DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1:
In lines 5-6, “the received light amount” lacks proper antecedent basis.
It is unclear how “incident light” is related to “a light amount”.
It is also unclear how the modulation signals are related to the control signals.
It is unclear what the phrase “and acquires electrical signals corresponding to at least one of the receiving control signals having the same phase respectively by the two circuits…” means. There are two circuits, but there are no matching two elements to match with the two circuits.
It is unclear what “having the same phase” modifies; the electrical signals or the control signals?
It is unclear what is doing the “acquiring”; the controller or the two circuits? What does it mean “acquires… by the two circuits”?
In line 14, “the light signal” lacks proper antecedent basis.
In line 16, “the two circuits” lacks proper antecedent basis.
It is unclear how the electrical signals generated with the modulation signals are related to the electrical signals corresponding to the control signals. It is unclear where the electrical signals corresponding to the control signals are generated or coming from.
Regarding claims 4, 14, “the reflected light” lacks proper antecedent basis.
Regarding claim 11, it is indefinite similar to claim 1, as set forth above.
The other claims are indefinite based on their dependencies.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4-11, 12, 14-20, as undersood, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a2 as being anticipated by Mahara (U.S. PGPUB 2022/0357455).
Regarding claims 1, 2, 4-11, 12, 14-20, Mahara disclose (Figs.) a method and a detection device, comprising: a light source (11) that is operable to emit light to illuminate a detected object (object); a receiving portion (12) comprising a photoelectric conversion module (35), wherein the receiving portion is configured to acquire a light amount of the light source reflected by the detected object, the photoelectric conversion module is configured to generate photo-generated electrons according to the received light amount, and wherein the receiving portion further comprises a first circuit (83A, GDA, 82A) and a second circuit (83B, GDB, 82B) each configured to convert incident light into an electrical signal, wherein the first circuit is configured to receive a first modulation signal (GDA), and the second circuit is configured to receive a second modulation signal (GDB), wherein the first circuit and the second circuit are configured to generate respective electrical signals according to the first modulation signal and the second modulation signal; a controller (31), wherein the controller is electrically connected to the light source to control the light source to emit light to illuminate the detected object, and the controller is further electrically connected to the receiving portion so that the receiving portion receives a plurality of receiving control signals (output control signals from 31) having a same phase or different phases as the light signal emitted by the light source, and acquires electrical signals (output of pixel array 35) corresponding to at least one of the receiving control signals having the same phase (e.g. 0 degrees; Fig. 3; 4 phase method) respectively by the two circuits; and an information acquiring unit (37) configured to acquire target information of the detected object according to the electrical signals corresponding to the at least one of the receiving control signals having the same phase respectively acquired by the two circuits. Mahara also discloses (Figs. 2, 3) four control signals having different phases (0, 90, 180, 270) as claimed.
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) 3 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mahara in view of Tadmor et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2021/0337149).
Regarding claims 3, 13, Mahara discloses the claimed invention as set forth above. Mahara does not specifically disclose summing the electrical signals having the same phase. Tadmor et al. teach ([0056]) summing (averaging) electrical signals of the same phase. Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing of the invention to provide summing in the method and apparatus of Mahara in view of Tadmor et al. to obtain an average and reduce fluctuations and improve S/N ratio in the signal as taught, known and predictable.
Conclusion
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/THANH LUU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878