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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 6-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 09/15/25.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-2, 5 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Furuta (US2014/0307130).
Regarding claim 1, Furuta discloses an apparatus comprising: a sensor including a plurality of pixels ([0066]: See pixels or photo conversion elements 33); at least one processor (Fig. 1: CPU 11); and a memory coupled to the at least one processor (Fig. 1: See connections between memory 31/27 and CPU 11), the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
store first information indicating a first pixel to be a target of predetermined correction processing and second information indicating a second pixel to be a target of the predetermined correction processing in a case where a predetermined condition is satisfied, the first pixel and the second pixel being included in the plurality of pixels of the sensor (See information: defect type, position/ address, pixel value that meet one of the threshold value of the threshold value information table or evaluation value corresponding to one of the plurality of pixels in Fig. 4, 14, 20, 23-25 and 32; [0088-0089; 0182-0192]; the first pixel and second pixel are also interpreted as two or more defective pixels included in the defective pixel information data 37);
set the second pixel to a target of the predetermined correction processing in a case where an estimation value based on an output of the second pixel specified by the second information satisfies the predetermined condition ([0016-0017; 0097-0109]: examiner interprets the step: “set the second pixel to a target of the predetermined correction processing” in the claim invention as the step of register pieces of defective pixel information in Furuta reference; See also the step of register defective pixel information based on pixel information, pixel values of dark output in comparison with the threshold value B or A in Fig. 7, 19, 21); and
correct, through the predetermined correction processing, a value of the first pixel in an image acquired by the sensor and a value of the second pixel set to be a target of the predetermined correction processing in the image acquired by the sensor (Fig. 9 and 22: See the step of conduction interpolation processing of defect pixel, first pixel and second pixel that are included in defective pixel information data; [0063; 0111-0145; 0163-0166; 0171]).
Regarding claim 2, Furuta discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first pixel outputs a value greater than or equal to a first threshold even in a state without incident light (Fig. 7: See comparison of pixel value of dark output when it is greater or equal to threshold value A or B), wherein the second pixel has a characteristic of outputting a value greater than or equal to a second threshold value lower than the first threshold even in the state without incident light (Fig. 7: See comparison of pixel value of dark output when it is greater or equal to threshold value A or B), and wherein the predetermined condition is that the estimation value for the second pixel in the state without incident light is greater than or equal to the first threshold (Fig. 7: See comparison of pixel value of dark output when it is greater or equal to threshold value B and when B is set to be greater than A; [0104-0110]; See also other threshold conditions A-E in fig. 18; [0149-0160]).
Regarding claim 5, Furuta discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to correct, through the predetermined correction processing (See the step of conduction interpolation processing of defect pixel in Fig. 9 and 22:, first pixel and second pixel that are included in defective pixel information data; [0063; 0111-0145; 0163-0166; 0171]), a value of a pixel specified by the first information in the image acquired by the sensor (Fig. 25: See pixel values P1-P5.. in the defective pixel information data) and a value of a pixel set to a target of the predetermined correction processing based on the second information in the image acquired by the sensor (Fig. 25: See evaluation values P2-P5… in the defective pixel information data based on one of the second information data: defective type or corresponding threshold values A-E in one of Fig. 7 and 18).
Regarding claim 17, the claim is a method of the apparatus claim 1. Therefore, claim 17 is analyzed and rejected as claim 1.
Regarding claim 18, Furuta discloses the method according to claim 17, further comprising correcting, through the predetermined correction processing (See the step of conduction interpolation processing of defect pixel in Fig. 9 and 22:, first pixel and second pixel that are included in defective pixel information data; [0063; 0111-0145; 0163-0166; 0171]), a value of a pixel specified by the first information in the image acquired by the sensor (Fig. 25: See pixel values P1-P5.. in the defective pixel information data) and a value of a pixel set to a target of the predetermined correction processing based on the second information in the image acquired by the sensor (Fig. 25: See evaluation values P2-P5… in the defective pixel information data based on one of the second information data: defective type or threshold B-E).
Regarding claim 19, the claim contains the same limitations as claimed in claim 1 or 17. Therefore, claim 19 is analyzed and rejected as claim 1 or 17. However, claim 19 further requires: “a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a method” ([0016-0017; 0057]).
Regarding claim 20, Furuta discloses the method according to claim 17, further comprising correcting, through the predetermined correction processing (See the step of conduction interpolation processing of defect pixel in Fig. 9 and 22:, first pixel and second pixel that are included in defective pixel information data; [0063; 0111-0145; 0163-0166; 0171]), a value of a pixel specified by the first information in the image acquired by the sensor (Fig. 25: See pixel values P1-P5.. in the defective pixel information data) and a value of a pixel set to a target of the predetermined correction processing based on the second information in the image acquired by the sensor (Fig. 25: See evaluation values P2-P5… in the defective pixel information data based on one of the second information data: defective type or corresponding threshold values A-E in one of Fig. 7 and 18).
