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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because a computer program, without any structural elements, is merely information or a signal not having a physical or tangible form.
Examiner recommends the claim be amended to begin “A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method comprising..” to overcome this rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-2, and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schildknecht et al. (US 2019/0339356).
With regard to claim 1, Schildknecht discloses a signal processing apparatus (e. g. Fig. 1) comprising:
A depth data processing section (evaluation device 132) that executes a signal process for phase data supplied from an indirect Time-of-flight sensor (para. [0096]), to acquire depth data indicative of a depth to a target object (112) that is a target of distance measurement (para. [0323]); and
A transmission processing section (data processing device) that transmits the depth data in a predetermined output format (via serial or parallel interface such as USB, Centronics Port, FireWire, HDMI, Ethernet, Bluetooth, RFID, Wi-Fi, USART, or SPI, para. [0223] ).
With regard to claim 2, in one embodiment the depth data processing section is implemented hardware designed for exclusive use of the for the signal process (evaluation device may be an application-specific integrated circuit, para. [0127]).
With regard to claim 7, Schildknecht discloses a signal processing method performed by a signal processing apparatus (Fig. 1) that performs a signal process, comprising:
Executing a signal process for phase data supplied from an indirect Time of flight sensor, to acquire depth data indicative of a depth to a target object (112) that is a target of distance measurement (para. [0323]), and
Transmitting the depth data in a predetermined output format (via serial or parallel interface such as USB, Centronics Port, FireWire, HDMI, Ethernet, Bluetooth, RFID, Wi-Fi, USART, or SPI, para. [0223] ).
With regard to claim 8, Schildknecht discloses a program (paras. [0056] & [0221]) for causing a computer of a signal processing apparatus (Fig. 1) that performs a signal process to execute a signal process comprising:
Executing a signal process for phase data supplied from an indirect Time of flight sensor, to acquire depth data indicative of a depth to a target object (112) that is a target of distance measurement (para. [0323]), and
Transmitting the depth data in a predetermined output format (via serial or parallel interface such as USB, Centronics Port, FireWire, HDMI, Ethernet, Bluetooth, RFID, Wi-Fi, USART, or SPI, para. [0223] ).
Claims 1-2 and 7 are alternatively rejected, and claim 3 is rejected, under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yamada (US 2023/0145578).
The applied reference has a common inventor and assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
With regard to claim 1, Yamada discloses a signal processing apparatus (e. g. Fig. 1A) comprising:
A depth data processing section (signal processing circuit 12a) that executes a signal process for phase data supplied from an indirect Time-of-flight sensor (phase data from first semiconductor element 11, para. [0050]), to acquire depth data indicative of a depth to a target object that is a target of distance measurement; and
A transmission processing section (communication section) that transmits the depth data in a predetermined output format (via MIPI Tx terminal, SPI Rx terminal and other terminals, para. [0058]).
With regard to claim 2, the depth data processing section is implemented by a dedicated circuit in the second semiconductor unit (para. [0029]) or third semiconductor (paras. [0051-0052]).
With regard to claim 3, the output format is MIPI (paras. [0058] & [0061]).
With regard to claim 7, Yamada discloses a signal processing method performed by a signal processing apparatus (Fig. 1a) that performs a signal process, comprising:
Executing a signal process for phase data supplied from an indirect Time of flight sensor, to acquire depth data indicative of a depth to a target object (112) that is a target of distance measurement (phase data from first semiconductor element 11 used in signal processing circuit 12a to calculate distance information, paras. [0050-0051] ), and
Transmitting the depth data in a predetermined output format (via MIPI Tx terminal, SPI Rx terminal and other terminals, para. [0058])).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art does not disclose or make obvious, a signal processing apparatus comprising a depth processing section that executes a signal process for phase data supplied from an indirect time of flight sensor, further comprising an OPD calculation section that calculated optical detector data indicative of a detected light amount necessary for execution of automatic exposure from the phase data, wherein the transmission processing section transmits the OPD data in a predetermined output format. Further, the prior art does not disclose or make obvious, a signal processing apparatus comprising a depth processing section that executes a signal process for phase data supplied from an indirect time of flight sensor further comprising a selection section that selects either one of the phase data supplied from the sensor or the depth data acquired by the depth processing section and supplies the selected data to the transmission processing section.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed on Aug. 7, 2023 has been considered by the Examiner.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to ERIC L BOLDA whose telephone number is 571-272-8104. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 8:30am to 5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, YUQING XIAO can be reached on 571-270-3603. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIC L BOLDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645