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 statements (IDS) submitted on September 26, 2024, January 8, 2026, February 10, 2026 and June 29, 2026 have been 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)(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.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sin (U.S. Patent Publication 2025/0327996).
With regard to independent claim 1, Sin teaches an imaging optical lens assembly (page 1, paragraph [0001] and Figure 1, element 1000) comprising seven lens elements (Figure 1, elements, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 and 109), the seven lens elements being, in order from an object side to an image side along an optical path (Figure 1), a first lens element (Figure 1, element 101), a second lens element (Figure 1, element 102), a third lens element (Figure 1, element 103), a fourth lens element (Figure 1, element 104), a fifth lens element (Figure 1, element 105), a sixth lens element (Figure 1, element 106) and a seventh lens element (Figure 1, element 107), and each of the seven lens elements having an object-side surface facing toward the object side and an image-side surface facing toward the image side (Figure 1, elements S1-S14); wherein the first lens element has positive refractive power (page 19, Table 1, data for F1), the object-side surface of the second lens element is convex in a paraxial region thereof (page 5, paragraph [0064], lines 6-10), the fourth lens element has positive refractive power (page 19, Table 1, data for F4), the image-side surface of the fourth lens element is convex in a paraxial region thereof (page 6, paragraph [0069], lines 6-10), the image-side surface of the fifth lens element is convex in a paraxial region thereof (page 6, paragraph [0070], lines 6-10), the image-side surface of the fifth lens element has at least one inflection point (page 8, paragraph [0088], lines 6-9); wherein when an imaged object is located at an infinite object distance, the imaging optical lens assembly is in a first state; and wherein a sum of central thicknesses of all lens elements of the imaging optical lens assembly is ΣCT, a central thickness of the first lens element is CT1, a sum of axial distances between each of all adjacent lens elements of the imaging optical lens assembly is ΣAT, an axial distance between the first lens element and the second lens element is T12, an axial distance between the object-side surface of the second lens element and an image surface is Dr3i, an axial distance between the image-side surface of the seventh lens element and the image surface is BL, a focal length of the imaging optical lens assembly in the first state is fL, a composite focal length of the second lens element, the third lens element and the fourth lens element is f234, and the following conditions are satisfied: 0.40 < ΣCT/ΣAT < 1.58 (Figure 3, Thickness/Distance data, wherein: ΣCT = 3.828; ΣAT = 3.578; and ΣCT/ΣAT = 1.07) ; 1.10 < Dr3i/BL < 3.50 (Figure 3, Thickness/Distance data and page 19, Table 1, wherein Dr3i = 8.019; BL = 0.881; and Dr3i/BL = 1.96); 0.50 < fL/f234 < 2.30 (Figure 3, Thickness/Distance data and page 19, Table 1, wherein: fL = 7.847; f234 = 15.08 (calculated); and fL/f234 = 0.52); and 0.05 < T12/CT1 < 6.00 (Figure 3, Thickness/Distance data, wherein: T12 = 0.228; CT1 = 0.553; and T12/CT1 = 0.41).
With regard to dependent claim 3, Sin teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an imaging optical lens wherein an axial distance between the object-side surface of the first lens element and the image surface is TL, the focal length of the imaging optical lens assembly in the first state is fL, and the following condition is satisfied: 0.70 < TL/fL < 1.90 (page 19, Table 1, wherein: TL = 7.919; fL = 7.847; and TL/fL = 1.01).
With regard to dependent claim 5, Sin teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an imaging optical lens wherein each of at least two lens elements in the imaging optical lens assembly has an Abbe number smaller than 30.0 (Figure 3, Abbe data for Lens3, Lens5 and Lens6, having the values 18.4095; 23.1423; and 18.4096, respectively); and wherein a curvature radius of the object-side surface of the second lens element is R3, a curvature radius of the image-side surface of the third lens element is R6, and the following condition is satisfied: 0.10 < R6/R3 < 2.30 (Figure 3, Radius data, wherein R3 = 3.651; R6 = 4.033; and R6/R3 = 0.91).
With regard to dependent claim 7, Sin teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an imaging optical lens wherein an axial distance between the fifth lens element and the sixth lens element is T56, the central thickness of the first lens element is CT1, and the following condition is satisfied: 0.15 < T56/CT1 < 3.50 (Figure 3, Thickness/Distance data, wherein T56 = 0.634; CT1 = 0.553; and T56/CT1 = 1.15).
