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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) document submitted on January 26,.2024, and January 31,2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1,3, 10,11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toda (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0033519 A1), in view of Lee (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0373339 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Toda discloses an imaging element (Fig. 8; Para 91; solid state imaging device 300) comprising:
a pixel array that includes pixels that are arranged two-dimensionally (Para 9; a plurality of pixels may be arranged one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally) and each of which has a photoelectric converter ( Para 62; photodiode ) and a spectroscopic element that is arranged on a light incident side of the photoelectric converter and disperses light in a predetermined wavelength range ( Fig. 6-8; Para 62-71; spectroscopic element; wherein 102-1 spectroscopic element is located on a light incident side of the photodiode 104-1).
However, Toda does not disclose wherein the pixels include cyan pixels that receive cyan light, magenta pixels that receive magenta light, and yellow pixels that receive yellow light.
Lee discloses the pixels include cyan pixels that receive cyan light, magenta pixels that receive magenta light, and yellow pixels that receive yellow light ( Para 60; Each of the central pixels or the peripheral pixels may be a unit pixel pattern PI, and the image sensor may be formed such that the unit pixel patterns PI are repeated. For example, unlike the illustration in FIG. 2, the unit pixel pattern PI may include a cyan color filter Cy, a magenta color filter Mg, and a yellow color filter Ye as array elements.) .
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Toda with the teaching of Lee to include cyan, magenta and yellow pixels to provide a wide range of colors and capture images with consistent color tones.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Toda and Lee teaches the imaging element according to claim 1, wherein the cyan pixel includes a cyan color filter that transmits cyan light, the magenta pixel includes a magenta color filter that transmits magenta light, and the yellow pixel includes a yellow color filter that transmits yellow light (Lee; Para 60; the unit pixel pattern PI may include a cyan color filter Cy, a magenta color filter Mg, and a yellow color filter Ye as array elements.).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Toda and Lee teaches the imaging element according to claim 1, wherein the pixel has a rectangular shape as viewed from a light incident side (Toda; Fig. 6; each pixel has a rectangular shape), and the pixel array includes the pixels arranged in a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction at equal intervals (Toda; Para 9; pixels arranged two-dimensionally wherein it is well known in the art that pixels are arranged in rows and columns in image sensor).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Toda and Lee teaches wherein the pixel arranged in a portion other than an outer most peripheral portion of the pixel array is arranged so as to be surrounded by six of the pixels (Lee; Fig. 1; any pixel located in the middle of the columns/ rows is surrounded by at least six of the other pixels).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toda (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0033519 A1), in view of Lee (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0373339 A1) and further in view of Hiramoto et al. (US Pub. No.: US 2012/0206637 A1).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Toda and Lee does not teach the imaging element according to claim 11, wherein the six adjacent pixels of the cyan pixel are either one of the yellow pixels and the magenta pixels, the six adjacent pixels of the yellow pixel are either one of the cyan pixels and the magenta pixels, and the six adjacent pixels of the magenta pixel are either one of the cyan pixels and the yellow pixels.
Hiramoto et al. discloses the imaging element according to claim 11, wherein the six adjacent pixels of the cyan pixel are either one of the yellow pixels and the magenta pixels, the six adjacent pixels of the yellow pixel are either one of the cyan pixels and the magenta pixels, and the six adjacent pixels of the magenta pixel are either one of the cyan pixels and the yellow pixels (Hiramoto et al.; Fig. 10; wherein the pixels adjacent to the cyan pixel is yellow and Mg, the pixels adjacent to yellow pixels are cyan and magenta pixels; the pixels adjacent to magenta pixels are yellow pixels.).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Toda and Lee with the teaching of Hiramoto to include certain color of pixels adjacent to yellow, magenta and cyan pixels in order to overlap the colors that absorb specific wavelength in order to create a full color image through optical blending.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toda (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0033519 A1), in view of Lee (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0373339 A1) and further in view of Mlinar (US Pub. No.: US 2019/0349542 A1).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Toda and Lee does not teach the imaging element according to claim 11, wherein the pixel has a hexagonal shape as viewed from a light incident side.
