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 .
DETAILED ACTION
The instant application having Application No. 18979691 filed on 12/13/2024 is presented for examination by the examiner.
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.
Priority
As required by e M.P.E.P. 210, 214.03, acknowledgement is made of applicant’s claim for priority based on application of a Continuation of PCT/CN2024/120332, filed 09/23/2024.
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
However, to overcome a prior art rejection, applicant(s) must submit a translation of the foreign priority papers in order to perfect the claimed foreign priority because said papers has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55. See MPEP § 213.04
Drawings
The applicant’s drawings submitted are acceptable for examination purposes.
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.
Claims 1-4, 8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang CN 115202012 A (where attached English language translation is referenced).
In regard to independent claim 1, Zhang teaches (see Figs. 1-16) a camera optical lens (optical imaging system 1, a camera module 2 and an electronic device 3, see abstract, paragraphs [2-8,13-32,37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], e.g. examples 1,3,7, tables 1-2,5-6,13-15, Figs. 1,5,13-16) sequentially comprising six lenses from an object-side to an image-side (L1 through L6 from object to image side along optical axis H, abstract, Figs. 1,5,13):
a first lens having negative refractive power (negative L1, tables 1-2,5-6,13-15, Figs. 1,5,13),
a second lens having positive refractive power (positive L2, tables 1-2,5-6,13-15, Figs. 1,5,13),
a third lens having positive refractive power (positive L3, tables 1-2,5-6,13-15, Figs. 1,5,13),
a fourth lens having negative refractive power (negative L4, tables 1-2,5-6,13-15, Figs. 1,5,13), and
a fifth lens having positive refractive power (positive L5, tables 1-2,5-6,13-15, Figs. 1,5,13), and
a sixth lens having negative refractive power (negative L6, tables 1-2,5-6,13-15, Figs. 1,5,13);
wherein, a focal length of the camera optical lens is f, a focal length of the fifth lens is f5, a focal length of the sixth lens is f6 (as focal lengths of the imaging system f, fifth f5 lens and sixth f6 lens L6, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13), an on-axis thickness of the first lens is d1, an on-axis thickness of the second lens is d3, an on-axis thickness of the third lens is d5 (on-axis thickness of L1, L2 and L3, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13), an on-axis distance from an image-side surface of the first lens to an object-side surface of the second lens is d2, an on-axis distance from an image-side surface of the second lens to an object-side surface of the third lens is d4 (i.e. as air gaps between L1-L2 and L2-L3, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13), a central curvature radius of an object-side surface of the first lens in a paraxial region is R1, and a central curvature radius of an image-side surface of the first lens in the paraxial region is R2 (as object- and image-side radii of L1, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13), and following relational expressions are satisfied:
2.642≤(f5-f6)/f≤4.00 (i.e. given focal lengths system f, fifth f5 lens and sixth f6 lens L6, e.g. value 2.642, 2.49, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13) ;
2.00≤(d1+d3+d5)/(d2+d4)≤4.50 (on-axis thickness and air gaps of/between L1, L2 and L3, e.g. value 2.42, 3.04, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13; and
-1.30≤(R1+R2)/(R1-R2)≤-1.05 (given object- and image-side radii of L1, e.g. value -1.30, -1.19, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13).
