Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 19/044,814

COOLING APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONIC APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §DP
Filed
Feb 04, 2025
Priority
Mar 01, 2022 — JP 2022-030864 +1 more
Examiner
CAMARGO, MARLY S.B.
Art Unit
2638
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Canon Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
9m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allowance Rate
594 granted / 684 resolved
+24.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +12% lift
Without
With
+12.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 2m
Avg Prosecution
11 currently pending
Career history
693
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.6%
-38.4% vs TC avg
§103
63.8%
+23.8% vs TC avg
§102
18.9%
-21.1% vs TC avg
§112
5.7%
-34.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 684 resolved cases

Office Action

§DP
CTNF 19/044,814 CTNF 84776 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. DETAILED ACTION 2. This is the initial Office Action based on the application filed02/04/2025. This application is a Continuation of application 18/172371, now US patent 12,248,229 B2 (issued on 03/11/2025). The Examiner acknowledges the following: 3. Claims 1 – 14 were file by Applicant. 4. The drawings filed on 02/04/2025 are accepted by the Examiner. 5. Currently claims 1 – 14 are pending and they are being considered for examination. Information Disclosure Statement 6. The IDS documents filed on 02/04/2025 and 04/02/2026 are acknowledged by the Examiner. Priority 7. Acknowledgement is made to the priority documents referring to a Japanese application JP-2022-030864, with filing date03/01/2022. Certified copy was filed to the office on04/13/2023 with the parent patent application 18/172371. Double Patenting 08-33 AIA 8. The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the "right to exclude" granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Omum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969). A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321 (c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b). ___________________________________________________ 5. Instant Application and parent application 17/354948 (US 11,852,534 B2 – allowed on December 26, 2023) present a Double Patent problem. As for that matter: Claims 1 and 5 – 14 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 and 2 – 10 of parent Application No. 18/172371 (US 12,248,229 B2) allowed on March 11, 2025, which is now allowed in view of Arai (US 2018/0376037A1), Kawamura (US 2014/0055671 A1) and Kobayashi (US 2009/0002549 A1). Note: Please, see Table I for the comparison between the claims of the parent patent US 12,248,229 B2 (1 st column) and the present application as the current claims (2 nd column). That is not a complete list of all the current claims, but it indicates the most relevant limitations of claims that were already patented in the parent US 12,248,229 B2. Regarding Claim 1: As seen in Table I, parent case claim 1 has more limitations than the current application combination of claim 1 and claim 5. Table I shows common limitations as bolded and underlined portions represent the limitations that are common to both. The current claim 1 and claim 5 limitations were already patented in claim 1 of the parent patent US 12,248,229 B2. Therefore, claim 1 and claim 5 are rejected under non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting in view of the references cited, and they are anticipated and fully encompassed by claim 1 of parent issued patent US 12,248,229 B2. Regarding Claims 2 – 4: Claims 2 – 4 are rejected under double patent based on its dependence to a rejected claim. Note: claims 2 – 4 are not disclosed on the parent patent claim disclosure. Note also that tripod with different screws are common use for cameras and those claims and do not add any patentable value to the claims. Regarding claims 6 – 14: The limitations present in those claims were already patented in the parent patent claims 2 – 10, as indicated in Table I by the bolded and underlined portions o the claims disclosure that are common to parent and to present application. Therefore, claims 6 – 14 are rejected under non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting in view of the references cited, and they are anticipated and fully encompassed by claims 2 – 10 of parent issued patent US 12,248,229 B2. 19/044814 - Non-Statutory Double Patent Table Table I: Comparison between the parent application 18/172371 (US 12,248,229 B2) and child application 19/044814 Parent 18/172371– claims allowed on 03/11/2025– US 12,248,229 B2 Child – 19/044814 1. A cooling apparatus that feeds cooling air to a heat exchanger of an electronic apparatus, the cooling apparatus comprising: a fan; and a body frame configured to hold the fan, wherein the fan includes a blade configured to be housed in a casing and to rotate about a fan shaft, and discharges air drawn from a fan inlet opening of the casing into a fan exhaust opening of the casing, wherein the fan inlet opening surrounds the fan shaft, and wherein the fan exhaust opening is provided in a tangent line direction of a rotational direction of the blade, wherein the body frame includes an air-leading duct configured to feed, to the heat exchanger, the air discharged into the fan exhaust opening, wherein a first direction is a direction in which air is fed from the air-leading duct to the heat exchanger, a first plane is a plane orthogonal to the first direction, and a second plane is a plane parallel to the first direction, and wherein the fan is tilted by a first tilt relatively to the first plane so that, in the first direction, the fan exhaust opening is closer to the heat exchanger than the blade, and is tilted by a second tilt about the fan shaft so that in a view from the first direction, the fan exhaust opening is tilted relatively to a direction parallel to the second plane. 