DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6 February 2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Claims 1, 8 and 15 are amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Franzreb (US 2017/00293021) in view of Kirillov (US 2020/0103507).
Regarding Claim 1, Franzreb teaches a time-of-flight imaging circuitry [#32 of Fig 1; 0038] configured to: control a set of readout channels [#34a, #34b of Fig 1, 2] for an imaging element for obtaining a set of events representing a set of light pulses captured in the imaging element [#26 of Fig 1; 0038; 0040], wherein the controlling includes: a first detection of the set of the events in a first readout channel of the set of the readout channels [#34a of Fig 1,2; 0040]; and a second detection in a second readout channel [#34b of Fig 1, 2], wherein the second detection starts a predetermined time after a start of the first detection for detecting a subset of the events [Fig 2; 0040]. Franzreb does not explicitly teach – but Kirillov does teach that a second detection… is for detecting a subset of the set of events detected in the first detection [0042; 0051; 0056-58; 0068-72; 0101-02]. It would have been obvious to modify the circuit of Franzreb to do a detection of the subset of events so that multiple shots taken over the course of the reading cycle may be averaged together to obtain a good signal-to-noise ratio, or be reconfigurable to employ different read out techniques and may receive a configuration signal at an input terminal , such that a readout technique may be directed to pixel row multiplexing such that each output channel is selectively coupled to one or more pixel rows for a predetermined period of time before being selectively coupled to a different one or more pixels rows for a predetermined period of time.
Regarding Claim 8, Franzreb discloses a time-of-flight imaging system comprising: a light source [#12 of Fig 1; 0036]; control circuitry configured to control the light source to emit a set of light pulses [0036; 0040]; and time-of-flight imaging circuitry configured to: control a set of readout channels [#34a, #34b of Fig 1, 2] for an imaging element for obtaining a set of events representing a set of light pulses captured in the imaging element [#26 of Fig 1; 0038; 0040], wherein the controlling includes: a first detection of the set of the events in a first readout channel of the set of the readout channels [#34a of Fig 1,2; 0040]; and a second detection in a second readout channel [#34b of Fig 1, 2], wherein the second detection starts a predetermined time after the first detection for detecting a subset of the events [Fig 2; 0040]. Franzreb does not explicitly teach – but Kirillov does teach that a second detection… is for detecting a subset of the set of events detected in the first detection [0042; 0051; 0056-58; 0068-72; 0101-02]. It would have been obvious to modify the circuit of Franzreb to do a detection of the subset of events so that multiple shots taken over the course of the reading cycle may be averaged together to obtain a good signal-to-noise ratio, or be reconfigurable to employ different read out techniques and may receive a configuration signal at an input terminal , such that a readout technique may be directed to pixel row multiplexing such that each output channel is selectively coupled to one or more pixel rows for a predetermined period of time before being selectively coupled to a different one or more pixels rows for a predetermined period of time.
Regarding Claim 15, Franzreb teaches a time-of-flight imaging method comprising: controlling a set of readout channels [#34a, #34b of Fig 1, 2] for an imaging element for obtaining a set of events representing a set of light pulses captured in the imaging element [#26 of Fig 1; 0038; 0040], wherein the controlling includes: a first detection of the set of the events in a first readout channel of the set of the readout channels [#34a of Fig 1,2; 0040]; and a second detection in a second readout channel [#34b of Fig 1, 2], wherein the second detection starts a predetermined time after the first detection for detecting a subset of the events [Fig 2; 0040]. Franzreb does not explicitly teach – but Kirillov does teach that a second detection… is for detecting a subset of the set of events detected in the first detection [0042; 0051; 0056-58; 0068-72; 0101-02]. It would have been obvious to modify the circuit of Franzreb to do a detection of the subset of events so that multiple shots taken over the course of the reading cycle may be averaged together to obtain a good signal-to-noise ratio, or be reconfigurable to employ different read out techniques and may receive a configuration signal at an input terminal , such that a readout technique may be directed to pixel row multiplexing such that each output channel is selectively coupled to one or more pixel rows for a predetermined period of time before being selectively coupled to a different one or more pixels rows for a predetermined period of time.
