Appeal No. 2003-0047
Application No. 09/350,335
incident light increases. In fact, after operating the flash
device, Kondo reduces the frequency of the signal applied to the
anti-blooming gate from f0 back to f1 which is the same frequency
used during the opening of the shutter and prior to activating
the flash device. In that regard, Kondo changes the frequency of
the anti-blooming gate signal only according to the amount of the
incident light and not based on the energy needs that are
determined by an operating condition judging means. Thus, Kondo
does not anticipate claim 2, nor the other independent claims
which recite a decrease in the frequency when other parts of the
imaging device is being operated. Accordingly, the 35 U.S.C.
§ 102 rejection of claims 2, 5, 9, 10 and 13-15 over Kondo cannot
be sustained.
Turning to the 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection of claims 122, 16
and 17 we note that claim 12 recites a control means for setting
a lower sweep-out frequency during an access operation of the
recording means, whereas claims 16 and 17 require shift registers
for holding charges. The Examiner, in asserting that the
frequency remains low even during the access operation of the
recoding means or the commonly known uses of shift registers, has
2 Claim 12 should be rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph,
as the term “the sweep out means” lack proper antecedent basis. Appellants
should provide the necessary amendments to the claim in order to remedy the
lack of antecedent basis.
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007