CTNF 18/492,640 CTNF 88010 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-2, 8-9, and 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mandai (US 2017/0179173) in view of Fukuchi (US 2019/0319154) . Regarding Claim 1, Mandai teaches a range finding apparatus [Fig 1-2, 6-7] comprising: a light-receiving device in which a first pixel [#22, #24 of Fig 1, 2, 6, 7; 0026-29; 0036-42] having a first sensitivity and a second pixel having a second sensitivity that is lower than the first sensitivity are two-dimensionally arranged [#22, #24 of Fig 1, 2, 6, 0039]; one or more processors that execute a program stored in a memory and thereby function [0026-28; 0030] as: a measuring unit configured to measure time periods from a predetermined time until times when light is incident [0030] on each of the first pixel and the second pixel [#60, #62 of Fig 6, 7;0039; 0041] ; and a computing unit configured to compute distance information for the first pixel and the second pixel based on the measured time periods [0021]. Mandai does not explicitly teach- but Fukuchi does teach wherein the measuring unit measures the time period for the second pixel with a measurement resolution lower than a measurement resolution used to measure the time period for the first pixel [0043; 0096-0101]. It would have been obvious to modify the apparatus of Mandai to include measurement at a lower resolution for different pixels to achieve a time resolution that is higher than or equal to the time resolution of the photoelectric conversion unit. Regarding Claim 13, Mandai teaches an electronic device comprising: a range finding apparatus [Fig 1-2, 6-7]; and processing unit for executing predetermined processing using distance information obtained by the range finding apparatus [0020-21; 0026-28; 0030], wherein the range finding apparatus comprises: a light-receiving device in which a first pixel [#22, #24 of Fig 1, 2, 6, 7; 0026-29; 0036-42] having a first sensitivity and a second pixel having a second sensitivity that is lower than the first sensitivity are two-dimensionally arranged [#22, #24 of Fig 1, 2, 6, 0039]; one or more processors that execute a program stored in a memory and thereby function [0026-28; 0030] as: a measuring unit configured to measure time periods from a predetermined time until times when light is incident [0030] on each of the first pixel and the second pixel [#60, #62 of Fig 6, 7;0039; 0041]; and a computing unit configured to compute the distance information for the first pixel and the second pixel based on the measured time periods [0021]. Mandai does not explicitly teach- but Fukuchi does teach wherein the measuring unit measures the time period for the second pixel with a measurement resolution lower than a measurement resolution used to measure the time period for the first pixel [0043; 0096-0101]. It would have been obvious to modify the device of Mandai to include measurement at a lower resolution for different pixels to achieve a time resolution that is higher than or equal to the time resolution of the photoelectric conversion unit. Regarding Claim 14, Mandai teaches a measurement apparatus [Fig 1-2, 6-7] comprising: a light-receiving device in which a first pixel [#22, #24 of Fig 1, 2, 6, 7; 0026-29; 0036-42] having a first sensitivity and a second pixel having a second sensitivity that is lower than the first sensitivity are two-dimensionally arranged [#22, #24 of Fig 1, 2, 6, 0039]; and one or more processors that execute a program stored in a memory and thereby function [0026-28; 0030] as: a measuring unit configured to measure time periods from a predetermined time until times when light is incident [0030] on each of the first pixel and the second pixel [#60, #62 of Fig 6, 7;0039; 0041]. Mandai does not explicitly teach- but Fukuchi does teach wherein the measuring unit measures the time period for the second pixel with a measurement resolution lower than a measurement resolution used to measure the time period for the first pixel [0043; 0096-0101]. It would have been obvious to modify the apparatus of Mandai to include measurement at a lower resolution for different pixels to achieve a time resolution that is higher than or equal to the time resolution of the photoelectric conversion unit. Regarding Claim 2, Mandai also teaches wherein the measuring unit includes a first (and second) Time-to-Digital Convertor (TDC) [0010; 0030; Claim 10]. Mandai does not explicitly teach- but Fukuchi does teach wherein the measuring unit includes a first Time-to-Digital Convertor (TDC) that measures the time period for the first pixel with a first measurement resolution, and a second TDC that measures the time period for the second pixel with a second measurement resolution [0043; 0096-0101]. It would have been obvious to modify the apparatus of Mandai to include two TDCs for measurement at a lower resolution for different pixels to achieve a time resolution that is higher than or equal to the time resolution of the photoelectric conversion unit. Regarding Claim 8, Mandai also teaches wherein the first measurement resolution and the second measurement resolution are based on a cycle of a synchronous clock that is input to the first TDC and the second TDC [0041; 0042]. Fukuchi additionally teaches this limitation in [0043; 0096-0101]. Regarding Claim 9, Mandai also teaches wherein the predetermined time is a time when a light-emitting device emits light [0030; 0033; 0040] . 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mandai (US 2017/0179173) in view of Fukuchi (US 2019/0319154) , as applied to claim s 1 and 9 above, and further in view of Zhu (US 10,983,197) . Regarding Claim 10, Mandai does not explicitly teach – but Zhu does teach wherein the light-emitting device includes a plurality of light-emitting elements being two-dimensionally arranged, and the plurality of light-emitting elements are configured to respectively correspond to the pixels of the light-receiving device [Fig 2; Col. 9 Lines 15-60; Col. 12 Lines 15-35]. It would have been obvious to modify the apparatus of Mandai to include two dimensional emitting and receiving elements as an individual addressable and controllable emitter array or detector array may allow for a less complicated design of the emitting/emitting module . Claim Objections 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 3-7 and 11-12 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. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R HULKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7553. The examiner can normally be reached M-R: 9am-6pm, F: 10am-2pm. 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, Helal Algahaim can be reached at 5712705227. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. JAMES R. HULKA Primary Examiner Art Unit 3645 /JAMES R HULKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/492,640 Page 2 Art Unit: 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/492,640 Page 3 Art Unit: 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/492,640 Page 4 Art Unit: 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/492,640 Page 5 Art Unit: 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/492,640 Page 6 Art Unit: 3645
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