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
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, 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0322521 to Houjou et al. (“Houjou”).
Regarding claim 1, Thomas teaches an image capture apparatus, comprising:
a forward housing (the front of body 1a, or the portion of 1a that is facing reference number 3 is the forward housing, seen in Figure 3);
a rearward housing located opposite the forward housing, wherein the forward housing and the rearward housing have an area that are substantially identical (the back housing is the rear side or right most side of housing 1a in Figure 3, opposite to the front face housing);
an image sensor and lens assembly (ISLA) located within the image capture apparatus with at least a portion of the ISLA extending through the forward housing (reference number 1c is the image sensor and reference number 1d is the imaging lens system, seen in Figure 3 where the lens portion extends through the front of housing 1a); and
a removable cover lens located forward of the forward housing and covering the portion of the ISLA that extends through the forward housing, wherein the removable cover lens extends beyond the area of the forward housing and the rearward housing so that a width, a length, or both of the removable cover lens extends beyond the area of the forward housing and the rearward housing (the lens unit may be removed, see paragraph [0070], the removable portion 3 which includes the lens extends beyond the area, at least in a height dimension, with respect to the camera body 1a, as seen in Figure 3).
Regarding claim 9, Houjou teaches an image capture apparatus, comprising:
a forward housing (the front of body 1a, or the portion of 1a that is facing reference number 3 is the forward housing, seen in Figure 3);
a rearward housing located opposite the forward housing and forming an interior space within the image capture apparatus (the back housing is the rear side or right most side of housing 1a in Figure 3, opposite to the front face housing);
an image sensor and lens assembly (ISLA) having a first portion located within the interior space and a second portion extending through the forward housing of the image capture apparatus (reference number 1c is the image sensor and reference number 1d is the imaging lens system, seen in Figure 3 where the lens portion extends through the front of housing 1a); and
a removable cover lens connected to and covering the second portion of the ISLA (reference number 3 and 1 in Figure 2 is the removable portion),
wherein the ISLA is located with the interior space at a location so that a first part of the removable cover lens extends directly forward of the forward housing and a second part of the removable cover lens extends outside of a region forward of the forward housing (the ISLA is within the interior space and the removable cover lens is forward of the forward housing 1a, in an outside region from the body, see Figure 3).
Regarding claim 10, Houjou teaches the image capture apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second part of the removable cover lens extends beyond the forward housing along a length of the forward housing, a width of the forward housing, or both (see Figure 3).
Claims 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0037471 to Kaga (“Kaga”).
Regarding claim 16, Kaga teaches an image capture apparatus, comprising: an image sensor and lens assembly (ISLA) comprising an image sensor; a battery bracket; and a battery heat spreader that connects to a first heat producing component at a first end and connects to the battery bracket at a second end so that heat is transferred from the ISLA to the battery bracket, wherein the first heat producing component is the image sensor (a plate 27 which serves as an internal frame of the imaging apparatus 10 is capable of receiving heat generated by the image sensors 12A and 12B using heat dissipation sheets. Heat from the battery can also be transferred to the internal frame or the transverse plate 27 as a heat transfer path, see paragraph [0116]).
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.
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Houjou as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claims 2-3, Houjou teaches the image capture apparatus of claim 1, but is silent on an amount of the width, an amount of the length, or both of the removable cover lens that extends beyond the forward housing and the rearward housing is about 1 mm or more about 5 cm or less or the amount of the width and the amount of the length of the removable cover lens that extend beyond the forward housing and the rearward housing is about 3 mm or more.
Given that the extended removable cover lens portion extends beyond the forward housing and rearward housing, one of ordinary skill in the art would realize that the amount of the extension could be varied depending on the required parameters of the overall device.
It 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 to modify the teaching of Houjou to set the dimensions of the amount the removable cover lens extends beyond the bounds of the camera forward and rearward housing to between 1mm or less than 5cm or more than 3mm depending on the size or other goals of the camera device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8, 11-15, 17-20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMY R HSU whose telephone number is (571)270-3012. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lin Ye can be reached at (571)272-7372. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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AMY R. HSU
Examiner
Art Unit 2664
/AMY R HSU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638