Appeal No. 1997-0897
Application No. 08/227,992 Page 13
Appellants assert (brief, pages 25 and 26, and reply brief,
page 15) that neither the admitted prior art nor Koch disclose
changing the thickness of the transparent covering above the open
top of the frame along the light receiving axis of the image
sensor, and that (reply brief, page 12) appellants image sensor
reads the document in portions whereas the camera reads the
entire image at one time.
We find that the admitted prior art found in figure 5 is
directed to a line image sensor that is used in the image reading
section of an optical character reader such as facsimile machine
(specification, page 1). A problem in the admitted prior art is
that the focal length is varied due to low dimensional accuracy
of frame 110 (id., page 3). The admitted prior art addresses
this problem by providing for an adjustment of the rod lens array
114, which is used for condensing the light (id., pages 2-4). In
the admitted prior art, the transparent covering is not adjusted.
In contrast to the admitted prior art, Koch is directed to a
focusing screen camera that reads an entire image at one time,
and is not directed to a line reader. Koch is directed to
changing the focusing arrangement between an image carrier and a
lens carrier (col. 1, lines 2-7). In order to permit a
simultaneous sharp image to be taken of two or three points of an
Page: Previous 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007