DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to application 18/913,324 filed on October 11, 2024. Claims 1-6 are pending in the application and have been examined by the Examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on October 11, 2024 was received and has been considered by the Examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kaga (US 2020/0037471).
Consider claim 1, Kaga teaches:
An imaging apparatus (see figures 1-9) comprising:
a casing (i.e. including front cover 20 and rear cover 21, figures 1A and 1B, paragraph 0045) at least partially including a metal part (“The front cover 20 and the rear cover 21 are both made of metal, such as magnesium and aluminum.” paragraph 0045), an outer surface of the casing (20, 21) including at least a part of which is formed by the metal part (see figures 1A and 1B, paragraph 0045);
a lens mount (optical unit, 11) provided on a front surface of the casing (see figures 3, 1A and 1B, paragraph 0040);
an image sensor (image sensor 12A or 12B) provided inside the casing (see figures 2 and 3, paragraph 0040), the image sensor (12A or 12B) being positioned rearward of the lens mount (11, i.e. when interpreting the top of figure 3 to be the front and the bottom of figure 3 to be the rear);
a thermally conductive sheet (heat dissipation sheet, 30, paragraphs 0055 and 0056) that transfers heat generated from the image sensor (12A or 12B, see paragraphs 0054 and 0055), to the metal part of the casing (“The heat-dissipation structure of the imaging apparatus 10 enables heat generated from the image-sensor units 14A and 14B to be dissipated to the front cover 20 and the rear cover 21, which are the exterior components, using a heat dissipation sheet 30 a heat dissipator.” paragraph 0055); and
an elastic member (elastic member, 35, paragraph 0060) biasing the thermally conductive sheet (30) toward an inner surface of the metal part of the casing (20) to maintain contact between the thermally conductive sheet (30) and the inner surface (The elastic member (35) biases the thermally conductive sheet (30) toward the metal part of the casing (20) via a restoring action force, as detailed in paragraph 0064 and shown in figure 9.).
Consider claim 2, and as applied to claim 1 above, Kaga further teaches that the metal part forms at least a part of a bottom surface of the casing (The casing (20, 21) is metal, as discussed with respect to claim 1. As such, a bottom surface of the casing (20, 21, figures 1A and 1B) is a metal part.).
Consider claim 3, and as applied to claim 2 above, Kaga further teaches that the casing (20, 21) includes a bottom casing (The Examiner interprets the front cover (20) to be a bottom casing.), the bottom casing (20) including the bottom surface of the casing (20, 21, see figures 1A and 1B), the bottom casing (20) being detachable (see figures 1A, 1B and 2), and the metal part is the bottom casing (The casing (20, 21) is metal, as discussed with respect to claim 1.).
Consider claim 4, and as applied to claim 1 above, Kaga further teaches a retainer member (support plate, 36a, figure 9, paragraph 0061) provided inside the casing (20, 21, see figures 2, 5 and 9) to face the inner surface at a distance from the inner surface (see figure 9), the retainer member (36a) receiving the elastic member (35, see figures 2, 5 and 9),
wherein the thermally conductive sheet (30) includes a tip end portion entering between the inner surface (i.e. of the casing 20) and the retainer member (36a, see figure 9), and
the elastic member (35) is arranged between the retainer member (36a) and the tip end portion of the thermally conductive sheet (30, see figure 9).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 6 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:
Consider claim 5, the prior art of record does not teach nor reasonably suggest that the retainer member is provided with a through hole through which the thermally conductive sheet passes, and the tip end portion is arranged between the inner surface and the retainer member by bending a part of the thermally conductive sheet having passed through the through hole, in combination with the other elements recited in parent claims 1 and 4.
Consider claim 6, and as applied to claim 1 above, Kaga further teaches a board (image-sensor board 13A or 13B) on which the image sensor (12A or 12B) is mounted (see figure 3, paragraph 0041).
However, the prior art of record does not teach nor reasonably suggest a board holder holding the board; and a main base holding the board holder such that the board holder is displaceable, wherein the thermally conductive sheet includes a part affixed to the main base, in combination with the other elements recited in claim 6 and parent claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Abe et al. (US 2023/0396863) teaches a camera with a thermal conducting graphite sheet for dissipating heat from an image sensor (see figures 8 and 13).
Koyama (US 2019/0163037) teaches a sheet (400) for transmitting generated heat to a camera housing (see figures 5 and 6, paragraph 0077).
Nagatsu (US 2024/0074115) teaches a camera housing (figures 1A and 1B) having an elastic member (341) for conducting heat therein (see paragraph 0029, figure 4B).
Tokiwa et al. (US 2006/0056049) teaches a camera with heat dissipation (see figure 3).
Abe (US 2022/0334455) teaches an imaging apparatus (figure 3) having a casing (20, 60) on which a lens (12) is mounted (see figure 3), an image sensor (32), a thermally conductive sheet (50) and an elastic member (40), wherein heat is transmitted from the image sensor (32) to the casing (20, 60) via the thermally conductive sheet (50, see paragraph 0023).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALBERT H CUTLER whose telephone number is (571)270-1460. The examiner can normally be reached approximately Mon - Fri 8:00-4:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sinh Tran can be reached at (571)272-7564. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALBERT H CUTLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637