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).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 12/20/2024 and 08/06/2026 have considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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)(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 1-6, 10, 12, 14-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee (WO Patent Publication Number 2022/019704 A1).
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 1, a reflective member driving device (Fig. 5 and 24) comprising a housing (1120 +1126), a holder (1131) disposed in the housing (1120 and 1126), a reflective member (1132) disposed on the holder (1131 and 1131a), a moving plate (1141) disposed between the housing (1131 and 1131a) and the holder (1120), a coil (1152) and a magnet (1151) configured to move the holder with respect to the housing; and an elastic member (EE) connecting the housing and the holder (Page 32, paragraph 3 “the elastic member EE may be coupled to the housing 1120 and the mover 1130”), wherein the moving plate (1141) is disposed on a first portion of the housing (See Fig, 24 the tight side of 1126), and wherein the elastic member (EE) is disposed at an opposite side of the moving plate (1141) from the first portion of the housing (1126) and directly coupled to the holder (EE is coupled to 1131a in Fig. 24 ).
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 2, wherein the housing (1120) comprises a first surface facing a first direction (see annotated figure under the rejection for claim 2), wherein the holder (1131a) comprises a protruding portion (PP2) protruding in the first direction (Fig.9), and wherein the elastic member (EE) is coupled to the first surface of the housing (1120) and the protruding portion (PP2) of the holder (1131 and 1131a).
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Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 3, wherein the protruding portion (PP2) of the holder is protruded to an opposite side of the moving plate (1141) from the first portion of the housing (see Fig.24).
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 4, wherein the elastic member (EE) comprises an outer portion coupled to the housing (Fig. 12 and Fig. 17a), an inner portion coupled to the holder (1131a and annotated Figure below), and a connecting portion connecting the outer portion and the inner portion (see annotated figure under the rejection for claim 5), wherein an optical axis of a light incident on the reflective member is a first optical axis (Fig. 3), wherein an optical axis of a light emitted from the reflective member is a second optical axis (Fig.3) , and wherein the inner portion is disposed than the outer portion at a cross section cut by an imaginary plane comprising the first optical axis and the second optical axis.1
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 5, wherein, in the cross section, the inner portion (see annotated figure under the rejection for claim 5) is disposed outer further outward than the moving plate (1141).
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Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 6, wherein the housing (1120) comprises a hole penetrating the housing in the first direction, and wherein the protruding portion (PP2) of the holder passes through the hole of the housing (see annotated figure under the rejection for claim 6).
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Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 10, a reflective member driving device (Fig. 5 and 24) comprising a housing (1120 +1126), a holder (1131 and 1131a) disposed in the housing (1120 and 1126), a reflective member (1132) disposed on the holder (1131 and 1131a), a moving plate (1141) disposed between the housing (1120 +1126) and the holder (1131 and 1131a), a coil (1152) and a magnet (1151) configured to move the holder with respect to the housing; and an elastic member (EE) coupled with the housing and the holder ( Page 32, paragraph 3 “the elastic member EE may be coupled to the housing 1120 and the mover 1130”),wherein the moving plate (1141) is pressed between the holder and the housing by the elastic member (Page 32, paragraph 4 “the tilting guide part 1141 disposed between the mover 1130 and the second member 1126 may be pressed by the elastic member EE”).
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 12, wherein the elastic member (EE) is configured to pull the holder in the first direction2.
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 14, wherein the moving plate (1141) is pressed between the holder (1131) and the housing (1020) by the elastic member Page 32, paragraph 4 “the tilting guide part 1141 disposed between the mover 1130 and the second member 1126 may be pressed by the elastic member EE”).
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 15, (Fig.3) a camera device comprising a printed circuit board (1300), an image sensor disposed on the printed circuit board (Page 6 bridging paragraph- Page 7 first paragraph “The circuit board 1300 may include an image sensor “); and a lens (lens in 1200) disposed in an optical path formed by the reflective member (See reflector in Fig.3) of the reflective member driving device (1100) and the image sensor (the image sensor in 1300).
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 16, An optical apparatus (Fig.54) comprising a main body (the phone in Fig. 54), the camera device (1000) disposed on the main body, and a display disposed on the main body and configured to output any one or more of a video or an image photographed by the camera device3.
Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 17, a reflective member driving device (Fig. 5 and 24) comprising a housing (1120 +1126), a holder (1131 and 1131a) disposed in the housing (1120 and 1126), a reflective member (1132) disposed on the holder (1131 and 1131a), a moving plate (1141) disposed between the housing (1120 +1126) and the holder (1131 and 1131a), a coil (1152) and a magnet (1151) configured to move the holder with respect to the housing; and an elastic member (EE) coupled with the housing and the holder ( Page 32, paragraph 3 “the elastic member EE may be coupled to the housing 1120 and the mover 1130”), wherein the housing (1120 and 1126) comprises a first surface facing a first direction, wherein the holder (1131 and 1131a) comprises a protruding portion (PP2) protruding more than the moving plate in the first direction4, and wherein the elastic member is coupled with the first surface of the housing and the protruding portion of the holder (see annotated figure under the rejection for claim 7).
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Lee teaches, as claimed in claim 20, wherein the moving plate (1141) is pressed between the holder (1131) and the housing (1020) by the elastic member (Page 32, paragraph 4 “the tilting guide part 1141 disposed between the mover 1130 and the second member 1126 may be pressed by the elastic member EE”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9, 11, 13, 18 and 19 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.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 7 which includes wherein the protruding portion of the holder comprises a first protruding portion disposed at one side of the first portion of the housing and a second protruding portion disposed at another side of the first portion of the housing, and wherein the elastic member is coupled with each of the first protruding portion and the second protruding portion
Regarding claims 8, 9 and 11 has dependency on claim 7.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 13 which includes wherein the first protruding portion comprises a portion overlapped with the first portion of the housing in a direction in which the first protruding portion faces the second protruding portion.
The prior art fails to teach all of the limitations of claim 18 which includes wherein the housing comprises a hole through which the two protruding portions of the holder pass.
Regarding claim 19 has dependency on claim 18.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lee (US Patent Publication Number 2018/0239162 A1) is considered the closest prior art which teaches a reflective member driving device (Fig. 4) comprising a housing (1010), a holder (1120) disposed in the housing (1010), a reflective member (1110) disposed on the holder (1120), a moving plate (1130) disposed between the housing (1030) and the holder5 (1120), a coil (1141b) and a magnet (1141a) configured to move the holder with respect to the housing; and an elastic member (1050 ¶0076 “ the stoppers 1050 may be formed of an elastic material to allow the driving holder 1120 to be smoothly moved in a state in which the driving holder 1120 is supported by the stoppers 1050.”) connecting the housing and the holder6, wherein the moving plate (1130) is disposed on a first portion of the housing ( left side of 1120), and wherein the elastic member (1050) is disposed at an opposite side (right side of 1120) of the moving plate (1130) from the first portion (left side of 1010), of the housing (1010) and directly coupled to the holder (Fig. 5).
Ho (Patent Number 10,754,124 B2) teaches a reflective member driving device comprising a housing, a holder disposed in the housing, a reflective member disposed on the holder.
Fujisaki (US Patent Publication Number 2020/0301160 A1) teaches a reflective member driving device comprising a housing, a holder disposed in the housing, a reflective member disposed on the holder.
Moriya (US Patent Number 10,321,061 B2) teaches a reflective member driving device comprising a housing, a holder disposed in the housing, a reflective member disposed on the holder.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOURNEY F SUMLAR whose telephone number is (571)270-0656. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4pm.
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, Ricky Mack can be reached at 571-272-2333. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300
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JOURNEY F. SUMLAR
Examiner
Art Unit 2872
06 August 2026
/RICKY L MACK/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872
1 Fig. 3 shows unit 1100. The first and second optical axis would meet at the inner portion of the reflective unit where light would be incident in the device
2 In Fig 24. EE would inherently pull the holder to the left (which is considered the first direction by the rotating force RF2 going in that direction)
3 The mobile phone inherently has a display that records videos and captures images.
4 See Fig 10, PP2 protrudes more than anu other part with respect to all the components in the housing including moving plate 1141.
5 See Fig. 8 that shows the device integrated.
6 Fig. 8 shows 1050 being connected to the sidewall of 1010 of the housing and the holder 1120 and
Prosecution Insights