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 19 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.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the second lens unit" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
For the purpose of examination, this limitation was interpreted as, “ a second lens unit.”
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) 1-9, 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao (WO 2021052136 A1, See Attached Espacenet Machine Translation) in view of Jong (KR 20080050880 A, See Attached Espacenet Machine Translation).
Re Claim 1 Zhao discloses on Fig. 36, a camera module comprising: a first optical unit (first reflective element 10) [Par 162] configured to change a path of received light from a first direction (negatize Z direction) to a second direction (positive y direction) and output the light; a second optical unit (second reflective element 30) disposed at an image side of the first optical unit and configured to change the path of the light received from the first optical unit from the second direction (positive Y direction) to a third direction (negative X direction) and output the light; a first lens unit (lens 20A) disposed at an image side of the second optical unit and configured to receive the light output from the second optical unit; and a sensor unit (photosensitive chip 40) configured to receive light output from the first lens unit and generate an electrical signal (nature of a photosensitive chip in electronic device) [Par 162], wherein, in a first optical image stabilizer (OIS) mode in which a path of the light incident on the sensor unit is tilted in a vertical direction with (image is stabilized in multiple directions one of which would be the z direction by the rotation of element 10 about the x axis) respect to the sensor unit, the first optical unit rotates about a first rotation axis (element 10 rotates about the x axis).
But Zhao does not explicitly disclose wherein, the second optical unit rotates about a first rotation axis.
However, within the same field of endeavor, Jong teaches, on Fig. 6, that it is desirable in stabilization systems for the second optical unit (path changing unit 150) to rotate about a first rotation axis (both units 120 and 150 rotate around the vertical axis) [Par 20].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the system of Zhao with Jong in order to provide compensation for hand shake in a mobile device as taught by Jong [Par 6].
Re Claim 2, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 1, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 36, wherein the first rotation axis (X axis) is an optical axis of the first lens unit (X Axis is optical axis of lens 20a).
Re Claim 3, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 1, and Jong further discloses on Fig. 6, wherein the first optical unit (element 120) and the second optical unit (Element 150) rotate in the same direction in the first OIS mode (Fig. 6: both element 120 and 150 can rotate in either direction).
Re Claim 4, Zhao in view of Jon discloses, the camera module of claim 1.
But in the same embodiment Zhao in view of Jong does not explicitly disclose, wherein in a second OIS mode in which the path of the light incident on the sensor unit is tilted in a left-right direction with respect to the sensor unit, the first optical unit rotates about a second rotation axis.
However, Zhao teaches, in an alternative embodiment on Fig. 35, that it is desirable wherein in a second OIS mode (reflective element 10 also rotates around the z axis to stabilize in two directions) [Par 161] in which the path of the light incident on the sensor unit is tilted in a left-right direction with respect to the sensor unit (Rotation of unit 10 around the z axis stabilizes along the y axis) [Par 161, the first optical unit rotates about a second rotation axis (about z axis).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the system of Zhao in view of Jong in order to provide image stabilization in two directions as taught by Zhao [Par 161].
Re Claim 5, Zhao in view of Jong, discloses, the camera module of claim 4.
But Zhao in view of Jong does not explicitly disclose, wherein the second rotation axis is an optical axis between the first optical unit and the second optical unit.
However, Zhao teaches, on Fig. 35-36, the rotation of reflection units 10 and 30 about the z and x axis [Par 160-162]. Thus teaches the general rotation of a plurality reflection units about various axis to control stabilization in multiple direction [Par 160-162], and the translation of other optical components like lens 20 along the y-axis. It would have been well within the ability of one of one of ordinary skill in the art to simply rotate the reflection unit 10 of Zhao around in the only other coordinate axis, the y axis. The y axis is an optical axis extended between reflection units 10 and 30, and one of ordinary skill in the art would also conclude that rotating reflection unit 10 in the y axis would similarly provide some form of image stabilization, in light of the rotation of the reflections in the other two coordinate axis providing similar results [Par 160-162].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the system of Zhao in view of Jong, in order to provide image stabilization as taught by Zhao [Par 160-162].
Re Claim 6, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 1, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 36, wherein the first optical unit (reflection element 10) includes a first incident surface (side of element 10 facing the +Z direction) on which light is incident, a first reflective surface by which the light incident through the first incident surface is reflected (internal hypotenuse surface of element 10), and a first emitting surface (surface of element 10 facing the +y direction) through which the light reflected by the first reflective surface is output, and the second optical unit (element 30) includes a second incident surface (surface of element 30 facing the -y direction) on which light is incident, a second reflective surface (internal hypotenuse surface of element 30) by which the light incident through the second incident surface is reflected, and a second emitting surface (surface of element 30 facing the -x direction) through which the light reflected by the second reflective surface is output (light is output to photosensitive chip 40).
Re Claim 7, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 6, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 36, wherein the first emitting surface (surface of element 10 facing the +y direction) is disposed parallel to the second incident surface (surface of element 10 facing the -y direction).
