DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is responsive to communications filed on 02/05/2026. Claims 1 is canceled. Claims 2, 10-12, & 15 have been amended. Presently, Claims 2-18 remain pending and are hereinafter examined on the merits.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/05/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Previous claim objections are withdrawn in view of the amendments filed on 02/05/2026.
Rejections under 35 USC § 103 are withdrawn in view of the amendments filed on 02/05/2026.
Examiner’s Notes
Claims 2-18, though rejected under 35 U.S.C § 112(a) are not rejected under the prior arts. Note; a change in scope in view of the requested corrections will require further search and consideration.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1: recites:
“wherein the convex surface of the sensor assembly and the plurality of sensors rotate about an axis of rotation that passes through one of the one or more prisms and that does not pass through the convex surface, such that the one of the one or more prisms is translationally fixed during rotation while the plurality of sensors rotate about the one or more prisms by adjusting an orientation of the sensor assembly relative to the platform.“ – lines 8-13.
The above rejection to claim 1 applies to claim 15 for substantially identical claim limitations recited in the claim.
The claim is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) for lack of written description. First, the instant specification and drawings teaches the configuration but does not proper written description for state the negative condition regarding the axis of rotation not passing through the convex surface. Second, the instant specification and drawings does not further provide proper written description regarding the plurality of sensors rotate about the one or more prisms.
Indeed the original claims filed describe, the convex surface of the sensor assembly and the plurality of sensors rotate about a center of the plurality of sensors and the one or more prisms. By rotating about the center of the plurality of sensors and the one or more priss, the prisms located at the center would remain translationally fixed (i.e., its center does not translate) while the sensor assembly changes orientation. Note; as the sensors are indeed part of the sensor assembly and the rotation is centered on the sensors/prisms, the sensors effectively rotate around that center point. Regarding the convex surface, the sensor assembly has a convex surface that corresponds to a concave surface of the platform as seen in FIG. 8, and thus the rotation is achieved by adjusting the orientation of the sensor assembly relative to the platform. However, the Applicant’s specification does not have proper written description for that axis of rotation “does not pass through the convex surface”. The geometrical relationship is centered on the prisms/sensors, and the physical interface involving the convex surface, but it does not describe this spatial relationship between the axis of rotation and the material of the convex surface such that this axis of rotation does not pass through the convex surface.
Regarding the claim language of “the plurality of sensors rotate about the one or more prisms” lacks written description under 35 USC § 112(a). The specification describes the sensors as being ¶0116: “bonded and sealed directly to their perspective prism face”, thus forming a single ridged assembly, and provides no disclosure in the specification or drawings of the sensors rotating about the one or more prisms. Because the specification only supports a fixed, unitary structure in which the sensors are secured to and move with the prism, there is no adequate written description of sensors that rotate about the prism.
Consequently, one of ordinary skill in the art would not deem the instant specification having sufficient detail so that they could understand how the inventor intended to achieve said aforementioned claimed feature. Since the instant specification fails to provide written description for the phrase above in claim 1, the aforementioned claims 1 and 15 fail to meet the written description requirement under 35 U.S.C. 112(a).
The dependent claims of the above rejected claims are rejected due to their dependency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kwon (US 2015/0323755 A1) discloses, a camera module and a tilt frame with respect to the housing may be adjustable by tilting adjusting units such as screws and ball bearings.
Ozaki (US 2011/0034768 A1) discloses an endoscope having sensor assembly comprising a plurality of sensors and one or more prisms.
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/N.A.R./Examiner, Art Unit 3798
/PASCAL M BUI PHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3798