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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy of foreign patent application number 2023-143983, filed in Japan on September 5, 2023, has been received and made of record.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (lDS) submitted on August 21, 2024, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and has been 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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The USPTO Official Gazette Notice 1351 OG 212 Feb. 23, 2010, regarding Subject Matter Eligibility of Computer Readable Media, provides:
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is obliged to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification during proceedings before the USPTO. See In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (during patent examination the pending claims must be interpreted as broadly as their terms reasonably allow). The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer readable medium (also called machine readable medium and other such variations) typically covers forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable media, particularly when the specification is silent. See MPEP 2111.01. When the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter. See In re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 1356-57 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (transitory embodiments are not directed to statutory subject matter) and Interim Examination Instructions for Evaluating Subject Matter Eligibility Under 35 U.S.C. § 101, Aug. 24, 2009; p. 2.
Claim 20 is therefore rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims recite, inter alia, "computer-readable storage medium” After close inspection, the Examiner respectfully notes that the disclosure, as a whole, does not clearly and unequivocally identify what may be included as a computer-readable storage medium and what is not to be included as a computer-readable storage medium.
An Examiner is obliged to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification during examination. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer-readable storage medium (also called machine readable medium and other such variations) typically covers forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable media, particularly when the specification is silent. See MPEP 2111.01. When the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal, per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter.
Therefore, given the ambiguity or silence of the disclosure and the broadest reasonable interpretation, the computer-readable storage medium of the claim may include transitory propagating signals. As a result, the claim pertains to non-statutory subject matter.
However, the Examiner respectfully submits a claim drawn to a “computer-readable storage medium” that covers both transitory and non-transitory embodiments may be amended to narrow the claim to cover only statutory embodiments to avoid a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101 by adding the limitation “non-transitory” to the claim. Such an amendment would typically not raise the issue of new matter, even when the specification is silent because the broadest reasonable interpretation relies on the ordinary and customary meaning that includes signals per se. For additional information, please see the Patents’ Official Gazette notice published February 23, 2010 (1351 OG 212).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-19 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claims 1-16, the prior art has not been found by the Examiner to teach or fairly suggest the claimed combination of an imaging apparatus to which an interchangeable lens is attachable via a teleconverter, comprising a processor, a memory storing instructions to be executed by the processor, a camera body including an imaging element and a display panel, and an interchangeable lens including a lens, a zoom ring that varies position of the lens, and a zoom encoder that detects information on zoom position of the zoom ring, the instructions including determining whether the teleconverter is attached to the interchangeable lens, calculating the zoom position based on information detected by the zoom encoder, determining whether the zoom position is within a limited range in which optical performance deteriorates if the teleconverter is attached to the interchangeable lens, and changing information displayed on the display panel if the zoom position is within the limited range.
Regarding claims 17-19, the prior art has not been found by the Examiner to teach or fairly suggest the claimed combination of a method for controlling an imaging apparatus executed by a processor, wherein the imaging apparatus is an imaging apparatus to which an interchangeable lens is attachable via a teleconverter, the imaging apparatus comprising a camera body including an imaging element and a display panel, and the interchangeable lens including a lens, a zoom ring that varies position of the lens, and a zoom encoder that detects information on zoom position of the zoom ring, the method comprising determining whether the teleconverter is attached to the interchangeable lens, calculating the zoom position based on information detected by the zoom encoder, determining whether the zoom position is within a limited range in which optical performance deteriorates if the teleconverter is attached to the interchangeable lens, and changing information displayed on the display panel if the zoom position is within the limited range.
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.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0343380 to Watanabe et al. teaches notifying in-focus positions on a display.
U.S. Patent No. 8,682,152 to Kishida teaches an example of a camera with an intermediate lens unit and an interchangeable lens unit and the varying available zoom magnifications.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY C VIEAUX whose telephone number is (571)272-7318. The examiner can normally be reached Increased Flex.
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, 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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/GARY C VIEAUX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638