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
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 1-2 and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ito (JP2010039025).
Regarding claim 1, Ito discloses a light source angle-adjustment device, adapted to be disposed adjacent to a camera lens, comprising:
a light-emitting member having a light outlet (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See strobe window 80; [0009]), wherein a light of the light-emitting member is emitted from the light outlet along a light path (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See light emitting unit 40; [0006]);
the light outlet faces away from the camera lens ((Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See direction of strobe window 80 that faces away from lens 6);
a reflecting member disposed in the light path of the light-emitting member, wherein the reflecting member has a reflecting surface (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See light see reflector 30 and reflecting surface 30a-30b; [0006; 0020-0021]);
the reflecting surface reflects the light emitted by the light-emitting member (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See reflecting surface 30a-30b that reflect light emitting by the light emitting unit 40; [0017-0020-0025]);
the light outlet faces the reflecting member (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14:See strobe window 80 that face with reflector surfaces 30a-30 at an angle ); and
a driving member connected to the reflecting member (See combination of CPU, slide rail 36 and arm 34 that are interconnect with reflector 30 in order to control the operation of the reflector 30; [0013-0016; 0019-0023; 0029-0032]), wherein the driving member drives the reflecting member to rotate around an axis to change an angle provided between the light path and the reflecting surface ([0012; 0019-0023; 0029-0032]: reflecting plate 30 is rotatable at any or predetermined angle).
Regarding claim 2, Ito discloses the light source angle-adjustment device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a positioning member disposed adjacent to the reflecting member (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See arm 34 that is adjacent to reflector unit 30), wherein the reflecting member is driven by the driving member to rotate between a start position and a work position (Drawing. 4 and 8: see start positions wherein reflector 40 is still adjacent to arm 34; Drawing 10: see positions where reflector 30 rotates out of arm 34 are interpreted as work positions); the positioning member is adapted to secure the reflecting member at the start position (Reflector 40 is secured between arm 34 in drawing 4 and 8).
Regarding claim 5, Ito discloses the light source angle-adjustment device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a support (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See camera body/ housing 4) disposed between the camera lens (6) and the reflecting member (30), wherein the light-emitting member is disposed on the support (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: see light emitter 40 in camera body/ housing 4).
Regarding claim 6, Ito discloses the light source angle-adjustment device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reflecting surface is a flat surface or a curved surface with a curvature (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See flat reflecting surfaces 30a-30b of reflector 30).
Regarding claim 7, Ito discloses the light source angle-adjustment device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light path of the light-emitting member is not parallel to an optical axis of the camera lens (Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: The light path of emitting unit 40 is perpendicular to the optical axis of lens 6).
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.
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito in view of Ohtaki (US4068245).
Regarding claim 8, Ito discloses the photographing module, comprising: a light source angle-adjustment devices as claimed in claim 1 and a camera lens (See the rejection of clam 1 and lens 6 in Drawing 7, 9, 13-14).
However, Ito fails to disclose plurality of light source angle-adjustment devices, wherein the plurality of light source angle-adjustment devices are disposed to surround the camera lens.
In an analogous of art, Ohtaki teaches a detachable lens cap 107 that surrounds by two angle adjustable stroboscopic units 101-102 and two illumination light sources 112i-113i (Fig. 9-12; col. 7, ln. 40-51). According to Ohtaki, the illumination light source housings 112-113 illuminates a center of an object when operating the focus adjustment for an object at a super close distance (col. 7, ln. 49-55) and the values of flash angle and flash output may be varied with the variation in the object distance or may be fixed at such values that exposure errors are minimized (col. 10, ln. 65-col. 11, ln. 23). In light of the teaching from B , it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the detachable lens cap structure, angle adjustable stroboscopic units and illumination light sources of Ohtaki. The modifications thus provide a means for adjusting flash angles/values around a lens/cap in according to object distances, extending camera’s lighting range and reducing exposure errors (Ohtaki: col. 10, ln. 65-col. 11, ln. 23).
Regarding claim 9, Ito in view of Ohtaki discloses the photographing module as claimed in claim 8, further comprising
an annular support (Ohtaki: See support structures of detachable lens cap 107), wherein the annular support surrounds a reference axis to form a receiving space for receiving the camera lens (Ohtaki: Fig. 9-12: See receiving space in the center lens cap 107 for receiving camera lens L in Fig. 11; col. 7, ln. 65-67);
the light-emitting members of the plurality of light source angle-adjustment devices are disposed on the annular support to surround the camera lens (Ito: Drawing 7, 9, 13-14: See the light emitting unit 40; Ohtaki: See stroboscopic units 101-102 and 112i-113i on lens cap 107);
the reflecting members (Ohtaki: Fig. 12: reflector 120-122) and the driving members of the plurality of light source angle-adjustment devices are disposed corresponding to the light-emitting members of the plurality of light source angle-adjustment devices (Ohtaki: Fig. 10 and 12: See the housing and/or angle adjustment members of stroboscopic units 101-102 corresponding to xenon tubes 121-123) and are disposed on a peripheral edge of the annular support to surround the annular support (Ohtaki: Fig. 9-12: See the housing and/or angle adjustment members of stroboscopic units 101-102 are located on the peripheral edge of the lens cap 107).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 3, the Prior art of Ito discloses an angle adjustable reflective lighting system. The prior art of Ohtaki discloses an attachable lens cap comprising two illumination light sources and two angle adjustable reflective light sources. The prior art of Bonifer (US20160112616) discloses two adjustable angle flashes. The prior art of Lee (US2007/0297777) discloses a split angle light source. The prior art of Houjou (US2018/0279942) discloses a medical imaging device having plurality of light surrounding a camera lens at different angles or directions. Thus, while many references teach plurality of adjustable angle light sources, none of the references alone or in combination, provide a motivation to teach the light source angle-adjustment device as claimed in claim 1 further in combination with: “a positioning member and a control member, wherein the positioning member is a sensor; the control member is respectively and electrically connected to the sensor and the driving member; the sensor is disposed adjacent to the reflecting member and is adapted to sense a position of the reflecting member; the control member controls the driving member to operate based on a sensed signal of the sensor”.
Regarding dependent claim 4, the claims are allowed as being dependent of claim 3, respectively.
Regarding claim 10, the prior art of Ito discloses an angle adjustable reflective lighting system. The prior art of Ohtaki discloses an attachable lens cap comprising two illumination light sources and two angle adjustable reflective light sources. The prior art of Bonifer (US20160112616) discloses two adjustable angle flashes. The prior art of Lee (US2007/0297777) discloses a split angle light source. The prior art of Houjou (US2018/0279942) discloses a medical imaging device having plurality of light surrounding a camera lens at different angles or directions. Thus, while many references teach plurality of adjustable angle light sources, none of the references alone or in combination, provide a motivation to teach the photographing module as claimed in claim 9 further in combination with: “wherein the light paths of the light-emitting members of the plurality of light source angle-adjustment devices are not parallel to the reference axis”.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG H LAM whose telephone number is (571)272-7367. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM.
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/HUNG H LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639 01/06/26