1. An accessory apparatus capable of being attached to a bottom side of an image pickup apparatus, the cooling apparatus comprising: a fan; and a body frame configured to hold the fan, wherein the fan includes a blade configured to be housed in a casing and to rotate about a fan shaft, and discharges air drawn from a fan inlet opening of the casing into a fan exhaust opening of the casing, wherein the fan inlet opening surrounds the fan shaft, and wherein the fan exhaust opening is provided in a tangent line direction of a rotational direction of the blade, wherein the body frame includes an air-leading duct configured to feed, to the heat exchanger, the air discharged into the fan exhaust opening, wherein a first direction is a direction in which the accessory apparatus is connected to the image pickup apparatus, a first plane is a plane orthogonal to the first direction, wherein the fan is tilted by a first tilt relatively to the first plane so that, in the first direction, the fan exhaust opening is closer to the heat exchanger than the blade. 5. The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fan is tilted by a second tilt about the fan shaft so that in a view from the first direction, the fan exhaust opening is tilted relatively to a direction parallel to a second plane parallel to the first direction. 2. The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and parallel to the second plane, a center of the air-leading duct is located on a first side of the fan shaft, and wherein the second tilt makes the fan tilt to the first side from an orientation at which the fan exhaust opening is parallel to the second plane. 6. The accessory apparatus according to claim 5, wherein in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and parallel to the second plane, a center of the air-leading duct is located on a first side of the fan shaft, and wherein the second tilt makes the fan tilt to the first side from an orientation at which the fan exhaust opening is parallel to the second plane. 3. The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air-leading duct is formed from the fan exhaust opening to an outlet of the air-leading duct and is bent toward the first direction at an angle greater than 90°. 7. The accessory apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air-leading duct is formed from the fan exhaust opening to an outlet of the air-leading duct and is bent toward the first direction at an angle greater than 90°. 4. The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the fan, a flowing velocity of air discharged from a first area of the fan exhaust opening is faster than a flowing velocity of air discharged from a second area of the fan exhaust opening, and wherein the second tilt makes the fan tilt from an orientation at which the fan exhaust opening is parallel to the second plane so that a flowing path length from the first area to an outlet of the air-leading duct is longer than a flowing path length from the second area to the outlet of the air-leading duct. 8. The accessory apparatus according to claim 5, wherein in the fan, a flowing velocity of air discharged from a first area of the fan exhaust opening is faster than a flowing velocity of air discharged from a second area of the fan exhaust opening, and wherein the second tilt makes the fan tilt from an orientation at which the fan exhaust opening is parallel to the second plane so that a flowing path length from the first area to an outlet of the air-leading duct is longer than a flowing path length from the second area to the outlet of the air-leading duct. 5. The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the body frame holds a first functional unit relating to a function of the cooling apparatus, and wherein when a second direction is a direction orthogonal to the first direction and parallel to the second plane, part in the second direction of the air-leading duct and the first functional unit overlap in the first direction. 9. The accessory apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the body frame holds a first functional unit relating to a function of the accessory apparatus, and wherein when a second direction is a direction orthogonal to the first direction and parallel to the second plane, part in the second direction of the air-leading duct and the first functional unit overlap in the first direction. 6. The cooling apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first functional unit is a battery chamber configured to house a battery for driving the fan. 10. The accessory apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the first functional unit is a battery chamber configured to house a battery for driving the fan. 7. The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the body frame includes an inlet duct configured to be connected to the fan inlet opening and to draw air from outside, wherein the inlet duct is tilted relatively to the first plane so that the inlet duct extends along the fan tilted by the first tilt, and wherein the body frame holds a second functional unit relating to a function of the cooling apparatus, and the second functional unit is provided in an area where the body frame and the inlet duct overlap in the first direction. 