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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-32 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, Applicant claims a region “…that can compensate local negative astigmatism due to spherical aberration of the eye…” It is unclear how a spherical aberration causes an astigmatism since they are different types of optical aberration. Astigmatism and spherical aberrations are aberrations caused by different shape factors and, for example, a lens may have no spherical aberration and still have a high amount of astigmatism. Applicant’s language suggests that astigmatism is a direct result of the spherical aberration, which is not how these aberrations are conventionally understood.
For the purposes of this action the office will interpret this language such that astigmatism and spherical aberration are compensated.
Additionally, with respect to claim 1, applicant claims a plan view without defining any axial properties of the lens with respect to said view. It is unclear how one could determine which circumferential view applicant claims without first defining the view characteristics.
For the purposes of this action the office will interpret the claim such that the plan view is the same as shown in applicant’s Fig. 3B.
Finally, with respect to claim 1, the applicant claims “elongated” with respect to toric surfaces. It is unclear what shape may fall under this term as an arc may be considered an “elongated” line if the line and arc start and end at common points.
For the purposes of this action the office will interpret the claim such that “elongated” refers to a curved surface.
Claim 20 includes similar language as claim 1 and is similarly rejected.
Regarding claim 2, the applicant claims “…a band-shaped region being constituted by a collection of circles having a diameter of 4 mm…” Reviewing applicant’s specification and drawings, it is unclear what applicant is claiming. A collection of circles does not have a diameter, but a width. A diameter is a measure of a circle, not a collection of circles. Further, even if one were to interpret the diameter as a width of circles, it is unclear if those circles are tangent to one another or not, which leaves the question as to whether the gap between circles is measured. Or, if one were to interpret the claim such that one circle of the collection is 4 mm, applicant’s drawings do not support such an interpretation. Fig. 3A of applicant’s disclosure provides P as 4 mm, but P is defined in [0197] as a wavefront map of the eye. Additionally, none of the applicant’s drawings illustrate a circle on the lens being near 4 mm, since each structure of 3a is necessarily less than 4 mm else the number of these circles on the lens precludes such a size (while applicant’s drawings need not show a precise scale, it still must accurately show the invention See 37 CFR 1.83). Fig. 3A provides a scale and the size of the 3a cannot be said to be anywhere near 4 mm. Still, another issue is that this is a “band-shaped region”, which the office would understand to be an annular region around the pupil. It is unclear how one would measure the diameter of an annular region since the specification lacks sufficient context to properly define these circles.
To summarize, it is unclear if the applicant is claiming a circle being 4 mm (e.g. 3a having a diameter of 4 mm), a set of circles defining a trivial greater circle being 4 mm, a width of an annular region being 4 mm, a section of an annular region having a dimension measurable as 4 mm, or some other circle the office has not considered having a 4 mm diameter.
For the purposes of this action the office will interpret the claim such that there is an approximately 4 mm shape somewhere on the lens.
Claim 3 depends from claim 2 and inherits the clarity issue.
Claims 11 and 21 have an identical issue as claim 4 with respect to the 4mm since a “band” does not have a diameter.
Regarding claim 8, applicant claims “…two straight lines in a relationship…”, which is unclear. It is not clear what “in a relationship” could mean or if there is any actual “straight line” on the lens. None of applicant’s drawings illustrate the straight lines as described and it is unclear if these lines are real or not.
For the purposes of this action the office will interpret the claim such that lens includes regions of differing astigmatism.
Claim 27 is rejected for identical reasons.
Regarding claim 20, applicant claims “A method for manufacturing an eyeglass lens…”, but includes the step of “…a lathe processing step of performing lathe-processing on a mold…”, which is not a lens. It is unclear if applicant is claiming that the lens is a mold, as in a shape to be molded by the lathe, or if they are attempting to claim a step of manufacturing a mold for a lens.
For the purposes of this action the office will interpret the claim such that the lens is formed using a machined mold.
Regarding claim 31, applicant claims “…assuming…” which renders the claim unclear. Applicant’s use of “assuming” has rendered all of the following limitations moot, since they are assumed to be true. This assumption carries forward all the way to V’ > V, based on the language of the claim. Therefore, it is unclear what is assumed and what is not assumed.
