DETAILED ACTION
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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)(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, 4 and 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hideshima (U.S. Patent No. 9313404). Hideshima teaches a lens apparatus comprising: an optical system (fig. 2) including an optical member (34) configured to widen or narrow an in-focus range (34 is configured to widen an in focus range of the subject) by moving the optical member (see curved arrow above 34 in fig. 2); and a processor (20) configured to determine a relationship between a moving direction of the optical member and widening or narrowing of the in-focus range (col. 9, lines 26-29 and fig. 4, S116) , and to set information regarding a movement of the optical member using a determination result (S118, “record corrected position information”).
Regarding claim 4, a focus detector (32) configured to detect a focus state of an object image formed by the optical system (fig. 6 and col. 10, lines 55-56 “The lens apparatus 10 includes one CCD 32 for focus detection.”), and wherein the processor determines the relationship based on a focus detection result by the focus detector (figs. 3 and 5-6 as well as col. 11, lines 11-20, “The CPU 20 calculates values of contrasts of the image of the central area and images of the four corner areas. In this example, the value of the contrast is used as an evaluation value. Thereafter, the CPU 20 compares the image of the central area with the images of the other corner areas based on the evaluation values calculated in the respective areas (step S132).”
Regarding claim 6, the in-focus range changes according to a rotation of a focal plane (lens 34), and wherein an axis of the rotation of the focal plane is predetermined (“an axis to change a tilt angle”, col. 5, lines 43-44).
Regarding claim 7, the optical member includes an optical member 34 is configured to tilt a focal plane relative to an imaging surface (42) of an image sensor by moving. See, figs. 2 and 8 for example.
Regarding claim 8, the processor 20 is configured to set the information regarding the movement of the optical member to an operation unit (22 or 34M) configured to operate the movement of the optical member.
Regarding claim 9, Hideshima teaches an image pickup apparatus comprising: a processor (24) configured to determine a relationship between a moving direction of an optical member (34) configured to widen an in-focus range (of a subject) by moving the optical member and widening or narrowing of the in-focus range (col. 9, lines 26-29 and fig. 4, S116), and to set information regarding a movement of the optical member using a determination result (S118 , “record corrected position information”); and an image sensor (42) configured to capture an object image.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Silverstein (U.S. Patent No. 10200596). Silverstein teaches a lens apparatus comprising: an optical system including an optical member (102/212) configured to widen or narrow an in-focus range (col. 7, lines 16-19, “The tilt may, for example, provide adjustments of perspective or depth of field for areas or regions of images being captured, or for the entire image.” and col. 15, lines 60-61 “to narrow the focused area instead of widening the focused area”) by moving the optical member (col. 15, line 63 “tilt the lens”); and a processor (1180/1280) configured to determine a relationship between a moving direction of the optical member and widening or narrowing of the in-focus range and to set information regarding a movement of the optical member using a determination result (fig. 1 with fig. 10, and col. 7, line 62 to col. 8, line 12).
Regarding claim 2, the processor acquires information regarding an operation on an operation unit configured to widen the in-focus range according to a first operation (col. 15, lines 54-59, “To bring more or all of the subject plane 406 into focus, and thus to achieve greater depth of field, a controller component, for example as illustrated in FIG. 1A, 1B, or 2, may direct an actuator component, for example as illustrated in FIG. 1A, 1B, or 2, to tilt the lens 400 relative to the optical (Z) axis and the sensor plane 404 as illustrated in FIG. 4B.”, see also 710 B, E and H in fig. 7) and to narrow the in-focus range according to a second operation (col 15, lines 60-64 “the optical (Z) axis and the sensor plane 404 as illustrated in FIG. 4B. However, a photographer may want to narrow the focused area instead of widening the focused area. To narrow the focused area, the controller component may direct an actuator component to tilt the lens 400 relative to the optical (Z) axis”. See also 610B in fig. 6A) , and wherein the processor sets using the determination result so that a moving direction of the optical member becomes a direction for widening the in-focus range in the first operation on the operation unit and so that the moving direction of the optical member becomes a direction for narrowing the in-focus range in the second operation on the operation unit.
Regarding claim 3, the processor provides information regarding an operation on a selector configured to select widening or narrowing of the in-focus range (see figs. 6A, 6B, 7), and information regarding an operation on an operation unit configured to change the in-focus range in accordance with the operation on the operation unit, and wherein in a case where the selector selects the widening of the in-focus range, the processor sets so that the moving direction of the optical member becomes a direction for widening the in-focus range in the operation on the operation unit (fig. 6B, see 610E both the person and the background tree are in focus. The in focus range is widened in the center vertical direction ), and in a case where the selector selects the narrowing of the in-focus range (see 610B in fig. 6A, the in focus range is narrowed to just the people) , the processor sets so that the moving direction of the optical member becomes a direction for narrowing the in-focus range in the operation on the operation unit. The processor set the moving direction of the lens. See figs. 1A, 2A, 2B.
Regarding claim 4, Silverstein teaches a focus detector configured to detect a focus state of an object image formed by the optical system, and wherein the processor determines the relationship based on a focus detection result by the focus detector. (See col 21, lines 8-19 as well as figs. 6-7).
Regarding claim 6, the in-focus range changes according to a rotation of a focal plane, and wherein an axis of the rotation of the focal plane is predetermined. See fig. 4B.
Regarding claim 7, the optical member includes an optical member configured to tilt a focal plane relative to an imaging surface of an image sensor by moving. See fig. 4B.
Regarding claim 8, the processor is configured to set the information regarding the movement of the optical member to an operation unit (180) configured to operate the movement of the optical member.
Regarding claim 9, Silverstein teaches a processor (1180/1280) configured to determine a relationship between a moving direction of an optical member (102/212) configured to widen or narrow an in-focus range by moving the optical member and widening or narrowing of the in-focus range (see figs. 4A, 4B, 4C), and to set information regarding a movement of the optical member using a determination result (see figs. 6A, 6B, 7); and an image sensor (250/1150/1250) configured to capture an object image.
Claim(s) 1 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sato (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0272274). Regarding claim 1, Sato teaches a lens apparatus comprising: an optical system including an optical member (106) configured to widen or narrow an in-focus range by moving the optical member; and a processor (115) configured to determine a relationship between a moving direction of the optical member and widening or narrowing of the in-focus range (see figs. 2-3), and to set information regarding a movement of the optical member using a determination result (S406-407, in fig. 5).
Regarding claim 5, a focus shift detector configured to detect a focus shift amount in an imaging range based on distance information to an object (S404 in fig. 4), and wherein the processor determines the relationship based on the focus shift amount detected by the focus shift detector (S406).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Takashi (JP2006-078756) teaches swing photographing with an interchangeable lens.
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/CHRISTOPHER E MAHONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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