Regarding Claims 2, 9, and 16, Franzreb also teaches to detect the subset of the set of events in the second detection [0040]. Kirillov also teaches this limitation in [0042; 0051; 0056-58; 0068-72; 0101-02].
Regarding Claims 3, 10, and 17, Franzreb also teaches accumulate the set of the events of the first detection and the subset of the events of the second detection in a same histogram [0041; 0054].
Regarding Claims 4, 11 and 18, Franzreb also teaches configured to: update a plurality of memory bins simultaneously for the first detection and for the second detection for accumulating the set of events of the first detection and the subset of set of the events of the second detection [0041; 0054].
Regarding Claims 5, 12, and 19 Franzreb also teaches wherein an illumination time interval between a first light pulse and a second light pulse of the set of the light pulses corresponds to the predetermined time [Fig 2; 0040]
Regarding Claims 6 and 13, Franzreb also teaches wherein the imaging element includes a set of imaging sub-elements [#26 of Fig 1, 2; 0036; 0040].
Regarding Claims 7 and 14, Franzreb also teaches wherein a number of the set of the imaging sub- elements corresponds to a number of the set of the readout-channels [see #12, #34a, #4b of Fig 1, 2; 0036; 0038; 0040] – as when plural photodiodes (APDs) are used, the number of sub-elements would correspond to the number of readout channels.
Regarding Claim 20, Franzreb also teaches wherein the imaging element includes a set of imaging sub-elements [#26 of Fig 1, 2; 0036; 0040], wherein the set of the imaging sub-elements corresponds to the set of the readout-channels [see #12, #34a, #4b of Fig 1, 2; 0036; 0038; 0040] – as when plural photodiodes (APDs) are used, the number of sub-elements would correspond to the number of readout channels.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6 January 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show non-obviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
In response to applicant’s arguments that the secondary reference Kirillov does not teach that the second set is a subset of the first, the examiner disagrees for several reasons. One, this argument is trying to state that it is neither novel nor obvious to get 2 sets of readout data from a data channel, one after the other with the second set being equal to or smaller than the first. Flagged bad data could be one reason. Memory size could be another reason. Narrowing the focus or field of view could be another. In [0057], Kirillov states that a selective multiplexing technique allows the user to choose different subsets of the total set of pixels for first and second data readouts. Set A and set B could be completely different data sets, they could be the same data sets, or they could be partially overlapping data sets. [0063] and [0078] states that there may be overlap or no overlap. The example only discusses the situation where only two pixels are read out at a time, but this is a non-limiting example. If set A is 3 pixels and set B is 2 pixels, and the 2 pixels from set B are also in set A, this would obviate the applicant’s claim limitation. [0079] further expands by stating that all pixels of a row could be connected to an output at a given time. In this situation, if set A read out the entire row, and set B reads out a portion of the row, this situation would render obvious the applicant’s claim limitation. [0067] states that the multiplexing scheme allows for connecting or disconnecting one or more rows of the photodetector… dynamically over multiple reading cycles. If N number of rows are connected for one cycle, and then N-1 rows from that are disconnected for the next readout cycle, this would also render obvious the applicant’s claim limitation. One having ordinary skill in the art would easily be able to apply the teachings of Kirillov to implement two subsets of data readouts with a dynamic multiplexer in order to produce a second subset that is larger than the first or smaller, overlapping or non-overlapping, or a smaller subset of the first based on background noise, target area or desired resolution.
Additionally, examiner has included referenced, but not cited document Calder (US 2020/0217965). Paragraphs [0026] and [0029] teach the same limitation as Kirillov but even more explicitly stating that second readouts could be larger or smaller than the first subset of data readouts.
Applicant's remaining arguments amount to a general allegation that the claims define a patentable invention without specifically pointing out how the language of the claims patentably distinguishes them from the references. No allowable subject matter can be identified at this time.
Conclusion
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JAMES R. HULKA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3645
/JAMES R HULKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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