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 § 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yanagisawa (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0191239).
Regarding claim 1, Yanagisawa discloses a lens apparatus (Figures 1-4; abstract) comprising:
an optical member (e.g. 52 and 57);
a holding barrel (58) holding the optical member; and
a rotation restriction member (57a) fixed to the optical member (Figure 4; Paragraph [0038]),
wherein the rotation restriction member is configured to come into abutment against the holding barrel along a direction of rotation of the optical member about an optical axis (see Figure 3 57a and corresponding groove 58a), to restrict the rotation of the optical member about an optical axis, relative to the holding barrel (52/57 and 58 maintain a same alignment with each other due to the 58a/57a alignment), and lacks contact with the holding barrel along an optical axis direction and a radial direction of the optical member (Figure 3).
Regarding claim 2, Yanagisawa discloses the rotation restriction member as fixed so as to radially protrude from an outer peripheral surface of the optical member (Figure 4 elements 57 and 57a).
Regarding claim 3, Yanagisawa discloses the rotation restriction member as fitted into a notched part provided in a part along a circumferential direction of the holding barrel (Figure 4).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yanagisawa in view of Ohno (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0281297).
Regarding claim 15, Yanagisawa discloses the lens apparatus as discussed above, but fails to disclose the lens apparatus as part of a image pickup apparatus including an image pickup element configured to pick up an image formed by the lens apparatus. Ohno, however, teaches an image pickup element (Figure 1 element 5) configured to pick up an image formed by an analogous lens element (Figure 1 element 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the Yanagisawa lens apparatus as part of an image pickup apparatus having an image pickup element configured to pick up an image formed by the lens apparatus. One would have been motivated to form the lens apparatus as part of an image pickup apparatus as proposed to benefit from the ability to adjusting the lens thickness post manufacture (Yanagisawa: Paragraph [0003] and due to their similar portable zoom lens capabilities (Ohno: Paragraphs [0003], [0095]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-14 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 claims 4 and 14, in particular, the prior art fails to disclose or suggest the lens apparatus as further comprising the biasing barrel sandwiching the mirror between the biasing barrel and the holding barrel and a biasing member configured to bias the biasing barrel toward the holding barrel in combination with the elements of claim 1.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL H CALEY whose telephone number is (571)272-2286. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm.
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/MICHAEL H CALEY/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2871