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 .
DETAILED ACTION
2. This application is a continuation of application17/756670, now US patent 12,126,882 B2, issued on 10/22/2024. The Examiner acknowledges the following:
Claims 1 – 15 were filed by Applicant on 09/20/2024.
The drawings filed on 09/20/2024 are accepted by the Examiner.
Currently, claims 1 – 15 are pending and they are being examined on the merits.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The IDS document filed on filed on 09/20/2024 is acknowledged by the Examiner.
Priority
3A. Foreign priority date is claimed is disclosed in a PCT application PCT/KR2020/017692 dated as 12/04/2020 and which refers to a Korean application KR-10-2019-0160384 referring to the earliest date as 12/05/2019. Certified copies were filed to the office on 05/31/2022 with the parent application 17/756670.
Double Patenting
4. The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the "right to exclude" granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Omum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321 (c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
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5. Instant Application and parent application 17/756670 (US 12,126,882 B2 – allowed on October 22, 2024) present a Double Patent problem. As for that matter:
Claims 1 – 15 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 – 20 of parent Application No. 17/756670 (US 12,126,882 B2 – allowed on 10/22/2024), which is now allowed in view of Zhu(US 2023/0101960 A1), Kuehl (US 201480311787 A1 and Oh (US 10,676,039 B2) .
Regarding Claims 1 – 3:
Claims 1 – 3 are rejected under the non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting since it was already patented in the parent US 12,126,882 B2 in view of the references cited, and claims 1 – 3 are anticipated and fully encompassed by claim 1 and claim 18 of parent issued patent US 12,126,882 B2 and in view of the cited art.
Regarding Claim 15:
Claim 15 is rejected under the non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting since was already patented in the parent patent US 12,126,882 B2 in view of the references cited. Claim 15 is anticipated and fully encompassed by claims 11 and 17 of parent issued patent US 12,126,882 B2 and in view of the cited art.
As for the other claims: the correspondence is:
Parent claim Child claim
2 4
3 5
4 6
5 7
6 8
7 9
8 10
9 11
10 12
20 13
14 14
Note: Please, see Table I for the comparison between the claims of the parent patent US 12,126,882B2 (1st column) and the present application as the current claims (2nd column). That is not a complete list of all the current claims, but it indicates the most relevant limitations of claims that were already patented in the parent US 12,126,882 B2. All the independent claims and the dependent claims are indicated on the Table I as for simplification.
Table I: Comparison between the parent application 17/756670 (US 12,126,882 B2) and child application 18/891793
parent 17/765670 - now US 12,126882 B2
child 18/891793
1. A camera device comprising: a bracket; a camera module coupled to the bracket to be rotatable about a first axis; a viewing angle adjustment member including one side coupled to the bracket and an other side coupled to the camera module; and a support member coupled to the bracket; wherein the viewing angle adjustment member includes a body,
18. The camera device according to claim 14, wherein the one side and the other side of the viewing angle adjustment member are disposed in a second axis, and wherein the second axis is perpendicular to the first axis.
a hook portion formed on one side of the body and disposed between the bracket and the support member, and a screw thread formed on another side of the body,
wherein the hook portion extends from the body to an outer periphery, and wherein the camera module and the support member are located at opposite sides of the bracket.
1. A camera device comprising: a bracket; a camera module coupled to the bracket to enable viewing angle control; and a viewing angle adjustment member configured to adjust a viewing angle of the camera module, wherein the viewing angle adjustment member is rotatable in a first axis,
and wherein the camera module is rotatable about the bracket in a direction of a second axis perpendicular to the first axis.
2. The camera device according to claim 1, comprising a support member coupled to the bracket, wherein the viewing angle adjustment member includes a hook portion disposed between the bracket and the support member.
3. The camera device according to claim 2, wherein the viewing angle adjustment member includes a body and a screw thread formed on a side of the body, and wherein the hook portion extends from the body to an outer periphery.
2. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the support member includes a main body coupled to the bracket, and a protruded portion being extended from the main body and being in contact with a hook portion of the viewing angle adjustment member.
4. The camera device according to claim 3, wherein the support member includes a main body coupled to the bracket, and a protruded portion extended from the main body and in contact with the hook portion of the viewing angle adjustment member.
3. The camera device according to claim 2, wherein the protruded portion includes a plurality of protruded units, and the body is disposed in a space between the plurality of protruded units.
5. The camera device according to claim 4, wherein the protruded portion includes a plurality of protruded units, and the body is disposed in a space between the plurality of protruded units.
4. The camera device according to claim 3, wherein the support member includes a first opening formed between the plurality of protruded units.
6. The camera device according to claim 5, wherein the support member includes a first opening formed between the plurality of protruded units.
5. The camera device according to claim 2, wherein the protruded portion presses one surface of the hook portion so that an other surface of the hook portion is in contact with the bracket.
7. The camera device according to claim 4, wherein the protruded portion presses one surface of the hook portion so that an other surface of the hook portion is in contact with the bracket.