11. The accessory apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the body frame includes an inlet duct configured to be connected to the fan inlet opening and to draw air from outside, wherein the inlet duct is tilted relatively to the first plane so that the inlet duct extends along the fan tilted by the first tilt, and wherein the body frame holds a second functional unit relating to a function of the accessory apparatus, and the second functional unit is provided in an area where the body frame and the inlet duct overlap in the first direction. 8. The cooling apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second functional unit is an attachment mechanism for attaching the cooling apparatus to the electronic apparatus or other members. 12. The accessory apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the second functional unit is an attachment mechanism for attaching the accessory apparatus to the electronic apparatus or other members. 9. The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the casing includes, as the fan inlet opening, a first fan inlet opening and a second fan inlet opening on both sides in a direction in which the fan shaft extends, wherein the body frame includes a first inlet duct and a second inlet duct that are respectively connected to the first fan inlet opening and the second fan inlet opening and draw air from outside, and wherein an inlet opening of the first inlet duct and an inlet opening of the second inlet duct are provided on different sides of the body frame. 13. The accessory apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the casing includes, as the fan inlet opening, a first fan inlet opening and a second fan inlet opening on both sides in a direction in which the fan shaft extends, wherein the body frame includes a first inlet duct and a second inlet duct that are respectively connected to the first fan inlet opening and the second fan inlet opening and draw air from outside, and wherein an inlet opening of the first inlet duct and an inlet opening of the second inlet duct are provided on different sides of the body frame. 10. The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic apparatus is an image pickup apparatus to which a lens unit is detachably attachable or with which a lens unit is integrally provided, wherein the body frame includes a projection portion projecting with respect to the image pickup apparatus in a lens extending direction in which the lens unit extends from the image pickup apparatus, wherein part of the fan tilted by the first tilt is placed inside the projecting portion, and wherein a surface facing the lens unit of the projection portion is tilted so that the surface becomes farther from an optical axis of the lens unit as the surface extends in the lens extending direction. 14. The accessory apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a lens unit is detachably attachable or with which a lens unit is integrally provided with the image pickup apparatus, wherein the body frame includes a projection portion projecting with respect to the image pickup apparatus in a lens extending direction in which the lens unit extends from the image pickup apparatus, wherein part of the fan tilted by the first tilt is placed inside the projecting portion, and wherein a surface facing the lens unit of the projection portion is tilted so that the surface becomes farther from an optical axis of the lens unit as the surface extends in the lens extending direction. In conclusion, claims 1 and 5 – 10 of the current application are rejected under non-statutory obviousness-type double patent as related to claims 1 – 10 of the parent issued patent US 12,248,229 B2 allowed on March 11, 2025 which is now allowed in view of Arai (US 2018/0376037A1), Kawamura (US 2014/0055671 A1) and Kobayashi (US 2009/0002549 A1). Conclusion 07-96 AIA 9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. 1. K. Yamashita, US 12,248,229 B2 – which is the parent of the instant application and it teaches the same subject matter. Contact 10 . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARLY S.B. CAMARGO whose telephone number is (571)270-3729. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lin Ye can be reached on 571-272-7372. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MARLY S CAMARGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 2 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 3 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 4 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 5 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 6 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 7 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 8 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 9 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 10 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 11 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 12 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 13 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 14 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 15 Art Unit: 2638 Application/Control Number: 19/044,814 Page 16 Art Unit: 2638
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 04, 2025
Application Filed
Jun 03, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §DP (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+12.5%)
2y 2m (~9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 684 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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