With regard to dependent claim 8, Sin teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an imaging optical lens wherein a central thickness of the fifth lens element is CT5, a central thickness of the sixth lens element is CT6, a focal length of the sixth lens element is f6, and the following condition is satisfied: -0.80 < 10×(CT5+CT6)/f6 < 0.90 (Figure 3, Thickness/Distance data and focal length data, wherein CT5 = 0.409; CT6 = 0.350; f6 = -16.150; and 10×(CT5+CT6)/f6 = -0.47).
With regard to dependent claim 11, Sin teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an imaging optical lens further comprising a reflective element located along the optical path between an imaged object and the first lens element (page 5, paragraph [0060], lines 18-23).
With regard to dependent claim 12, Sin teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches an image capturing unit comprising such an imaging optical lens (Figure 10 and page 20, paragraph [0206]).
With regard to dependent claim 13, Sin teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to dependent claim 12, and further teaches an electronic device comprising such an image capturing unit (Figure 10 and page 20, paragraph [0206]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-18 are allowed.
Claims 2, 4, 6, 9 and 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: The prior art taken either singularly or in combination fails to anticipate or fairly suggest the limitations of the independent claims, in such a manner that a rejection under 35 U.S.C. §102 or §103 would be proper.
With regard to dependent claims 2, 4, 6, 9 and 10, although the prior art teaches an imaging optical lens assembly comprising seven lens elements, the seven lens elements being, in order from an object side to an image side along an optical path, 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, and each of the seven lens elements having an object-side surface facing toward the object side and an image-side surface facing toward the image side; wherein the first lens element has positive refractive power, the object-side surface of the second lens element is convex in a paraxial region thereof, the fourth lens element has positive refractive power, the image-side surface of the fourth lens element is convex in a paraxial region thereof, the image-side surface of the fifth lens element is convex in a paraxial region thereof, the image-side surface of the fifth lens element has at least one inflection point; wherein when an imaged object is located at an infinite object distance, the imaging optical lens assembly is in a first state; wherein the following conditions are satisfied: 0.40 < ΣCT/ΣAT < 1.58; 1.10 < Dr3i/BL < 3.50; 0.50 < fL/f234 < 2.30; and 0.05 < T12/CT1 < 6.00, as defined, the prior art fails to teach such an imaging optical system: wherein the fifth lens element has negative refractive power, as claimed in dependent claim 2; simultaneously satisfying the conditional expressions: 0.20 < CT6/CT7 < 1.45; and 3.70 < TL/ImgH < 4.70, as defined and claimed in dependent claim 4; simultaneously satisfying the conditional expression: -1.80 < R10/R1 < 0.60, as defined and claimed in dependent claim 6; simultaneously satisfying the conditional expressions: -0.80 < SAG7R1L/SAG7R2L < 3.80; and 0.30 < ET6L/CT6 < 2.70, as defined and claimed in dependent claim 9; or wherein when an imaged object is located at a finite object distance, the imaging optical lens assembly is in a second state; and wherein when an imaged object is moved from an infinite object distance to a finite object distance within 150 mm, some of the seven lens elements in the imaging optical lens assembly are moved along an optical axis for focus adjustment, and the imaging optical lens assembly is transitioned from the first state to the second state, as claimed in dependent claim 10.
With regard to independent claim 14, although the prior art teaches an imaging optical lens assembly comprising seven lens elements, the seven lens elements being, in order from an object side to an image side along an optical path, 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, and each of the seven lens elements having an object-side surface facing toward the object side and an image-side surface facing toward the image side; wherein the first lens element has positive refractive power, the object-side surface of the first lens element is convex in a paraxial region thereof, the object-side surface of the fifth lens element is concave in a paraxial region thereof, the image-side surface of the fifth lens element is convex in a paraxial region thereof, and the image-side surface of the fifth lens element has at least one inflection point, the prior art fails to teach such an imaging optical lens wherein the fifth lens element has negative refractive power and simultaneously satisfying the conditional expressions: 0.60 < ΣCT/ΣAT < 1.58; 1.10 < Dr3i/BL < 3.50; -5.00 < R6/R8 < -0.05; and -2.50 < (f4+f5)/f1 < 1.20, as defined and claimed.
With regard to dependent claims 15-28, claims 15-28 are allowable as they depend, directly or indirectly, from independent claim 14 and therefore inherit all of the limitations of the claim from which they depend.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kwon (U.S. Patent Publication 2025/0327998), Yeh et al (U.S. Patent Publication 2025/0155680), Zhu et al (U.S. Patent Publication 2023/0176324) and Yunbai (U.S. Patent Publication 2021/0157101) all teach imaging optical system comprising seven lenses.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARRYL J COLLINS whose telephone number is (571)272-2325. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 5:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky L Mack can be reached at 571-272-2333. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARRYL J COLLINS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
15 July 2026
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