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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/26/2026 has been entered.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6-7, 16 and 18-20 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 1-2, 8-15 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bachar et al. (WO2020141466, of record) in view of Kuba et al. (PGPUB 20050128604).
Regarding claim 1, Bachar discloses a camera, comprising:
a lens including a plurality of active optical surfaces, each active optical surface providing an optical power (103’), and an optical path folding element (OPFE); and
an image sensor (118),
wherein the active optical surfaces are divided into two lens groups marked G1 and G2 (at least G1, G2 and/or G3),
wherein active optical surfaces within a lens group do not move relative to each other (at least pages 13-14),
wherein a single active optical surface is located at an object side of the OPFE and has an associated first optical axis (object side surface of the OPFE),
wherein all other active optical surfaces are located at an image side of the OPFE and have an associated second optical axis (at least Fig. 2a),
wherein the lens has an effective focal length (EFL) <50 mm (see at least page 19 third paragraph),
wherein the EFL can be varied continuously between a minimal EFL (EFLMIN) and a maximal EFL (EFLMAX) by independent movement of G1 and G2 along the second optical lens axis, and wherein EFLMAX/EFLMIN is equal to or larger than 1.5 (at least page 19 where 30/15 = 2).
Bachar does not disclose wherein the single active optical surface is provided by a lens element separate from the OPFE and located at an object-side of the OPFE.
However, Kuba teaches a similar optical system having an OPFE (L42) combined with a plurality of lens groups (G41-G44) wherein a lens (L41) is placed at the object-side surface of the OPFE (Fig. 4A).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the invention to combine Bachar and Kuba such that a lens was placed on an object-side surface of the OPFE motivated by improving aberration correction ([0069]).
Regarding claim 2, modified Bachar discloses wherein EFLMAX/EFLMIN is equal to or smaller than 2 (Page 20).
Regarding claim 8, modified Bachar discloses wherein the camera has a f number f/#Min. at EFLMIN and a f number f/#MAX at EFLMAX, and wherein a ratio f/#MAX/f/#M<EFLMX/EFLMIN (Page 19).
Regarding claim 9, modified Bachar discloses wherein the camera has a f number f/#M' at EFLMIN is and a f number f/#MAx at EFLMAx, wherein f/#MI< 3 and f/#MAX<5 (Page 19).
Regarding claim 10, modified Bachar discloses wherein the lens is a cut lens (Page 4).
Regarding claim 11, modified Bachar discloses wherein a distance between the OPFE and a first active optical surface located at the image side of the OPFE is marked dM-L, and wherein dM-L doesnot change for the continuous variation of EFL (Page 13 where L1 does not change position).
Regarding claims 12 and 13, Bachar discloses wherein the OPFE is a prism (Page 10 prism or mirror).
Regarding claim 14, modified Bachar discloses wherein 10mm<EFLMIN<30mm (Page 19).
Regarding claim 15, Bachar discloses wherein the image sensor has a sensor diagonal (SD) and wherein SD is in the range 3mm < SD <10mm (at least Page 13 Table 1).
Regarding claim 17, modified Bachar discloses wherein the camera is included in a smartphone (Page 1).
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bachar in view of Kuba and further in view of Dhanda et al. (USPAT 11202007, of record).
Regarding claim 4, Bachar does not disclose wherein the image sensor is operative to be moved with respect to both G1 and G2 for optical image stabilization (OIS) and for focusing.
However, Dhanda teaches an optical imaging system wherein the image sensor is configured to move for focusing and image stabilization (Col. 11 lines 25-43).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the invention to combine Bachar and Dhanda such that the imaging sensor were movable motivated by improving image quality.
Regarding claim 5, modified Bachar discloses wherein the movement of the image sensor for OIS is performed in two directions, and wherein the two directions are perpendicular to a normal on the image sensor and perpendicular to each other (Col. 11 lines 25-43 of Dhanda).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/26/2026 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds for rejection.
Conclusion
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/TRAVIS S FISSEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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