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 without traverse of 1-3,5,7-12 in the reply filed on 12/10/25 is acknowledged.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-2,7,10-12 is/are rejected under at least one of 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (2) as being anticipated by Jung (US 20190369368).
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Regarding claim 1, Jung teaches ((i) Figs. 11, 59-60, Tables 11,60,63 or (ii) Figs. 29, 59-60, Tables 29,60,63, Example 15) An optical imaging system, comprising: a lens barrel (200), and a lens group (1000-7000) and at least one spacing element (SP1-SP6) accommodated in the lens barrel,
wherein the lens group comprises a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, a fifth lens and a sixth lens that are arranged in sequence along an optical axis from an object side to an image side, wherein the sixth lens has a negative refractive power;
the at least one spacing element comprises a fifth spacing element that is located between the fifth lens and the sixth lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the fifth lens; and
the optical imaging system satisfies:
1.0<CP5/T45+|f6/d5m|<2.5 (CP5/T45<<1, (i) f6/d5m= 2.768/1.79 or (ii) f6/d5m=3.784/3.7),
wherein CP5 is a maximal thickness of the fifth spacing element along a direction parallel to the optical axis, T45 is an air spacing between the fourth lens and the fifth lens on the optical axis, f6 is an effective focal length of the sixth lens, and d5m is an inner diameter of an image-side surface of the fifth spacing element.
Regarding claim 2, Jung further teaches (ii) The optical imaging system according to claim 1, wherein
the at least one spacing element further comprises a first spacing element that is located between the first lens and the second lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the first lens, and
an outer diameter D1m of an image-side surface of the first spacing element, an inner diameter d1m of the image-side surface of the first spacing element, an effective focal length f1 of the first lens and a radius of curvature R1 of an object-side surface of the first lens satisfy:1.5<f1/D1m+R1/d1m<3.0 (4.29/(~3.2)+1.7773/2.32).
Regarding claim 7, Jung further teaches (ii) The optical imaging system according to claim 1, wherein
the at least one spacing element further comprises a second spacing element that is located between the second lens and the third lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the second lens, a third spacing element that is located between the third lens and the fourth lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the third lens, and a fourth spacing element that is located between the fourth lens and the fifth lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the fourth lens, and
a spacing distance EP34 between the third spacing element and the fourth spacing element along the direction parallel to the optical axis, a spacing distance EP23 between the second spacing element and the third spacing element along the direction parallel to the optical axis, an effective focal length f3 of the third lens and an effective focal length f4 of the fourth lens satisfy:
0.4<|EP34×f4/(EP23×f3)|<1.5 (Fig. 59, Table 60: ~0.5).
Regarding claim 10, Jung further teaches (i) The optical imaging system according to claim 1, wherein
the at least one spacing element further comprises a second spacing element that is located between the second lens and the third lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the second lens, and a third spacing element that is located between the third lens and the fourth lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the third lens, and
a spacing distance EP23 between the second spacing element and the third spacing element along the direction parallel to the optical axis, a center thickness CT3 of the third lens on the optical axis, an abbe number V3 of the third lens and an abbe number V2 of the second lens satisfy:
2.0<EP23/CT3+V3/V2<4.5 (Tables 11,61, Fig. 59: EP23/CT3~2, V3/V2=19/56).
Regarding claim 11, Jung further teaches (i) The optical imaging system according to claim 1, wherein a relative F-number Fno of the optical imaging system, a maximal height of the lens barrel along a direction of the optical axis and an effective focal length f of the optical imaging system satisfy:
1.5<Fno×(L/f)<2.0 (Fig. 59, Table 59: ~1.58x4.2/4).
Regarding claim 12, Jung further teaches (i) The optical imaging system according to claim 1, wherein
the at least one spacing element further comprises a first spacing element that is located between the first lens and the second lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the first lens, and
L is a maximal height of the lens barrel along a direction of the optical axis, half of a maximal field-of-view Semi-FOV of the optical imaging system, an effective focal length f of the optical imaging system, an outer diameter D5m of the image-side surface of the fifth spacing element, and an outer diameter D1m of an image-side surface of the first spacing element satisfy:
2.5<L/tan(Semi-FOV)×f)+D5m/D1m<3.5 (Fig. 59, Table 59: ~4.2/3.17+1.75).
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) 3,5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung.
Regarding claim 3, mutatis mutandis, Jung teaches in Figs. 29, 59-60, Tables 29,60,63, Example 15 all the limitations as stated in claim 1 rejection above, and further teaches The optical imaging system according to claim 1, wherein
the at least one spacing element further comprises a first spacing element that is located between the first lens and the second lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the first lens, and
a distance EP01 from an object-side end surface of the lens barrel to an object-side surface of the first spacing element along the direction parallel to the optical axis, a center thickness CT1 of the first lens on the optical axis, an effective focal length f1 of the first lens and a radius of curvature R2 of the image-side surface of the first lens satisfy:
12.5<f1/EP01+R2/CT1 (4.29/(~0.8)+10.35).
Jung does not explicitly teach f1/EP01+R2/CT1<15.0.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having f1/EP01+R2/CT1<15.0 would have been known to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (EP01 is not a critical dimension and a slightly increase will not impact the performance) for the purposes of design choices.
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 Jung by having f1/EP01+R2/CT1<15.0 for the purposes of design choices.
Regarding claim 5, mutatis mutandis, Jung teaches in Figs. 29, 59-60, Tables 29,60,63, Example 15 all the limitations as stated in claim 1 rejection above, and further teaches The optical imaging system according to claim 1, wherein
the at least one spacing element further comprises a first spacing element that is located between the first lens and the second lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the first lens, and a second spacing element that is located between the second lens and the third lens and is in contact with an image-side surface of the second lens, and
a spacing distance EP12 between the first spacing element and the second spacing element along the direction parallel to the optical axis, a center thickness CT2 of the second lens on the optical axis, a radius of curvature R3 of an object-side surface of the second lens and a radius of curvature R4 of the image-side surface of the second lens satisfy:
1.5<EP12×R3/(CT2×R4)<3.5 (Fig. 60,Table 29: ~3.3).
Jung does not explicitly teach EP12×R3/(CT2×R4)<3.5.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having EP12×R3/(CT2×R4)<3.5 would have been known to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (the estimated value might be underestimate EP12 but a slightly smaller Ep12 so as to satisfy the condition will not alter the performance) for the purposes of design choices.
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 Jung by having EP12×R3/(CT2×R4)<3.5 for the purposes of design choices.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 8-9 is/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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 8, the prior art of record neither anticipates nor renders obvious all the limitations of claim 8 including “1.5<CT4/EP45+f5/d4m<2.5”, along with the other claimed limitations of claim 8.
Regarding claim 9, the prior art of record neither anticipates nor renders obvious all the limitations of claim 9 including “2.0<|R11×D5m|/(R12×d5m)<6.5”, along with the other claimed limitations of claim 9.
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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/WEN HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
wen.huang2@uspto.gov
(571)270-0234