Appeal No. 1998-2009
Application No. 08/508,250
being said, Kobayashi discloses that the single lens system of
Figure 2(b) (and accordingly Tatsuno) is in popular use with
numerical apertures (NA) of less than 0.45. However, problems
occur when NA is greater than 0.47. (Column 1, lines 53-63.)
Thus, not knowing the NA of Tatsuno, we do not know if
Kobayashi’s improvement (for variations in temperature, etc.,
as articulated by the Examiner) would be a motivating factor
for a combination with Tatsuno.
On the other hand, if Tatsuno’s NA were known to exceed
0.47, Kobayashi discloses that the collimating lens system of
Figure 2(a) is in common use (column 3, line 66 to column 4,
line 5). Using this reasoning (and motivation) to provide a
lens pair with a collimating lens for Tatsuno, we have lost
any disclosure for obtaining the claimed distance between the
pair of lenses. Kobayashi’s Example 1, used by the Examiner
to provide the claimed distance, was based on a lens system
which does not include a collimating lens (Figure 1). Thus,
we are not persuaded by the Examiner that sufficient
motivation has been shown for the combination.
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