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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 7, and 11 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 § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai et al. (2023/0073044, of record) in view of Hart et al. (2017/0160434).
Regarding claim 1, Tsai discloses a lens (Figure 1, E1, optical lens element), comprising: a lens unit (E1, optical lens element); an anti-reflective (AR) coating layer (C1, anti-reflective coating), disposed on one surface of the lens unit (Figure 1).
Tsai fails to teach the AR coating layer comprising a first coating layer and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times, wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer; and an intermediate layer, disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer, is formed of a same material as the first coating layer and is in direct contact with the first coating layer. Tsai and Hart are related because both teach an anti-reflective coating layer.
Hart teaches an anti-reflective coating layer (at least Figure 5) comprising a first coating layer (Figure 5, 130A, first low RI layer) and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times (130B, second high RI layer), wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer ([0081]); and an intermediate layer (130C, third layer; [0083] teaches 130C, third layer, may have medium refractive index), disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer (Figure 5 depicts 130C, third layer, is between 110, substrate, and 130A, first low RI layer), is formed of a same material as the first coating layer (at least [0086] teaches suitable materials for use in the first low RI layer include SiO.sub.xN.sub.y, and suitable materials for use in the medium refractive index layer include SiO.sub.xN.sub.y) and is in direct contact with the first coating layer (Figure 5 depicts 130C, third layer, is in direct contact with 130A, first low RI layer).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified Tsai to incorporate the teachings of Hart and provide the AR coating layer comprises a first coating layer and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times, wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer; and an intermediate layer, disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer, is formed of a same material as the first coating layer and is in direct contact with the first coating layer. Doing so would allow for improved antireflection and colorless transmittance and/or reflectance, thereby improving image quality.
Regarding claim 2, the modified Tsai discloses the lens of claim 1, wherein the first coating layer is formed by depositing SiO.sub.2 using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) (Hart: [0086], [0168]), and the second coating layer is formed by depositing Al.sub.2O.sub.3 using ALD (Hart: [0086], [0168]).
Regarding claim 3, the modified Tsai discloses the lens of claim 1, wherein the intermediate layer has a thickness of 10 to 20 nm (Hart: [0087] teaches the third layer can have an optical thickness of about 2 to 200 nm, thus both the physical thickness and optical thicknesses can be from 10 to 20 nm).
Regarding claim 4, the modified Tsai discloses a lens assembly comprising a plurality of lenses in an optical axis direction (E1-E5, optical lens elements), wherein an outermost lens of the plurality of lenses comprises the lens of claim 1 (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 5, the modified Tsai discloses a portable electronic device comprising a display unit configured to show information from the lens assembly of claim 4 (at least [0085]).
Regarding claim 6, the modified Tsai discloses a lens assembly comprising a plurality of lenses in an optical axis direction (E1-E5, optical lens elements), wherein at least one lens of the plurality of lenses comprises the lens of claim 1 (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 7, Tsai discloses a lens assembly (Figure 1, 1, imaging apparatus) comprising at least one lens (Figure 1, E1, optical lens element), the at least one lens comprising: a lens unit (E1, optical lens element); an anti-reflective (AR) coating layer (C1, anti-reflective coating), disposed on one surface of the lens unit (Figure 1).
Tsai fails to teach the AR coating layer comprising a first coating layer and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times, wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer; and an intermediate layer, disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer, is formed of a same material as the first coating layer and is in direct contact with the first coating layer. Tsai and Hart are related because both teach an anti-reflective coating layer.
Hart teaches an anti-reflective coating layer (at least Figure 5) comprising a first coating layer (Figure 5, 130A, first low RI layer) and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times (130B, second high RI layer), wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer ([0081]); and an intermediate layer (130C, third layer; [0083] teaches 130C, third layer, may have medium refractive index), disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer (Figure 5 depicts 130C, third layer, is between 110, substrate, and 130A, first low RI layer), is formed of a same material as the first coating layer (at least [0086] teaches suitable materials for use in the first low RI layer include SiO.sub.xN.sub.y, and suitable materials for use in the medium refractive index layer include SiO.sub.xN.sub.y) and is in direct contact with the first coating layer (Figure 5 depicts 130C, third layer, is in direct contact with 130A, first low RI layer).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified Tsai to incorporate the teachings of Hart and provide the AR coating layer comprises a first coating layer and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times, wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer; and an intermediate layer, disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer, is formed of a same material as the first coating layer and is in direct contact with the first coating layer. Doing so would allow for improved antireflection and colorless transmittance and/or reflectance, thereby improving image quality.
