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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Moon et al. (US 20080023624).
Re claims 1 and 14: Moon teaches an electronic appliance, comprising a light receiving apparatus (fig. 3 and 5, paragraph 5), that includes a semiconductor substrate (paragraph 47) including a first photodetector (one of 300/50) and a second photodetector (another of 300/50) arranged within at least substantially a same light receiving plane (see fig. 3 and 5); and an optical member (301/302/51/52/54) including at least a first optical system (a microlens/incline element 301/302/51/52/54 over one of 300/50) that allows light to enter the first photodetector (one of 300/50) and a second optical system (another microlens/incline element 301/302/51/52/54 over another of 300/50) that allows light to enter the second photodetector (another of 300/50) (fig. 3 and 5), wherein a first pixel of an image formed at the first photodetector (one of 300/50) with the light entering the first photodetector through the first optical system (a microlens/incline element 301/302/51/52/54 over one of 300/50) is different in orientation of a principal ray on an object side from a second pixel of an image formed at the second photodetector (another of 300/50) with the light entering the second photodetector through the second optical system (another microlens/incline element 301/302/51/52/54 over another of 300/50) (fig. 3 and 5, abstract, paragraph 10-18).
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, 3, 5 and 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 20080023624) in view of Xue et al. (US 20220406838).
Re claim 2: Moon teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein the optical member (301/302/51/52/54) includes, in sequence from the object side, a refraction plane (302/52/54) including an inclined surface inclined at a predetermined inclination angle and provided for each pixel (see fig. 3 and 5), a microlens group (301/51) configured to form an image with the light for each photodetector (300/50) (see fig. 3 and 5, paragraph 38 and 39), but does not specifically teach a light shielding portion disposed near a focal position of the microlens group and configured to allow transmission of only the collected light, for each pixel. Xue teaches a microlens group (microlens array, fig. 23) configured to form an image with light for each photodetector (see fig. 23, abstract), and a light shielding portion (opaque layer) disposed near a focal position of the microlens group (paragraph 66, 78, 79, 122 and 129) and configured to allow transmission of only the collected light, for each pixel (see fig. 12-19, 23 and 26). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to include a light shielding portion similar to Xue after the microlens of Moon in order to ensure light passing through the microlens at a specific angle is detected by the corresponding photodetector for the optical system providing for more precise imaging.
Re claim 3: Moon as modified by Xue teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein the refraction plane (Moon, 302/52/54) includes an interface between transparent bodies (Moon, 52/54) each having a predetermined refractive index (Moon, paragraph 49), and the inclination angle of the inclined surface is set for each pixel (Moon, see fig. 3 and 5), so that the light entering the optical member (Moon, 301/302/51/52/54) is refracted in accordance with a difference in refractive index between the transparent bodies (Moon, paragraph 49 and 16, abstract, fig. 3 and 5).
Re claim 5: Moon as modified by Xue teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein the refraction plane (Moon, 302/52/54) comprises a concave lens, a Fresnel lens, or a hologram element (Moon, Fresnel, paragraph 11).
Re claim 9: Moon as modified by Xue teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein a focal length fg of the microlens group satisfies a condition represented by the following formula (2): [Mathematical Formula 2] 0.0003 mm ≤ fg ≤ 3 mm (Xue, paragraph 87).
Re claim 10: Moon as modified by Xue teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein a diameter of a pinhole provided in the light shielding portion satisfies a condition represented by the following formula (3): [Mathematical Formula 3] 0.1 µm ≤ dm ≤ 2 µm (Xue, paragraph 68, 1 µm).
Re claim 11: Moon as modified by Xue teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein the light shielding portion (Xue, opaque layer) includes a light shielding plane where the pinhole is formed and a light shielding wall serving as a partition between the adjacent pixels (Xue, see fig. 12-19, 23 and 26, the opaque layer has pinhole for each pixel with walls separating the pixels).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 20080023624) as modified by Xue et al. (US 20220406838) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Nam et al. (US 20210174053).