6. The camera device according to claim 5, wherein the main body of the support member is screw-coupled to the bracket.
8. The camera device according to claim 7, wherein the main body of the support member is screw-coupled to the bracket.
7. The camera device according to claim 2, wherein the support member includes a first guide portion formed on the main body, and wherein the bracket includes a second guide portion corresponding to the first guide portion.
9. The camera device according to claim 4, wherein the support member includes a first guide portion formed on the main body, and wherein the bracket includes a second guide portion corresponding to the first guide portion.
8. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the bracket includes a second opening in which the body of the viewing angle adjustment member is disposed.
10. The camera device according to claim 3, wherein the bracket includes a second opening in which the body of the viewing angle adjustment member is disposed.
9. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the hook portion of the viewing angle adjustment member in contact with the bracket is formed in a curved shape, and wherein the bracket includes an inclined surface having a curved shape corresponding to the curved shape of the surface of the hook portion.
11. The camera device according to claim 10, wherein a surface of the hook portion of the viewing angle adjustment member that contacts the bracket is formed in a curved shape, and wherein the bracket includes an inclined surface corresponding to the curved surface of the hook portion.
10. The camera device according to claim 9, wherein the inclined surface is disposed adjacent to the second opening, and wherein at least a portion of the surface of the hook portion is disposed in the second opening.
12. The camera device according to claim 11, wherein the inclined surface is disposed adjacent to the second opening, and wherein at least a portion of a surface of the hook portion is disposed in the second opening.
20. A camera device comprising: a bracket; a camera module coupled to the bracket to be rotatable about a first axis; a viewing angle adjustment member including one side coupled to the bracket and an other side coupled to the camera module; and a support member coupled to the bracket; wherein the viewing angle adjustment member includes a body, a hook portion formed on one side of the body and disposed between the bracket and the support member, and a screw thread formed on another side of the body, wherein the hook portion extends from the body to an outer periphery, and wherein the camera module includes a housing and extension portions extending from both ends of the housing, and wherein the extension portions are hinged to the bracket.
13. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the camera module includes a housing and an extension portion extending from an end of the housing, wherein the extension portion is hinged to the bracket.
14. A camera device comprising: a bracket; a camera module coupled to the bracket to be rotatable about a first axis; a viewing angle adjustment member including one side coupled to the bracket and an other side coupled to the camera module; and a support member coupled to the bracket; wherein the viewing angle adjustment member includes a body, a hook portion formed on one side of the body and disposed between the bracket and the support member, and a screw thread formed on another side of the body, wherein the hook portion extends from the body to an outer periphery, wherein the camera module includes a coupling part to which the other side of the viewing angle adjustment member is coupled so that a position of the camera module is adjustable, wherein the coupling part and the bracket are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined interval, and
wherein when a distance between the coupling part and the bracket increases, a gap between an upper part of the camera module and an upper part of the bracket becomes greater than a gap between a lower part of the camera module and a lower part of the bracket.
14. The camera device according to claim 1, wherein the camera module includes a coupling portion to which the viewing angle adjustment member is coupled such that the position of the camera module is adjustable, wherein the coupling portion of the camera module and the bracket are spaced apart at a certain interval, and
wherein when the distance between the coupling portion and the bracket becomes distant, a gap between an upper part of the camera module and an upper part of the bracket becomes larger than a gap between a lower part of the camera module and a lower part of the bracket.
11. A camera device comprising: a bracket; a camera module coupled to the bracket to enable viewing angle control; a viewing angle adjustment member configured to adjust a viewing angle of the camera module; and a support member configured to limit an unintentional movement of the viewing angle adjustment member, wherein the viewing angle adjustment member includes a hook portion, wherein the support member includes a protrusion configured to press the hook portion to contact the bracket, and wherein the camera module and the support member are located at opposite sides of the bracket.
17. The camera device according to claim 16, wherein the anti-loosening unit includes a flange part extending outward, wherein the flange part has a sawtooth shape, and wherein when the anti-loosening unit is fitted into the second groove, the flange part is press-fitted into an area adjacent to the second groove of the coupling part.
15. A camera device comprising: a bracket; a camera module coupled to the bracket to enable viewing angle control; a viewing angle adjustment member configured to adjust a viewing angle of the camera module; a support member limiting an unintentional movement of the viewing angle adjustment member;
and a loosening prevention portion press-fitted between the camera module and the viewing angle adjustment member.
In summary, claims 1 – 15 are rejected under non-statutory double patent for claims 1 – 20 of the great grandparent patent US 12,126,882 B2. Claims 1 – 15 were already patented in claims 1 – 20 of great parent patent US 12,126,882 B2 of 10/22/2024.
Conclusion
5. The prior art of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
1. Chui Ho Lee, US 12,126,882 B2 – it is the great parent of the current application and it presents a double patent problem with it. See the Double Patent rejection for more detail.
Contact
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARLY S.B. CAMARGO whose telephone number is (571)270-3729. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lin Ye can be reached on 571-272-7372. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MARLY S CAMARGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638