Appeal No. 1998-0160
Application No. 08/529,330
that the corrector lens includes “a pair of tilted lens elements to compensate for
astigmatism,” as set forth in Claim 1.
Schmidt ‘757 discloses that light entering the viewing device first enters opening 10
and is reflected downward by mirror 9 (Figs. 1 and 4), through optical elements 11 and 22
which are deemed in the rejection to be the “night light corrector lens” and the “daylight
objective lens,” respectively. The Buchroeder article, in particular at the second and third
full paragraphs of the second column on page 2169, teaches that tilting of elements off axis
creates defects, including astigmatism, which may be compensated for by adding
additional tilted elements, with greater numbers of additional tilted elements compensating
for a greater number of defects. The principle is explicitly stated to be not limited to “tilted
component telescopes,” but relevant to “an ordinary optical system, such as a
microscope.” We find that the combined teachings would have suggested to the artisan
the improvement that the mirror 9 of Schmidt ‘757, which reflects the light to the side or off-
axis as the terms are used in Buchroeder, should be compensated by replacing night light
3
corrector lens 11 with at least two (“a pair” of) lens elements which are tilted. Night light
corrector lens 11 is that element which is nearest the off-axis reflection from mirror 9. We
note that Schmidt ‘757 discloses the nighttime viewing optics as being designed for
infrared viewing. Appellants point to nothing in Buchroeder which suggests that the
Whether there was also suggestion to replace the daylight objective lens is not now3
relevant, since such is not disclosed or claimed by appellants.
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