Re claim 4: Moon as modified by Xue teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein the microlens group (Moon, 301/51) includes a lens portion provided for each pixel (Moon, 300/50), each pixel has an optical axis extending from the corresponding photodetector (Moon, 300/50) to the microlens group (Moon, 301/51) in a direction perpendicular to the light receiving plane (Moon, see fig. 3 and 5), but does not specifically teach the lens portion for a predetermined one of the pixels has a central axis that is located eccentrically with respect to an optical axis of the pixel so that an angle of a principal ray of the light entering the optical member is changed. Nam teaches a lens portion (11) for a predetermined one of pixels (131) has a central axis that is located eccentrically with respect to an optical axis of the pixel (131) so that an angle of a principal ray of the light entering an optical member (22/12) is changed (see fig. 7). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have the lens portion of Moon as modified by Xue be eccentric to an optical axis of a predetermined pixel similar to Nam in order to ensure angle of incidence selectivity for the principal ray orientation providing for higher quality image capture.
Claim(s) 6 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 20080023624) in view of Yeh et al. (US 20210089741).
Re claim 6: Moon teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein the optical member (301/302/51/52/54) includes, in sequence from the object side, a refraction plane (302/52/54) including an inclined surface inclined at a predetermined inclination angle and provided for each pixel (see fig. 3 and 5), a microlens group (301/51) configured to form an image with the light for each photodetector (300/50) (see fig. 3 and 5, paragraph 38 and 39), but does not specifically teach further comprising a cover glass disposed closer to the object side than the optical member is. Yeh teaches comprising a cover glass (306) disposed closer to an object side than an optical member is (310a/314/312/316)(see fig. 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to include a cover glass similar to Yeh with the device of Moon in order to protect the device from external elements providing for a longer lasting design.
Re claim 7: Moon as modified by Yeh teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein a transparent body (Yeh, 310) comprising a medium other than air is interposed between the cover glass (Yeh, 306) and a semiconductor substrate (Yeh, 318, fig. 3, there is no air between the substrate 318 and the cover glass 306).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 20080023624) as modified by Xue et al. (US 20220406838) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Baba (WO 2019239693).
Re claim 8: Moon as modified by Xue teaches different incident ray angles (Moon, fig. 3, Xue, fig. 12-19), but does not specifically teach an angle Θ formed by an upper ray and a lower ray in the pixel located at a center of the light receiving plane satisfies a condition represented by the following formula (1): -10 degrees ≤ Ɵ ≤ 10 degrees. Baba teaches an angle Θ formed by an upper ray and a lower ray in the pixel located at a center of the light receiving plane satisfies a condition represented by the following formula (1): -10 degrees ≤ Ɵ ≤ 10 degrees (claim 4, and machine translation under first embodiment section [1] and [2]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have an angle formed by an upper ray and a lower ray similar to Baba with the optics of Moon as modified by Xue in order to ensure light at a specific incident angle passes through the optical element to the photodetector providing for more efficient light collection and sensing.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 20080023624) as modified by Xue et al. (US 20220406838) as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (US 20210151511).
Re claim 12: Moon as modified by Xue teaches the light receiving apparatus, wherein the light shielding portion (Xue, opaque layer) includes a light shielding plane where the pinhole is formed and a light shielding wall serving as a partition between the adjacent pixels (Xue, see fig. 12-19, 23 and 26, the opaque layer has pinhole for each pixel with walls separating the pixels), but does not specifically teach wherein the light shielding portion includes a second light shielding plane having an opening corresponding to the pinhole, the second light shielding plane disposed closer to the microlens group than the light shielding plane is. Kim teaches wherein a light shielding portion (320/313) includes a second light shielding plane (313) having an opening corresponding to a pinhole (within 320), the second light shielding plane (313) disposed closer to a microlens group (310) than a light shielding plane (320) is (see fig. 11). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to include a second light shielding plane similar to Kim with the light shielding portion in Moon as modified by Xue in order to further reduce crosstalk between pixels providing for more efficient light capture.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al. (US 20080023624) as modified by Xue et al. (US 20220406838) as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Sinclair et al. (US 7683310).
Re claim 13: Moon as modified by Xue teaches the light shielding portion (Xue, opaque layer) disposed near the focal position of the microlens group (Xue, paragraph 66, 78, 79, 122 and 129) and configured to allow transmission of only the collected light, for each pixel (Xue, see fig. 12-19, 23 and 26), but does not specifically teach a fine structure for reflection prevention is provided on a surface of the light shielding portion. Sinclair teaches a fine structure for reflection prevention is provided on a surface of a light shielding portion (20) (col. 7, lines 28-33). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use a fine structure similar to Sinclair on the light shielding portion of Moon as modified by Xue in order to reduce stray reflections from occurring providing for more efficient light detection.
Conclusion
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/JENNIFER D BENNETT/Examiner, Art Unit 2878