Zhang thus discloses the claimed invention except for 3.00≤(f5-f6)/f (i.e. as given focal lengths for fifth and sixth lens and effective focal length of the system f, e.g. value 2.642, 2.49, e.g. 12% difference, e.g. paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13). However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to adjust and optimize the optical powers (focal lengths) of fifth and sixth lens and the system, given that positive fifth lens provides balance to chromatic aberration, and sixth lens provides negative refractive power to the optical imaging system to adjust the light to be projected onto the imaging surface a relatively gentle angle while providing miniaturization, ultra-wide angle, and improved imaging quality to the optical imaging system (see paragraphs [n06-07,n14]), and since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art, In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233 (C.C.P.A. 1955). In the current instance, focal lengths of imaging system including their differences and ratio is an art-recognized results effective variable in that they provide focusing, wide-angle characteristics, expansion, elimination of spherical and chromatic aberrations and image projection on imaging surface (pars. [02-08,13-32]). Thus, one would have been motivated to optimize the focal lengths of fifth, sixth lens, and of the optical system and the above ratio in order to allow the positive fifth lens to balance chromatic aberration, and sixth lens that provides negative refractive power to the optical imaging system to adjust the light to be projected onto the imaging surface a relatively gentle angle while achieving miniaturization, ultra-wide angle, and improved imaging quality to the optical imaging system (see paragraphs [n06-07,n14]), and because it is an art-recognized result-effective variable and it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art, In re Antonie, 559 F.2d 618, 195 USPQ 6 (CCPA 1977). See MPEP §2144.05(II)(B) “after KSR, the presence of a known result-effective variable would be one, but not the only, motivation for a personal of ordinary skill in the art to experiment to reach another workable product or process.” Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would have a reasonable expectation of success when making this modification because balancing optical powers of lenses in a multi-lens system is a routine activity in lens design.
Regarding claim 2, Zhang teaches (see Figs. 1-16) that an on-axis distance from an image-side surface of the sixth lens to an image plane is BF; a total optical length from an object-side surface of the first lens to the image plane of the camera optical lens along an optic axis is TTL, and a following relational expression is satisfied: 0.15≤BF/TTL≤0.24 (i.e. given back focal length from image side of L6 to imaging surface S15, and total track length TTL from object side of L1 to S15, e.g. value 0.157, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang teaches (see Figs. 1-16) that a central curvature radius of the object-side surface of the fifth lens in a paraxial region is R9, a central curvature radius of the image-side surface of the fifth lens in the paraxial region is R10, and a following relational expression is satisfied: 0.55≤(R9+R10)/(R9-R10)≤0.90 (i.e. given object- and image-side radii of L5, e.g. value 0.89, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13).
Regarding claim 4, Zhang teaches (see Figs. 1-16) that an object-side surface of the first lens is concave in a paraxial region, and an image-side surface of the first lens is convex in the paraxial region (as L1 concave on object- and convex on image-side, e.g. Figs. 1,5,13); a focal length of the first lens is f1, and a total optical length from an object-side surface of the first lens to an image plane of the camera optical lens along an optic axis is TTL, and following relational expressions are satisfied: -3.64≤f1/f≤-1.05; and 0.03≤d1/TTL≤0.11 (i.e. given L1 focal length f1, thickness of L1 and total length of optical system TTL, e.g. values -1.655 and 0.081, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13).
Regarding claim 8, Zhang teaches (see Figs. 1-16) that an object-side surface of the fifth lens is convex in a paraxial region (bi-convex L5, Figs. 5, 13); an image-side surface of the fifth lens is convex in the paraxial region; an on-axis thickness of the fifth lens is d9, and a total optical length from an object-side surface of the first lens to an image plane of the camera optical lens along an optic axis is TTL, and following relational expressions are satisfied: 0.58≤f5/f≤2.25; and 0.07≤d9/TTL≤0.24 (i.e. given L5 focal length f5, thickness of L5 and total length of optical system TTL, e.g. values 1.28, 1.59, and 0.15, 0.16, respectively, paragraphs [84-91,120-129], tables 5,13).
Regarding claim 10, Zhang teaches (see Figs. 1-16) that an aperture of the camera optical lens is FNO, and a following relational expression is satisfied: FNO≤2.27 (i.e. as given aperture number FNO of the optical system, e.g. 2.20, paragraphs [37-39,59-69, 84-91,120-129], tables 1,5,13).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 6, 7 and 9 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yamazaki et al. US 20220187574 A1 also discloses some features of instant invention (see Figs. 1,5, 9 and their descriptions).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIN PICHLER whose telephone number is (571)272-4015. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30am -5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thomas K Pham can be reached at (571)272-3689. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARIN PICHLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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