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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements filed 6/26/2023, 12/17/2024 and 4/17/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed 6/23/2023 are approved by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tayu (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0058408) in view of Boutaud (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0309898).
With respect to claim 1, Tayu discloses: A range imaging apparatus [ taught by figure 7 ], comprising: a light source unit configured to emit a light pulse to a measurement space [ taught by light emitting unit (1011) ]; a light receiver including a plurality of pixels and a pixel driver circuit; and a range image processor configured to determine a measurement distance to a subject placed in the measurement space [ taught by light receiving unit (1013); paragraph [0144] ], wherein each of the pixels in the light receiver includes a photoelectric conversion device configured to generate an electric charge corresponding to incident light and a plurality of charge accumulators configured to store the electric charge [ Paragraph [0114] teaches using imaging element (11) which includes a pixel array (21) wherein paragraph [0047] states, “…In the pixel array unit 21, for example, unit pixels are disposed in an array form. The unit pixels (hereinafter, also referred to as “pixels”) generate charges corresponding to an amount of received light and outputs a signal according to the charges. For example, the pixels are disposed in two directions that are a row direction and a column direction in the pixel array. Here, the pixels may be formed in any two-dimensional array in the pixel array unit 21. That is to say, the pixel array unit 21 includes a plurality of pixels which photoelectrically convert incident light and output a signal according to charges obtained through the photoelectric conversion…” ], the pixel driver circuit [ taught by pixel drive unit (22) ] in the light receiver is configured to distribute and store the electric charge to each of the charge accumulators of each of the pixels at a predetermined point in time synchronized with emission of the light pulse [ paragraphs [0142] and [0143] state, “…The light emission control unit 1012 supplies the light emission control signal CLKp to the light emitting unit 1011 and the light receiving unit 1013 to control the irradiation timing of the irradiation light. A frequency of the light emission control signal CLKp is, for example, 20 megahertz (MHz). Note that the frequency of the light emission control signal CLKp is not limited to 20 megahertz (MHz) and may be set to other values such as 5 megahertz (MHz). The light receiving unit 1013 receives reflected light reflected from an object and calculates distance information for each pixel in accordance with the light reception result. Also, a distance image in which a distance from the object is represented by a gradation value for each pixel is generated and the distance image is output…” ], the range image processor is configured to acquire waveform information indicating a degree of distortion of a waveform of a rectangular signal having a distorted waveform, correct, based on the waveform information, charge amounts each indicating an amount of the electric charge that is stored when the waveform of the rectangular signal has no distortion, and determine the measurement distance to the subject using the charge amounts, and the rectangular signal is used in signal processing performed until the measurement distance is determined [ paragraph [0143] teaches determining distance ].
Tayu does not disclose the range image processor is configured to acquire waveform information indicating a degree of distortion of a waveform of a rectangular signal having a distorted waveform, correct, based on the waveform information, charge amounts each indicating an amount of the electric charge that is stored when the waveform of the rectangular signal has no distortion.
Boutaud teaches that it was known before the effective filing date of the present application to have used a range image processor to acquire waveform information indicating a degree of distortion of a rectangular signal (figures 8a and 8b) wherein the signals are corrected to eliminate the distortion – paragraph [0115] states, “…With reference to the example waveforms depicted in FIGS. 6a-8b, this correction technique can transform the distorted pulses illustrated in FIGS. 8a and 8b to corrected pulses similar to those depicted in FIGS. 6a and 6b…”].
Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have had a reasonable expectation of success in applying the method of Boutaud to the device of Tayu, when seeking to improve the accuracy of distance determination.
Claim 6 is rejected by the combination of Tayu and Boutaud, as applied to claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 7-10 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to MARK HELLNER at telephone number (571)272-6981.
Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
/MARK HELLNER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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