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 January 17, 2025, August 12, 2025 and November 12, 2025 have been considered by the examiner.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1, 3-7, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhong et al (U.S. Patent Publication 2022/0091369).
With regard to independent claim 1, although Zhong et al teaches an optical imaging system (page 1, paragraph [0002] and Figure 7) comprising: a first lens (Figure 7, element E1), a second lens (Figure 7, element E2), a third lens (Figure 7, element E3), and a fourth lens (Figure 7, element E4) disposed on an optical axis, wherein the first lens has positive refractive power (page 10, paragraph [0094], line 1), wherein one or more of the first to fourth lenses comprises one or more anamorphic lenses each having at least one surface comprising a first profile including the optical axis different from a second profile including the optical axis, and a first length different from a length of the second profile (page 6, paragraph [0079], wherein AAS is defined as a lens surface which is in non-rotationally symmetry and page 10, Curvature radius data for S5, corresponding the object-side surface of the third lens), Zhong et al fails to teach such an optical imaging system satisfying the conditional expression: 0 < |(fx-fy)/fx| < 0.01, as defined. Zhong et al does teach such an optical imaging system wherein |(fx-fy)/fx| = 0.01 (page 10, Table 10, Curvature radius data for Surfaces S5 and S6, wherein f3x = 1.56; f3y = 1.54; wherein |(fx-fy)/fx|| = 0.01), such that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to modify the optical imaging system, as taught by Zhong et al, since it has been held that a prima facie case of obviousness exists where the claimed ranges or amounts do not overlap with the prior art but are merely close (Titanium Metals Corp. of America v. Banner, 778 F.2d 775, 783, 227 USPQ 773, 779 (Fed. Cir. 1985)).
With regard to dependent claim 3, Zhong et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an optical imaging system wherein the fourth lens is an anamorphic lens of the one or more anamorphic lenses (page 10, Table 10, Curvature radius data for Surface S8).
With regard to dependent claim 4, Zhong et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an optical imaging system wherein the first lens has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof (page 10, Table 10, Curvature radius data for Surface S1).
With regard to dependent claim 5, Zhong et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an optical imaging system wherein the second lens has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof (page 10, Table 10, Curvature radius data for Surface S3).
With regard to dependent claim 6, Zhong et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an optical imaging system wherein the third lens has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof (page 10, Table 10, Curvature radius data for Surface S5).
With regard to dependent claim 7, Zhong et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an optical imaging system wherein the fourth lens has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof (page 10, Table 10, Curvature radius data for Surface S7).
With regard to dependent claim 9, Zhong et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, and further teaches such an optical imaging system further comprising a fifth lens, (Figure 7, element E5), wherein the first to fifth lenses are sequentially disposed from an object side (Figure 7).
With regard to dependent claim 10, Zhong et al teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to dependent claim 9, and further teaches such an optical imaging system wherein the fifth lens has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof (page 10, Table 10, Curvature radius data for Surface S9).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 8 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. Although Zhong et al (U.S. Patent Publication 2022/0091369) teaches all of the claimed limitations of the instant invention as outlined above with respect to independent claim 1, Zhong et al fails to teach such an optical imaging system wherein the second lens is an anamorphic lens of the one or more anamorphic lenses, as claimed in dependent claim 2; or wherein the fourth lens has a concave object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof, as claimed in dependent claim 8.
Conclusion
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
21 September 2026
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