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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended claims filed 5/11/26 have been considered as follows.
35 USC 102/103 Rejections of the claims:
Applicant’s arguments are moot in view of the new ground rejections.
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 3-4,9 is/are objected to because of the following informalities:
claims 3,9, “the first lens has positive refractive power” should be deleted as the value ranges of the focal length in claims 1,9 imply a positive lens.
Claim 4, “a fourth lens” is a duplicate from claim 1.
Appropriate correction is required. For the purpose of the examination of the above claim(s), the above suggested correction(s) will be used by the examiner to interpret the claim(s).
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) 1-3,6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lyu (US 20210072506) in view of Tseng (US 20180143403, of record).
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Regarding claim 1, Lyu teaches (Fig. 9, Table 9) A camera module, comprising:
an optical imaging system comprises a total of four or five lenses having refractive power including a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, and a fourth lens sequentially disposed from an object side toward an imaging side,
wherein the second lens disposed closest to an image-side surface of the first lens has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region and a concave image-side surface in a paraxial region (Table 9),
wherein the third lens (E3, Table 9) has negative refractive power,
wherein a refractive index of the third lens is equal to or greater than 1.65 (1.66), and
wherein 4.2<BFL/T1 (as seen in Fig. 9),
where BFL is a distance from an image-side surface of a lens closest to an imaging plane in the optical imaging system toward the imaging plane and T1 is a thickness of the first lens.
Lyu does not teach
a first optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along a first optical axis in a direction of a second optical axis that intersects the first optical axis;
a second optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along the second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis,
the optical imaging system disposed between the first optical path conversion unit and the second optical path conversion unit, and the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm.
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However, in an analogous optics field of endeavor, Tseng teaches (Fig. 3 above)
a first optical path conversion unit (291), configured to reflect or refract light incident along a first optical axis in a direction of a second optical axis that intersects the first optical axis;
a second optical path conversion unit (292), configured to reflect or refract light incident along a second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis, and
an optical imaging system (210-250) disposed between a first optical path conversion unit (291) and the second optical path conversion unit.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have
a first optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along a first optical axis in a direction of a second optical axis that intersects the first optical axis;
a second optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along the second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis, and
the optical imaging system disposed between the first optical path conversion unit and the second optical path conversion unit as taught by Tseng in the teaching of Lyu for the purposes of having a compact system.
Lyu in view of Tseng does not teach the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm 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 imaging effects by scaling up the optical imaging system.
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 Lyu in view of Tseng by having the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm for the purposes of having desired imaging effects.
Regarding claim 2, Lyu further teaches The camera module of claim 1, wherein the optical imaging system satisfies a conditional expression, 0.5<BFL/f (3.9/1.74),
where f is a focal length of the optical imaging system.
Regarding claim 3, Lyu further teaches (Table 9) The camera module of claim 1, wherein the first lens has positive refractive power, the second lens has negative refractive power.
Regarding claim 6, the modified Lyu in view of Tseng further teaches The camera module of claim 1, wherein a focal length (f) of the optical imaging system is equal to or greater than 19 mm (see claim 1 rejection, after the scaling up, the focal length of the first length over e.g., 20 mm will result in f greater than 21 mm).
Regarding claim 7, Lyu further teaches The camera module of claim 1, wherein a distance (>length of the optical imaging system of 2 mm) from a first intersection point of the first optical axis and the second optical axis to a second intersection point of the second optical axis and the third optical axis is greater than a focal length (1.74) of the optical imaging system.
Regarding claims 8, mutatis mutandis, the modified Lyu in view of Tseng teaches all the limitations as stated in claim 1 rejections above, but does not explicitly teach 4.0<BFL/ImgHT.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having 4.0<BFL/ImgHT 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 image size by selecting/cropping a smaller image area.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the teaching of the modified Lyu in view of Tseng by having 4.0<BFL/ImgHT for the purposes of having desired image size.
Regarding claim 9, Lyu (Table 9) further teaches the first lens has positive refractive power.
Claim(s) 1,8,10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 20220373771) in view of Tseng (US 20180143403, of record).