Regarding claim 8, the modified Tsai discloses the lens assembly of claim 7, wherein the first coating layer is formed by depositing SiO.sub.2 using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) (Hart: [0086], [0168]), and the second coating layer is formed by depositing Al.sub.2O.sub.3 using ALD (Hart: [0086], [0168]).
Regarding claim 9, the modified Tsai discloses the lens assembly of claim 7, wherein the intermediate layer has a thickness of 10 to 20 nm (Hart: [0087] teaches the third layer can have an optical thickness of about 2 to 200 nm, thus both the physical thickness and optical thicknesses can be from 10 to 20 nm).
Regarding claim 10, the modified Tsai discloses the lens assembly of claim 7, wherein the at least one lens is disposed on an outermost side of the lens assembly in an optical axis direction of the at least one lens (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 11, Tsai discloses a portable electronic device comprising a display unit configured to show information from a lens assembly (at least [0085]), the lens assembly (Figure 1, 1, imaging apparatus) comprising at least one lens (Figure 1, E1, optical lens element), the at least one lens comprising: a lens unit (E1, optical lens element); an anti-reflective (AR) coating layer (C1, anti-reflective coating), disposed on one surface of the lens unit (Figure 1).
Tsai fails to teach the AR coating layer comprising a first coating layer and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times, wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer; and an intermediate layer, disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer, is formed of a same material as the first coating layer and is in direct contact with the first coating layer. Tsai and Hart are related because both teach an anti-reflective coating layer.
Hart teaches an anti-reflective coating layer (at least Figure 5) comprising a first coating layer (Figure 5, 130A, first low RI layer) and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times (130B, second high RI layer), wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer ([0081]); and an intermediate layer (130C, third layer; [0083] teaches 130C, third layer, may have medium refractive index), disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer (Figure 5 depicts 130C, third layer, is between 110, substrate, and 130A, first low RI layer), is formed of a same material as the first coating layer (at least [0086] teaches suitable materials for use in the first low RI layer include SiO.sub.xN.sub.y, and suitable materials for use in the medium refractive index layer include SiO.sub.xN.sub.y) and is in direct contact with the first coating layer (Figure 5 depicts 130C, third layer, is in direct contact with 130A, first low RI layer).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified Tsai to incorporate the teachings of Hart and provide the AR coating layer comprises a first coating layer and a second coating layer alternately stacked one or more times, wherein a refractive index of the first coating layer is different from a refractive index of the second coating layer; and an intermediate layer, disposed between the lens unit and the AR coating layer, is formed of a same material as the first coating layer and is in direct contact with the first coating layer. Doing so would allow for improved antireflection and colorless transmittance and/or reflectance, thereby improving image quality.
Regarding claim 12, the modified Tsai discloses the portable electronic device of claim 11, wherein the at least one lens is disposed on an outermost side of the lens assembly in an optical axis direction of the at least one lens (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 13, the modified Tsai discloses the portable electronic device of claim 11, wherein the lens assembly is covered by the display unit (Figures 9A and 9B, 110, imaging apparatus, is covered by 204, user interface).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai et al. (2023/0073044, of record) in view of Hart et al. (2017/0160434), as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (2011/0050989, of record).
Regarding claim 14, the modified Tsai discloses the portable electronic device of claim 11, but fails to teach wherein the lens assembly is covered by tempered glass. Tsai and Kim are related because both teach a portable electronic device.
Kim teaches a portable electronic device wherein the lens assembly is covered by tempered glass (at least Figure 4, 280, protective cover; [0159]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have further modified Tsai to incorporate the teachings of Kim and provide wherein the lens assembly is covered by tempered glass. Doing so would allow for improved durability by protection against external shock or abrupt temperature change.
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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/BALRAM T PARBADIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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