DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-4 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bito et al. (US 2022/0238733 A1, hereinafter referred to as ‘Bito’).
As to claim 1, Bito teaches an optical sensor comprising:
a substrate (102);
a silicon layer (106) having an optical sensor (110);
light block material (112) covering at least portions of said silicon layer and said substrate, defining a light pipe aperture above said optical sensor; and
an optical layer (120) positioned wholly within said light pipe aperture.
See figure 1A.
As to claim 2, Bito teaches said light pipe aperture is at least partially filled with a light transmissive material (120). See also paragraphs 0015-0016.
As to claim 3, Bito teaches said optical layer is a light filtering layer. See also paragraphs 0015-0016.
As to claim 4, Bito teaches said light filtering layer is located within the light pipe. See figure 1A.
As to claim 24, Bito teaches a method of manufacture of an optical sensor or emitter comprising the steps of:
providing a substrate (102);
providing a silicon layer (106) having a sensor (110);
electrically coupling (with 108) the silicon layer with the substrate;
depositing a light blocking material (112) over the substrate and silicon layer such as to defining an aperture above the light sensor; and
depositing an optical layer (120) wholly within the aperture.
See figures 4A-4F.
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Claims 1-5, 7, 8, and 24-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kummerl et al. (US 2021/0050459 A1, hereinafter referred to as ‘Kummerl’).
As to claim 1, Kummerl teaches an optical sensor comprising:
a substrate (210/212);
a silicon layer (216) having an optical sensor;
light block material (204) covering at least portions of said silicon layer and said substrate, defining a light pipe aperture above said optical sensor; and
an optical layer (226) positioned wholly within said light pipe aperture.
See figure 2 and paragraph 0017.
As to claim 2, Kummerl teaches said light pipe aperture is at least partially filled with a light transmissive material. See figure 2.
As to claim 3, Kummerl teaches said optical layer is a light filtering layer (I.e. IR filter). See figure 2.
As to claim 4, Kummerl teaches said light filtering layer is located within the light pipe. See figure 2.
As to claim 5, Kummerl teaches the light filtering layer (226, upper) is located above a light transmissive material (224) and one or more additional light filtering layers (226, lower) are positioned between the light transmissive material and the light filtering layer. See figure 2.
As to claim 7, Kummerl teaches the light filtering layer (226, upper) is substantially continuous above the light transmissive material (224). See figure 2.
As to claim 8, Kummerl teaches the light filtering layer (226, upper) is other than discontinuous within said light pipe.
As to claim 24, Bito teaches a method of manufacture of an optical sensor or emitter comprising the steps of:
providing a substrate (210/212);
providing a silicon layer (216) having a sensor;
electrically coupling (with 208) the silicon layer with the substrate;
depositing a light blocking material (204) over the substrate and silicon layer such as to defining an aperture above the light sensor; and
depositing an optical layer (226) wholly within the aperture.
See figure 2.
As to claim 25, Kummerl teaches one or more additional light transmissive layers (glass, 222) positioned between the light transmissive material (224) and the light filtering layer (226, upper).
As to claim 26, Kummerl teaches the light filtering layer (226, upper) is located above a light transmissive material (224) and one or more additional light transmissive layers (222) are positioned between the light transmissive material (224) and the light filtering layer (226, upper).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6 and 9 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the pending claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Cited Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: see the attached form PTO-892 for pertinent cited art.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott B. Geyer (telephone: 571-272-1958). The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, 10AM - 4PM (ET). Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at: http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christine S. Kim (telephone: 571-272-8458). The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only.
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/SCOTT B GEYER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812