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 statements (IDS) submitted on 03/20/2025 and 04/04/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In line 2 of the claim, “claims 1” should be corrected to read as – claim 1 --.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-3 and 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sun et al. (US 2014/0054447 A1).
Re. claim 1, Sun discloses an imaging element (Fig. 1-3) comprising:
a plurality of pixels, each (318) of the plurality of pixels including:
a light-receiving element (SPAD 320);
a storage element (CTOF 332); and
a constant current source device (326) in each of the plurality of pixels (Fig. 3 and par. [0027]), the constant current source device being configured to output a constant current to the storage element from start of exposure of the pixel until light is detected by the light-receiving element (see Fig. 3 & 4 and par. [0034]-[0035], wherein a constant current IH from the current source 326 is applied to the capacitor CTOF from the start of exposure at t1 until the light is detected at t2).
Re. claim 2, as also disclosed in Sun, the constant current source device stops the output of the constant current in accordance with a change in a voltage of an output terminal of the light-receiving element (see Fig. 4 and par. [0034]-[0035] in which TOF signal is stopped immediately after t2 by the current source).
Re. claim 3, it is further seen in Sun that the constant current source device includes a constant current source transistor (552 shown in in Fig. 5) with a gate connected to an output terminal of the light-receiving element, and the constant current source transistor is biased in a subthreshold region during the output of the constant current (see par. [0036]-[0041]).
Re. claim 5, Sun discloses that the light-receiving element is an avalanche photodiode (par. [0024], [0027]).
Re. claim 6, Sun also discloses that the avalanche photodiode operates in a Geiger mode upon detection of light. (Please note that Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) in Sun is used as a time of flight sensor as discussed in Fig. 4 and par. [0027], [0034]-[0035], and therefore it inherently operates in Geiger mode).
Re. claim 7, Sun discloses a distance measurement device comprising:
the imaging element of claim 1;
a light source (102 in Fig. 1 or 202 in Fig. 2 or 602 in Fig. 6);
a timing signal generator (Fig. 6) configured to output, to the plurality of pixels, an exposure start signal indicating a timing of the start of exposure; and a signal processor configured to calculate a measurement distance to a subject, from a pixel signal output from each of the plurality of pixels (see Fig. 1-6 and par. [0020],[0034]-[0035], [0049]).
Re. claim 8, as disclosed by Sun, the timing signal generator outputs the exposure start signal when a flight time corresponding to a predetermined distance has elapsed since the light source emitted light (see Fig. 4 and par. [0034]-[0035]).
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. in view of Gnecchi (US 2021/0092275 A1).
Re. claim 4, Sun does not explicitly disclose that each of the plurality of pixels undergoes exposure multiple times per frame and outputs a signal indicating a charge stored in the storage element as a result of the multiple times of exposure. Gnecchi, however, teaches SPAD-based imaging device that operates with multiple sub-exposures. During the first sub-exposure, an over-bias voltage may be set to a first voltage level so that the SPADs have a first photon detection efficiency. During the second sub-exposure, the over-bias voltage may be set to a second voltage level so that the SPADs have a second photon detection efficiency that is different than the first photon detection efficiency. Image data from the first and second sub-exposures may then be combined into a single high dynamic range depth map (see Gnecchi, Abstract and par. [0060]-[0062]).
For that reason, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Sun and Gnecchi to arrive at the Applicant’s claimed invention to obtain high dynamic range image as mentioned by Gnecchi above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NHAN T TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7371. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00am - 5:00pm.
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, Lin Ye can be reached at 571-272-7372. 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.
/NHAN T TRAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638
Prosecution Insights