paragraph [0004]).
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Regarding claim 2, combination Yeh-Kim discloses the invention as described in Claim 1, and Kim further teaches wherein a size of the clear aperture of the image-side surface of the first lens is larger than a size of the clear aperture of the object-side surface of the first lens (see annotated image, Kim, fig.5, referring to the scale in the image, a size of the clear aperture of the image-side surface of the first lens 210 --- the size is about 1.36--- is larger than a size of the clear aperture of the object-side surface of the first lens 210 --- the size is about 1.34). (note: as evidenced by Gross “Handbook of Optical Systems”, hereafter called Gross, Gross teaches in page 378, “Zero Power Operations” that amongst the typical operations which help in finding a design with better performance, there are ones which do not introduce any change in the refractive power amongst which is “8. Moving the stop position”)
Thus, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the apparatus of Yeh with the specific positions as taught by Kim for the purpose to have a small size and high image quality (Kim, paragraph [0004]).
Regarding claim 3, combination Yeh-Kim discloses the invention as described in Claim 2 and Yeh further teaches wherein the image-side surface (Yeh, fig.5, surface 312) of the first lens (Yeh, fig.5, lens 310) is convex in a region corresponding to the optical axis (Yeh, paragraph [0159], “an image-side surface 312 being convex in a paraxial region thereof.”).
Regarding claim 4, combination Yeh-Kim discloses the invention as described in Claim 3 and Kim further teaches wherein the first lens satisfies the following Equation: 0.95<L1S1_CA/L1S2_CA<1 (0.98; see annotated image, Kim, fig.5, referring to the scale in the image, L1S1_CA/L1S2_CA = 1.34/1.36 )(In Equation 1, L1S1_CA means the size of the clear aperture (CA) of the object side of the first lens (see annotated image, Kim, fig.5, referring to the scale in the image, the lens 210, L1S1_CA is approximately 1.34), and L1S2_CA means the size of the effective aperture (CA) of the image side of the first lens (see annotated image, Kim, fig.5, referring to the scale in the image, the lens 210, L1S2_CA is approximately 1.36).
(note: as evidenced by Gross “Handbook of Optical Systems”, hereafter called Gross, Gross teaches in page 378, “Zero Power Operations” that amongst the typical operations which help in finding a design with better performance, there are ones which do not introduce any change in the refractive power amongst which is “8. Moving the stop position”)
Thus, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the apparatus of Yeh with the specific positions as taught by Kim for the purpose to have a small size and high image quality (Kim, paragraph [0004]).
Regarding claim 6, combination Yeh-Kim discloses the invention as described in Claim 1 and Kim further teaches wherein a size of the clear aperture of the object side surface of the first lens is next largest to the size of the clear aperture of the image side surface of the first lens among the object- side surfaces and the image-side surfaces of the first to fifth lenses (see annotated image, Kim, fig.5, referring to the scale in the image, a size of the clear aperture of the object side surface of the first lens 210 is next largest to the size of the clear aperture of the image side surface of the first lens 210 among the object- side surfaces and the image-side surfaces of the first 210 to fifth lens 250).
(note: as evidenced by Gross “Handbook of Optical Systems”, hereafter called Gross, Gross teaches in page 378, “Zero Power Operations” that amongst the typical operations which help in finding a design with better performance, there are ones which do not introduce any change in the refractive power amongst which is “8. Moving the stop position”)
Thus, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the apparatus of Yeh with the specific positions as taught by Kim for the purpose to have a small size and high image quality (Kim, paragraph [0004]).
Regarding claim 7, combination Yeh-Kim discloses the invention as described in Claim 1 and Kim further teaches wherein F-number of the optical system is less than 3 2 (2.06; see Kim, paragraph [094],”an Fno, a constant indicating brightness of the optical imaging system, thereof is 2.06”).
The motivation to combine Yeh and Kim as provided in claim 1 is incorporated herein.
Regarding claim 8, combination Yeh-Kim discloses the invention as described in Claim 7 and Yeh further teaches wherein
a light path changing member (Yeh, fig.30, the reflective element LF) disposed between an object of the object side and the first to fifth lenses (Yeh, fig.30, paragraph [0102], The reflective element LF is a prism disposed between the imaged object and the lens group LG of the optical image lens assembly)
wherein the light path changing member (fig.30, the LF) changes a path of a light (see fig.30, a path of a light from OA1) incident on the light path changing member (fig.30, the LF) in a first direction (the OA1 direction) to a second direction (fig.30, direction of OA2) that is an arrangement direction of the first to fifth lenses (see Yeh, fig.30, LG, the first to fifth lenses).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered, see Remarks Page. 5-8 with respect to the 35 U.S.C.&103 rejection have been fully considered and are not persuasive.
In the remarks, applicant argues that:
Prior art does not disclose or suggest a structure in which S5 serves as an aperture.In response to applicant's argument(s) of 1
see claim 1, Yeh teaches wherein an object-side surface (Yeh, fig.5, surface 331) of the third lens (Yeh, fig.5, lens 330) serves as an aperture stop (see Yeh, fig.5, serves as an aperture stop 300) for controlling an amount of light incident on the optical system (Yeh, paragraph [0104], “Said glare stop or said field stop is set for eliminating the stray light and thereby improving image quality thereof”; paragraph [0106]” The aperture control unit may be a mechanical component or a light modulator”; “The mechanical component can include a movable member, such as a blade assembly or a light shielding sheet.”; “the aperture control unit controls the amount of incident light or exposure time to enhance the capability of image quality adjustment”).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KUEI-JEN LEE EDENFIELD whose telephone number is (571)272-3005. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. -Thurs 8:00 am - 5:30 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas Pham can be reached on 571-272-3689. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273- 8300.
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/KUEI-JEN L EDENFIELD/
Examiner, Art Unit 2872
/THOMAS K PHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872