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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 1-6, 12-13, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsuhisa (CN 118377181 A, English machine translation attached).
With regard to claim 1: Matsuhisa discloses a lens device which comprises a housing 10 which comprises an opening (upper end portion of cylinder 50) and an accommodation space (inner portion of cylinder 50); a lens module (combination of 30 and 40) located within the accommodation space, a cover (combination of 91, 92, and 82) which is disposed in the opening and located above the lens module; and an elastic member 70 which comprises a first annular section 72 and a second annular section 71, wherein the first annular section is disposed between the cover and the housing and contact the cover (annular section 72 is pressed against surface 55 by flange portion 82b of the cover), and the second annular portion contacts a peripheral side of the lens cover at position 46 so that a sealed area is formed between the cover, the elastic member, and the lens module.
With regard to claim 2: The second annular section comprises a surrounding wall portion (the angled, section of 71 connecting the flat region to portion 73) connected to the surrounding wall portion, the surrounding wall portion surrounding the lens module while the annular abutment portion abuts the peripheral side (as can be best seen in Figure 6b).
With regard to claim 3: The housing of Matsuhisa comprises an inner platform 55 which surrounds the lens module, the first annular portion being supported on the inner platform and the second annular section being located between the inner platform and the lens module (again Figure 6b shows the configuration best, with portion 72 being supported on 55 and the inner second annular section extending outwardly from the point where it contacts with the peripheral surface of the lens module (in order to connect with portion 73).
With regard to claim 4: In Matsuhisa there is a first deformable space between the surrounding wall portion and the inner platform (in the form of region 73).
With regard to claim 5: The surrounding wall portion of Matsuhisa is drawn as having a first inner diameter which is greater than an outer diameter of the lens module at the contact point of the elastic element (as can be seen in Figure 6B and Figure 10B, all portions of 70 other than the very end of the inner section of 71 has a greater diameter than the lens module at the contact point). The annular abutment portion of the elastic element is such that it had, when not compressed, an inner diameter which is less than the outer diameter of the lens module (in order to maintain watertight contact with the lens module as disclosed in Matsuhisa the inner section of the elastic member must exhibit some amount of sealing force inward onto the lens module at the interface).
With regard to claim 6: The annular abutment portion includes a section which obliquely extends from a distal end of the surrounding wall portion toward a direction of the opening (inwardly), see annotated portion of Figure 11, below, and is located between the surrounding wall portion and the peripheral side so that there is a second deformable space between he annular abutment portion and the surrounding wall portion (see Figures 6B and 7B which show deformation of the elastic member in the extending portion area during lens movement).
With regard to claim 12: The elastic member comprises a third annular section 73 which is connected between the first annular second and the second annular section, and is configured to obliquely expand toward the opening alone an optical axis of the lens module (the third annular section includes portions which expand towards and expend away from the opening, due to the serpentine path of the structure as shown in Figure 11.
With regard to claim 13: The elastic member of Matsuhisa is shown as being integrally formed.
With regard to claim 17: Matsuhisa includes a holder (cam structure 42) which is disposed in the housing and within the accommodation space, with the lens module being disposed on the holder (the holder cam structure serving to support and position the lens module relative to the housing).
Claims 1, 8-11 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tsai (US PGPub 2024/0219815 A1).
With regard to claim 1: Tsai discloses a lens device which comprises a housing (combination of 130 and 110) which comprises an opening and accommodation space communicated with the opening (see cross section shown in Figure 2, element 130 is hollow inside and in has an inner, upward facing opening which is in combination with opening 111 of element 110 results in an open upper section); a lens module 150 which is disposed in the housing and located in the accommodation space; a cover 140 which is disposed in the opening an located above the lens module; and an elastic member 160 which comprises a first annular section 161 and a second annular section 162, with the first annular section being disposed between the cover and the housing and the second annular section contacting a peripheral side of the lens module (see Figure 2) such that a sealed area is formed between the cover, the elastic member, and the lens module (see ¶0037).
With regard to claim 8: The second annular section of Tsai is tapered toward a direction away from the opening along an optical axis of the lens module (due to the inclusion of design feature 152 as drawn in Figure 2.
With regard to claim 9: The second annular section has a maximum inner diameter (corresponding to the inner diameter of portion 162) and a minimum inner diameter (corresponding to the inner diameter of element 152) when not squeezed, with the maximum inner diameter being greater than an outer diameter of the lens module and the outer diameter of the lens module being greater than the minimum inner diameter (see Figure 2 and ¶0046).
With regard to claim 10: Tsai shows the second annular section having a thickness which is less than the thickness of the first annular portion, see ¶0044 describing the inclusion of a lowered-thickness easily deformable lens-module abutting portion of the second annular section.
With regard to claim 11: Tsai includes an inner wall (131a6) and an inner platform 131a1 disposed on the inner wall, the inner wall and the inner platform both being arranged to surround the lens module (as best seen in Figure 2). The first annular portion of the elastic member is supported on the inner platform (on surface 131a1) and the second annular section is located between the inner platform and the lens module (the second annular section is positioned between the platform to be compressed between the inner surface of the inner wall and the outer surface of the lens module).
With regard to claim 14: The inner platform of Tsai comprises a planar portion 131a1 against which a first section of the first annular portion (which makes contact with the cover) is abutted, see ¶0039.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 and 15-16 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 7: The prior art relating to lens devices does not teach the use of a c-shaped annular abutment portion positioned as claimed. While annular abutment portions are known int the art, the structures typically take the form of a rib shaped element as in CN 212229400 or a finger-shaped element as in Tsai.
With regard to claim 15: The prior art does not teach an arrangement as claimed with the elastic member being positioned between the cover and a planar section of the inner platform, and the first annular portion comprising first and second portions which are arranged as claimed.
Conclusion
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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