DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-16,18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20190271767 A1 (Keilaf et al.) in view of WO 2018191539 A1 (NA et al).
Claim 1, 11 and 18 (mutatis mutandis). Keilaf teaches an optical sensor operable in a plurality of operating modes, the optical sensor comprising:
a plurality of detectors arranged in an array (para 65 note array), wherein each detector of the plurality of detectors comprises:
one or more absorption regions configured to receive an optical signal and generate charge carriers in response to receiving the optical signal (para 116);
one or more readout regions configured to collect a portion of the charge carriers for output (Para 154,161,196 note output);
and driver circuitry configured to provide the control signals to enable or disable a subset of the plurality of detectors based on an operating mode of the plurality of operating modes (para163,184 note more detection elements for long range and less detection elements for short range. Para 184 note low resolution mode and high resolution mode , para 318 note power saving mode, Para 191 note increasing pixels if object is further away and decreasing pixels if an object is close to vehicle. Para 198-199 note pixels include photodiode and also note switches for allocating detection elements).
Keilaf fails to explicitly teach but NA teaches one or more control regions coupled to one or more control signals, the one or more control regions configured to control, in response to the one or more control signals, a flow of charge carriers from the one or more absorption regions to the one or more readout regions (para 14 and one or more gates coupled to one or more control signals that control carrier transports between the photodiode and the one or more readout regions.).
It would have been obvious to have combined the references of Keilaf and NA and modify the optical sensor such that the one or more control regions configured to control, a flow of charge carriers from the one or more absorption regions to the one or more readout regions. The motivation to do so would be determine the phase and other information of the sensed light by altering the collection of electrical charges over time ( NA para 5).
Claim 2 and 12. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 1, wherein the one of more absorption regions comprise germanium formed on a first silicon substrate (NA para 27 note germanium).
It would have been obvious to have combined the references of Keilaf and NA and modify the optical sensor such that the one of more absorption regions comprise germanium formed on a first silicon substrate because a photodiode that is formed using materials such as germanium increases the speed and/or the sensitivity and/or the dynamic range and/or the operating wavelength range of the device (NA para 04).
Claim 3 and 13. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 2, wherein the plurality of the driver circuitry are formed on a second silicon substrate (NA para 208).
It would have been obvious to have combined the references of Keilaf and NA and modify the optical sensor such that the plurality of the driver circuitry are formed on a second silicon substrate because this will have improved electrical isolation that will reduce parasitic capacitance and power consumption.
Claim 4 and 14. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 3, wherein the first silicon substrate is bonded to the second silicon substrate (NA para 208 note bonding between layers).
It would have been obvious to have combined the references of Keilaf and NA and modify the optical sensor such that the first silicon substrate is bonded to the second silicon substrate because this will have improved electrical isolation that will reduce parasitic capacitance and power consumption.
Claim 5 and 15. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 1, wherein the plurality of detectors are arranged in a one-dimensional array or a two-dimensional array (Keilaf para 102-104 note detector array).
Claim 6, 16 and 19. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 1, wherein the plurality of operating modes comprise any combination of a proximity-sensing mode, a motion-detection mode, a depth- detection mode, a reduced-resolution mode, an enhanced-resolution mode, or a power-saving mode (Keilaf para 184 note low resolution mode and high resolution mode , para 318 note power saving mode, Para 191 note increasing pixels if object is further away and decreasing pixels if an object is close to vehicle ).
Claim 7 and 20. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 6, wherein under the motion-detection mode, the driver circuitry is configured to enable first detectors of the plurality of detectors located at two or more edges of the array (para 187 and figure 7I ref 712 and 714 includes the pixels in edges and disable second detectors of the plurality of detectors (Keilaf para 185 note larger pixels for non-moving objects and para 183 note larger pixels include less detection elements which means detection elements are disabled).
Claim 8. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 7, wherein under the proximity-sensing mode, the driver circuitry is configured to enable the second detectors and disable the first detectors (Keilaf para 191 note increasing pixels if object is further away and decreasing pixels if an object is close to vehicle).
Claim 9. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 1, comprising: controller circuitry configured to determine an operating mode of the plurality of optical modes of the optical sensor and to provide an output representing the operating mode to the driver circuitry (Keilaf para 190, 193 to 200 note pixel allocation and processor and controller).
Claim 10. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 1, wherein the driver circuitry is configured to provide the control signals to disable the subset of the plurality of detectors by disabling a modulation of the corresponding control regions of the subset of the plurality of detectors to stop a flow of charge carriers through the corresponding control regions (Keilaf para 199 note switches for allocating detection elements to different subsets associated with different pixels. Note switch can stop flow of current).
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20190271767 A1 (Keilaf et al.) in view of WO 2018191539 A1 (NA et al) further in view of US 20190361094 A1 (Harris et al.).
Claim 17. Keilaf as modified in view of NA teaches the optical sensor of claim 11. Keilaf fails to explicitly teach but Liu teaches wherein the controller is configured to determine an operating mode of the operating modes of the optical sensor based on a user operation of the system (Liu para 35 note operating mode is selected based on user input).
It would have been obvious to have combined the references of Keilaf, NA and Harris and modify the optical sensor such that the controller is configured to determine an operating mode of the optical sensor based on a user operation of the system. The motivation to do so would be to improve safety and performance (Liu para 02)
Conclusion
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/SANJIDA NASER/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/ISAM A ALSOMIRI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645