Re Claim 8, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 6, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 36, wherein the first incident surface (surface of element 10 facing the +z direction) is disposed perpendicular to the second emitting surface (surface of element 30 facing the -x direction).
Re claim 9, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 6, and Jong further discloses on Fig. 6, further comprising a second lens unit (lens 120a) disposed at an object side of the first optical unit (reflective element 120).
Re Claim 11, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 1, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 32 and 36, comprising a first holder (See Fig. 32 for prism installation: wedge shaped support 112), and wherein the first optical unit is accommodated in the first holder (reflective element 10 is fixed on wedge shaped support 112) [Par 156].
Re Claim 12, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 11, And Zhao further discloses on Fig. 24 and 32 (see Fig. 23 for an example of mounting prism 10), wherein the first holder (wedge shaped support 112) is coupled to the first optical unit through a barrel (first holder 112 and prism 10 are in housing 210), and the first optical unit moves according to a movement of the first holder (Fig. 32: support 112 is movable connected to base body 111 and is driven by coil 115 and magnet 116)[Par 156].
Re Claim 13, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 11, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 32, wherein further comprising a first actuator (coil 115 and magnet 116), and wherein the first actuator is coupled to the first holder (Coil 115 and magnet 116 are coupled support 112).
Re Claim 14, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 13, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 32, wherein the first actuator (coil 115 and magnet 116) provides a driving force so that the first holder (support 112) rotates about an arbitrary rotation axis (first drive module can include an x axis rotation module, as in Fig. 36).
Re Claim 15, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 4, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 35, wherein in the second OIS mode (Rotation of prism 10 about the z axis), the second optical unit (prism 30) does not move (prism 10 has two different modes of rotation, around the x axis and one around the z axis while prism 30 is stationary) [Par 161].
Re claim 16, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 13, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 35, further comprising a second holder (support 133) [Par 157] and a second actuator (coil 136 and magnet 137).
Re claim 17, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 16, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 24 and 34. wherein the second optical unit (prism 30) is accommodated in the second holder (prism 30 is attached to support 133), and the second holder is coupled to the second optical unit (prism 30 is attached to support 133) through a barrel (Fig. 24 shows prism 30 being mounted to third substrate 130 enclosed by housing 230)[Par 143 and 157].
Re Claim 18, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 17, and Zhao further discloses, wherein the second actuator (coil 136 and magnet 137) provides a driving force so that the second holder rotates about an arbitrary rotation axis (coil 136 and magnet 137 rotate the reflective element 30 about the z- axis, as in Fig. 36) [Par 157].
Re Clam 19, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 1, and Jong further discloses on Fig. 6, the second lens unit (lens 120a), and Zhao discloses optical lenses that include at least one lens having a thickness of an edge portion of an effective diameter smaller than a thickness of a central portion of the effective diameter (this is the definition of at least one lens being a positive lens, and Zhao explicitly teaches the use of optical lenses with large focal lengths) [Par 8 and 31-34].
But Zhao in view of Jong does not explicitly disclose, wherein the second lens unit includes at least one lens having a thickness of an edge portion of an effective diameter smaller than a thickness of a central portion of the effective diameter.
However, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been capable of simply making the second lens unit (Fig. 6: lens 20a) present in Jong, a positive lens as taught by Zhao [Par 31-34]. Further, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for the purpose of using the camera module as a telephoto camera module, as further taught by Zhao [Par 8].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the system of Zhao in view Jong, such that the second lens unit includes at least one lens having a thickness of an edge portion of an effective diameter smaller than a thickness of a central portion of the effective diameter, in order to provide telephoto capabilities, as taught by Zhao [Par 8].
Re Claim 20, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 16, and Zhao discloses on Fig. 36 (see the description of Fig. 35 for further description of lens 20a’s zoom capabilities), further comprising a third holder and a third actuator, and wherein the first lens unit is accommodated in the third holder (Fig. 36: teaches autozoom capabilities for lens 20a, wherein “the focusing lens 20a can be translated along the x-axis under the drive of the fourth driving module”, the fourth driving module constitutes a third actuator and the teaching would inherently comprise a holder mechanism to translate the drive module’s movements to lens 20a) [Par 160-162].
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao in view of Jon as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Li (US 20210364728 A1).
Re Claim 10, Zhao in view of Jong discloses, the camera module of claim 9, and Zhao further discloses on Fig. 36, the movement of the first optical unit (rotation of reflection element 10).
But Zhao in view of Jong does not explicitly disclose, wherein the second lens unit is formed integrally with the first incident surface or mechanically coupled to the first optical unit to move integrally.
However, within the same field of endeavor, Li teaches, on Fig. 3, that it is desirable in optical axis changing lens systems for , the second lens unit (lens L1) is formed integrally with the first incident surface (lens L1 is attached to surface 311 of refraction component 31)[Par 46].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify the system of Zhao in view of Jong with Li in order to provide focus adjustment as taught by Li [Par 46-47].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lee (US 20200057313 A1) teaches a prism and camera apparatus.
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/RAY ALEXANDER DEAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2872
/BALRAM T PARBADIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872