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 .
This action is in response to Application filed on 07/10/2024
Application claims a FP date of 07/13/2023
Claims 1 and 6 are independent
Claims 1-7 are pending
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in the instant Application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/10/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sekimoto et al. (U.S. Patent Publication Number 2010/0110270 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Sekimoto discloses a camera module (Camera module of Figs 1-2) comprising:
a substrate (Fig 2 – substrate 5);
an image sensor (Fig 2 – sensor section 4 is constituted by sensor chip 21) including a light-receiving unit and mounted to a top face of the substrate (See ¶0067-¶0068);
a lens holder (In ¶0050 and in Fig 2, Sekimoto discloses that the lens holder 8, holding the lens barrel 7 holds the image pickup lenses 6) mounted to the top face of the substrate so as to cover the image sensor (In ¶0048 and throughout, Sekimoto discloses that the camera module is configured to have the sensor section 4 and the lens drive device 2 which holds the optical section1 is stacked on the substrate 5 along the optical axis); and
a lens held by the lens holder (In ¶0050 and in Fig 2, Sekimoto discloses that the lens holder 8, holding the lens barrel 7 holds the image pickup lenses 6),
wherein an inner circumferential surface of the lens holder (Fig 2 discloses the inner circumference of the lens holder 8 and lens barrel 7) and an outer circumferential surface of the image sensor have such a positional relationship that an offset in an in-plane direction of the substrate between a center line of the image sensor and an optical axis of the lens is smaller than or equal to a tolerable error (In ¶0017 Sekimoto discloses an image pickup device having image pickup lenses positioned with high degree of accuracy and a lens positioning method that makes it possible to position image pickup lenses with a high degree of accuracy. See Fig 4 and in ¶0082-¶0084 Sekimoto discloses that the light receiving region 25 and the optical section is designed to cover the light receiving section 25. In ¶0078, Sekimoto also discloses that the camera module 100 has an error in positioning of the lens barrel 7 – a tolerance of each member).
Regarding Claim 2, Sekimoto discloses wherein a part of the inner circumferential surface of the lens holder is in contact with a part of the outer circumferential surface of the image sensor (This is discloses in Fig 4 where, Sekimoto clearly discloses the inner circumference of the lens barrel 7 touches the outer circumference of the light receiving region 25).
Regarding Claim 4, Sekimoto discloses wherein the lens holder has a contact portion that comes into contact with the image sensor (In Figs 3-4 and in ¶0081, Sekimoto discloses that the lens barrel 7 has portions that overlaps the aperture 22a thus making contact with portion of the sensor cover 22 – the bottom portion of the lens barrel 7 has protruding portion 7a, 7b that make contact with the sensor cover 22).
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 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.
Claims 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sekimoto et al. (U.S. Patent Publication Number 2010/0110270 A1).
Regarding Claim 3, Sekimoto discloses all the limitations of claim 1, that Claim 3 depends on, except wherein the tolerable error is approximately 50 μm. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to set the tolerable error as approximately 50 μm, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Claims 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sekimoto et al. (U.S. Patent Publication Number 2010/0110270 A1) in view of Smirnov (US Patent Publication Number 2024/0319576 A1).
Regarding Claim 5, Sekimoto discloses positioning lens and aligning lens and lens barrel with image sensor . However, Sekimoto fails to clearly disclose wherein the lens holder and the substrate are fixed by an adhesive.
Instead in a similar endeavor, Smirnov discloses wherein the lens holder and the substrate are fixed by an adhesive (In Fig 3 and in ¶0063, Smirnov teaches that the sensor substrate 190 may be coupled to the lens holder 180 by bonding using an adhesive).
Sekimoto and Smirnov are combinable because both are related to imaging devices.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use adhesive for bonding as taught by Smirnov in the imaging module disclosed by Sekimoto.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to bonding the lens holder with the substrate as disclosed by Smirnov throughout his disclosure.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Sekimoto and Smirnov to obtain the invention as specified in claim 5.
Regarding Claim 6, this claim is a method of manufacturing a camera module. Since, Sekimoto discloses all the structure of the imaging device of Claims 1 and 5, it is clear that Sekimoto discloses all the elements of claim 6. Claim 6, is therefore rejected on the same grounds as Claims 1 and 5.
Regarding Claim 7, this claim has limitations parallel to the structure of Claim 2 and therefore Claim 7 is rejected on the same grounds as Claim 2.
Reference Cited
The following prior art made of record but not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hsu (U.S. Patent Publication Number 2013/0063655 A1) discloses a method for assembling a camera module, a sensor module, a lens holder, and a lens assembly are first provided. The sensor module includes a substrate and a sensor positioned on the substrate. The lens holder is positioned on the substrate and accommodates the sensor. The lens assembly is held in the lens holder. At least one of the lens holder and the lens assembly has a chamfer at an end thereof opposite to the substrate and located between the lens holder and the lens assembly. Then, curable adhesive is applied to the chamfer. The tilt of the lens is adjusted until the lens assembly is optically aligned with the sensor. The curable adhesive is cured.
Koyama et al. (U.S. Patent Publication Number 2016/0282580 A1) discloses An imaging module (camera module 50) includes a movable portion (holder 4 and coil 5) which fixes a first lens group (1) and is displaced in an optical axis direction thereof, and a non-movable portion (magnet 6, yoke 7, and base 8) which fixes a second lens group (2) and is not displaced in the optical axis direction, and includes a focus adjustment mechanism (actuator 20A) fixed to the substrate.
Conclusion
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/PADMA HALIYUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639 December 9, 2025