Ex Parte MIYAGAWA et al - Page 4




                 Appeal No. 2005-2750                                                                                                                
                 Application 09/460,221                                                                                                              

                 unacceptable level of spherical aberration if used with a thicker conventional optical                                              
                 disc, as explained with the aid of Figures 18A and 18B.  Col. 2, ll. 3-48.  As a result, the                                        
                 disclosed embodiments employ N (N ≥2) different converging means for writing and                                                    
                 reading from discs having any of N different substrate thicknesses.  In other words,                                                
                 each depicted embodiment, briefly described below, includes N (N ≥2) converging                                                     
                 means “whose aberrations have been corrected for N (N ≥2) disc substrates having                                                    
                 different thicknesses, respectively.”  Col. 2, ll. 56-63.  In all of the eight embodiments                                          
                 depicted in the figures, N   equals 2.                                                                                              


                          First Embodiment – Figures 1-4                                                                                             
                          The first embodiment employs two independently movable optical heads: (a) a                                                
                 first optical head 3 for use with the thicker, conventional (“first”) type of disc; and (b) a                                       
                 second optical head 5 for use with the thinner, high-density (“second”) type of disc.                                               
                 Each optical head is supported for radial movement by its own linear motor (4, 6), col. 4,                                          
                 ll. 32-39, and includes an objective lens, a semiconductor laser, a photodetector, and a                                            
                 beam splitter (not shown in Figs. 1-4B).  Col. 4, ll. 12-16.                                                                        
                          Figure 4A shows the relative positions of the conventional disc and the low NA                                             
                 objective lens carried by the first optical head, while Figure 4B shows the relative                                                





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