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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 July 9, 2026, has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on July 9, 2026, in response to the previous Office Action (04/10/2026) is acknowledged and has been entered.
Claims 1 – 17 are currently pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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(s) 1 – 2, 10 – 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 2023-0089534 machine translation) in view of Kim (US 2023/0073345).
Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses actuator for optical image stabilization, comprising: a fixed frame (100) (fig. 3; ¶51); a moving frame (200), accommodated in the fixed frame (100), configured to move relatively to the fixed frame on a plane perpendicular to an optical axis (¶56-57); and a sensor substrate (400), on which an image sensor (S) is disposed (¶66), comprising a fixed portion (another part of 400) coupled to the fixed frame (¶66), a moving portion comprising the image sensor and coupled to the moving frame (¶66-67: sensor S is mounted on portion of substrate 400, being a portion of 400 coupled to moving frame), and a connecting portion (450) disposed between the moving portion and the fixed portion to support movement of the moving portion (410) (¶185: connecting portion disposed between moving portion and bendably disposed between moving portion and fixed portion), wherein the moving portion comprises a heat dissipation member (5100) dissipating heat, and wherein the heat dissipation member comprises a substrate (¶452-454; claim 1). Lee fails to explicitly disclose a heat dissipation member dissipating heat generated from the image sensor, and wherein the heat dissipation member comprises a substrate having a plurality of through-holes, and conductive electrode filling the plurality of through-holes.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Lee. with the heat dissipation member, as taught by Kim. Lee discloses heat dissipation member adjacent the image sensor but fails to disclose each the heat dissipation member has a through hole filled with a conductive electrode. Kim teaches heat dissipation member 213 that includes a plurality of via holes 230, wherein the vias are filed with filling member 240 that can include metal conductive material (figs. 2; ¶48-54). In light of the teaching of Kim, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to use Kim’s configuration in Lee’s system because an artisan of ordinarily skill would recognize that this would result in improved heat dissipation efficiency.
Regarding claim 2, Lee in view of Cho disclose the limitations of claim 1. Lee also teaches wherein the heat dissipation member overlaps the image sensor in an optical axis direction (fig. 25).
Regarding claim 10, Lee in view of Kim disclose the limitations of claim 1. Lee also teaches further comprising a base (500) disposed below the sensor substrate, wherein a gap is formed between the moving portion (410) and the base in an optical axis direction (fig. 6b; ¶128).
Regarding claim 11, Lee in view of Kim disclose the limitations of claim 1. Lee also teaches further comprising a first driver comprising a plurality of magnets disposed on the moving frame and a plurality of coils disposed on the fixed frame to face the plurality of magnets (claim 1).
Regarding claim 12, Lee in view of Kim disclose the limitations of claim 1. Lee also teaches a lens module comprising a lens arranged in an optical axis direction (claim 1; ¶24; figs. 1 – 2).
Regarding claim 13, Lee discloses camera module, comprising: a lens module comprising a lens arranged in an optical axis direction (figs. 1 – 2); a fixed frame (100) (fig. 3; ¶51); and an actuator for optical image stabilization configured to move an image sensor on a plane perpendicular to an optical axis (¶56-57), wherein the actuator comprises a sensor substrate (400), on which an image sensor (S) is disposed (¶66), and a heat dissipation member (5100) (¶452-454; claim 1). Lee fails to explicitly disclose a heat dissipation member dissipating heat generated from the image sensor, and wherein the heat dissipation member comprises a substrate having a plurality of through-holes, and conductive electrode filling the plurality of through-holes.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Lee. with the heat dissipation member, as taught by Kim. Lee discloses heat dissipation member adjacent the image sensor but fails to disclose each the heat dissipation member has a through hole filled with a conductive electrode. Kim teaches heat dissipation member 213 that includes a plurality of via holes 230, wherein the vias are filed with filling member 240 that can include metal conductive material (figs. 2; ¶48-54). In light of the teaching of Kim, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to use Kim’s configuration in Lee’s system because an artisan of ordinarily skill would recognize that this would result in improved heat dissipation efficiency.
Regarding claim 14, Lee in view of Kim disclose the limitations of claim 13. Lee also teaches wherein the sensor substrate comprises: a fixed portion (another part of 400) (¶66); a moving portion configured to move relative to the fixed portion on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis (¶66-67: sensor S is mounted on portion of substrate 400, being a portion of 400 coupled to moving frame); and a connecting portion (450) disposed between the fixed portion and the moving portion to support the movement of the moving portion (410) (¶185: connecting portion disposed between moving portion and bendably disposed between moving portion and fixed portion), wherein the moving portion comprises the image sensor and the heat dissipation member (5100).
Regarding claim 15, Lee in view of Kim disclose the limitations of claim 14. Lee also teaches further comprising a base (500/5000) disposed below the sensor substrate, wherein the heat dissipation member further comprises an extension portion extending in the optical axis direction toward the base, and wherein a gap is formed between the base and the extension portion (fig. 25-26).
Regarding claim 16, Lee in view of Kim disclose the limitations of claim 14. Lee also teaches wherein the actuator comprises: a fixed frame coupled to the fixed portion; a moving frame coupled to the moving portion; and a first driver, disposed separately in the fixed frame and the moving frame, configured to generate a driving force to move the image sensor on the plane perpendicular to the optical axis (¶51, 56-57; claim 1; fig. 3).
Regarding claim 17, Lee in view of Kim disclose the limitations of claim 14. Lee also teaches further comprising a focusing actuator (20) configured to move the lens module in the optical axis direction (¶25).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 9 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.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTOINETTE SPINKS whose telephone number is (571)270-3749. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7am - 5pm EST.
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/ANTOINETTE T SPINKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
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