For the purposes of this action the office will interpret the claim without such that “assuming” is not present.
Examiner’s Note Concerning Clarity
The applicant’s claims are replete with issues of clarity and many are written in such a way as to be interpreted, likely, much broader than intended. The examiner has done their best to examine the claims as written and apply the broadest reasonable interpretation in each case. Applicant should review all the claims, not just the ones highlighted above, for any additional issues so that they may be amended in accordance with patent law.
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.
Claim(s) 1-32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Qi et al. (PGPUB 20220082864, of record).
Regarding claim 1, as best understood, Qi discloses an eyeglass lens comprising a functional region, wherein the functional region includes:
a base region that causes a luminous flux that has entered an object-side face to exit from an eyeball-side face, enter a pupil of a wearer, and converge on a retina ([0100], first area); and
retinal non-convergence regions that cause a luminous flux that has entered the object-side face to exit from the eyeball-side face, and do not cause a luminous flux that has entered the pupil of the wearer to converge on the retina ([0106], defocusing second area whose shape is varied),
at least some of the retinal non-convergence regions are buffer regions that can compensate local negative astigmatism occurring due to spherical aberration of the eye at some positions of a distribution of the astigmatism ([0127] and [0181]), and
surfaces of the buffer regions are toric surfaces whose axial direction is a circumferential direction, and are elongated along the circumferential direction in a plan view ([0181] toric shape and Fig. 2 where 6a/b are elongated).
Regarding claim 2, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein in a plan view of the functional region, retinal non-convergence regions within a band-shaped region are the buffer regions, the band-shaped region being constituted by a collection of circles having a diameter of 4 mm with centers of the circles passing through a predetermined range of at least one diameter extending from a lens center, and at least three buffer regions are arranged in a dispersed manner within any one of the circles having the diameter of 4 mm in the band-shaped region (See Fig. 7C where there are more than 3 regions each separated by approximately 5 mm).
Regarding claim 3, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein the buffer regions are dispersed in a manner such that a first interval, which is a length of a line segment connecting centers of two buffer regions, and a second interval, which is a distance between the line segment and a center of another buffer region that is closest to the line segment and whose center is located on a normal to the line segment, are both less than 2 mm ([0151]).
Regarding claim 4, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein astigmatism of the buffer regions has an absolute value of 0.25 to 0.50 D (Fig. 7C).
Regarding claim 5, Qi discloses wherein the retinal non-convergence regions have a shape protruding from the base region ([0151] and Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 6, Qi discloses wherein a protrusion distance of the retinal non-convergence regions from the base region is greater than 1.00 µm ([0151]).
Regarding claim 7, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein the retinal non-convergence regions at least include non-convergence regions Al and B1, at least the non-convergence region B l is a buffer region, and in a plan view, the retinal non-convergence region A1, which is located close to the lens center, is more elongated along the circumferential direction than the retinal non- convergence region B1, which is located away from the lens center ([0152]).
Regarding claim 8, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein there are two straight lines in a relationship in which, among the retinal non- convergence regions located on each circumference, a retinal non-convergence region located on one straight line passing through the lens center has a larger absolute value of astigmatism, and a retinal non-convergence region located on the other straight line perpendicular to the one straight line and passing through the lens center has a smaller absolute value of astigmatism ([0151]-[0152]).
Regarding claim 9, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein the eyeglass lens is provided with a mark indicating information that values of astigmatism vary according to circumferential positions in the buffer regions ([0151]-[0152]).
Regarding claim 10, Qi discloses further comprising:
a lens substrate (2); and
laminated films provided to cover the lens substrate (3, 4, 8 and/or 10), wherein the lens substrate includes:
a first substrate-refractive region serving as a basis of the base region (anyone one of 3, 4, 8 or 10); and
second substrate-refractive regions serving as a basis of the retinal non-convergence regions, and surfaces of the second substrate-refractive regions, which serve as a basis of the buffer regions, are toric surfaces whose axial direction is a circumferential direction, and are elongated along the circumferential direction in a plan view (10 and [0121]).
