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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wollensak (US 1,750,830).
Regarding claim 1, Wollensak discloses “at least one lens (column 1, line 9: lens) configured to form an image of a subject in a photographing area of a photographic film (column 1, line 2: motion-picture camera); at least one aperture blade (Fig. 3, ref.# 15) in front of the at least one lens, the at least one aperture blade being movable between a minimum aperture position (Fig. 4; column 1, line 18: minimum central opening)) at which the at least one aperture blade generates vignetting at a periphery of the photographing area and a maximum aperture position (Fig. 3; column 3, lines 43: original position) radially outward from the minimum aperture position; and a switch (Fig. 3, ref.# 22) including an operation lever movable through a user operation and an actuation lever (Fig. 3, ref.# 14) connected to the at least one aperture blade (Fig. 3, ref.# 15), the actuation lever being operable to move the at least one aperture blade between the minimum aperture position and the maximum aperture position in response to movement of the operation lever (column 2, lines 76-86).”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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.
Claims 9-16 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding independent claim 9, the prior art does not teach and/or suggest “wherein the cam slot in the cam assembly includes an inner portion and an outer portion located radially outward from the inner portion with respect to the first axis, and the cam slot is elongated in the circumferential direction between the inner portion and the outer portion, the follower in the cam assembly is movable between a first follower position in the inner portion of the cam slot and a second follower position in the outer portion of the cam slot, and the pusher pushes the follower in the cam assembly toward the first follower position in response to the follower being closer to the first follower position than to a reference follower position, and pushes the follower in the cam assembly toward the second follower position in response to the follower being closer to the second follower position than to the reference follower position” in combination with the other limitations set forth in claim 9.
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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Gat, et a. (US 8,164,813), Garman, et al. (US 7,427,758), Kanayashi, et al. (US 5,745,814), Maitani (US 3,464,340), Ataka, et al. (US 3,188,934), Jakob, et al. (US 3,139,804) and Urabe (US 3,098,422) teach at least one aperture blade that generates a vignetting at a periphery of a photographing area.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RODNEY FULLER whose telephone number is (571)272-2118. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, Monday - Friday.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephanie Bloss can be reached at 571-272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RODNEY E FULLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
February 5, 2026
Prosecution Insights