DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim 1 recites the limitation ""the N transmission paths" in Line 5. It appears this should refer to “the N signal transmission paths”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 2 recites the limitation “the first charge storage device and the second charge device". It appears that "the first charge storage device and the second charge device" should be "the first charge storage unit and the second charge storage unit". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the two charge storage units". It appears "the" in the feature "the two charge storage units" should be deleted. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 7 recites the limitation "the first transmission path" and "the first charge storage unit". Also, the "second storage unit" in claim 7 is inconsistent with the expression "second charge storage unit" specified previously, causing the scope of protection of claim 7 to be unclear. It appears that "the" in the features "the first transmission path" and "the first charge storage unit" should be deleted, and the feature "second storage unit" is modified to be "second charge storage unit".
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the any two of the bonding conductors". It appears "the any two of the bonding conductors" should be modified to be "any two of the bonding conductors". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the N charge storage units". It appears "the" in the feature "the N charge storage units" should be deleted. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the image sensor according to claim 9", and the feature "the N source followers" specified therein is not specified in claim 9 and lacks an antecedent basis. It appears "the image sensor according to claim 9" should be modified to be "the image sensor according to claim 10". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 19 recites the limitation "the first charge storage device and the second charge device". It appears "the first charge storage device and the second charge device" should be modified to be "the first charge storage unit and the second charge storage unit". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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, 3-4, 7-14, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Keel (US 2019/0280038).
Regarding Claim 1, Keel discloses an image sensor [0030-32], comprising: a first substrate [#100 of Fig 1; 0034-35] , comprising at least a photoelectric unit for photoelectric conversion [0070; 0090-92], wherein N signal transmission paths are connected to the photoelectric unit, N is greater than or equal to 1 [0088-92]; and a second substrate [#200 of Fig 1; 0035-36] , comprising N second charge storage units respectively corresponding to the N transmission paths, wherein the transmission paths are used to: receive control signals [#P1, #P2, #302 of Fig 8; 0086-90], electrically connect the photoelectric unit to the second charge storage units [0088-90], and transfer at least part of photogenerated electrons generated in the photoelectric unit to the second charge storage units [0090; 0092-98].
Regarding Claim 18, Keel discloses a detection system [0030-32] for performing detection by the image sensor according to claim 1, the detection system comprising: a light source configured to emit a light signal to a target object [0067-68]; an image sensor configured to receive the light signal reflected from the target object and generate an electrical signal [0032-35; 0066; 0086-92; 0113], wherein the image sensor comprises: a first substrate [#100 of Fig 1; 0034-35], comprising at least a photoelectric unit for photoelectric conversion [0070; 0090-92], wherein N signal transmission paths are connected to the photoelectric unit, N is greater than or equal to 1 [0088-92]; and a second substrate [#200 of Fig 1; 0035-36], comprising N second charge storage units respectively corresponding to the N transmission paths, wherein the transmission paths are used to: receive control signals [#P1, #P2, #302 of Fig 8; 0086-90], electrically connect the photoelectric unit to the second charge storage units [0088-90], and transfer at least part of photogenerated electrons generated in the photoelectric unit to the second charge storage units [0090; 0092-98].
Regarding Claim 3, Keel also discloses wherein the first substrate [#100 of Fig 1] further comprises N transmission path control portions connected to the photoelectric unit to form an upstream pixel region [0086-90]; and the second substrate [#200 of Fig 1] further comprises a downstream pixel region corresponding to the upstream pixel region, wherein the upstream pixel is directly or indirectly connected to the N charge storage units [0086-90] of the downstream pixel via N bonding conductors respectively corresponding to the N signal transmission paths [0086-92], and the photogenerated electrons generated by the photoelectric units are at least partially transferred to the charge storage units [0086-92].
Regarding Claim 4, Keel also discloses wherein the number N of the signal transmission paths is two, the first substrate is connected to the second substrate by two bonding conductors, and the two charge storage units receive at least part of the photogenerated charges generated by the photoelectric unit via the two bonding conductors [0086-92].
Regarding Claim 7, Keel also discloses wherein the first transmission paths and the second transmission paths are formed by transistor structures and are electrically connectable to the first charge storage units and the second storage units in a time division manner so that the photogenerated electrons generated by the photoelectric unit are at least partially transferred to the first charge storage units or the second charge storage units [0086-90; 0093-99].
Regarding Claim 8, Keel also teaches wherein in a case that the number N of the transmission paths is greater than or equal to two, a space between centers of any two of the bonding conductors ranges from 2pm to 6pm [0049-56; 0065] – as this is one of the options available to one having ordinary skill in the art for variable spacing between the bonding conductors.