Regarding claim 11, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein in a plan view of the lens substrate, the surfaces of the second substrate- refractive regions within a band-shaped region are tonic surfaces whose axial direction is a circumferential direction, and are elongated along the circumferential direction in a plan view, the band-shaped region being constituted by a collection of circles having a diameter of 4 mm with centers of the circles passing through a predetermined range of at least one diameter extending from the lens center, and at least three second substrate-refractive regions are arranged in a dispersed manner within any one of the circles having the diameter of 4 mm in the band-shaped region ([0151]).
Regarding claim 12, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein the second substrate-refractive regions are dispersed in a manner such that a third interval, which is a length of a line segment connecting centers of two second substrate- refractive regions, and a fourth interval, which is a distance between the line segment and a center of another second substrate-refractive region that is closest to the line segment and whose center is located on a normal to the line segment, are both less than 2 mm ([0151]).
Regarding claim 13, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein the second substrate-refractive regions, which serve as a basis of the retinal non-convergence regions, at least include second substrate-refractive regions al and b1, at least the second substrate-refractive region b1 serves as a basis of the buffer region, and in a plan view, the second substrate-refractive region b1, which is located away from the lens center, is more elongated along the circumferential direction than the second substrate-refractive region a1, which is located close to the lens center ([0121], [0139]-[0140]).
Regarding claim 14, Qi discloses wherein the second substrate-refractive regions have a shape protruding from the first substrate-refractive region (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 15, Qi discloses wherein a protrusion distance of the second substrate-refractive regions from the base region first substrate-refractive region is greater than 1.00 µm ([0151]).
Regarding claim 16, Qi discloses wherein at least one of the laminated films has a thickness unevenly distributed around the second substrate-refractive regions, and the buffer regions on each circumference have values of astigmatism that vary according to circumferential positions ([0152] and note that uneven distribution of a film is inherent due to the physical restrictions of the process).
Regarding claim 17, Qi discloses further comprising a central clear region enclosed by the annular functional region (Fig. 6c shows a diopter power at the center of the lens supporting the assumption that the center of the lens is sufficiently clear to allow light to pass).
Regarding claim 18, Qi discloses wherein a center of the central clear region is located at a geometrical center of the lens (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 19, Qi discloses wherein a center of the central clear region is shifted from a geometrical center of the lens to a nasal side ([0106]).
Regarding claim 20, as best understood, Qi discloses a method for manufacturing an eyeglass lens provided with a functional region including:
a base region that causes a luminous flux that has entered an object-side face to exit from an eyeball-side face, enter a pupil of a wearer, and converge on a retina ([0100], first area); and
retinal non-convergence regions that cause a luminous flux that has entered the object-side face to exit from the eyeball-side face, and do not cause a luminous flux that has entered the pupil of the wearer to converge on the retina ([0106], defocusing second area whose shape is varied), at least some of the retinal non-convergence regions being buffer regions that compensates local negative astigmatism occurring due to spherical aberration of the eye at some positions of a distribution of the astigmatism, and the eyeglass lens at least including a lens substrate ([0127] and [0181]), the lens substrate including:
a first substrate-refractive region serving as a basis of the base region; and
second substrate-refractive regions serving as a basis of the retinal non-convergence regions, the method comprising (3, 4, 8 and/or 10):
a lathe-processing step of performing lathe-processing on a mold so that surfaces of the second substrate-refractive regions, which serve as a basis of the buffer regions, are tonic surfaces whose axial direction is a circumferential direction, and are elongated along the circumferential direction in a plan view ([0167]-[[0170]); and a molding step of molding the lens substrate using the lathe-processed mold ([0167]-[[0170]).
Regarding claim 21, as best understood, QI wherein the lathe-processing step is performed on the mold so that in a plan view of the lens substrate, the surfaces of the second substrate-refractive regions within a band- shaped region are toric surfaces whose axial direction is a circumferential direction, and are elongated along the circumferential direction in a plan view, the band-shaped region being constituted by a collection of circles having a diameter of 4 mm with centers of the circles passing through a predetermined range of at least one diameter extending from the lens center, and so that at least three second substrate-refractive regions are arranged in a dispersed manner within any one of the circles having the diameter of 4 mm in the band- shaped region (See Fig. 7C where there are more than 3 regions each separated by approximately 5 mm).
