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 .
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.
Claims 1-3 and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Malone et al (US PGPub 2024/0240745 A1).
With regard to claim 1: Malone discloses a camera housing and support arrangement in Figures 1-9. The camera arrangement include an outer shell (combination of the outer surface of arm 104 as best seen in Figure 7, camera holder 904 integrated with an end of the arm as shown in Figure 9, and the outer housing of the camera unit 106 mounted by the holder, see ¶0081) surrounding at least a portion of the camera (the imaging portion of the camera unit is within element 106, and additionally a cable portion 116 of the camera passes through portions of the housing as best seen in Figures 7 and 9 and discussed in ¶0078 and 0081) and which includes an aperture formed therethrough (the aperture is slot 112) and a positional adjustment assembly which is coupled to the outer shell. The positional adjustment assembly is shown in cross section in Figure 8 and includes a hub component 522 which extends through the aperture of the shell; a tilt plate 516 which is coupled to and positioned adjacent a first end of the hub (the tilt plate in positioned next to the end of 522 marked by label 522 in Figure 8) which includes at least one tilt feature (see ¶0073 and ¶0080 disclosing tilt detents in the tilt plate which interact with protrusion 514 to fix the assembly at certain tilts); and an adjustment component 806 which is coupled to the hub component between a first end and a second end of the hub component and selectively adjustable between a locked position (in which teeth 808 engage with complementary portions of pole 102) and an unlocked position (in which the teeth do no engage), see ¶0080, with the positional adjustment assembly being configured to adjust at least one of a height or an angular tilt of the outer shell in response to said adjustment component being in the unlocked position (per ¶0080 placing the adjustment component into the unlocked position by actuation of button 108 allows for height adjustment of the assembly). The examiner notes that applicant’s specification ¶0054 as filed expressly indicates that “at least one of…” should be interpretated as requiring one of the listed option but not as requiring all of the listed options, meaning that as written and interpreted in light of the specification the adjustment of only height by Malone when 806 in in the unlocked position meets the claimed limitation that “at least one of a height or an angular tilt” be adjusted.
With regard to claim 2: The positional adjustment assembly of Malone is disclosed and shown as being positioned adjacent to and contacting a single support armature when in the locked position (when in the locked position the positional adjustment assembly contacts with support armature/arm 102 per ¶0080).
With regard to claim 3: The positional adjustment assembly of Malone includes a cam component which is coupled to and positioned adjacent to the second end of the hub component (button element 108, which bears against the end of 522 which moves in response to the profile of the button element, see ¶0080).
With regard to claim 5: The tilt feature of the tilt plate of Malone includes a plurality of fanned curved notches on an (outer edge) surface of the tilt plate. This is best seen in Figure 5A, where a series of small curved notches 518 can be seen on the outer edge of the tilt plate for receiving element 514. Note that while the tilt plate drawn in Figure 5A includes 4 such notches (positioned at 90° intervals), Malone discloses the inclusion of a fanned arrangement of 24 such notches in ¶0073 by indicating that the notches could be positioned every 15°.
With regard to claim 6: Malone discloses the inclusion of a securing component 514 which is coupled to the outer shell and which extends toward the tilt plate of the positional adjustment assembly to contact with the tilt feature of the tilt plate, see ¶0073.
With regard to claim 7: The adjustment component of Malone is configured to have an opening for receiving and circumferentially surrounding the hub component between the first end and the second end of the hub component. As drawn in Figure 8 element 522 passes through the middle of element 806, indicating the presence of a hole of some form in element 806.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-20 are allowed.
Claims 4 and 8-10 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
With regard to claim 4: While it is known to use cam elements which directly bear upon shaped geometry of a locking member to lock (when the cam and member are non-complementary and produce interference between each other) and unlock (when the shapes are complementary and allow movement) such cam locking arrangements are used in positions distinct from the limitations imparted by claims 1 and 3. Notably such locking cams are not positioned upon a hub to which the adjustment/locking component is coupled.
With regard to claims 8 and 10: The prior art does not teach arrangements with the structural features claimed in combination with the limitations of claim 1. The most pertinent prior art is that of Wang (CN 116066675 A, English machine translation attached). Wang includes an internal cavity defined by an outer shell in which a positional adjustment system (including both height and tilt adjustment) is incorporated and an actuation element 86 which simultaneously allows for adjustment of tilt and height when in the unlocked position. Wang however does not disclose a housing which surrounds at least part of a camera, instead being an open mounting platform as shown on Figure 2, and also there is not an element which can be reasonably considered to be a “hub” member which penetrates an opening in the outer portions of the device and which has the tilt adjustment and locking components as positioned as claimed in claim 1.
With regard to claim 9: The prior art documents which include features which meet the limitations of claim 1 do not have structures which have releasably coupled portions which are in the claimed positions relative to a sidewall portion which is defined as having the aperture extending through it.
With regard to claims 11-20: The prior art of record, alone or in combination, does not disclose nor indicates that a person having ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing would have found obvious the claims combination of limitations in a camera mount assembly or camera tower. Particularly, the prior art does not teach a configuration with a single support armature with a slidable mount disposed therein including a coupling portion and a camera housing positioned as claimed with the additional limitations regarding the inclusion of a chain element.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Feng et al (US Patent 11,808,402 B2) discloses a multi-axis coupling for a camera support platform on a slotted arm.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Leon W Rhodes Jr whose telephone number is (571)270-5774. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM - 6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Walter Lindsay can be reached at (571) 272-1674. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LEON W RHODES, JR/Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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