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 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Furuta in view of Honda (US2015/0146200).
Regarding claim 14, Furuta fails to explicitly disclose the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each pixel of the sensor includes an avalanche photodiode.
In an analogous of art, Honda teaches the advantage of avalanche photodiode wherein its optical magnification can be reduced because the size of an individual pixel that can be reduced and the integration of several hundreds of or several thousands of pixels or more ([0124; 0142; 0150]). In light of the teaching from Honda, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device of Furuta to include the multiple avalanche photodiode of Honda. The modification thus allow the optical magnification of a detection unit to be reduced because the size of an individual pixel can be reduced and the integration of several hundreds of or several thousands of pixels or more is enabled at a low cost (Honda: [0124]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 15-16 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:
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 15-16 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 an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 3, the prior art of Furuta discloses a storage that store defective pixel value, types and positions. The prior art of Honda discloses the advantage of avalanche photodiode wherein its optical magnification can be reduced because the size of an individual pixel that can be reduced and the integration of several hundreds of or several thousands of pixels or more. The prior art of Hirose (US2021/0368119) discloses avalanche photodiode that detects a photon by occurrence of avalanche multiplication. The prior art of Kobayashi (US2024/0276122) discloses an image signal that is generated from each pixel of the photoelectric conversion device, and wherein the number of times of the avalanche amplification occurrence is output for each pixel. The prior art of Morimoto (US2020/0244909) discloses avalanche multiplication by the photodiode that is possible and in a recharging state for returning the photodiode having performed the avalanche multiplication to the standby state. However, none of the prior art, alone or in combination provide a motivation to teach or fairly suggest the apparatus according to claim 2 in combination with: “wherein the first information includes information indicating a first type indicating that the first pixel is a pixel having a predetermined characteristic and information indicating a position of the first pixel in the image acquired by the sensor, wherein the second information includes information indicating a second type indicating that the second pixel is a pixel having a characteristic with a possibility of becoming the predetermined characteristic, information indicating the value of the second pixel in the state without incident light, and information indicating a position of the second pixel in the image acquired by the sensor, and wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to update the second type of the stored second information to the first type and update the information indicating the value of the second pixel to the estimation value of the second pixel in a case where the second pixel is set to a target of the predetermined correction processing.
Regarding claim 4, the claim is objected as being depending upon the objected claim 3.
Regarding claim 15, the prior art of Furuta discloses a storage that store defective pixel value, types and positions. The prior art of Honda discloses the advantage of avalanche photodiode wherein its optical magnification can be reduced because the size of an individual pixel that can be reduced and the integration of several hundreds of or several thousands of pixels or more. The prior art of Hirose (US2021/0368119) discloses avalanche photodiode that detects a photon by occurrence of avalanche multiplication. The prior art of Kobayashi (US2024/0276122) discloses an image signal that is generated from each pixel of the photoelectric conversion device, and wherein the number of times of the avalanche amplification occurrence is output for each pixel. The prior art of Morimoto (US2020/0244909) discloses avalanche multiplication by the photodiode that is possible and in a recharging state for returning the photodiode having performed the avalanche multiplication to the standby state. However, none of the prior art, alone or in combination provide a motivation to teach or fairly suggest the apparatus according to claim 14 in combination with: “wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to acquire an estimation value for the change in the value of the second pixel with the use of the sensor based on the number of times an avalanche phenomenon occurs in the avalanche photodiode of the sensor”.
Regarding claim 16, the prior art of Furuta discloses a storage that store defective pixel value, types and positions. The prior art of Honda discloses the advantage of avalanche photodiode wherein its optical magnification can be reduced because the size of an individual pixel that can be reduced and the integration of several hundreds of or several thousands of pixels or more. The prior art of Hirose (US2021/0368119) discloses avalanche photodiode that detects a photon by occurrence of avalanche multiplication. The prior art of Kobayashi (US2024/0276122) discloses an image signal that is generated from each pixel of the photoelectric conversion device, and wherein the number of times of the avalanche amplification occurrence is output for each pixel. The prior art of Morimoto (US2020/0244909) discloses avalanche multiplication by the photodiode that is possible and in a recharging state for returning the photodiode having performed the avalanche multiplication to the standby state. However, none of the prior art, alone or in combination provide a motivation to teach or fairly suggest the apparatus according to claim 1 in combination with:
“wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to acquire the estimation value of the second pixel specified by the second information based on a time of use of the sensor”.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG H LAM whose telephone number is (571)272-7367. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM.
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/HUNG H LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639 12/13/25