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 § 103
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 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 1 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (US Patent Pub. # 2022/0345629) in view of Park (US Patent Pub. # 2014/0355118).
As to claim 1, Park (629) teaches a sensor drive mechanism comprising:
a housing (first case 300 and second case 500) with a receiving space (accommodation space) (Para 92 and 93), including:
a top cover (300), including a first hole (first opening portion 310) penetrating thereon (Para 94); and
a bottom cover (500) enclosed the receiving space with the top cover (300) (Para 97);
an image sensor module (image sensor module 400), located opposite to the first hole (310) and received in the receiving space (Para 99);
an elastic support member (fixing part 700), fixed on an inner surface of the housing (300 and 500) and configured to suspend the image sensor module (400) in the receiving space (Para 136);
a driving coil (coil 916), fixed on the image sensor module (400) (Para 161); and
at least one magnet system (magnet 730) fixed on the housing (magnet holder 720), configured to interact with the driving coil (916) to drive the image sensor module (400) to move in a plane perpendicular with an optical axis direction (Para 161 and 250);
wherein each of the at least one magnet system (730) includes a plurality of magnet units (730) arranged at intervals (corners) (Para 162-167).
Park (629) does not teach each of the plurality of magnet units includes a first magnet, a second magnet, and a third magnet successively arranged along a direction perpendicular with the optical axis direction; a magnetization direction the first magnet and a magnetization direction the third magnet are opposite and both parallel to the optical axis direction; a magnetization direction of the second magnet is perpendicular with the optical axis direction. Park (118) teaches each of the plurality of magnet units (magnet member 250) includes a first magnet (first magnet 252), a second magnet (second magnet 254), and a third magnet (third magnet 256) successively arranged along a direction perpendicular with the optical axis direction; a magnetization direction the first magnet (252) and a magnetization direction the third magnet (256) are opposite and both parallel to the optical axis direction; a magnetization direction of the second magnet (254) is perpendicular with the optical axis direction (Para 76-81). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a magnet member as taught by Park (118) to the image sensor driving device of Park (629), to improve the driving force of the coils 230 even with coil and magnet member having the same size as those of an image stabilizer of the related art in which distribution of magnetic flux is substantially uniformly divided between the coil and the magnet member and between the location restoration unit and the magnet member (Para 89 of Park (118)).
As to claim 6, Park (118) teaches wherein the first magnet (252), the second magnet (254), and the third magnet (256) are integrated molded (made through another coupling process) or glued (bonding) to each other (Para 77).
As to claim 7, Park (118) teaches wherein along the optical axis direction, a height of the first magnet (252) is equal to a height of the third magnet (256), and larger than a height of the second magnet (254) (Para 102). Park (118) (Fig. 9) teaches the shape of the third magnet 466 may have any other shape when the magnetic flux flowing in the second magnet 464 flows to the first magnet 462 through the third magnet 466 during image stabilization (Para 102). The Examiner analyzes the limitation “the third magnet 466 may have any other shape” would include the magnet being shorter in height.
As to claim 8, Park (629) teaches further comprising a conductive member (second board region 716) including one end electrically connected with the image sensor module (400) and the other end connected with external device (external device) (Para 145).
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (US Patent Pub. # 2022/0345629) in view of Park (US Patent Pub. # 2014/0355118) and further in view of Lin (US Patent Pub. # 2021/0105388).
As to claim 2, Park (629) (Figs. 21 and 22) teaches wherein the image sensor module (400) is configured to move along a first direction (left or right) and a second direction (up or down) perpendicular with each other; the first direction (left or right) and the second direction (up or down) are both perpendicular with the optical axis direction (Para 250). Park (629) in view of Park (118) do not teach each of the plurality of magnet units is L-shaped; each of the plurality of magnet units includes a first magnet segment extended along the first direction, and a second magnet segment extended along the second direction. Lin teaches each of the plurality of magnet units (third driving magnet 6241) is L-shaped L-shaped); each of the plurality of magnet units (6241) includes a first magnet segment (vertical potion) extended along the first direction (vertical), and a second magnet segment (horizontal potion) extended along the second direction (horizontal) (Para 233). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a L-shaped magnet as taught by Lin to the image sensor driving device of Park (629) in view of Park (118), to provide a lens device with a new layout in structure to effectively reduce the length of the lens device (Para 9 of Lin).
As to claim 3, Park (629) teaches wherein the housing (300) is rectangular (rectangular parallelepiped shape) (Para 95); a total number of the plurality of magnet units is four (first to fourth magnets 731, 732, 733, and 734) (Para 163); each of the four magnet units (731, 732, 733, and 734); the corner magnet segment is arranged corresponding to a corner (corner) of the housing (300) (Para 163-168). Lin teaches further includes a corner magnet segment (portion connecting the vertical and horizontal potions of the magnet) connected with the first magnet segment (vertical potion) and the second magnet segment (horizontal potion) (Para 233);
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (US Patent Pub. # 2022/0345629) in view of Park (US Patent Pub. # 2014/0355118) further in view of Lin (US Patent Pub. # 2021/0105388) and further in view of Park (US Patent Pub. # 2024/0292076).
As to claim 4, note the discussion above in regards to claims 1, 2, and 3. Park (629) in view of Park (118) and further in view of Lin do not teach wherein a total number of the at least one magnet system is two; the two magnet systems are separately mounted on the top cover and the bottom cover; the driving coil is located between the two magnet systems. Park (076) wherein a total number of the at least one magnet system (two magnets 130 and 24) is two (two); the two magnet systems (130 and 24) are separately mounted on the top cover (130) and the bottom cover (24); the driving coil (second coil 230) is located between (between) the two magnet systems(130 and 24) (Paras 544). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a two magnets as taught by Park (076) to the image sensor driving device of Park (629) in view of Park (118) and further in view of Lin, to improve the electromagnetic force for OIS operation (Para 544 of Park (076)).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (US Patent Pub. # 2022/0345629) in view of Park (US Patent Pub. # 2014/0355118) and further in view of You (US Patent Pub. # 2024/0061317).
As to claim 5, note the discussion above in regards to claim 1. Park (629) in view of Park (118) do not teach wherein each of the at least one magnet system further comprises a magnetic plate sandwiched between the magnet unit and housing. You teaches wherein each of the at least one magnet system further comprises a magnetic plate (second magnetic plate 332d) sandwiched between the magnet unit (two second magnets 331d) and housing (housing 334) (Para 225). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a two magnets as taught by Park (076) to the image sensor driving device of Park (629) in view of Park (118), to provide a camera module and an electronic device, to ensure shooting quality of the camera module, and reduce a volume of the camera module (Para 6 of You).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER K PETERSON whose telephone number is (571)270-1704. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7AM-4PM.
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/CHRISTOPHER K PETERSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637 3/6/2026