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 .
Response to Amendment
This Office action is in response to the communication filed 7/21/2026.
The Amendments to Claims 1, 6, 11, 16, and 18-21, filed 5/15/14, are acknowledged and accepted.
The Cancellation of Claims 14 and 15, filed 5/15/14, are acknowledged and accepted.
Newly submitted Claim 21, filed 5/15/14, are acknowledged and accepted.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 7/21/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Applicants respectfully submit that the subject matter previously presented in Groups II and III has been amended such that the corresponding claims now depend from independent claim 1. Specifically, the subject matter previously presented in the independent claims of Groups II and III has been rewritten as dependent claims further limiting the optical system of claim 1. Accordingly, the pending claims are directed to a single optical system, and the limitations previously relied upon to define Groups II and III merely provide additional limitations of the optical system recited in claim 1, rather than defining separate inventions. The first, second, and third lens groups recited in the amended dependent claims are already positively recited in independent claim 1, and the amended dependent claims merely further define structural and optical characteristics of those lens groups. This is found persuasive and claims 1-22 are examined below.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgement is made of receipt of Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO-1449) filed 6/20/2024 and 5/29/2025. An initialed copy is attached to this Office Action.
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shim, Ju Young (WO 2021215807), hereinafter Shim in view of Liao, Hua-bin (CN 112198629), hereinafter Liao.
Regarding claim 1, Shim discloses, in figures 1-3, an optical system (zoom optical system) (paragraph 62) comprising: a first lens group (100, first lens group) (paragraph 62), a second lens group (200, second lens group) (paragraph 62), and a third lens group (300, third lens group and 400 fourth lens group) (paragraph 63) sequentially disposed along an optical axis from an object side toward a sensor side, and each including at least one lens (paragraph 62), wherein the first lens group (100, first lens group) includes a first lens (110, first lens), a second lens (120, second lens), and a third lens (130, third lens) sequentially disposed along the optical axis in a direction from the object side to the sensor side (paragraph 63), wherein the second lens group (200, second lens group) includes a fourth lens (210, fourth lens) and a fifth lens (220, fifth lens) sequentially disposed along the optical axis in a direction from the object side to the sensor side (paragraph 65), wherein the third lens group (300, third lens group and 400 fourth lens group) includes a sixth lens (310, sixth lens), a seventh lens (320, seventh lens), and an eighth lens (410, eighth lens) sequentially disposed along the optical axis from the object side to the sensor side (paragraphs 67 and 69), wherein the first lens group (100, first lens group) is fixed (paragraph 64), and the second lens group and the third lens group move toward the sensor side in a first mode and move toward the object side in a third mode (paragraphs 66 and 68), wherein the third lens has negative (-) refractive power (paragraph 95), wherein an object-side surface of the first lens is convex toward the object side (figures 1-3), wherein a sensor-side surface of the eighth lens is convex toward the sensor side (figures 1-3), wherein the third lens and the fourth lens are made of glass (paragraph 96).
Shim does not specifically disclose wherein the fourth lens has positive (+) refractive power, wherein the fifth lens has negative (-) refractive power and wherein the optical system satisfies the following equation: [Equation] 13 < EFL < 29 (In the equation, EFL means an effective focal length (mm) of the optical system.)
Liao discloses wherein the fourth lens has positive (+) refractive power (paragraph 131), wherein the fifth lens has negative (-) refractive power (paragraph 132) and wherein the optical system satisfies the following equation: [Equation] 13 < EFL < 29 (In the equation, EFL means an effective focal length (mm) of the optical system.) (paragraph 141 discloses an EFL of 16.792 mm; which is within the claimed range).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the device of Shim with the refractive power of the fourth and fifth lens and the EFL of the optical system of Liao for the purpose of converging and diverging the light and for determining the field of view.
Regarding claim 2, Shim discloses wherein the first lens and the eighth lens have a D-cut shape (see figure 1).
Regarding claim 3, Shim discloses wherein a sensor-side surface of the third lens is concave on the sensor side, wherein an object-side surface of the fourth lens is convex toward the object side (figure 1).
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shim, Ju Young (WO 2021215807), hereinafter Shim in view of Liao, Hua-bin (CN 112198629), hereinafter Liao as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hagiwara (2021/0333524).
Regarding claim 22, Shim in view of Liao discloses all the limitations in common with claim 1, and such is hereby incorporated.
Shim in view of Liao does not specifically disclose wherein a focal length of the first lens is f1, wherein a focal length of the third lens is f3, wherein the first and third lenses satisfies the following equation: [Equation] 1< I f1/ f3 I < 5.
Hagiwara discloses wherein a focal length of the first lens is f1, wherein a focal length of the third lens is f3, wherein the first and third lenses satisfies the following equation: [Equation] 1< |f1/ f3| < 5 (paragraph 0052 disclose 0.590 ≤ f1/f3 ≤ 4.110; which is within the claimed range).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the device of Shim in view of Liao with the focal lengths of the first and third lenses of Hagiwara for the purpose of determining the field of view.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-13 and 16-21 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 allowance: The prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention, in conjunction with all the other claimed limitation, an optical switch that switches an optical path of signal light from one to another having all the claimed features of applicant's instant invention, specifically including: in claim 4, wherein the optical system satisfies the following equations: [Equations]
0 < CT_Lx / ET_Ly < 3
0 < ET_Lx / CT_Ly < 3
(The CT_1x is a thickness of an x-th lens at the optical axis. The ET_Ly is a thickness at an end of an effective region of a y-th lens. X is a natural number of 1 ≤ X ≤ 8. y is a natural number of 1≤y≤8. X and y satisfy x=y.); in claim 5, wherein the first lens group, the second lens group, and the third lens group satisfy the following equations:
[Equations]
0 < CH_G1 - CH_G2< < 1
0 < CH_G1 - CH_G3 < 1
(The CH_G1 is a minimum clear aperture of the lenses of the first lens group. The CH_G2 is a minimum clear aperture of the lenses of the second lens group. The CH_G3 is a minimum clear aperture of the lenses of the third lens group.); in claim 6, wherein the first lens group, the second lens group, and the third lens group satisfy the following equation: [Equation] 1 < TD_G1/TD_G2 < 2 (The TD_G1 is a length of the first lens group. The TD_G2 is a length of the second lens group.); in claim 11, wherein the second lens group and the third lens group have refractive powers of opposite signs, wherein a thickness of the first lens at the optical axis is CT1, wherein a distance between the first lens and the second lens at the optical axis is CG12, wherein the optical system satisfies the following equation: [Equation] 1.5 < CT1 / CG12 < 2.5; in claim 16, wherein a refractive index of the third lens is greater than a refractive index of each of the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth lenses; in claim 18, wherein the first lens has positive (+) refractive power, wherein the second lens has positive (+) refractive power, wherein the eighth lens has negative (-) refractive power, and wherein an object-side surface of the eighth lens has a concave shape, as set forth in the claims.
Aoki, Eiji (JP2011022003) discloses a measuring apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is a measuring apparatus that measures a wavefront of light from a measured object, and includes a first reference plane and a first reference plane. The light transmitted through the half mirror 150 is reflected by the flat mirror 152 and enters the Fizeau lens 156 via the chromatic aberration correction lens 154 and the detection unit 162 can detect an interference pattern between the light reflected by the reference surface 156a and the light reflected by the reference surface. However, Aoki is silent in regards to independent phase modulation of each cell and a light detector that detects intensities reflected by the mirror and half mirror at different times.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRANDI N THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-2341. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7:30 - 3:30.
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/BRANDI N THOMAS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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