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 .
Response to Amendment
1. This office action is in response to communications filed 6/3/2026 Claims 7 and 17 are amended. Claims 2-6, 15-16 are original. Claims 1, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26 are previously presented. Claims 9-10 are canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks pages 6-12, filed 6/3/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 14, 17 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent 11,322,149 Kim in view of CN 201210017321 A Sun and claim(s) 18, 19, 20, 21, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN 201210017321 A Sun have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Claim(s) 18, 19, 20, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 201210017321 A Sun [English Translation provided] in view of U.S. Patent 5318257 Tani.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-8, 11-17 are allowed.
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
1. Claim(s) 18, 19, 20, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 201210017321 A Sun [English Translation provided] in view of U.S. Patent 5318257 Tani.
2. Regarding Claim 18, Sun discloses A stand for a mobile device (Fig. 7), which includes a camera and a touchscreen (mobile device 61 in fig. 7 includes a camera and touchscreen), the stand comprising:
a pedestal, comprising a base for placement on a surface and a turntable configured to rotate on the base (Figs. 7: 12 rotating platform [i.e. base], Fig. 9: 91 rotating platform);
a strut protruding upward from the pedestal (Fig. 6; abstract, “intelligent mobile phone shooting tripod head design, generally small digital camera and mobile phone with shooting function, omnidirectional shooting tripod head comprises a pedestal, a rotating platform and a carrier sleeve piece; the rotating platform is set on the base and can rotate on the pedestal, carrier set is arranged on the rotating platform”);
a telescopic arm having a first end attached by a hinge to the strut so that the telescopic arm swivels on the hinge (see Fig. 6); and
a mount for the mobile device (fig. 7), which is attached by an articulating joint to a second end of the telescopic arm (Fig. 6: second end is the telescoping arm that swivels into an omnidirectional position) and is configured to hold the mobile device stably in at least a first position in which the camera is positioned to capture images of the surface and a second position in which the mobile device is rotated to enable a user to interact with the touchscreen (abstract, “an omnidirectional shooting cradle head, mainly is omnidirectional shooting tripod head solves the problem that the conventional technology of larger and monocular camera shooting and use of various electronic parts, all-angle of the invention applied to intelligent mobile phone shooting tripod head design, generally small digital camera and mobile phone with shooting function, omnidirectional shooting tripod head comprises a pedestal, a rotating platform and a carrier sleeve piece; the rotating platform is set on the base and can rotate on the pedestal, carrier set is arranged on the rotating platform. for carrier shooting unit, shooting unit is linked with the rotating platform when the rotary platform rotates, by said structure, the angle of the invention shooting tripod head can be applied to all kinds of occasions 360, elevation 90 degrees and 90 degrees panoramic shooting.”).
However, Sun does not explicitly disclose a telescopic arm having a first end attached by a hinge to the strut so that the telescopic arm swivels on the hinge
Tani teaches a telescopic arm (Col. 1 lines, 50-57, “a movable arm having first and second articulations at the upper and lower ends thereof, respectively, and displaceable in the up-down direction in the interior of the tubular body, said arm being completely accommodated in the tubular body at the lowermost position and completely drawn out of the tubular body through an opening formed at the upper end of the tubular body at the uppermost position.”) having a first end attached by a hinge to the strut so that the telescopic arm swivels on the hinge (Col. 4 lines 16-19, “In FIG. 5, a slide arm 30 is secured to the lower end of the movable arm 8 by a pin 31, as a second articulation, by which the movable arm 8 is tiltable forward and rearward relative to the slide arm 30.” Col. 4 lines 19-24, “As shown in FIG. 4, a slide member 32 having an inverse U-shaped cross-section is fixed at the lower end of the slide arm 30. A spool 34, on which a coil spring 33 is wound, is rotatably held in the U-shaped inner space of the slide member 32 by a pin 35.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Sun’s strut to be an extendable telescoping member hinged to swivel relative to the pedestal, with the mount attached to the distal end of the telescoping member by an articulating joint, as such telescoping and articulating support arms were well know in the art of camera and mobile device stand at the time of filing. See [US 5318,257] (disclosing a tubular body/strut standing uprightly on a rotatable pedestal, a movable telescoping arm displaceable in and out of the tubular body via a first hinge/articulation permitting the arm to swivel relative to the strut, and a camera/device holder attached to the distal end of the arm by second articulating joint enabling repositioning of the held device). Incorporating a telescoping, hinged arm of this known type into Sun’s stand would have yielded the predictable result of an adjustable-height, adjustable-reach mount, allowing the camera to be positioned at varying distances and angles from the surface being photographed.
