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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/5/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendments to Claims 1,7-10,13, in the submission filed 3/5/2026 are acknowledged and accepted.
The amendments to the Abstract are acknowledged and accepted.
Pending Claims are 1-19. Claims 2,14-18, were withdrawn in response to a previous restriction action. Claims 1,3-13 and 19 will be examined.
Response to Arguments
a) Applicant’s note regarding Claim 19 were noted. Applicant states “The Office failed to assert a rejection of claim 19. Applicant understands that the Office is indicating that claim 19 contains allowable subject matter. Clarification regarding the status of claim 19 is respectfully requested.”
Claim 19 was rejected in the last few lines of section 4 on page 3 of Office action dated 1/5/2026. The Office is not indicating that Claim 19 is allowable subject matter.
b) Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 3/5/2026, with respect to rejection of claim 1 in view of Seo et al, have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 102(a)(1) rejection of claims 1,3-6,19, in view of Seo et al has been withdrawn. Particularly see page 6 of 8:
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c) Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 3/5/2026, with respect to rejection of claim 1 in view of Bachar et al, have been fully considered and respectfully have not been found to be persuasive. Particularly see page 7 of 8:
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Bachar teaches in figs in 1F that the grooves 102a 110a and 102b, 110b are in contact with the balls 116a, 116b. Fig 1D also illustrates the grooves enclosing the balls 112a/b, 114a/b and/or 116 a/b. Bachar teaches (col 5, lines 51-54) teaches “In actuator 100, three balls 112a, 114a and 116a are positioned in the space between grooves 102a and 110a and three balls 112b, 114b and 116b are positioned in the space between grooves 102b and 110b”. Hence Bachar teaches that the element 102 and element 110 contact the balls.
In view of the above arguments, the rejection of claims is upheld.
Claims 1,3-13, 19 are rejected as follows:
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claim(s) 1,3-13,19, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bachar et al (US 10,488,631, of record).
Regarding Claim 1, Bachar et al discloses an optical unit comprising
a movable body (optical element holder 102, col 4, lines 56-60) that has an optical element (OPFE 150, col 4, lines 56-65) that changes a traveling direction of light (see Fig. 1A);
a support body (base 110, col 5, lines 23-25) that supports the movable body swingably about a swing axis (X); and
a swing mechanism (grooves 110a, 110b, 102a, 102b, col 5, lines 23-35) that swings the movable body about the swing axis (X axis), wherein
one of the movable body and the support body (base 110) has a first convex portion (balls 114a, 114b, col 5, lines 51-67) protruding toward another of the movable body (optical element holder 102) and the support body (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F),
the other of the movable body (optical element holder 102) and the support body comes into contact with the first convex portion (balls 114a, 114b, col 5, lines 51-67) (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F),
the first convex portion is arranged on the swing axis,
and an optical axis of the optical element and the swing axis are arranged to overlap each other (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F),
wherein one of the movable body and the support body (base 110) has a plurality of second convex portions (112a, 112b, 116a, 116b) that protrude toward another of the movable body (optical element holder 102) and the support body (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F),
the other of the movable body (optical element holder 102) and the support body comes into contact with the plurality of second convex portions (112a, 112b, 116a, 116b) (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F),
the plurality of second convex portions (112a, 112b, 116a, 116b) are arranged at positions separated from the swing axis (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F).
Regarding Claim 3, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the first convex portion (balls 114a, 114b, col 5, lines 51-67) has at least a part of a spherical surface due to the fact that the first convex portion imparts a ball (see col 5, lines 40-45)
Regarding Claim 4, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the support body (base 110, col 5, lines 23-25) has the first convex portion, wherein the support body (base 110, col 5, lines 23-25) has the first convex portion due to the fact the that support body carries the ball (balls 114a, 114b, col 5, lines 51-67).
Regarding Claim 5, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the other of the movable body (optical element holder 102) and the support body has a first concave portion (the groove/recess for receiving the convex portion of the ball 114a,114b) that is recessed in a direction opposite to the first convex portion, and the first concave portion comes into contact with the first convex portion (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F)
Regarding Claim 6, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the first concave portion (the groove/recess for receiving the convex portion of the ball 114a,114b) has at least a part of a concave spherical surface due to the fact that the groove/recess matches the shape of the ball (see column 3, lines 40-45)
Regarding Claim 7, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
the first convex portion and the plurality of second convex portions (112a, 112b, 114a, 114b, 116a, 116b, col 5) are arranged on a same plane that intersects the swing axis (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F).
Regarding Claim 8, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the plurality of second convex portions (112a, 112b, 116a, 116b) are arranged on a same circumference about the swing axis (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F).
Regarding Claim 9, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein a number of the second convex portions is two (112a, 116a) on the right side of the base and two (112b. 116b) of the left side of the base (see Fig. 1A and 1C).
Regarding Claim 10, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the second convex portion (112a, 112b, 116a, 116b) has at least a part of a spherical surface due to the fact that the second convex portion is a ball (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F),
Regarding Claim 11, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the optical element (OPFE 150, col 4, lines 56-65) includes a reflection surface (OPFE, a mirror, see column 4, lines 43-49) that reflects light that travels to one side in a first direction to one side in a second direction that intersects the first direction, and the second convex portion (112a, 112b, 116a, 116b) is arranged on another side in the second direction relative to the first convex portion (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F).
Regarding Claim 12, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the second convex portion (balls 112a, 112b, 116a, 116b, col 5) is a sphere due to the fact that the second convex portion is a ball.
Regarding Claim 13, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1,
wherein the other of the movable body and the support body has a second concave portion (102a, 102b) that is recessed in a direction opposite to the second convex portion,
the second concave portion (112a, 112b, 116a, 116b) comes into contact with the second convex portion (col 5 and see figures 1A, 1D and 1F) and
as viewed from an optical axis direction (aligned with Z axis), a contour of the second concave portion is arranged outside the second convex portion (see figures 1A, 1D and 1F).
Regarding Claim 19, Bachar teaches the optical unit according to claim 1.
wherein the optical axis is colinear with the swing axis (“the second rotation axis includes an axis parallel to either the first optical axis or the second optical axis”, col 3, lines 22-26)
Conclusion
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/JYOTSNA V DABBI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872 3/19/2026