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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The parameter “fe” is not defined in the claim, therefore it is unclear what the parameter “fe”, as recited, represents. The metes and bounds of the claim cannot be ascertained.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The claim recites, “jA >= 200, where jA is the thermal conductivity of the heat discharging member”, and since the standard unit for thermal conductivity was not recited, it is unclear whether the numeral “200” is interpreted as the standard unit for conductivity.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The claim recites, “jFave < 0.5, where jFave is an average value of thermal conductivities of the member which is interposed between the display element and the first lens group”, and it is unclear as to what the numeral 0.5 represents since there is no single standard for thermal conductivities. Therefore, the metes and bounds of the claim cannot be ascertained.
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, 7, 9-10 and 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsuhashi (WO 2021/181926)
Regarding claims 1-3, 7, 9-10 and 12-14, Matsuhashi teaches a finder device comprising:
a display element (32);
an optical system that includes at least a first lens group (38) and a second lens group (13) in order from a side of the display element;
a first lens group holding member (31) that holds the first lens group to seal a space between the display element and the first lens group (Fig. 3);
a second lens group holding member (8) that holds the second lens group;
and
a diopter adjustment unit (29) that adjusts a diopter by integrally moving the display element and the first lens group relative to the second lens group (the movable block 9 moves with respect to the second lens group 13, see Fig. 3);
wherein the first lens group holding member (31) and the second lens group holding member (13) are spatially separated and thermally separated (Fig. 5, the second lens group holder, i.e. the portion that holds the lens 13, is spatially separated and thermally separated from the first lens holder 31) [claims 2-3];
a heat discharging member (11) that comes into contact with the display element within a movable range of the display element to discharge the heat of the display element [claim 7];
wherein the heat discharging member is composed of a band-like body (53-54) which has the flexibility and of which one end is connected to the display element [claim 9];
wherein the heat discharging member is provided on a flexible printed circuit (60) which is connected to the display element (the heat discharging member 11 is provided on the first adhesive sheet connected to the flexible circuit board 80) [claim 10];
wherein the first lens group holding member (31) holds the display element (Fig. 5) [claim 12];
wherein the diopter adjustment unit adjust a diopter by moving the first lens group holding member relative to the second lens group holding member (Figs. 8-9) [claim 13];
wherein the diopter adjustment unit includes a guiding unit (19) that guides movement of the first lens group holding member, and the guiding unit is provided in the second lens group holding member (Fig. 3, the guide protrusions 19 are formed on the second lens group holding member 8) [claim 14].
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, 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.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsuhashi in view of Ludtke (US Patent No. 8,575,051).
Regarding 8, Matsuhashi teaches all the claimed limitations except for the heat discharging member having a thermal conductivity, jA, > 200. Ludtke teaches a heat discharging member having a thermal conductivity, jA > 200 (col. 3, ll. 46-54). It would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a heat discharging member having a high thermal conductivity as taught within said viewfinder in order to effectively dissipate the heat from the display unit.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 4, applicant has sufficiently defined and claimed a finder device, whereby the prior art does not teach or suggest in the first lens group, a lens closest to the side of the display element satisfies the following conditional expression:
0.1
<
|
d
L
1
-
d
L
1
H
|
×
ρ
1
O
H
8
<
1
,
where
dL1 is a thickness of the lens on an optical axis,
OH8 is a value of 40% of a maximum length of an image display region of the display element,
dL1H is a thickness of the lens in an optical axis direction at a height of OH8 from the optical axis, and
ρ
1 is a linear expansion coefficient
(
10
-
5
K
)
of the lens, in combination with all other limitations set forth in the claim.
Regarding claim 5, applicant has sufficiently defined and claimed a finder device, whereby the prior art does not teach or suggest the first lens group satisfies the following conditional expression:
0.001
<
f
20
-
f
40
f
e
<
0.05
where,
f20 is a focal length of the first lens group at a temperature of 20 degrees,
f40 is a focal length of the first lens group at a temperature of 20 degrees, and
fe is a composite focal length of the first lens group and the second lens group in a case where a temperature is 20 degrees and a diopter is -1 dpt, in combination with all other limitations set forth in the claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MINH Q PHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3898. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
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MINH Q. PHAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2852
/MINH Q PHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852