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
Claim 7 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 5/6/2026.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yu (10079259).
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Regarding claim 1, Yu teaches a light detection device, comprising:
a semiconductor substrate (101) having a separating structure (107) between a plurality of pixels;
an insulating film (please see ILD above protecting the photoelectric transducer devices) covering a light receiving surface of the semiconductor substrate; and
a light blocking portion (please see the upper portion of 107 that separates color filters) disposed between a first color filter (109R) and a second color filte (109G)r, wherein the light blocking portion is in contact with a light-incident surface of the insulating film; and
a low-refractive-index wall (fig. 3A: 305) disposed within a slit region (this region can be seen above wherein 305 resides), wherein the low- refractive-index wall has, in an upper surface thereof, a concavo-convex structure (please see above wherein 305 wraps around 107).
Regarding claim 2, Yu teaches a light detection solid-state image capturing device according to claim 1, wherein the light blocking portion is disposed along the wall surfaces and a bottom surface of the slit (please see figure above).
Regarding claim 3, Yu teaches a light detection solid-state image capturing device according to claim 1, wherein the light blocking portion is provided to fill the slit (please see figure above).
Regarding claim 4, Yu teaches a light detection solid-state image capturing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a wherein the low-refractive-index wall is disposed provided between sides of the light blocking portions and between adjacent ones of the pixels and provided between color filters disposed above the insulating film (please see figure above).
Regarding claim 8, Yu teaches a electronic device, comprising:
a light detection device (300):
including a semiconductor substrate (101) having a separating structure (107) between a plurality of pixels,
an insulating film (please see figure above) covering a light receiving surface of the semiconductor substrate, and
a light blocking portion (see rejection of claim 1 above) disposed between a first color filter and a second color filter, wherein the light blocking portion is in contact with a light-incident surface of the insulating film (please see rejection of claim 1 above); and
a low-refractive-index wall disposed within a slit region, wherein the low- refractive-index wall has, in an upper surface thereof, a concavo-convex structure (please see rejection of claim 1 above).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 (please note dependency) is 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.
Claim 6 (please note dependency) is 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 CALEB E HENRY whose telephone number is (571)270-5370. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eva Montalvo can be reached at (571) 270-3829. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CALEB E HENRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
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