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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 5, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abe (US Patent # 11,754,911) in view of Yoon et al. (US PGPUB 20210029855).
[Claim 1]
Abe teaches an image pickup apparatus comprising:
an image sensor (32, fig. 3) configured to image an object image formed by an optical system (10);
a substrate (30) arranged on an image side of the image sensor (fig. 3);
a plurality of electric elements mounted on a mounting surface on the image side of the image sensor, each with a different protruding amount from the mounting surface (col. 3 lines 15-18, In addition to the imaging device 32, a circuit for processing data output from the imaging device 32 may be mounted on the imaging substrate 30);
a heat dissipation sheet (elastic member 40) in contact with the plurality of electric elements (fig. 3 shows elastic member 40 in contact with imaging device 32 and the substrate 30 on which a circuit for processing image data is mounted, When the elastic member 40 is made of a material of relatively high thermal conductivity, the diffusion of heat generated by the imaging device 32 into the holding member 20 through the elastic member 40 is promoted); and
a heat dissipation member (50) arranged to sandwich the heat dissipation sheet (40) with the substrate (As illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the plate-like member 50 is located farther from the optical axis 16 than the inside perimeter of the elastic member 40 and overlaps at least part of the elastic member 40 when viewed in the direction of the optical axis 16 of the lens 12. The plate-like member 50 includes a portion in contact with the holding member 20 and a portion in contact with the elastic member 40. The contact between the plate-like member 50 and the elastic member 40 promotes the diffusion of heat generated by the imaging device 32 through the elastic member 40 and into the plate-like member 50),
wherein the heat dissipation member (50) includes an attachment surface in contact with the heat dissipation sheet (see fig. 3),
wherein part of the heat dissipation sheet (40) is pressed by part of the plurality of electric elements (col. 3 lines 15-18, In addition to the imaging device 32, a circuit for processing data output from the imaging device 32 may be mounted on the imaging substrate 30) and the attachment surface, wherein, when viewed from the image side, the image pickup apparatus includes a first area where the heat dissipation sheet (40) overlaps with the heat dissipation member (40 overlaps with 50) and a second area where the heat dissipation sheet is exposed without overlapping with the heat dissipation member (Part of 40 is exposed without overlapping).
Abe fails to teach wherein, among the plurality of electric elements in contact with the heat dissipation sheet, a first electric element with the largest protruding amount is located in the second area. However Yoon teaches in which a heat dissipation sheet 391 (fig. 6) is pressed by electric elements 341 and part of heat dissipation member 392 where it is exposed or not covered by 392 has a first electric element on the right side in the second area which is the largest protruding amount in the second area.
Therefore taking the combined teachings of Abe and Yoon, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have been motivated to have the plurality of electric elements in contact with the heat dissipation sheet, a first electric element with the largest protruding amount is located in the second area in order to prevent entry of dust and light and enable dissipation of heat.
[Claim 2]
Abe teaches a holding member (20, fig. 3) arranged around the image sensor with a predetermined gap, wherein the image sensor is fixed to the holding member by filling the gap with an adhesive, and wherein the adhesive is applied to an object side surface of the holding member (The imaging substrate 30 is joined to the holding member 20. The imaging substrate 30 may be bonded to the holding member 20 with, for example, an adhesive).
[Claim 4]
Yoon teaches wherein a plurality of second electric elements, among the plurality of electric elements, having a protruding amount larger than a predetermined value, are located within the same second area (In fig. 6, a plurality of electric elements 341 on the right side have a protruding amount larger than a predetermined value, are located within the same second area) in order to provide shielding to prevent entry of dust and light and enable dissipation of heat.
[Claim 5]
Abe teaches a holding member arranged around the image sensor with a predetermined gap (in fig. 3, holding member 20 and image sensor have a gap), wherein positions of the image sensor (32), the substrate (30), the holding member(20), the heat dissipation sheet (40), and the heat dissipation member (50) are adjusted integrally(The imaging substrate 30 may be joined to the holding member 20 by fastening with screws or the like or with adhesive. By tightening the screws or adhesive the positioning of the image sensor can be changed with respect to the holding member, dissipation sheet and member).
[Claim 9]
Abe teaches wherein a shape of the heat dissipation sheet is rectangular (In fig. 3, 40 is a rectangular shape).
[Claim 10]
Yoon teaches wherein at least part of each side of the heat dissipation sheet is located within the first area when viewed from the image side (In fig. 6, part of heat dissipation sheet 391 is located in a first area or the left side when viewed from image side) in order to dissipate heat.
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abe (US Patent # 11,754,911), Yoon et al. (US PGPUB 20210029855) and in further view of Ogawa et al. (US PGPUB 20210289110).
[Claim 6]
Abe in view of Yoon fails to teach wherein a connector is arranged on the mounting surface, and wherein the heat dissipation sheet is arranged on both sides of the connector when viewed from the image side. However Ogawa teaches The lens holding part 25 includes a lens mount unit 50 to which the interchangeable lens 3 is fixed, a lens connector unit 51 serving as an electrical connection terminal to the interchangeable lens 3, a lens sensor unit 52 holding the imaging sensor 26, a lens sensor circuit board 53 having a circuit processing an image signal from the imaging sensor 26, and a sensor heat dissipation plate 54 for cooling heat-generating components mounted on the lens sensor circuit board 53 (Paragraph 115). Therefore taking the combined teachings of Abe, Yoon and Ogawa, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have been motivated to have wherein a connector is arranged on the mounting surface, and wherein the heat dissipation sheet is arranged on both sides of the connector when viewed from the image side in order to cool heat-generating components mounted on a circuit board.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 7, 8 and 11 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 prior art fails to teach as in claim 3, “D-H<(4/5)xT
where H is the protruding amount of the first electric element from the mounting surface, D is a distance from the mounting surface to the attachment surface, and T is a thickness of the heat dissipation sheet”, claim 7, “holding member arranged around the image sensor with a predetermined gap, wherein the heat dissipation member includes a bent-up portion extending
toward an object side from an end of a flat portion that includes the attachment surface, and a flange portion extending outward in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of the optical system from an end of the bent-up portion, and wherein the flange portion is in contact with the holding member and is fixed to the holding member while being in contact with the holding member”, claim 11, “wherein the heat dissipation member includes a bent-up portion extending toward an object side from an end of a flat portion that includes the attachment surface, and wherein a corner formed by two sides of the heat dissipation sheet adjacent to the bent-up portion is located in the second area when viewed from the image side”. Claim 8 is dependent from claim 7.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YOGESH K AGGARWAL whose telephone number is (571)272-7360. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30-6.
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/YOGESH K AGGARWAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637