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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2013221976 A (Imoto yu)
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Per claim 1, Imoto teaches an image pickup device comprising an image sensor configured to capture an image formed through the zoom lens [1], and a zoom lens [see figure 1] comprising, in order from an object side [left side] to an image side [right side]: a first lens unit having positive refractive power and fixed for zooming [see machine translation and figure 1 above: “U1 is a first lens unit having a positive refractive power including a focusing lens unit”]; a second lens unit having negative refractive power and configured to move during zooming [see the machine translation: “U2 is a second lens unit having a negative refractive power including a zooming lens unit, and performs zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end by monotonically moving the optical axis toward the image plane side”] at least two lens units configured to move during zooming [see the machine translation: “U3 is a third lens unit having a positive refractive power that corrects image plane fluctuations associated with zooming, and moves non-linearly on the optical axis to the image side during zooming from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end.”]; a final lens unit having positive refractive power, disposed closest to an image plane, and fixed for zooming [see the machine translation: “U4 is a fourth lens unit having positive refractive power for image formation that does not move for zooming”]; and an aperture stop [SP] disposed between a lens surface closest to the image plane of the second lens unit and a lens surface closest to an object of the final lens unit [SP], wherein the first lens unit includes a sub-lens unit disposed closest to the object in the first lens unit and fixed for focusing [U11], and a sub-lens unit configured to move for focusing [U12], wherein the second lens unit [U2] includes a first negative lens closest to the object in the second lens unit [see the second object side lens], at least one negative lens other than the first negative lens [see the fourth lens from the object side], and at least one positive lens [see the third lens from the object side], and wherein the following inequalities are satisfied:
60 ≤νd21 ≤ 105 [see table 1, line 20: Vd is 81.54]
30 ≤νd2Nave ≤ 65 [see table 1, line 23: vd is 37.16]
where νd21 is an Abbe number of a material of the first negative lens based on d-line, and νd2Nave is an average Abbe number of a material of the at least one negative lens other than the first negative lens in the second lens unit.
Imoto lacks the aperture configured to move during zooming, and located closer to the image plane at a telephoto end than at a wide-angle end. However, official notice is hereby taken that it would have been common knowledge to configure the aperture to move during zooming to maintain a consistent, optimized f-number across the entire zoom range, and thus, preventing unwanted exposure shifts for producing optimal image brightness and reduced aberration. Therefore, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Per claim 2, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1, wherein the following inequality is satisfied: 0 <θgF21+0.001×νd21-0.603 [0.5374 (see table 1) + 0.001 x 81.54 – 0.603 = 0.01594] where θgF21 is a partial dispersion ratio for g-line and F-line of the material of the first negative lens.
Per claim 3, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1, wherein the second lens unit includes at least three negative lenses including the first negative lens [see figure 1, lens unit U2 has a first plano-concave lens structure, a second plano-concave lens structure, and a third concave-plano lens structure].
Per claim 4, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1, but lacks a single first negative lens. However, official notice is hereby taken that it would have been common knowledge to substitute a dual lens structure for an equivalent single lens structure in order to simplify manufacturing. Therefore, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Per claim 5, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1, wherein the following inequality is satisfied: νd2Pmin ≤ 28 [see line 1, Vd is 26.29] where νd2Pmin is a minimum Abbe number among Abbe numbers based on the d-line of a material of the at least one positive lens of the second lens unit [see table 1].
Per claim 7, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1, wherein the first lens unit includes, in order from the object side to the image side, a first sub-lens unit fixed for focusing [U11], a second sub-lens unit configured to move for focusing [U12], and a third sub-lens unit fixed for focusing [U13[.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 and 8-10 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 a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Per claim 6, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1, wherein the following inequality is satisfied: f21/f2 = 0.6136 where f21 is a focal length of the first negative lens [-43.569, see table 1, last column, line 20], and f2 is a focal length of the second lens unit [-71.8371(calculated with lens calculator)]. In combination with the limitations above, the prior art does not teach 1.5 ≤ f21/f2 ≤ 5.0.
Per claim 8, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1. In combination with the limitations above, the prior art does not teach the at least two lens units configured to move during zooming include, in order from the object side to the image side, a third lens unit having negative refractive power, and at least one lens unit.
Per claim 9, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1. In combination with the limitations above, the prior art does not teach the at least two lens units configured to move during zooming include, in order from the object side to the image side, a third lens unit having negative refractive power, and a fourth lens unit having positive refractive power.
Per claim 10, Imoto teaches the zoom lens according to claim 1. In combination with the limitations above, the prior art does not teach the final lens unit is a fifth lens unit counted from the object side.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES A DUDEK whose telephone number is (571)272-2290. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:30-4:30 MT.
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/JAMES A DUDEK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871