Regarding claim 22, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein the second substrate-refractive regions are dispersed in a manner such that a third interval, which is a length of a line segment connecting centers of two second substrate- refractive regions, and a fourth interval, which is a distance between the line segment and a center of another second substrate-refractive region that is closest to the line segment and whose center is located on a normal to the line segment, are both less than 2 mm ([0151]).
Regarding claim 23, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein the second substrate-refractive regions, which serve as a basis of the retinal non-convergence regions, at least include second substrate-refractive regions at and b 1, at least the second substrate-refractive region bl serves as a basis of the buffer region, and the lathe-processing step of performing lathe-processing on the mold is executed so that, when lathe-processing the mold to form the lens substrate, in a plan view, the second substrate-refractive region b1, which is located away from the lens center, is more elongated along the circumferential direction than the second substrate-refractive region al, which is located close to the lens center ([0121], [0139]-[0140]).
Regarding claim 24, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein in the lathe-processing step, portions of the mold that correspond to the second substrate-refractive regions are recessed with respect to a portion of the mold that corresponds to the first substrate-refractive region, in order for the second substrate-refractive regions to have a shape protruding from the first substrate-refractive region (6a/b).
Regarding claim 25, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein distances of the recessed portions are greater than 1.00 µm ([0151]).
Regarding claim 26, as best understood, Qi discloses further comprising a laminating step of providing laminated films so that the laminated films cover the lens substrate obtained using the lathe-processed mold, wherein by forming at least one of the laminated films using a dip method ([0145]), thickness of the film is unevenly distributed around the second substrate-refractive regions, and the buffer regions have values of astigmatism that vary according to the circumferential positions ([0152] and note that uneven distribution of a film is inherent due to the physical restrictions of the process).
Regarding claim 27, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein there are two straight lines in a relationship in which, among the retinal non- convergence regions located on each circumference, a retinal non-convergence region located on one straight line passing through the lens center has a larger absolute value of astigmatism, and a retinal non-convergence region located on the other straight line perpendicular to the one straight line and passing through the lens center has a smaller absolute value of astigmatism ([0151]-[0152]).
Regarding claim 28, as best understood, Qi discloses further comprising a mark adding step of adding, to the eyeglass lens, a mark indicating information that the buffer regions have different values of astigmatism depending on circumferential positions (Fig. 3 makes it apparent that there are visible marks on the lens indicating information about the form of the lens).
Regarding claim 29, Qi discloses eyeglasses in which the eyeglass lens according to claim 1 is fitted to a frame (Abst.).
Regarding claim 30, Qi discloses wherein an orientation of an eyeglass lens is determined based on a magnitude of spherical aberration of an eye of a wearer using the mark of the eyeglass lens according to claim 9 as a reference, and the eyeglass lens is fitted to a frame (Fig. 1 where the lens is placed such that it improves the user’s vision as required by the form of the lens, else it would not properly function).
Regarding claim 31, as best understood, Qi discloses wherein a direction of fitting the eyeglass lens according to claim 1 is determined so that assuming, when the eyeglass lens is not worn by a wearer, an absolute value of a difference between astigmatism of light that enters an upper portion of a retina and astigmatism of light that enters a lower portion of the retina as V, and when the eyeglass lens is worn by the wearer, an absolute value of a difference between astigmatism of light that passes through a retinal non-convergence region and enters the upper portion of the retina, and astigmatism of light that enters the lower portion of the retina as V', V' is greater than V ([0123] and [0127]-[0131]).
Regarding claim 32, Qi discloses comprising fitting the eyeglass lens to a frame in accordance with an orientation determined by the design method according to claim 31 (Abst.).
Examiner Notes
Examiner cites particular columns and line numbers in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRAVIS S FISSEL whose telephone number is (313)446-6573. The examiner can normally be reached on 9AM-5PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephone Allen can be reached on (571) 272-2434. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TRAVIS S FISSEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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