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, 4-6, 12-14, 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0046063 to Sharma (“Sharma”).
Regarding claim 1, Sharma teaches a camera assembly, comprising:
an imaging device comprising a moving component movable in a first direction (Figure 2A shows the optical package 202a which moves in the z-axis direction); and
a position detector comprising:
two groups of stationary members disposed opposite to each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction (the position control magnets 218a are aligned in a second direction either x or y and is perpendicular to the z-axis); and
two movable members, wherein the two movable members are respectively mounted at two opposite ends of the moving component and located between the two groups of stationary members (the position sensor magnets are attached to the moving portion and move, see paragraph [0034]),
wherein the two movable members are disposed linearly in the second direction, wherein either one of the movable members or the stationary members comprise magnetic bodies (the stationary members comprise a magnet 218a, see Figure 2A),
wherein the other of the movable members or the stationary members comprise magnetic sensors, wherein the magnetic bodies and the magnetic sensors are in a one-to-one correspondence (reference number 208a may be a magnetic sensor, see paragraph [0071]), and
wherein the magnetic sensors are configured to detect magnetic field strengths of corresponding magnetic bodies (the sensor 208a may be a Hall sensor to detect magnetic fields).
Regarding claim 2, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, wherein each of the groups of stationary members comprises a plurality of stationary members disposed linearly in the first direction (a plurality of stationary members is positioned along the z-axis, see Figure 2A for example the magnets 218a and the base 204a are positioned linearly in the z-axis direction).
Regarding claim 4, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, wherein each of the groups of stationary members comprises a same quantity of the stationary members (the left and right side groups in Figure 2A comprise the same quantity of members).
Regarding claim 5, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, wherein each of the groups of stationary members comprises one, two, or three of the stationary members (each group comprises at least one stationary member).
Regarding claim 6, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, wherein all first stationary members of a first group of the two groups of stationary members are in a one-to-one correspondence with all second stationary members of a second group of the two groups of stationary members (the groups between the left and right side a symmetrical in Figure 2A).
Regarding claim 12, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, wherein the magnetic bodies are disposed in an attracting configuration, or the magnetic bodies are disposed in a repelling configuration (magnets inherently have either an attracting or repelling configuration).
Regarding claim 13, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, wherein the magnetic sensors comprise one of the following: a Hall effect sensor; a giant magnetoresistance sensor; a tunneling magnetoresistance sensor; an anisotropic magnetoresistance sensor; or a magnetic sensor integrated circuit (see paragraph [0071] regarding the Hall sensor).
Regarding claim 14, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, wherein the moving component comprises a lens group, wherein the lens group comprises at least one lens movable in the first direction, and wherein the two movable members are fastened and mounted on a same lens of the lens group (the optical package 202a includes the lens group which moves in the z-axis and the movable members move along with the movable lens group).
Regarding claim 16, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, further comprising a controller electrically coupled to each of the magnetic sensors, wherein the controller is configured to: receive magnetic field signals from the magnetic sensors; and determine, based on the magnetic field signals uploaded by each magnetic sensor, a position of the moving component (the position sensor magnets uses two magnets to sense the magnetic field components such that the sensor output can be used to measure a position, see paragraph [0035] for example).
Regarding claim 17, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 16, further comprising a driver electrically coupled to the controller and mechanically connected to the moving component, wherein the controller is further configured to control, based on the magnetic field signals uploaded by each magnetic sensor, the driver to drive the moving component in the first direction (the actuator moves the optical package based on the position control magnet output, see paragraph [0047]).
Regarding claim 18, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 16, wherein the magnetic sensors are electrically coupled to the controller, or wherein all of the magnetic sensors of each of the two groups of stationary members are electrically connected to a same connection end of the controller (controller 522, connected to peripheral interface 518 and processor 520, see Figure 5).
Regarding claim 19, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, wherein the magnetic bodies comprise a magnetite or a magnet (the magnetic bodies are magnets that generate magnetic fields, see paragraph [0034]).
Claim 20 is rejected similarly to claim 1.
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 3, 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharma.
Regarding claims 3, 7-11 Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, but is silent on the various configurations of the above stated claims such as: wherein one of the movable members comprises two of the magnetic bodies, and wherein one of the stationary members comprises one of the magnetic sensors; or the two groups of stationary units have different quantities of stationary members; or a difference between a first quantity of first stationary members of a first group of the two groups of stationary members and a second quantity of second stationary members of a second group of stationary members is 1, 2, or 3; or a first quantity of first stationary members of a first group of the two groups of stationary members comprises one stationary member and a second quantity of second stationary members of a second group of stationary members is two or three stationary members, etc.
While Sharma does not teach the specific configurations and various different options or changing the numbers or quantities within groups or the placement within the groups, it would have been obvious to make adjustments to numbers or placements and other alternatives especially when stationary members is not defined and can be counted as any object. It 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 to modify the teaching of Sharma to include any variations to components and groups according to the specific needs of the device.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharma as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0124228 to Park (“Park”).
Regarding claim 15, Sharma teaches the camera assembly of claim 1, but is silent on wherein the moving component comprises a photosensitive chip. It is known in the art that for stabilization, either the optical system or the imaging sensor must be moved to compensate for movement. Park teaches that the lens or an image sensor is directly moved for optical image stabilization (see paragraph [0005]). It 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 to modify the teaching of Sharma with that of Park to move the image sensor, a photosensitive chip, to achieve the same purpose of optical image stabilization.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMY R HSU whose telephone number is (571)270-3012. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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AMY R. HSU
Examiner
Art Unit 2664
/AMY R HSU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638
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