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Regarding claim 1, Zhang teaches (Fig. 9, Table 5) A camera module, comprising:
an optical imaging system comprises a total of four or five lenses having refractive power including a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, and a fourth lens sequentially disposed from an object side toward an imaging side,
wherein the second lens disposed closest to an image-side surface of the first lens has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region and a concave image-side surface in a paraxial region (Table 5),
the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm (13),
wherein the third lens (Table 5) has negative refractive power,
wherein a refractive index of the third lens is equal to or greater than 1.65 (1.93), and
wherein 4.2<BFL/T1 (as seen in Fig. 9),
where BFL is a distance from an image-side surface of a lens closest to an imaging plane in the optical imaging system toward the imaging plane and T1 is a thickness of the first lens.
Zhang does not teach
a first optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along a first optical axis in a direction of a second optical axis that intersects the first optical axis;
a second optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along the second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis,
the optical imaging system disposed between the first optical path conversion unit and the second optical path conversion unit.
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However, in an analogous optics field of endeavor, Tseng teaches (Fig. 3 above)
a first optical path conversion unit (291), configured to reflect or refract light incident along a first optical axis in a direction of a second optical axis that intersects the first optical axis;
a second optical path conversion unit (292), configured to reflect or refract light incident along a second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis, and
an optical imaging system (210-250) disposed between a first optical path conversion unit (291) and the second optical path conversion unit.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have
a first optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along a first optical axis in a direction of a second optical axis that intersects the first optical axis;
a second optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along the second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis, and
the optical imaging system disposed between the first optical path conversion unit and the second optical path conversion unit as taught by Tseng in the teaching of Zhang for the purposes of having a compact system.
Regarding claim 8, mutatis mutandis, Zhang in view of Tseng teaches all the limitations as stated in claim 1 rejections above, and further teaches 4.0<BFL/ImgHT (as seen in Fig. 9).
Regarding claim 10, Zhang further teaches The camera module of claim 8, wherein the third lens has a shape of which an object-side surface is convex and of which an image-side surface is concave (Table 5).
Claim(s) 1,4,8,12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoo (KR 20180103809, as evidenced by the translation) in view of Tseng (US 20180143403, of record).
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Regarding claim 1, Yoo teaches (Figs. 1-4) A camera module, comprising:
a first optical path conversion unit (P), configured to reflect or refract light incident along a first optical axis in a direction of a second optical axis that intersects the first optical axis;
an optical imaging system comprises a total of four or five lenses having refractive power including a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, and a fourth lens (110-140) sequentially disposed from an object side toward an imaging side,
wherein the second lens disposed closest to an image-side surface of the first lens has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region and a concave image-side surface in a paraxial region (Fig. 4),
wherein the third lens (130) has negative refractive power,
wherein a refractive index of the third lens is equal to or greater than 1.65 (1.66), and
wherein 4.2<BFL/T1 (as seen in Fig. 1),
where BFL is a distance from an image-side surface of a lens closest to an imaging plane in the optical imaging system toward the imaging plane and T1 is a thickness of the first lens.
Yoo does not teach
a second optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along the second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis,
the optical imaging system disposed between the first optical path conversion unit and the second optical path conversion unit, and the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm.
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However, in an analogous optics field of endeavor, Tseng teaches (Fig. 3 above)
a second optical path conversion unit (292), configured to reflect or refract light incident along a second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis, and
an optical imaging system (210-250) disposed between a first optical path conversion unit (291) and the second optical path conversion unit.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have
a second optical path conversion unit, configured to reflect or refract light incident along the second optical axis in a direction of a third optical axis that intersects the second optical axis, and
the optical imaging system disposed between the first optical path conversion unit and the second optical path conversion unit as taught by Tseng in the teaching of Yoo for the purposes of having a compact system.
Yoo in view of Tseng does not teach the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm 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 imaging effects by scaling up the optical imaging system.
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 Yoo in view of Tseng by having the first lens has a focal length within a range of 8.0 mm to 25.0 mm for the purposes of having desired imaging effects.
Regarding claim 4, Yoo further teaches (Fig. 1) The camera module of claim 1, wherein the optical imaging system comprises a fourth lens (140) and a fifth lens (150) having refractive power.
Regarding claims 8, mutatis mutandis, the modified Yoo in view of Tseng teaches all the limitations as stated in claim 1 rejections above, but does not explicitly teach 4.0<BFL/ImgHT.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having 4.0<BFL/ImgHT 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 image size by selecting/cropping a smaller image area.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the teaching of the modified Yoo in view of Tseng by having 4.0<BFL/ImgHT for the purposes of having desired image size.
Regarding claim 12, Yoo further teaches (Fig. 1) The camera module of claim 8, wherein the optical imaging system comprises a fifth lens (150) having refractive power.
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
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