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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/13/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Clegg (US 4,577,937)
In regard to claim 1, Clegg discloses a narrow beam generating device (column 1, line 30 – column 2, line 10, Figures 1 & 2), comprising: a light source (column 2, lines 12-18, Figure 2, “6,” re: beam of direct sunlight); a light condenser that collimates divergent light rays from the light source or condenses the divergent light rays within a prescribed three-dimensional angle range (column 2, lines 17-22, Figure 1, “1” & Figure 2, “8, 9”); a first ray concentrator that concentrates at least a portion of rays emitted from the light condenser into an area narrower than incident light flux (column 2, lines 28-32, Figure 1, “3” & Figure 2, “13, 14, 15”); a second ray concentrator that concentrates the rays emitted from the first ray concentrator as a linear narrow beam (column 2, lines 33-39, Figure 1, “4” & Figure 2, “16, 17, 18”); and an annular light condenser (Figure 1, “2”) located between the light condenser (Figure 1, “1”) and the first ray concentrator (Figure 1, “3”), wherein both the first ray concentrator and the second ray concentrator are optical elements or optical systems that are odd-order aspherical (column 2, lines 28-32, Figure 2, re: first order aspherical convex conic sections “14” and “16”), the second ray concentrator (Figure 1, “4” & Figure 2, “15, 16, 17, 18”) is located at a position where the rays are concentrated by the first ray concentrator (Figure 1, “3” & Figure 2, “13, 14, 15”), the first ray concentrator (Figure 1, “3”) and the second ray concentrator have different shapes (Figure 1, “4”), the annular light condenser (Figure 1, “2”) comprises a first optical element (column 2, lines 23-25, Figure 2, re: concave conical switch “10”) and a second optical element located in order from an incident side (column 2, lines 25-27, Figure 2, re: convex conical section “11”), the first optical element has a plane (Figure 2, “10”) on which light from the light condenser is perpendicularly incident (Figure 2, “9”) and a concave axicon surface provided on an emission side (column 2, lines 23-25, Figure 2, re: concave conical switch “10,” which transmits convergent conical beam “9”), and the second optical element has a convex axicon surface on the incident side (column 2, lines 25-27, Figure 2, re: convex conical section “11,” which refracts convergent conical beam “9”).
Regarding claim 2, Clegg discloses wherein both the first ray concentrator and the second ray concentrator are constituted of optical elements having an axicon effect (column 2, lines 30-39, Figure 2, re: convex conical outer peripheral surface “14” and the concave conical inner peripheral surface “17”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is 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: The prior art fails to teach a combination of all the claimed features as presented in claim 3: a narrow beam generating device as claimed, specifically wherein when the first ray concentrator and the second ray concentrator each include one refractive surface, the first ray concentrator and the second ray concentrator are constituted as an integral element, and when the first ray concentrator and the second ray concentrator each have one reflective surface, the reflective surface of the first ray concentrator includes a hole portion that allows the linear narrow beam, concentrated by the second ray concentrator, to pass through.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM C CHOI whose telephone number is (571)272-2324. The examiner can normally be reached Monday- Friday, 9:00 am - 6:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Pinping Sun can be reached at (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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/WILLIAM CHOI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872 June 23, 2026
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