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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species III in the reply filed on December 19, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim 8 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on December 19, 2025.
Claims 11 – 13 are no longer withdrawn from consideration because the claim(s) read on the subject matter of the elected Species.
In view of the above, applicant is advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application.
Claims 1 – 16 are currently pending.
Claims 5 – 6, 8 and 14 are withdrawn.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1, 9 – 11, and 15 – 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ito (EP 4145210A2).
Regarding claim 1, Ito discloses an accessory apparatus attachable to an image pickup apparatus, the accessory apparatus comprising: a first optical system (201R); a second optical system (201L) arranged in parallel with the first optical system (¶10: two optical systems (first optical system and second optical system) arranged parallelly (symmetrically) to each other); and a processor configured to control the first optical system and the second optical system (117/209) (¶36), wherein the processor has a first mode for simultaneously driving the first optical system and the second optical system (¶13: the right-eye optical system 201R and the left-eye optical system 201L can move forward and backward integrally in the optical axis direction, and focus positions of the right-eye optical system 201R and the left-eye optical system 201L can be simultaneously adjusted), and a second mode for independently driving the first optical system and the second optical system (¶46-47: the user can operate them independently, the user can adjust, by using the second focus adjusting unit 500, the flange backs of the left- and right-eye optical systems of the lens apparatus 200 depending on the tilt of the image sensor 111 in the image pickup apparatus 100 that the user owns), and wherein the processor is configured to vary a timing of changing from the first mode to the second mode according to an imaging state (¶45-47: operation of optical units 400 and 500 depend on state).
Regarding claim 9, Ito disclose the limitations of claim 1. Ito also teaches wherein the accessory apparatus is a lens apparatus (¶10).
Regarding claim 10, Ito disclose the limitations of claim 1. Ito also teaches wherein the accessory apparatus is an adapter attachable to the image pickup apparatus directly or via a lens apparatus (¶10).
Claim 11 is rejected for the same reasons a claim 1.
Claims 15 and 16 rejected as applied to claim 1 above. The method steps as claimed would have been implied by the apparatus of Ito.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 4, 7, 12 - 13 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTOINETTE T. SPINKS whose telephone number is (571)270-3749. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7am - 5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Twyler Haskins can be reached at 571-272-7406. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTOINETTE T SPINKS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
/TWYLER L HASKINS/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2639