DETAILED ACTION
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 12/19/2024 was filed and considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamazaki, US 2021/0165145 A1.
Regarding claims 1, Yamazaki discloses an optical filter 100A(figs 8-9) comprising:
. a glass substrate 101 including phosphoric acid glass (Table 1)
. a first antireflective layer 104
. a resin layer 102, containing dye ([0015])
. wherein the glass substrate includes, in a percentage by mass on an oxide basis:
o 80% of P205 ([0057])
to 20% of A1203 ([0059])
to 20% of CuO ([0061])
0.5 to 15% of R(1)2O, wherein R(1) is at least one component selected from a group consisting of Li,Na, K, Rb, and Cs ([0062])
0 to 15% of R(2)O, wherein R(2) is at least one component selected from the group consisting of Ca,Mg, Ba, Sr, and Zn ([0062])
. wherein the dye has a maximum absorption wavelength in the resin layer at a wavelength range of 690 to 800 nm ([0078])
. wherein the optical filter has spectral characteristics specified as:
(a-1) a transmittance T(t)450 at a wavelength of 450 nm is 80% or more at incidence angles of 0 and 50 degrees (fig 9)
(a-2) an average transmittance T(t)avel in a wavelength range of 450 to 600 nm is 78% or more at incidence angles of 0 and 50 degrees (fig 9)
(a-3) a maximum transmittance T(t)maxl in the wavelength range of 450 to 600 nm is 85% or more at incidence angles of 0 and 50 degrees (fig 9)
(a-4) a minimum wavelength λ(t)50 at which the transmittance is 50% is in a range of 600 to 650 nm at incidence angles of 0 and 50 degrees (fig 9)
(a-5) an average transmittance T(t)ave2 in a wavelength range of 750 to 1200 nm is 4.0% or less at incidence angles of 0 and 50 degrees (fig 9)
(a-6) a maximum transmittance T(t)max2 in a wavelength range of 1000 to 1200 nm is 15% or less at incidence angles of 0 and 50 degrees (fig 9).
Although Yamzaki does not explicitly disclose the thickness of the resin nor the Haze value of the optical filter less than 2%, Yamazaki does disclose the thickness of the dielectric film constituting the multilayer dielectric film may be freely selected according to desired optical properties and preferably 50 nm to 1 μm ([0122]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the Yamazaki’s resin layer having a thickness of 10µm or less, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art according to desired optical properties (Yamazaki, [0122]). In addition, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to employ the Yamazaki’s optical filter having a Haze value less than 2%, since it is a known value of the Haze to obtain a high optical clarity (less light scattering).
Re claim 2, wherein when light is incident from a direction of the first main surface of the glass substrate, the optical filter has spectral characteristics specified as:
(a-7) a maximum reflectance R(t)maxl in a wavelength range of 450 to 700 nm is 7% or less at incidence angles of 5 and 50 degrees (e.g., opposing max transmittance from fig. 9)
(a-8) a maximum reflectance R(t)max2 in a wavelength range of 700 to 1200 nm is 45% or less at incidence angles of 5 and 50 degrees (e.g., opposing max transmittance from fig. 9).
Re claim 3, Yamazaki also discloses a second antireflective layer 103
Re claim 4, wherein the second main surface of the glass substrate 101 is coated with the resin layer 102, ;the resin layer has a maximum absorption wavelength in a wavelength range of 650 to 850 nm ([0078]) and the second antireflective layer 103 is disposed directly or indirectly on the resin layer 102 (fig 8).
Re claim 5, wherein when transmittance (%) is referred to as T and reflectance (%) is referred to as R, absorptivity is expressed by a following formula (1):Absorptivity (%) = 100 - T - R ... (1), and wherein when light is incident from a direction of the first main surface of the glass substrate, the optical filter has spectral characteristics specified as:(a-9) an average absorptivity of 15% or less at an incidence angle of 00 and a reflection angle of 50in a wavelength range of 450 to 600 nm; and(a-10) an average absorptivity of 88% or more at an incidence angle of 00 and a reflection angle of 50 in a wavelength range of 600 to 1200 nm (fig 9).
Re claim 6, wherein spectral characteristics specified as: (a-11) a difference between an average absorptivity at an incidence angle of 00 and a reflection angle of 50 and an average absorptivity at an incidence angle of 500 and a reflection angle of 500 in a wavelength range of 450 to 600 nm is 3% or less; and(a-12) a difference between the average absorptivity at the incidence angle of 00 and the reflection angle of 50 and the average absorptivity at the incidence angle of 500 and the reflection angle of 500 in the wavelength range of 600 to 1200 nm is5% or less (fig. 9).
Re claim 7, when the absorptivity calculated from the formula (1) is referred to as X, an absorbance is expressed by a following formula (2):Absorbance = -log10 (X/100) ... (2) ; and when the optical filter satisfies the following relational expression, where B1 is an absorbance at a wavelength of 450 nm, B2 is an absorbance at a wavelength of 500 nm, B3 is an absorbance at a wavelength of 550 nm, and B4 is an absorbance at a wavelength of 600 nm at an incidence angle of 00 and a reflection angle of 50.1< B2 / B10< B3 / B2 <10< B4 / B3 <1 (absorption at a 450/500/550/300nm implied from transmittance of fig 9).
Re claim 8, wherein when transmittance (%) at an incidence angle of 5 degrees is referred to as T(5) and reflectance (%) at an incidence angle of 5 degrees is referred to as R(s), internal transmittance is expressed by a following formula (3):Internal Transmittance (%) = T(5) / (100 - R(5)) x 100 ... (3), and wherein the glass substrate has spectral characteristics specified as:(b-1) an internal transmittance T(g)45o at a wavelength of 450 nm is 92% or more;(b-2) an average internal transmittance T(g)l in a wavelength range of 450 to 600 nm is 90% or more;(b-3) a minimum wavelength )5o at which the internal transmittance is 50% is in a wavelength range of 625 to 650 nm;(b-4) an average internal transmittance T(g)2 in a wavelength range of 750 to 1000 nm is 2.5% or less; and(b-5) a maximum internal transmittance T(g)max in a wavelength range of 1000 to 1200 nm is 7% or less (fig 9), and a Haze value of the glass substrate would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to set for 1% or less to reduce scattering over an optical filter).
Re claim 11, wherein the first main surface and the second main surface of the glass substrate are coated with an inorganic film 105 ([0135]).
Re claim 12, an imaging apparatus 200 having the optical filter of 100 (fig 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-10 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2297. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 - 5:00.
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/DUNG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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