Regarding Claim 9, Keel also discloses wherein the second substrate further comprises N transfer transistors respectively corresponding to the N signal transmission paths, and the transfer transistors are arranged between the bonding conductors and the charge storage units [0086-90; 0093-99].
Regarding Claim 10, Keel also discloses wherein the second substrate further comprises N source followers, and the N source followers are respectively connected to the N charge storage units [0086-90; 0093-99].
Regarding Claim 11, Keel also discloses wherein the second substrate further comprises N row selection transistors [0081; 0084; 0095] respectively connected to the N source followers [0086-90; 0093-98].
Regarding Claim 12, Keel also discloses a pixel array [#10 of Fig 6; 0070-72] in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in rows in a first direction and in columns in a second direction, wherein each of the plurality of pixels is formed by connecting the upstream pixel region to the downstream pixel region via a plurality of the bonding conductors [0081; 0084; 0088-90; 0093-98].
Regarding Claim 13, Keel also discloses wherein a first pixel portion comprising at least the photoelectric unit of the upstream pixel region is provided on the first substrate [#10 of Fig 6; #100 of Fig 1; 0033-36; 0070-72]; and the second substrate comprises a second pixel portion corresponding to the first pixel portion and is spaced apart from the first substrate in a vertical direction [#200 of Fig 1; #10 of Fig 6-8; 0070-72], and the second pixel portion comprises at least the second charge storage units [0081; 0084; 0088-90; 0093-98].
Regarding Claim 14, Keel also discloses wherein a horizontal section of the first pixel portion and a horizontal section of the second pixel portion are rectangular and overlap each other in the vertical direction [0070-72; 0081; 0084; 0088-90; 0093-98].
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) 2, 16-17, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keel (US 2019/0280038), as applied to claims 1, 3, 4, and 18 above, and further in view of Lin (US 2020/0021768).
Regarding Claims 2 and 19, Keel does not explicitly teach – but Lin does teach wherein the first substrate further comprises N first charge storage units respectively corresponding to the N signal transmission paths [0039-41; 0045; 0050-54], the transmission paths are used to: receive control signals and transfer at least part of the photogenerated electrons generated in the photoelectric unit to the first charge storage units and the second charge storage units [0039-41; 0045; 0050-54]; and the second substrate further comprises a processing circuit [0003; 0023-25; 0032; 0055-57] configured to process the photogenerated electrons stored in the first charge storage units and the second charge units [0039-41; 0045; 0050-54]. It would have been obvious to modify the sensor of Keel to include plural charge storage units for each transmission path so as to perform the readout operation corresponding to the additional exposure and storage operations, simultaneously.
Regarding Claim 16, Keel also teaches wherein the processing circuit comprises: a reset device configured to reset the second charge storage unit [0072; 0074; 0090; 0096]; and a readout device configured to process and read out the photogenerated electrons in the charge storage unit 0070; 0078].
Regarding Claim 17, Keel also teaches wherein the number N of the signal transmission paths is two, and the first substrate comprises two first charge storage units corresponding to the number of the signal transmission paths [0086-90; 0093-98].
Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keel (US 2019/0280038), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Apostolos (US 2018/0052379)
Regarding Claims 5 and 6, Keel does not explicitly teach – but Apostolos does teach wherein the first substrate and the second substrate have different thicknesses… and wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are made of different materials and/or by different processes [0006; 0015; 0058; 0068; 0070]. It would have been obvious to modify the sensor of Keel to use different thicknesses, materials or manufacturing operations as different thickness layers may be arranged with a chirp or Bragg spacing to provide frequency independent operation.
Claim(s) 15 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keel (US 2019/0280038) and Lin (US 2020/0021768), as applied to claims 2 and 19 above, and further in view of Geuens (US 2020/0124726).
Regarding Claims 15 and 20, Keel does not explicitly teach – but Geuens does teach wherein a storage capacity of the second charge storage unit is greater than a storage capacity of the first charge storage unit [0044; 0149-54]. It would have been obvious to modify the sensor of Keel to include charge storage units of different capacities in order to flush out any charge that may be generated by reflections of highly-reflective out-of-range objects, to avoid its adversely influencing the measurement of the reflections of the next projected pulse, or for counting dark counts.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R HULKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7553. The examiner can normally be reached M-R: 9am-6pm, F: 10am-2pm.
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JAMES R. HULKA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3645
/JAMES R HULKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645