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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Please note that the following rejection sections contain multiple art rejections on claim 10 as this claim is so broad that reads on multiple interpretations.
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, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Akiyama (WO 2019/176209 A1). Note that English machine-translated version is used for this Office Action.
Regarding claim 1, Akiyama discloses an imaging element (Fig. 3), comprising a pixel array unit (11) in which a pixel, which includes a polarization member (126) having a polarization direction (Fig. 4 & 6-8), and a photoelectric conversion unit (123) configured to receive light transmitted through the polarization member, is disposed in a row direction and a column direction to form a lattice pattern, wherein an orientation angle of the polarization member varies depending on a position of the pixel array unit (see Fig. 4 & 6-8, par. [0025]-[0027], [0046], [0053]-[0054]).
Regarding claim 2, Akiyama also discloses that the polarization member is formed by a wire grid (wire grid polarizer), and the orientation angle of the wire grid varies depending on the position of the pixel array unit (see Fig. 4 & 6-8 and par. [0046]-[0048], [0053]-[0055]).
Regarding claim 3, as further disclosed by Akiyama, a correction amount of the orientation angle of the polarization member is set according to an incident angle of incident light incident on the photoelectric conversion unit (Fig. 7 & 8 and par. [0054]-[0055]).
Regarding claim 5, as seen in Fig. 6-8 and paragraph [0053] in Akiyama, a block, in which the polarization members having angles of transmission axes different from each other by 45o are disposed in two rows and two columns, is disposed in a row direction and column direction to form a lattice pattern.
Regarding claim 7, Akiyama further discloses that the orientation angle of the polarization member is an angle at which a crossed-Nicols state for incident light is maintained (see Fig. 6-8 in which the polarizers are set at crossed 90 degrees to each other with respect to the center point of 2x2 block, hence crossed-Nicols state is met).
Regarding claim 9, the subject matter of this claim is also met by the discussion in claim 1. Note that “a processing unit configured to process a signal from the imaging element” is also disclosed by Akiyama in Fig. 3 and par. [0036].
Claims 10, 11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yun et al. (US 2017/0068029 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Yun discloses an imaging element (Fig. 7), comprising:
a polarization member (727) formed by a wire grid (a wire grid polarizer) having a polarization direction;
a photoelectric conversion unit (732) configured to receive light transmitted through the polarization member, wherein the wire grid is formed in a curved shape (see Fig. 7 and par. [0094]-[0096]).
Regarding claim 11, it is also seen in Fig. 7 of Yun that the wire grid is formed in the curved shape in a center direction of a pixel (a pixel of CCD or CMOS imaging array disclosed in paragraph [0095]).
Regarding claim 13, the subject matter of this claim is also met by the discussion in claim 10. Please note that “a processing unit configured to process a signal from the imaging element” is a camera recorder in Yun as disclosed in paragraph [0095].
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 8, 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akiyama in view of Yun.
Regarding claim 8, although Akiyama is silent about the wire grid is formed in a curved shape, such lack of teaching is compensated by Yun as shown in Fig. 7 and paragraph [0094]-[0096], wherein a wire grid polarizer is formed in a curved shape so as to improve optical performance and reduce image distortion.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the apparatus in Akiyama to include the teaching of Yun for improvement of optical performance and reduction in image distortion.
Regarding claim 10, the subject matter of this claim is also met by the combined teaching of Akiyama and Yun as discussed in claims 1 and 8.
Regarding claim 12, the subject matter of this claim is also met by the combined teaching of Akiyama and Yun as discussed in claims 1 and 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 6 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:
Regarding claim 4, the prior art references of record fail to teach or suggest: “the orientation angle of the polarization member located at a center of the pixel array unit is set to a reference, and the correction amount of the orientation angle of the polarization member increases as a distance from a center of the pixel array unit increases.”
Regarding claim 6, the prior art references of record also fail to teach or suggest: “in four pixels included in the block, the orientation angle of the polarization member of a pixel at a position where an orientation from a center of the pixel array unit and an angle of the transmission axis of the polarization member are in a relationship of 0o or 90o is a same as the angle of the transmission axis, and the orientation angle of the polarization member of the pixel at a position which is not in the relationship of 0o or 90o is an angle corrected with a correction amount corresponding to an image height.”
Conclusion
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/NHAN T TRAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638