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.
Claim(s) 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Masuki et al. (US PGPUB 20180288323).
[Claim 1]
Masuki teaches an imaging device comprising:
a camera section (figs. 18, 20 and 21, camera body 1), configured to capture an image of a subject (Paragraph 101); and
an illumination section (illumination unit 4) partitioned from and coupled to the camera section (Part of the whole camera but also partitioned) and configured to emit illumination light onto the subject (Paragraph 101), wherein the illumination section includes
a housing including a first cover member (portion surrounding the window member 41 when viewed from outside in the arrow direction in fig. 20 and covers the LED),
a first LED (LED or Xenon TUBE) configured to emit the illumination light (Paragraph 99), and
an LED holding member (42, FIG. 21) holding the first LED (LED or Xenon Tube) and in surface contact with the first cover member (portion surrounding the window member 41) in a state of being rotatable relative to the first cover member (Paragraph 102, The second arm 46 of the movable illumination unit 4 is rotated about the axis 47 by an angle δ when moving the movable illumination unit 4 to a position farthest away from the camera body 1. Furthermore, the first arm 44 is extended from a tip of the second arm 46, and the holder 42 is rotatably connected to a tip of the first arm 44).
[Claim 2]
The imaging device according to claim 1, wherein
the LED holding member includes a first holding member (44) in surface contact with the first cover member (portion surrounding the window member 41 when viewed from outside in the arrow direction in fig. 20 and covers the LED) in a state of being rotatable about a first adjustment axis (Paragraph 99, Each of the movable illumination units 4 further includes a first arm 44 holding the holder 42 rotatably about an axis 43 and a second arm 46 supporting the first arm 44 rotatably about an axis 45) ,
a second holding member (46) to which the first LED is fixed, the second holding member being in surface contact with the first holding member (42) in a state of being rotatable about a second adjustment axis intersecting the first adjustment axis (Paragraph 99, Each of the movable illumination units 4 further includes a first arm 44 holding the holder 42 rotatably about an axis 43 and a second arm 46 supporting the first arm 44 rotatably about an axis 45).
[Claim 3]
The imaging device according to claim 2, wherein the first cover member includes a flat surface orthogonal to the first adjustment axis (outside portion is orthogonal to axis 43),
the first holding member (44) includes a first contact surface orthogonal to the first adjustment axis, the first contact surface being in surface contact with the flat surface ((see fig. 21), and the first holding member rotates about the first adjustment axis relative to the first cover member in a state of the flat surface and the first contact surface being in surface contact with
each other (Paragraph 99, Each of the movable illumination units 4 further includes a first arm 44 holding the holder 42 rotatably about an axis 43 and a second arm 46 supporting the first arm 44 rotatably about an axis 45).
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) 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Masuki (US PGPUB 20180288323) in view of Jackson, III et al. (US PGPUB 20050285129).
[Claim 7]
Masuki fails to teach a second LED configured to emit illumination light across a range wider than a range of the first LED, wherein the second LED is fixed to the first cover member. However Jackson, III teaches naturally wide-angle emission of the LEDs to create relatively uniform excitation of entire microplates with no moving parts (Paragraph 43).
Ideally the light from the plurality of LED's is mixed in the light pipe so that all areas of the microplate are uniformly illuminated. This occurs in practice because the requirement for uniformity across a plate is not high. If, however, the LEDs are small enough or separated by wide gaps and/or the microplate is large enough, the LEDs may preferentially illuminate different areas of the microplate. In the present invention, the power levels to each LED can, if necessary, be varied to provide the most uniform illumination possible across the plate (Paragraph 67). By varying the power across LEDs, the range of LEDs is varied.
Therefore taking the combined teachings of Masuki and Johnson, III, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have been motivated to have a second LED configured to emit illumination light across a range wider than a range of the first LED, wherein the second LED is fixed to the first cover member in order to uniformly illuminate the subject by varying the power.
[Claim 8]
Masuki teaches wherein the illumination section is fixed to the first cover member but fails to teach wherein the illumination section is provided with a fan configured to cool the first LED. However Jackson, III teaches that elements of LED module 10 are combined with a heat dissipation portion (heat sink with or without fans) 22, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Heat sink 22 includes a plurality of raised portions 24 wherein each raised portion 24 is in thermal contact with an LED 12. The raised portions 24 conduct heat from LEDs 12 into the body of heat sink 22 where it is dissipated by fins 26 and/or by a fan. Heat sink 22 is connected to a plate 28 with one or more connectors 30. One or more LED modules can be associated with each plate 28 (Paragraph 48).
Therefore taking the combined teachings of Masuki and Johnson, III, it would be obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have been motivated to have illumination section is provided with a fan configured to cool the first LED thereby enhancing the performance and life of LEDs.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 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 or suggest as in claim 4, ““wherein the first holding member includes a recessed part being an inner circumferential surface having an arc-shaped cross section, the second holding member includes a second contact surface being an outer circumferential surface having an arc-shaped cross section, the second contact surface being in surface contact with the recessed part, and the second holding member rotates about the second adjustment axis relative to the first holding member in a state of the recessed part and the second contact surface being in surface contact with each other”, as in claim 5, “wherein the illumination section includes an LED driver board configured to supply power to the first LED, and a second cover member included in the housing and different from the first cover member, and the second cover member includes an extending part extending toward the LED driver board”. Claim 6 is dependent upon claim 5.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sinh Tran can be reached at 5712727564. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YOGESH K AGGARWAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637
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