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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS filed to date have been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 27-39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Neal (US 20170027437) herein after referred to as D1.
With regard to claim 27, D1 teaches an ophthalmic device for supplying a scanning light ray (Fig. 3A, line from OCT) to an eye (101), in at least (fig. 3A); comprising
a scanning portion (195), which changes an angle ([0098]) of the scanning light ray (Fig. 3A, line from OCT), and an ophthalmic optical system (100) configured to apply an angular scanning light ray (Fig. 3A, line from OCT) from the scanning portion (195) to a side of an eye (101),
wherein the ophthalmic optical system (100) satisfies:
ωin represents an angle ([0098]) formed between an incident light ray (130, light source) into the ophthalmic optical system (100) and an optical axis (102) of the ophthalmic optical system (100),
ωout represents an angle ([0098]) formed between an exit light ray (light incident on 141) from the ophthalmic optical system (100) to the side of the eye (101) and the optical axis (102), and
M is defined as M=|ωout/ωin|, the following conditional expression is satisfied: Mpar<Mmax wherein Mpar represents M in a case that the incident light ray (130, light source) is a paraxial ray ([0081] and [0098]), and Mmax represents M in a case that the incident light ray (130, light source) is a ray of a maximum angle ([0098]) of ωin.
With regard to claim 28, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 27, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); wherein the ophthalmic optical system (100) satisfies the following conditional expression ([0098]; may be tilted at one or more angles relative to the optical axis, including an angle γ relative to the optical axis of the eye, and [0155]; any other vergence and/or field angle): 1.1×Mpar<Mmax.
With regard to claim 29, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 27, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); wherein the ophthalmic optical system (100) satisfies the following conditional expression ([0098]; may be tilted at one or more angles relative to the optical axis, including an angle γ relative to the optical axis of the eye, and [0155]; any other vergence and/or field angle): Mmax<2×Mpar.
With regard to claim 30, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 27, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); wherein the ophthalmic optical system (100) satisfies the following conditional expressions ([0098]; may be tilted at one or more angles relative to the optical axis, including an angle γ relative to the optical axis of the eye, and [0155]; any other vergence and/or field angle): 1<Mpar, and 1<Mmax.
With regard to claim 31, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 27, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); wherein the ophthalmic optical system (100) satisfies the following conditional expression ([0098]; may be tilted at one or more angles relative to the optical axis, including an angle γ relative to the optical axis of the eye, and [0155]; any other vergence and/or field angle): 1.5<Mpar<5.
With regard to claim 32, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 31, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); further comprising: a light reception unit (141) for receiving reflected light from the eye (101); an image processor ([0016]) for correcting data on a light reception result of the light reception unit (141) based on M relating to ωin controlled by the scanner (195 and 197); and an image processor ([0016]) display ([0054]) portion for generating an image of the eye (101) based on corrected data by the image processor ([0016]).
With regard to claim 33, D1 teaches an ophthalmic optical system (100) configured to apply an angular scanning light beam to a side of an eye (101), wherein: (1) ωmax represents a maximum an angle ([0098]) formed between an exit scan beam (beam leaving 173 heading towards scanners 197 and 195) from the ophthalmic optical system (100) and an optical axis (102) of the ophthalmic optical system (100), (2) Pmax represents a diameter ([0089]) of the exit scan beam (beam leaving 173 heading towards scanners 197 and 195) in a meridional direction at a pupil position of the eye (101), where the exit scan beam (beam leaving 173 heading towards scanners 197 and 195) forms an maximum angle ([0098]) of ωmax with respect to the optical axis (102), and (3) Pmin represents a diameter ([0089]) of the exit scan beam (beam leaving 173 heading towards scanners 197 and 195) in the meridional direction (given the figure is a side view the OCT exit beam travels up or north of the optical axis) at the pupil position of the eye (101), in a case that the exit scan beam (beam leaving 173 heading towards scanners 197 and 195) forms a minimum angle ([0098]) with respect to the optical axis (102), the following conditional expression is satisfied ([0098]; may be tilted at one or more angles relative to the optical axis, including an angle γ relative to the optical axis of the eye, and [0155]; any other vergence and/or field angle): Pmax<Pmin×0.7/(cos(ωmax)).
With regard to claim 34, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 33, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); wherein the following conditional expression is satisfied ([0098]; may be tilted at one or more angles relative to the optical axis, including an angle γ relative to the optical axis of the eye, and [0155]; any other vergence and/or field angle): Pmax<Pmin.
With regard to claim 35, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 33, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); wherein the following conditional expression is satisfied ([0098]; may be tilted at one or more angles relative to the optical axis, including an angle γ relative to the optical axis of the eye, and [0155]; any other vergence and/or field angle): 0.2×Pmin<Pmax.
With regard to claim 36, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 33, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); wherein the ophthalmic optical system (100) is a refractive optical system ([0014]).
With regard to claim 37, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 33, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); and a scanner (195 and 197), wherein: the scanner (195 and 197) is disposed in a conjugate position with the pupil position of the eye (101) with respect to the ophthalmic optical system (100), the scanner (195 and 197) allows a light beam to enter the ophthalmic optical system (100) in a predetermined range of scanning angle ([0098]), and the scanner (195 and 197) scans the light beam so as to scan the eye (101) with an exiting light beam from the ophthalmic optical system (100).
With regard to claim 38, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 37, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); wherein the angle ([0098]) of the exiting light beam to the eye (101) forms an angle ([0098]) of 50 degrees or more with respect to the optical axis (102) when the incident light beam is a beam of a maximum angle ([0098]; may be tilted at one or more angles relative to the optical axis, including an angle γ relative to the optical axis of the eye, and [0155]; any other vergence and/or field angle) of view.
With regard to claim 39, D1 teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as have been outlined above with respect to claim 27, wherein D1 further teaches an ophthalmic apparatus, in at least (Fig. 3A); comprising: an objective lens (131) that leads light from a light source (130) to the eye (101), wherein the following conditional expression is satisfied ([0078]): -1<TL/f<1 wherein TL represents a distance ([0078]) between a nearest lens surface of the objective lens to a side of the light source and a nearest lens surface of the objective lens to the side of the eye (101) in an optical axis (102), and f represents a focal length of the objective lens.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 40-43 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:
With regard to claim 40, the instant invention is drawn to an ophthalmic optical system, wherein the closest art of record is Neal (US 20170027437).
However, the instant invention is distinguished from the prior art by the limitation(s): “the following conditional expression is satisfied: 1<fF/fR<4 wherein fF represents a focal length of the front group, and fR represents a focal length of the rear group.”
Therefore, due to those limitations stated above, if the objection were to be overcome by moving the limitation into the independent claim, the subject matter would be in a state of allowance.
With regard to claims 42 and 43, the claims depend from what would be an allowable base claim if the objection were to be overcome by moving the limitation into the independent claim and would therefore also be allowable.
With regard to claim 41,the instant invention is drawn to an ophthalmic optical system, wherein the closest art of record is Neal (US 20170027437).
However, the instant invention is distinguished from the prior art by the limitation(s): “the following conditional expression is satisfied: 0.1<D/TL<0.5 wherein D represents the maximum air gap.”
Therefore, due to those limitations stated above, if the objection were to be overcome by moving the limitation into the independent claim, the subject matter would be in a state of allowance.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GRANT A GAGNON whose telephone number is (571)270-0642. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Bumsuk Won can be reached at (571) 272-2713. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GRANT A GAGNON/ Examiner, Art Unit 2872
/WYATT A STOFFA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881