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 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because they are directed to non-statutory subject matter "a non-tangible computer readable medium". The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer readable medium covers forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer readable media. Transitory signal does not fall within a statutory category since it is clearly not a series of steps or acts to constitute a process, not a mechanical device or combination of mechanical devices to constitute a machine, not a tangible physical article or object which is some form of matter to be a product and constitute a manufacture, and not a composition of two or more substances to constitute a composition of matter.
Note that a claim drawn to such a computer readable medium that covers both transitory and non-transitory embodiments may be amended to narrow the claim to cover only statutory embodiments to avoid a rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 101 by adding the limitation "non-transitory" to the claim.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 8, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102b as being anticipated by Kameshima et al US Publication No. 2009/0218476.
Regarding claim 1 Kameshima et al discloses of Fig. 1 – 11 of applicant’s an optical sensor system (paragraph 0040 image pickup apparatus performs (paragraph 0053) an operation of the radiation image pickup apparatus is an optical sensor system method) comprising: a thin-film transistor (TFT) optical panel including an array of TFT pixels (paragraph 0041 sensor array 100 is constructed by two-dimensionally arranging the pixels 101 and performs the matrix-driving. Each pixel 101 has: one of the photodiodes (e.g. S11) made of amorphous silicon corresponding to the conversion elements each for converting the radiation into the electric signal; and one of the thin film transistors (TFTs) (e.g. T11) corresponding to the transfer switching elements each for transferring the electric signal of each photodiode to the outside such that a sensor array 100 thin-film transistor (TFT) optical panel including an array of TFT pixels 101); a charge amplifier configured to temporarily store a charge received from a TFT pixel in the array of TFT pixels and generate a voltage based on the temporarily stored charge (paragraph 0042 the signal charges as an electric signal in each pixel 101 are converted into the analog signals by the reading circuit unit 210. The reading circuit unit 210 has the amplifiers A1 to A4. Paragraph 0055 in the operation in the "normal reading mode" the signal charges of each pixel 101 are sent to the amplifiers A1 to A4 provided in correspondence to the signal wirings through the signal wirings Sig1 to Sig4 and converted into voltages here such that amplifiers A1 is a charge amplifier configured to temporarily store a charge received from a TFT pixel 101 in the array of TFT pixels 101 and generate a voltage based on the temporarily stored charge);
Kameshima et al further discloses of applicant’s an analog-to-digital converter to generate a digitized value based on the voltage (paragraph 0042 the analog signals converted by the reading circuit unit 210 are converted into the digital signals by the A/D converter 500 such that an analog-to-digital converter 500 generates a digitized value based on the voltage analog signal; an accumulator configured to store the digitized value (paragraph 0042 the digital signals are processed by the image processing unit 600 constructed by the memory, the processor, and the like and outputted to the monitor (not shown) or stored in the recording apparatus such as a hard disk or the like such that image processing unit 600 is an accumulator configured to store the digitized value in a recording apparatus); and a controller circuit configured to cause the temporarily stored charge in the charge amplifier to be reset based on one of the voltage and the digitized value (paragraph 0054 first, the reset switches SWRC provided for the amplifiers A1 to A4 are turned on by the reset signal RC which is generated from the timing generator (not shown) and the integration capacitors Cf of the amplifiers A1 to A4 and the signal wirings Sig1 to Sig4 are reset such that timing generator is a controller circuit configured to cause the temporarily stored charge in the charge amplifier A1 to be reset based on one of the previous voltage from the charge in amplifier A1 and the digitized value previously stored in image processing unit 600).
Regarding claim 2 Kameshima et al further discloses of applicant’s wherein each TFT pixel includes only one TFT (paragraph 0041 Each pixel 101 has one photodiode S11 and one thin film transistors (TFTs) (e.g. T11) corresponding to the transfer switching elements each for transferring the electric signal of each photodiode to the outside such that each TFT pixel includes only one TFT T11).
Regarding claim 8, claim 8 is rejected for being fully encompassed by the reasons found in rejected claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 14, claim 14 is rejected for being fully encompassed by the reasons found in rejected claim 1 above and where Kameshima et al further discloses the additional claim limitation of applicant's a non-tangible computer readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a computer in an optical sensor system (paragraph 0094 – 0096 the radiation image pickup apparatus according to each of the foregoing embodiments of the invention and the control method for the radiation image pickup apparatus can be realized by a method whereby a program stored in a ROM, or the like of a computer operates. Such a program and a computer-readable storing medium in which the program has been stored are incorporated in the invention. The program is incorporated in the invention not only the case where the computer executes the supplied program, so that the functions of the radiation image pickup apparatus according to each of the foregoing embodiments such that a non-tangible ROM computer readable medium storing program instructions, which when executed by a computer in an imager optical sensor system).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 – 7, 9 – 13, and 15 – 20 are objected to as being dependent upon or ultimate dependent on 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 MARK T MONK whose telephone number is (571)270-7454. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday 8am to 4pm.
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/MARK T MONK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637