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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the vibration actuator according to claim 1” should read “ the vibration actuator controller according to claim 1”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 6-8 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Morita (US20210021211, hereinafter Morita).
Regarding claim 6, Morita discloses a vibration actuator controller configured to control a vibration actuator (abstract, Figs. 1-7) that includes a vibrating member (100) having an electromechanical energy conversion element (piezoelectric 114) and that includes a contact member (111) in contact with the vibrating member, the contact member being configured to move relative to the vibrating member in response to a plurality of pulse signals (VA, VB), the vibration actuator controller comprising: a processor configured to control a relative movement speed (Fig. 4), which is a speed at which the contact member moves relative to the vibrating member, by changing a phase difference of the plurality of pulse signals while maintaining a frequency of the plurality of pulse signals (S405), wherein when the relative movement speed is controlled, the frequency is shifted such that the phase difference and the relative movement speed satisfy a predetermined relationship (ellipse ratio).
Regarding claim 7, Fig. 4 S409 compares the speed with a threshold speed, paragraph [0053] discloses the lower and upper limit values.
Regarding claim 8, please refer to paragraph [0053] where Morita discloses setting the drive frequency in response to the phase difference and upper and lower limits.
Regarding claim 10, in paragraph [0077] Morita discloses the driving of the vibrator may be influenced by environmental changes such as temperature and humidity.
Regarding claim 11, Morita discloses the imaging device (Fig. 9, paragraph [0086]) comprising a lens group (907), imaging element and the vibration element (901).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morita.
Regarding claim 9, Morita discloses the upper and lower limits values in paragraph [0047]. However, Morita fails to disclose setting the upper limit by adding a tolerance to the predetermined value or setting the lower limit by subtracting a tolerance to the predetermined value. The examiner takes Official Notice that setting these arbitrary values does not depart from the scope of Morita’s invention. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the before the effective filing date of the instant application to determine the lower and upper limits depending on the specific vibration characteristics and performance based on experimentation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The references of the Prior Art fail to teach or disclose, alone or in obvious combination, the claimed invention as described in independent claim 1, and comprising a processor configured to control the relative movement speed by changing a pulse width of the plurality of pulse signals while maintaining a frequency of the plurality of pulse signals and when the relative movement speed is controlled, the frequency is shifted such that the pulse width and the relative movement speed satisfy a predetermined relationship.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jaydi San Martin whose telephone number is (571)272-2018. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th 7:45-6:00pm.
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/J. San Martin/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837