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 .
Remark
This Office Action is in response to applicant’s preliminary amendment filed on October 24, 2024, which has been entered into the file.
By this amendment, the applicant has amended claims 1-10.
Claims 1-10 remain pending in this application.
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 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US patent issued to Souma (PN. 8,797,659).
Souma teaches, with regard to claim 1, an optical imaging system with an optical diaphragm (14, Figure 1) serves as the built-in optical filter based on small-angle light passing, wherein the system is comprised of a first group of lenes (12 and 13, Figure 1), the optical filter or the optical diaphragm (14) and a second group of lenses (L3) arranged sequentially from an imaging side or surface to an object side or surface. All of the light rays emitted from the second group of lenses are incident to the optical filter at an included angle with an optical axis less than a set angle. The light rays emitted from the optical filter are coupled and imaged on the imaging surface through the first group of lenses.
This reference has met all the limitations of claims, but it does not teach explicitly to realize imaging by balancing aberrations via the refraction of light. However, each lens of the plurality of lenses in the first lens group and the second lens group has a definite refractive index, (please see columns 18-22) which means light is refracted by each of the lens. This means the refraction of the light by each lenes would either implicitly balance the aberrations or it is within general level skilled in the art to modify the refraction of light by each of the lenses to achieve the balance of the aberrations.
With regard to claim 2, Souma teaches that the from the imaging surface to the object surface, the first group of lenses sequentially comprises a first lens (133), a second lens (132), a third lens (131), the fourth lens (123), the fifth lens (122) and a sixth lens (121, Figure 1) and the second group of lenses comprises a seventh lens (112) and an eighth lens (111). Although this reference does not teach explicitly the spacings between adjacent lenses have the specific values in the claim, such modifications would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to adjust the spacings between the adjacent lenses to achieve the desired imaging property.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US patent issued to Kimura (PN. 8,867,147).
Kimura teaches, with regard to claim 1, an optical imaging system with an optical aperture (S, Figure 3) serves as the built-in optical filter based on small-angle light passing, wherein the system is comprised of a first group of lenes (G2, Figure 3), the optical filter or the optical aperture (S) and a second group of lenses (L16 and L15) arranged sequentially from an imaging side or surface to an object side or surface. All of the light rays emitted from the second group of lenses are incident to the optical filter at an included angle with an optical axis less than a set angle. The light rays emitted from the optical filter are coupled and imaged on the imaging surface through the first group of lenses.
This reference has met all the limitations of claims, but it does not teach explicitly to realize imaging by balancing aberrations via the refraction of light. However, each lens of the plurality of lenses in the first lens group and the second lens group has a definite refractive index, (please see columns 18-22) which means light is refracted by each of the lens. This means the refraction of the light by each lenes would either implicitly balance the aberrations or it is within general level skilled in the art to modify the refraction of light by each of the lenses to achieve the balance of the aberrations.
With regard to claim 2, Kimura teaches that the from the imaging surface to the object surface, the first group of lenses sequentially comprises a first lens (L26), a second lens (L25), a third lens (L24), the fourth lens (L23), the fifth lens (L22) and a sixth lens (L21, Figure 3) and the second group of lenses comprises a seventh lens (L16) and an eighth lens (L15). Although this reference does not teach explicitly the spacings between adjacent lenses have the specific values in the claim, such modifications would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to adjust the spacings between the adjacent lenses to achieve the desired imaging property.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-10 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: of the prior art references considered none has disclosed a first lens group, an optical filter and a second lens, arranged from the image surface to the object surface, wherein the first lens group comprises a first to sixth lenses and the second lens group comprises a seventh and eighth lens, as explicitly set forth in claims 1 and 2, that each of the lens has a specific surface radius, thickness, refractive index, dispersion value and diameter as explicitly set forth in claims 3-10.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US patent issued to Masui (PN. 7,911,705) teaches a lens system that is comprised of a first group of lenses, an optical filter and a second group of lenses arranged from imaging surface to object surface, (please see Figure 1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AUDREY Y CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-2309. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 9:00AM-4:30PM.
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AUDREY Y. CHANG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2872
/AUDREY Y CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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