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 Objections
Claims 14 is objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 4.
Applicant is advised that since claim 4 is found allowable, claim 14 is found to be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 4. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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 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 of this title, 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, 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dawson et al. (US 20210108922 A1, hereinafter Dawson) in view of Park et al. (US 20250085611 A1, hereinafter Park).
Regarding claim 1, Dawson discloses an imaging apparatus (100, figs. 1-3, 9, 13, 31 etc.) comprising:
a receptacle (102+106, figs. 1-3, 13);
a lens (lens 902, fig. 9, ¶0206-0215; lens 3106, figs. 31-32) that is received in the receptacle (evident from fig. 13) and is configured to capture light from an exterior of the receptacle (As shown in FIGS. 31 and 31a, the sun shield 3102 or 3102′ is disposed on the “input” side of the lens 3106, i.e., on the side of the lens 3106 where light from the field of view 3104 enters the lens 3106 (typically on the side of the lens 3106 opposite the image sensor 3116). This disposition of the sun shield 3102 or 3102′ prevents undesirable light, such as sunlight, reaching a surface of the lens 3106. – ¶0139);
an imager (3116, fig. 31) that is disposed within the receptacle and inward from the lens and is configured to capture images of the exterior of the receptacle based on light captured by the lens (ibid, ¶0139, figs. 31-32. Also see ¶0232, ¶0248-0249, ¶0257 etc.);
a sun visor (sun shield 3102 containing light blocker 3131; alternatively sunshield 3500 with light blocker 3504; figs. 31-32, 35, 72; ¶0139-0142, ¶0192) device that includes at least one sun visor disposed in front of one of surfaces of the lens to partially block light from entering the lens (One embodiment of a sun shield 3500 is shown schematically in FIG. 35. The sun shield 3500 includes an x-y stage 3502 that transports a light blocker 3504. The x-y stage positions the light blocker 3504 so as to shade the lens 3106 (here exemplified by a ball lens) from unwanted light, as suggested by dashed lines 3506. – ¶0142
The light path 3126 extends from the field of view 3104 to the image sensor 3116. However, the sun shield 3102 includes a light blocker 3131 that selectively blocks a portion 3132 of the light path 3126, preventing light, for example light indicated between lines 3134 and 3136 from the sun 3138, reaching the image sensor 3116. – ¶0133, figs. 31-32).
Dawson is not found disclosing expressly the limitation of, an imager substrate that is disposed within the receptacle and inward from the lens and is configured to control the imager.
However, Park discloses an imager substrate (50) that is disposed within the receptacle (10) and inward from the lens (20) and is configured to control the imager (60), by means of controller that is also disposed on the substrate (50, see ¶0206, fig. 28).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the invention of Dawson such that the controller 1800 and image sensor(s) 912-918 are disposed on a PCB substrate 50, wherein the Controller controls the functions of the image sensor(s) and the camera on the whole (see Dawson ¶0232, and Park ¶0206) according to the teaching of Park, to obtain, an imager substrate that is disposed within the receptacle and inward from the lens and is configured to control the imager, because, combining prior art elements ready to be improved according to known method to yield predictable results is obvious (see MPEP §2143.I).
Regarding claim 2, Dawson in view of Park discloses the imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sun visor is configured by a member that partially attenuates and transmits light (However, the sun shield 3102 includes a light blocker 3131 that selectively blocks a portion 3132 of the light path 3126, preventing light, for example light indicated between lines 3134 and 3136 from the sun 3138, reaching the image sensor 3116. The width of the light blocker 3131, and therefore the width of the portion 3132 of the light path 3126 that is blocked, may be selected based on the apparent size of the unwanted light source, such as the sun 3138. – ¶0133, figs. 31-33).
Regarding claim 11, Dawson in view of Park discloses the imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the sun visor device is automatically actuated based on an imaging result from the imager to cover where restriction on light entering the lens is needed with the at least one sun visor (The image sensor 3116 (FIG. 31) is connected to the processor 7202 via the interconnect bus 7206. The processor 7202 processes image data from the image sensor 3116 to automatically ascertain a location or attitude of the system using data stored in an object catalog 7208 about navigation stars, such as stars 3108-3114 (FIG. 31). The processor 7202 causes the sun shield 7210 to block light from passing through processor-selected portions of the sun shield 7210, or alternatively allow light to pass through processor-selected portions of the sun shield 7210, as described herein. – ¶0193, figs. 31, 71).
Regarding claim 12, Dawson in view of Park discloses the imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging apparatus is an on-board camera device for a vehicle (¶0140, ¶0218).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-10, 13-20 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Dawson in view of Park discloses the imaging apparatus according to claims 1 and 2 respective, wherein
the imager (3116) is rectangular in shape (figs. 39-40) with one direction as a longitudinal direction and a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction as a lateral direction (proposed definition fits with image sensors shown in figs 39-40),
the at least one sun visor (3900, fig. 39) comprises a bar-shaped member (3904, figs. 38-39) that is swingable (turrnable, ¶0153) within one of surfaces of the lens (Under broadest reasonable interpretation this limitation is understood met in figs. 38-39, ¶0151-0155), with one end of the bar-shaped member (3904, figs. 38-39) as a rotation center (3910, fig. 39).
However, Dawson is not found disclosing reasonably the limitation of, the at least one sun visor further comprises a pair of sun visors, the pair of sun visors being disposed away from each other along the longitudinal direction of the imager.
Claims 4-10, and 14-20 are allowable for being dependent on allowable claims 3 and 13.
Conclusion
The prior and/or pertinent art(s) made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, are – NAKATSUJI (US 20250180878 A1), Jun (US 20220030141 A1), who disclose different mechanism for blocking light (including from sun), wherein the sun/light block/shield is potentially located in the object side of the lens.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAHBAZ NAZRUL whose telephone number is (571)270-1467. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 9.30 am-3 pm, 6.30 pm-9 pm, F: 9.30 am-1.30 pm, 4 pm-8 pm.
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/SHAHBAZ NAZRUL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638
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