3. Regarding Claim 19, Sun discloses The stand according to claim 18, wherein in the first position the mobile device is horizontal (Fig. 6; omnidirectional/horizontal), and in the second position the mobile device is vertical (Fig. 7 appears vertical).
4. Regarding Claim 20, Sun video discloses The stand according to claim 18, wherein the pedestal comprises a counterweight, which is mounted on the turntable opposite the vertical strut (Fig. 6: a pedestal comprises a counterweight, which is mounted on the turntable opposite the vertical strut).
5. Regarding Claim 21, Sun discloses The stand according to claim 18, wherein the pedestal comprises a scale indicating an angle of rotation of the pedestal relative to the surface ([0024], “the base 11 has 360 degrees of the angle scale 14...the base 11 of the angle scale 14 know the rotating angle of the rotating platform 12”).
6. Claim(s) 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun in view of Tani as applied to claim 18 above, and further in view of NPL Video “Portable Phone Holder with LED Wireless Dimming Light Filled with Selfie Used-8579707” (5 May 2021) 2021-05-05 Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCWT3ni9u_s
7. Regarding Claim 24, Sun in view of Tani discloses The stand according to claim 18,
However, Sun in view of Tani does not explicitly disclose comprising one or more lights for illuminating the surface.
Further, NPL Video discloses comprising one or more lights for illuminating the surface (the stand comprises lights, See Sec. 6-9 of video).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the image capture system of Sun to include a stand with integrated illumination, such as the selfie stick lighting system as taught by the NPL Video, in order to improve image quality during capture of cooking scenes by providing consistent illumination of the cooking surface, thereby facilitating more reliable recognition of ingredients and cooking operations.
8. Claim(s) 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun in view of Tani as applied to claim 18 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application 2014/0029183, Ashcraft et al.
9. Regarding Claim 22, Sun in view of Tani discloses The stand according to claim 18,
However, Sun in view of Tani does not explicitly disclose comprising a stylus, which is held on the stand and configured for interaction with the touchscreen.
Further, Ashcraft teaches comprising a stylus (Fig. 3A: Stylus 320, [0014]), which is held on the stand (stylus clip 310) and configured for interaction with the touchscreen ([0011], “Stylus 120 represents a pen-shaped tool for facilitating user input on a touch- based computing device” stylus can interact with touchscreen).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the stylus clip as taught in Ashcraft and incorporate onto a side of the portable mobile device stand as taught in Sun in order to hold a stylus so that the user can access an area for a stylus when their fingers are messy and won’t operate the touch screen of the mobile device. Hence, providing better precision and control for small interface elements. Therefore, eliminating unintended touches.
10. Claim(s) 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun in view of Tani as applied to claim 18 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent 10,535,360, Ho et al.
11. Regarding Claim 23, Sun in view of Tani discloses The stand according to claim 18,
However, Sun in view of Tani does not explicitly disclose wherein the mount comprises a communication chip for communicating with the mobile device.
Ho teaches wherein the mount comprises a communication chip (Fig. 1: local wireless network interface 626) for communicating with the mobile device (Col. 4 lines 28-31, system controller 630 interacts with phone 111 over one or more data communication sessions via local wireless network interface 626 to phone 111 to process voice session 121 and audio session 141).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the phone stand 600 which comprises a local wireless network interface (i.e. communication chip) with the portable phone holder as taught in Sun. The combination would provide predictable benefits of allowing the holder not only to support the phone physically but also to enable wireless connectivity and audio output. Hence reducing the need for separate accessories and improves user convenience.
12. Claim(s) 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun in view of Tani as applied to claim 18 above, and further in view of CN 110278312A Li et al. (English Translation provided).
13. Regarding Claim 25, Sun in view of Tani discloses The stand according to claim 18,
However, Sun does not explicitly disclose comprising a fan configured to ventilate the camera.
Further, Li teaches comprising a fan configured to ventilate the camera (Page 4 para 3, the front end of the rod body is connected with a bracket 2, the bracket 2 is provided with a cooling fan 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine a cooling fan as taught in Li and combine it to the portable phone holder as taught in the Sun in order to “assist in cooling the smartphone phone [i.e. camera], so as to ensure the safety and stability of using a mobile phone when using the selfie rod, prolongs the service life of the mobile phone battery.” See Li page 2-3, last para of page 2 first para of page 3.
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMER KHALID whose telephone number is (571)270-5997. The examiner can normally be reached Monday- Friday 9am-7pm.
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/OMER KHALID/Examiner, Art Unit 2422
/JOHN W MILLER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2422
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