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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 17-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claims 1, 5, 7, 12 and 15-20 have been amended and claim 6 has been canceled.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art fails to neither disclose nor sufficiently suggest the combination of features as claimed and arranged by applicant. Specifically, the prior art does not disclose a timing controller configured to determine a comensation value for the ramp signal generator based on the first comparison result, and control the ramp signal generator to generate a compensated ramp signal based on the compensation value during the second period, as required by claim 1 and the similar language in claim 12.
Claims 1-16 are allowed.
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 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida (US 2018/0288349) in view of Lee (US 2015/0042859).
Regarding claim 17, Yoshidain discloses a method of operating an image sensor, comprising:
measuring a second ramp signal having a first level based on a first ramp signal increasing or decreasing with a constant slope (by comparator 104 which receives a pixel signal from pixel array 102 and receive ramp signals from the ramp signal supply circuit and output an output signal by comparing the pixel signal and the ramp signal, wherein the ramp generator inherently generates a linear rising or falling output; see at least Fig. 1A and paragraphs 0026 and 0028-0030);
determining a compensation value of the first ramp signal based on a measurement result of the second ramp signal (obtaining a signal difference signal between a digital signal corresponding to the first ramp signal Vr1 and the signal Vrf and a digital signal corresponding to the second ramp signal Vr2 and the signal Vrf and compensating for the digital correlated double sampling process; see at least paragraphs 0047-0050 and 0071-0073);
receiving a pixel signal from a pixel array (receive a pixel signal from pixel array 102l; see at least Fig. 1A and paragraphs 0026 and 0028-0030); and
generating image data based on the first ramp signal and the pixel signal compensated with the compensation value (signal processor circuit applies a gain to the signal code difference and output image signal; see at least Fig. 1A and paragraphs 0071 and 0123).
Yoshidain is not clear about a first ramp signal and a second ramp signal being generated by a ramp signal generator.
Lee discloses the above missing limitation; a signal generator generates a first ramping up/down signal RUDR1 and a second ramping up/down signa RUDR2 in response to a control bit output from a timing generator; see at least paragraphs 0061 and 0071.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Yoshida by the teachings of Lee by having the above limitations so to be able to operate an image sensor; see at least the Abstract.
Regarding claim 18, Yoshidain in view of Lee disclose the method of operating the image sensor of claim 17, further comprising:
measuring the second ramp signal having a second level different from the first level based on the first ramp signal (Yoshidain; by comparator 104 which receives a pixel signal from pixel array 102 and receive ramp signals from the ramp signal supply circuit and output an output signal by comparing the pixel signal and the ramp signal, wherein the ramp generator inherently generates a linear rising or falling output; see at least Fig. 1A and paragraphs 0026 and 0028-0030 and Lee’s multiple ramp signals; see at least the rejection of claim 17).
Regarding claim 19, Yoshidain in view of Lee disclose the method of operating the image sensor of claim 18, wherein the receiving the pixel signal includes receiving a first pixel signal from a first pixel and receiving a second pixel signal from a second pixel, and the generating the image data includes generating first image data based on the first pixel signal and the first ramp signal and generating second image data based on the second pixel signal and the second ramp signal (Yoshidain; from the pixel array that has a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns of pixels; see at least paragraphs 0025-0027 and 0123 and Lee’s multiple ramp signals; see at least the rejection of claim 17).
Regarding claim 20, Yoshidain in view of Lee disclose the method of operating the image sensor of claim 17, wherein the measuring the second ramp signal and the receiving the pixel signal are performed in different periods (Yoshidain; the receiving of the pixel signal is performed first and the comparison is performed after; see at least Fig. 1A and paragraph 0041 and Lee’s multiple ramp signals; see at least the rejection of claim 17).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YASSIN ALATA whose telephone number is (571)270-5683. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7-4 ET.
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/YASSIN ALATA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426
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