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 .
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.
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 9/11/2025 was 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 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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kinoshita (JP 06241895 A; see translation).
With regards to Claim 1 (Original): Kinoshita disclose(s):
A streak tube (figs 1-8) comprising:
a container (see fig 1) including an incident panel (101 [00031]) and an output panel (113; [0034]);
a photocathode (104; [0031]) provided in the container and configured to emit electrons in response to light to be measured incident from the incident panel [0055];
a sweep electrode (111; [0034]) provided in the container and including a pair of plate-shaped electrodes facing each other (see 111 in fig 1) in a sweep direction along the output panel (113), the sweep electrode being configured to deflect the electrons in the sweep direction [00447];
a plurality of electrodes (106, 107, 108,109) provided between the photocathode (104) and the sweep electrode (111) and forming an electron lens that focuses the electrons [0041], each of the plurality of electrodes being provided with an opening portion through which the electrons pass ([0041]; the examiner takes the position that electron lenses involves openings);
and a controller configured to control a potential applied to at least one of the plurality of electrodes [0034-0035], wherein the plurality of electrodes include a first electrode (107) disposed at a position closest to the incident panel (101), a second electrode (109) disposed at a position closest to the output panel (113), and a third electrode (108) disposed between the first electrode (107) and the second electrode (109) to be spaced apart from the first electrode (107) and the second electrode (109), and the controller applies a potential higher than a potential of the first electrode and a potential of the second electrode to the third electrode (see potential applied to 108 higher than potential applied to 107 and 109; [0035]).
With regards to Claim 2 (Original): Kinoshita disclose(s):
The streak tube according to claim 1 (Original):
wherein the first electrode is at the same potential as the second electrode (see potential applied to 107 same as potential applied to 109; [0035]).
With regards to Claim 9 (Original): Kinoshita disclose(s):
The streak tube according to claim 1(Original):
The streak tube according to wherein the pair of plate-shaped electrodes (111) are traveling wave type electrodes [0035] configured such that the applied potential changes in synchronization with a traveling speed of the electrons between the pair of plate-shaped electrodes [0035.
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kinoshita (JP 06241895 A; see translation) in view of Inagaki (US 20060061273 A1).
With regards to Claim 7 (Original): Kinoshita disclose(s):
The streak tube according to claim 1,
wherein the incident panel includes a light incident surface (101; fig 2; [0031]) on which the light to be measured is incident and a photocathode forming surface (104) that is positioned on a side opposite to the light incident surface (101) and on which the photocathode is formed [0036], and the photocathode forming surface (104)
Kinoshita does not disclose(s):
the photocathode forming surface is formed in a curved shape recessed toward a side of the light incident surface.
Inagaki teaches:
the photocathode forming surface (120; fig 3; [0040]) is formed in a curved shape recessed toward a side of the light incident surface (see left side of 112).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the device/method/system of Kinoshita by implementing the photocathode forming surface is formed in a curved shape recessed toward a side of the light incident surface as disclosed by Inagaki in order to convert the light incident from the entrance faceplate into an electron as taught/suggested by Inagaki ([0025]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 3-6, and 8 is/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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 10 is/are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
With regards to claim(s) 10: the prior art fails to disclose a/an streak tube requiring:
a first slit member provided between the electron lens and the sweep electrode and having a first slit having a width smaller than a width of the opening portion of each of the plurality of electrodes in the sweep direction;
and a second slit member provided between the electron lens and the incident panel and having a second slit having a width smaller than a width of the opening portion of each of the plurality of electrodes in the sweep direction, wherein the controller controls a potential applied to the sweep electrode, at a start of sweeping by the sweep electrode, to apply a positive potential to a first plate-shaped electrode, which is one of the pair of plate-shaped electrodes, and to apply a negative potential to a second plate-shaped electrode, which is the other of the pair of plate-shaped electrodes, a center of the first slit in the sweep direction is disposed at a position spaced apart from a center plane passing through a center of the electron lens and orthogonal to the sweep direction toward a side on which the first plate-shaped electrode is positioned, and a center of the second slit in the sweep direction is disposed at a position spaced apart from the center plane toward a side on which the second plate-shaped electrode is positioned, in combination with other limitations of the claim.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kato (US 4786845 A) discloses: The cathode of the electron gun emits a beam of electrons following different paths depending upon a potential impressed to the control electrode. Varying the potential on the control electrode alters the paths of the electrons and thus changes the position in which they converge or cross over on the tube axis. In the prior art CRTs having three quadrupolar lenses, such shifting of the crossover point on the tube axis has required readjustment of as many as three different potentials, or even six different potentials consisting of three different positive potentials and three different negative potentials, on the constituent electrodes of the quadrupolar lenses in order to refocus the beam at the target.
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Kinoshita (US 20140292183 A1) discloses: a streak tube according to an aspect of the present invention comprises: a container having an entrance plate and an output plate; a photocathode disposed in the container and configured to emit electrons according to light to be measured, the light having been incident through the entrance plate; an electron focusing system forming an axially symmetric electron lens for focusing the electrons emitted from the photocathode, toward the output plate; a sweep electrode disposed in the container and configured to sweep the electrons focused by the electron focusing system, in a sweep direction along the output plate; and an additional electrode disposed between the entrance plate and the output plate and forming a one-dimensional electron lens for focusing the electrons in the sweep direction.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Renan Luque whose telephone number is (571)270-1044. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alexander Taningco can be reached at (571) 272-8048. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RENAN LUQUE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
