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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 7/17/26 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is no serious burden among different groups of invention. This is not found persuasive because,
The invention groups require a different field of search (e.g., employing different search queries); and/or the prior art applicable to one invention group would not likely be applicable to another.
Further the question as to whether or not inventions overlap in scope is not whether the groups share some limitations. In fact, if such were the case, no restriction between groups with a linking or generic claim would ever be proper. Clearly, such an interpretation would not be consistent with restriction practice or double patenting practice as a whole. Rather, related inventions in the same statutory class are considered mutually exclusive, or not overlapping in scope, if a first invention would not infringe a second invention, and the second invention would not infringe the first invention, MPEP806.05.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7,9 is/are rejected under at least one of 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (2) as being anticipated by Hsu (US 20200301110).
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Regarding claim 1, Hsu teaches (Fig. 15, Table 15) An optical imaging lens, comprising, sequentially from an object side to an image side along an optical axis, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element, a sixth lens element, and a seventh lens element, each of the lens elements having an object-side surface facing the object side and allowing imaging rays to pass through and an image-side surface facing the image side and allowing the imaging rays to pass through, wherein
an optical axis region of the image-side surface of the second lens element is concave (r=6);
an optical axis region of the object-side surface of the third lens element is convex (r=3), and a periphery region of the image-side surface of the third lens element is convex (slightly convex as seen in Fig. 15, Applicant may use lens design software to verify if in doubt);
an optical axis region of the object-side surface of the fourth lens element is concave (r=-285), and an optical axis region of the image-side surface of the fourth lens element is convex (-168);
a periphery region of the object-side surface of the sixth lens element is concave (as seen in Fig. 15);
wherein lens elements of the optical imaging lens are only the seven lens elements, and the optical imaging lens satisfies AAG/(G23+G34)≥3.500 (1+1.371/0.519=3.64) and (G12+G34)>G45 (0.618>0.441), wherein AAG is a sum of all six air gaps from the first lens element to the seventh lens element along the optical axis, G23 is an air gap from the second lens element to the third lens element along the optical axis, G34 is an air gap from the third lens element to the fourth lens element along the optical axis, G12 is an air gap from the first lens element to the second lens element along the optical axis, and G45 is an air gap from the fourth lens element to the fifth lens element along the optical axis, and
wherein the optical imaging lens satisfies at least one of following condition 1 and condition 2 (as seen in Fig. 15);
condition 1: a periphery region of the image-side surface of the first lens element being concave;
condition 2: a periphery region of the image-side surface of the second lens element being concave.
Regarding claim 2, Hsu further teaches The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: (G23+T4)/T3≤5.200 (0.374/0.436), wherein T4 is a thickness of the fourth lens element along the optical axis, and T3 is a thickness of the third lens element along the optical axis.
Regarding claim 3, Hsu further teaches The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: ALT/BFL≤5.500 (3.517/0.785), wherein ALT is a sum of thicknesses of the first lens element to the seventh lens element along the optical axis, and BFL is a distance from the image-side surface of the seventh lens element to an image plane along the optical axis.
Regarding claim 4, Hsu further teaches The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: (T2+G23)/T7≤2.000 (0.297/0.54), wherein T2 is a thickness of the second lens element along the optical axis, and T7 is a thickness of the seventh lens element along the optical axis.
Regarding claim 5, Hsu further teaches The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: TL/(G12+T6+T7)≤4.700 (6.19/1.478), wherein TL is a distance from the object-side surface of the first lens element to the image-side surface of the seventh lens element along the optical axis, T6 is a thickness of the sixth lens element along the optical axis, and T7 is a thickness of the seventh lens element along the optical axis.
Regarding claim 6, Hsu further teaches The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: AAG/T1≤4.000 (as seen in Fig. 15), wherein T1 is a thickness of the first lens element along the optical axis.
Regarding claim 7, Hsu further teaches The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: (T3+T4)/T2≥2.800 (0.713/0.2), wherein T3 is a thickness of the third lens element along the optical axis, T4 is a thickness of the fourth lens element along the optical axis, and T2 is a thickness of the second lens element along the optical axis.
Regarding claim 9, Hsu further teaches The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: (EFL+G12)/BFL≥4.400 (6.196/0.785), wherein BFL is a distance from the image-side surface of the seventh lens element to an image plane along the optical axis.
Claim(s) 1,8 is/are rejected under at least one of 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (2) as being anticipated by Geng (US 20210239947).
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Regarding claim 1, Geng teaches (Fig. 5, Table 5) An optical imaging lens, comprising, sequentially from an object side to an image side along an optical axis, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element, a sixth lens element, and a seventh lens element, each of the lens elements having an object-side surface facing the object side and allowing imaging rays to pass through and an image-side surface facing the image side and allowing the imaging rays to pass through, wherein
an optical axis region of the image-side surface of the second lens element is concave (r=3);
an optical axis region of the object-side surface of the third lens element is convex (r=8), and a periphery region of the image-side surface of the third lens element is convex (slightly convex as seen in Fig. 5, Applicant may use lens design software to verify if in doubt);
an optical axis region of the object-side surface of the fourth lens element is concave (r=-3), and an optical axis region of the image-side surface of the fourth lens element is convex (r=-7);
a periphery region of the object-side surface of the sixth lens element is concave (as seen in Fig. 5);
wherein lens elements of the optical imaging lens are only the seven lens elements, and the optical imaging lens satisfies AAG/(G23+G34)≥3.500 (2.2706/0.4197) and (G12+G34)>G45 (0.715>0.1074), wherein AAG is a sum of all six air gaps from the first lens element to the seventh lens element along the optical axis, G23 is an air gap from the second lens element to the third lens element along the optical axis, G34 is an air gap from the third lens element to the fourth lens element along the optical axis, G12 is an air gap from the first lens element to the second lens element along the optical axis, and G45 is an air gap from the fourth lens element to the fifth lens element along the optical axis, and
wherein the optical imaging lens satisfies at least one of following condition 1 and condition 2 (as seen in Fig. 15);
condition 1: a periphery region of the image-side surface of the first lens element being concave;
condition 2: a periphery region of the image-side surface of the second lens element being concave.
Regarding claim 8, Geng further teaches The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: EFL/(G12+G67)≤5.600 (4.63/1.2163), wherein EFL is an effective focal length of the optical imaging lens, and G67 is an air gap from the sixth lens element to the seventh lens element along the optical axis.
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) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Geng.
Regarding claim 10, Geng teaches all the limitations as stated in claim 1, but does not explicitly teach The optical imaging lens according to claim 1, wherein the optical imaging lens further satisfies a conditional expression: ImgH/Fno≥2.500 mm, wherein ImgH is an image height of the optical imaging lens, and Fno is an F-number of the optical imaging lens.
Absent any showing of criticality and/or unpredictability, having ImgH/Fno≥2.500 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 image size by scaling up the optical imaging lens.
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 Geng by having ImgH/Fno≥2.500 mm for the purposes of having desired image size.
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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