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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/14/2025 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
1: Claim(s) 1-3, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by USPN 12,401,879 B2 Campbell et al.
2: As for Claim 1, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 5 and 6 and teaches on Column 3, Lines 1-41 Column 4, Lines 25-47 An optical apparatus comprising: a lens barrel (110) that houses an optical element (lens system); and a holder (120) that holds an image sensor (130), and has an opening (depicted in Figure 6) through which an adhesive (234) is to be applied to an outer surface of the lens barrel (110), wherein the adhesive (234) adheres the outer surface of the lens barrel (110) and an area of an inner surface of the holder (120) other than the opening to each other (See Figure 6).
3: As for Claim 2, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 5 and 6 wherein each of the outer surface (surface of 110) and the area of the inner surface other than the opening (surface of 120 in contact with the adhesive depicted in Figure 6) has a part whose normal direction is perpendicular to an optical axis direction (depicted in Figure 6).
4: As for Claim 3, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 5 and 6 wherein the part of the outer surface (surface of 110)and the part of the area of the inner surface other than the opening (surface of 120 in contact with the adhesive depicted in Figure 6) face each other in the normal direction (Depicted in Figure 6).
5: As for Claim 6, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 6 wherein the area of the inner surface other than the opening (inner surface of 120 in contact with adhesive 610) has a tapered shape having a diameter that increases toward the opening (depicted in Figure 6).
6: As for Claim 7, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 5 and teaches on Column 4, Lines 25-37 wherein a plurality of the openings (506) are arranged at regular intervals around an optical axis (the lens holder 120 includes four ports 506 equally spaced around the circumference of the tube portion 122 of the lens holder 110).
7: As for Claim 10, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 5 and teaches on Column 4, Lines 25-37 further comprising a sealant (adhesive 234) provided to the opening (506).
8: As for Claim 11, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 5 and teaches on Column 3, Lines 1-41 further comprising: a circuit board (140) connected to the image sensor (130); and a housing (120) that holds the circuit board (140).
9: As for Claim 13, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 8 and teaches on Column 5, Lines 45-63 the camera is a handheld portable device, therefore, the device is a movable apparatus (800) holds the optical apparatus and is movable.
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.
10: Claim(s) 4 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN 12,401,879 B2 Campbell et al in view of US 2019/0129281 A1 Chen.
11: As for Claim 4, Campbell et al a camera module with openings to receive adhesive. However, does not clearly depict the shape of the openings and does not teach wherein a maximum length of the opening in an optical axis direction is longer than a maximum length in a circumferential direction.
Chen depicts in Figure 2 and teaches in Paragraphs [0020 and 0024] a camera module with openings (45) to receive adhesive and teaches the openings can be closed rectangles with the length in the optical axis direction being longer than the width in the circumferential direction in order to securely fasten the housing to the lens barrel.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the opening of Campbell et al in the shape of Chen in order to securely fasten the housing to the lens barrel.
12: As for Claim 5, Chen further depicts in Figure 2 wherein the opening is rectangular or elliptical when viewed in a radial direction.
13: Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN 12,401,879 B2 Campbell et al in view of US 2022/0086313 A1 Stang et al.
14: As for Claim 8, Campbell et al teaches a camera module that uses an adhesive to connect a lens barrel to a housing. However, does not teach wherein the outer surface of the lens barrel has a groove portion that includes a first wall surface and a second wall surface on both sides of the groove portion in an optical axis direction, and wherein the adhesive is applied to the groove portion.
Stang et al depicts in Figures 3 and 5A and teaches in Paragraphs [0022 and 0054] a camera module with a lens barrel 204 and teaches wherein the outer surface of the lens barrel has a groove portion that includes a first wall surface and a second wall surface on both sides of the groove portion in an optical axis direction, and wherein the adhesive is applied to the groove portion in order to securely fasten the lens to the housing.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form a groove on the lens barrel as taught by Stang et al on the lens barrel of Campbell et al to allow the adhesive to be applied to the groove portion in order to securely fasten the lens to the housing.
15: Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN 12,401,879 B2 Campbell et al in view of USPN 12,337,757 B2 You et al.
16: As for Claim 12, Campbell et al teaches a sealed camera assembly however, does not teach the camera assembly can be mounted in a vehicle and include one or more memories storing instructions; and one or more processors that, upon execution of the instructions, operate to determine a likelihood of collision between a movable apparatus and an object based on distance information on the object obtained from an output from the optical apparatus.
You et al teaches in Claim 1 and depicts in Figures 3 and 11B and on Column 10, Lines 42-56 and on Column 16, Lines 1-31 a camera system mounted in a vehicle (201) including one or more memories (340) storing instructions; and one or more processors (330) that, upon execution of the instructions, operate to determine a likelihood of collision between a movable apparatus (201) and an object based on distance information on the object obtained from an output from the optical apparatus.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the camera module of Campbell et al for the camera in the system of You et al in order to provide a sealed camera system in a vehicle that uses a camera to prevent collisions.
17: Claim(s) 14-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPN 12,401,879 B2 Campbell et al in view of US 2018/0364441 A1 Hubert et al.
18: As for Claim 14, Campbell et al depicts in Figures 5 and 6 and teaches on Column 3, Lines 1-41 Column 4, Lines 25-47 A method for manufacturing an optical apparatus that includes a lens barrel (110) that houses an optical element (lens), and a holder (120) that holds an image sensor (130), the method comprising: applying an adhesive (234) to an outer surface of the lens barrel (110) through an opening (506) formed in the holder (120); and adhering the outer surface of the lens barrel (110) and the area of the inner surface other than the opening (surface of 120 in contact with the adhesive depicted in Figure 6) to each other with the adhesive (234). However, Campbell et al does not teach rotating at least one of the holder and the lens barrel around an optical axis so that the adhesive applied to the outer surface of the lens barrel is applied to an area of an inner surface of the holder other than the opening;
Hubert et al teaches in Paragraphs [0006, 0010 and 0100-0102] and depicts in Figure 1 a method for joining a lens barrel (104) with a housing (106) by rotating at least one of the holder and the lens barrel (104) around an optical axis so that the adhesive applied to the outer surface of the lens barrel is applied to an area of an inner surface of the holder other than the opening. Hubert et al teaches the rotation combined with capillary action disperses the adhesive within the cavity in order to improve the bond strength.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to rotate the lens barrel of Campbell et al after the adhesive has been placed in the openings in order to allow the adhesive to spread within the opening as taught by Hubert et al in order to improve the bond strength.
19: As for Claim 15, Campbell et al Further teaches on Column 4, Lines 25-37 and depicted in Figure 5 after applying: irradiating the adhesive (234) in the opening (506) with ultraviolet light (504) to cure the adhesive (234).
20: As for Claim 16, Campbell et al Further teaches on Column 4, Lines 38-47 and depicted in Figure 5 further comprising, after curing: thermally curing the adhesive (further thermal curing is performed).
21: As for Claim 17, Hubert et al further teaches in Paragraphs [0006, 0010 and 0100-0102], after rotating: adjusting relative positions of the optical element and the image sensor to improve the focus of the camera.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M HANNETT whose telephone number is (571)272-7309. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM-5:00 PM Monday thru Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Twyler Haskins can be reached at 571-272-7406 The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMES M HANNETT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
JMH
October 7, 2026
