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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of species II (Figs. 17A to Fig. 27) in the reply filed on 11/21/2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s): “Neither Applicant nor the Patent and Trademark Office should be put through the trouble and expense entailed in multiple filing and prosecution. Further, the making of an election-of-species requirement is not mandatory in all instances. It is submitted that it would not be an undue burden on the Examiner to examine all of the pending claims in the present application. Accordingly, in the interests of prosecution and economy of time, for Applicant, the Office, and the public-at-large, reconsideration and withdrawal of the election-of-species requirement is respectfully requested.” (Applicant’s remarks, page 2).
This is found persuasive, and therefore the election of species is withdrawn. Claims 1-35 are examined on the merits.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/04/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yoshida (US 2020/0077025 A1).
Regarding claim 20, Yoshida discloses an electric unit (an optical driving unit shown in Figs. 3A to 5) comprising:
an inductor (21) including a conductor wiring (copper wire) wound about a straight winding axis and having a first face (the side that faces toward element 27 in Fig. 3A, 3B and 5) and a second face (the other face) that intersect the winding axis (Figs. 3A, 3B, 4 & 5 and par. [0046]); and
a nonmagnetic conductive member (27) arranged on the first face side with respect to the inductor (Figs. 3A, 3B, 4 & 5 and par. [0045]), wherein the electric unit satisfies that:
and/or (please note that the alternative limitations are not necessarily considered in this Office Action)
(ii) in a cross section including the winding axis, the conductive member is curved or bent protruding to the opposite side of the inductor so as to cover the inductor (see Fig. 4, wherein the nonmagnetic conductive member 27 is bent to the opposite side of the inductor 21 to cover the inductor).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-19 and 21-35 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 1, the prior art references of record, either alone or in combination, fail to teach or suggest: “A light emitting apparatus comprising: a light emitting component; an inductor electrically connected to the light emitting component; and a conductive member, wherein the inductor includes a conductor wiring wound about a straight winding axis and has a first face and a second face that intersect the winding axis, wherein the conductive member is nonmagnetic and is arranged on the first face side with respect to the inductor, and wherein the light emitting apparatus satisfies that: (i) in a cross section including the winding axis, a first distance between an intersection of the winding axis with the conductive member and an intersection of the winding axis with the first face is longer than a second distance between an intersection of a line extending parallel to the winding axis at each of both ends of the inductor in the first face with the conductive member and each of both the ends of the inductor, and/or (ii) in a cross section including the winding axis, the conductive member is curved or bent protruding to the opposite side of the inductor so as to cover the inductor.”
Regarding claims 2-19, these claims are either dependent from claim 1 or incorporate all limitations from claim 1.
Regarding claim 21, the prior art references of record, either alone or in combination, fail to teach or suggest: “A light emitting apparatus comprising: a light emitting component; an inductor electrically connected to the light emitting component; a conductive member; and a magnetic member, wherein the conductive member is arranged on at least one end side in a direction of a winding axis of the inductor so as to intersect the winding axis, and wherein the magnetic member is arranged on a side face side of the inductor.” The closest teaching of record is from Miyajima (JP 2011035339 A) who teaches a light-emitting circuit for a stroboscopic device, which can reduce an influence of magnetic force, generated from an inductor (coil 7), on the inside and the outside by reducing a range of a magnetic field around the inductor without making a structure complex. In the light-emitting circuit for the stroboscopic device which includes a capacitor (6) for supplying electric power to a flash discharge tube and the inductor provided on a cable run connecting the capacitor and flash discharge tube (light emitting element 2) to each other, and in which the inductor is composed of a coil formed by spirally winding a conductor, the inductor includes: at least one first coil part formed by spirally winding a conductor; and at least one second coil part electrically connected to the first coil part in series and formed by spirally winding a conductor concentrically or substantially concentrically with the first coil part. The first coil part has the winding direction of the conductor set so that a current may flow around the center in one direction, and the second coil part has the winding direction of the conductor set so that a current may flow around the center in the opposite direction from the one direction (see Figs. 3-5). However, Miyajima fails to teach or suggest the light emitting apparatus comprising a magnetic member, wherein the magnetic member is arranged on a side face side of the inductor. This lack of teaching of the feature would not and cannot be compensated by the teaching of Yoshida (US 2020/0077025 A1) because Yoshida teaches a non-magnetic member (27) for shielding the magnetic noise from the inductor. On contrary, the current claimed invention requires “a magnetic member” which is arranged on a side face side of the inductor. Although Yoshida discloses a magnetic member (23 in Figs. 4 & 5), this magnetic member (23) functions as a driving motor to drive a correction lens for image stabilization, not for shielding magnetic noise. If Miyajima and Yoshida would be combinable, the combination would defeat the purposes of all inventions from both sides. Therefore, the claimed subject matter is not taught nor suggested by either an individual reference or combination of references.
Regarding claims 22-35, these claims are either dependent from claim 21 or incorporate all limitations from claim 21.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NHAN T TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7371. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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/NHAN T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638