Appeal No. 95-1401
Application 07/885,364
figure 4. The term "attached to" means connected and does not
specifically require that the movable annular member be mounted
touching the annular cam member. However, it would have been
obvious to mount the annular cam member between the stationary
annular member and the movable annular member in view of Kohmoto,
which discloses an annular cam ring 20 disposed between a
stationary barrel 14 having straight guide grooves 14a (figure 2)
and a front lens group frame (lens barrel) 21. The arrangement
in Kohmoto is reversed from appellant's figure 3 where the
stationary annular member is on the inside; however, claim 12
does not recite the order of the stationary annular member, the
annular cam member, and the movable annular member and so does
not distinguish over Ohnuki or Kohmoto. Note that in Kohmoto two
pins 21b extend from frame 21 through the cam groove 20a in cam
ring 20 and into the straight guide grooves 14a, similar to
appellant's arrangement except that Kohmoto does not disclose a
guide piece fitted into the guide groove.
For the reasons stated above, we sustain the rejection of
claims 12 and 16.
Claim 13 recites a "second cam groove being positioned
circumferentially aligned with said first cam groove and offset
from said first cam groove in the optical axis direction," which
is the same limitation we found to be missing from the
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