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 § 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, 8 and claims bellow are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 US 20210293957 A1 in view of D2 US 20210181341 A1 .
Regarding claims 1, 8 D1 teaches
1, 8. (Original) A pixel array for use in a lidar system, the pixel array comprising:
a first plurality of pixels(NDR1 and NDR2 fig. 17 or NDR fig. 16 ) clocked by a first clock signal(implicit it is readout circuit ) to recurringly and consecutively perform a series of tasks(implicit pixels receive signal accumulate the signal during receive time and then send it to the processor); and[0152](short distance pixels)
a second plurality of pixels (FDR)clocked by a second clock(implicit as second clock can be the same or different but has to be in order to initiate receive window) signal to recurringly and consecutively perform the series of tasks, (implicit pixels receive signal accumulate the signal during receive time and then send it to the processor)
but does not explicitly teach
wherein one of a.) the first clock signal and b.) the second clock signal are delayed relative to the other by a first duration.
D2 teaches short and long distance pixel [0180][0089-0090] with first clock signal (fig. 6a (c) first exposure period “short distance exposure”) delayed relative to the other(second exposure period fig. 6a(d) long distance exposure) by a first duration (fig. 6A) and photodetector performs series of tasks [0009]( The photodetector device includes plural photodetector elements, and outputs photodetection data responsive to the amount of light that is incident on each of the photodetector elements during a specified exposure period. Which means collecting data during exposure and outputting it.)
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 with teachings by D2 in order to avoid collection of the background data in long range pixels while no actual data from long range arrives at the detector.
2. (Original) The pixel array of claim 1 wherein the first duration is a duration allocated for one of the tasks in the series of tasks.(D2 implicit collection is performed during the exposure)
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 with teachings by D2 in order to avoid collection of the background data in long range pixels while no actual data from long range arrives at the detector.
4. (Original) The pixel array of claim 3 wherein a first number of pixels in the first plurality of pixels are clocked by a first clock signal and a second number of pixels in the first plurality of pixels are clocked by a second clock signal, the second clock signal phase- shifted from the first clock signal by a second duration.(D2 fig. 6A) also evidenced by (D01 US 20170041589 A1[0018])
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 with teachings by D2 in order to avoid collection of the background data in long range pixels while no actual data from long range arrives at the detector.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3, 5-7,9-21 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOVHANNES BAGHDASARYAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7845. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7am - 5 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuqing Xiao can be reached at (571) 270-3603. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HOVHANNES BAGHDASARYAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
Prosecution Insights