Mlinar disclose the imaging element according to claim 11, wherein the pixel has a hexagonal shape as viewed from a light incident side (Figs. 2B; Para 42;
image sensor pixels 202 may be circular or hexagonal image sensor pixels.).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Toda and Lee with the teaching of Mlinar to include pixels in hexagonal shape in order to provide higher angular resolutions, more efficient spatial sampling and can be packed tightly together without gap.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toda (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0033519 A1), in view of Lee (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0373339 A1) and further in view of Kurokawa (US Pub. No.: US 2017/0207268 A1).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Toda and Lee does not teach the imaging element according to claim 1, comprising:
an on-chip microlens on a light incident side of the spectroscopic element.
Kurokawa discloses an on-chip microlens on a light incident side of the spectroscopic element ( Figs. 5A, 5B; Para 115,116; the spectroscopic element 65R is provided on an optical path of light passing through the microlense 1540.) .
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Toda and Lee with the teaching of Kurokawa to spatially separate light into discrete spots while the grating spreads these spots into spectra without overlapping adjacent data and allow the system to balance light throughout and provide images with better quality.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4,5,6,7,8,9, 14 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:
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Toda Lee discloses the spectroscopic element ( Toda; Fig. 6-8; Para 62-71; spectroscopic element; wherein 102-1 spectroscopic element is located on a light incident side of the photodiode 104-1).
However, none of the prior art discloses wherein the spectroscopic element of the cyan pixel is a first spectroscopic element that disperses red light toward the magenta pixel and the yellow pixel therearound, the spectroscopic element of the magenta pixel is a second spectroscopic element that disperses green light toward the cyan pixel and the yellow pixel therearound, and the spectroscopic element of the yellow pixel is a third spectroscopic element that disperses blue light toward the cyan pixel and the magenta pixel therearound.
Claims 4-9 are objected to as being dependent from claim 2.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Toda Lee discloses the spectroscopic element ( Toda; Fig. 6-8; Para 62-71; spectroscopic element; wherein 102-1 spectroscopic element is located on a light incident side of the photodiode 104-1).
However, none of the prior art discloses wherein the spectroscopic element includes a plurality of types of microstructures having refractive indices different from one another.
Claim 16, 17 are allowed.
Regarding claim 16, prior art on record Ishiga et al. (US Pub. No.: US 2015/0002634 A1) discloses an imaging element (Para 57; digital camera 10) comprising:
a pixel array that includes pixels arranged two-dimensionally and each of which has a photoelectric converter that includes a first-type photoelectric converter and a second-type photoelectric converter (abstract; The image sensor has a primitive lattice that is a group of pixels including (i) at least four types of parallax pixels formed by photoelectric converter elements each of which is associated with one of combinations of two different types of aperture masks and two different types of color filters and (ii) no-parallax pixels configured to guide an incident luminous flux to photoelectric converter elements without limitation. In the group of pixels, the no-parallax pixels are more than the parallax pixels.).
Prior art on record Toda (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0033519 A1) discloses spectroscopic element ( Fig. 6-8; Para 62-71; spectroscopic element; wherein 102-1 spectroscopic element is located on a light incident side of the photodiode 104-1).
However, the prior art does not disclose “a prior stage spectroscopic element that disperses light in a predetermined wavelength range of incident light toward another pixel, and a posterior stage spectroscopic element that is arranged between the prior stage spectroscopic element and the photoelectric converter, that disperses the light that has passed through the prior stage spectroscopic element to light in a first wavelength band and light in a second wavelength band, on a basis of a reference wavelength, that causes the first type photoelectric converter to receive the light in the first wavelength band, and that causes the second type photoelectric converter to
receive the light in the second wavelength band” in the claim.
Claim 17 is allowed as being dependent from claim 16.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XI WANG whose telephone number is (469)295-9155. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00 am-5:00 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, Sinh Tran can be reached on 571-272-7564. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/XI WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637
Prosecution Insights