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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 1-6) in the reply filed on 6-26-2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that there is no serious search and/or examination burden. This is not found persuasive because applicant provides not support for how there is no search and/or examination burden. To the contrary the lack of a special technical feature in common between the restricted groups is evidence of serious sear and/or examination burden.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hagimoto (JP 2013033864)(Translation Attached for paragraph numbers).
[Claim 1] An imaging element (fig. 1), comprising: a photoelectric conversion region (6, fig. 1, [0045] and optionally 30) that is provided on a substrate (13, fig. 1); and an inter-pixel separation section (12, fig. 1) that is disposed on the substrate and positioned between the photoelectric conversion regions adjacent to each other, wherein an opening (40, fig. 1) in the inter-pixel separation section has an inclined surface (fig. 1), and the inclined surface is formed by a (111) plane (opening 40 has a pair of inclined surfaces 41 as can be seen in fig. 11b, is formed at a (111) plane see [0140]).
[Claim 2] The imaging element according to claim 1, wherein the inclined surface is positioned toward a light-incident surface and provided on both ends of the inter-pixel separation section (fig. 2, 11b).
[Claim 3] The imaging element according to claim 1, wherein the inclined surface is positioned toward a light-incident surface and provided on one end of the inter-pixel separation section (fig. 2, 11b).
[Claim 4] The imaging element according to claim 1, wherein the photoelectric conversion region includes an unevenly shaped region that is positioned toward a light-incident surface (30, fig. 2, [0077]).
[Claim 5] The imaging element according to claim 1, wherein the inter-pixel separation section having the inclined surface is disposed on at least one of four sides surrounding the photoelectric conversion region (see fig. 2, included surface is disposed on the side of all side surfaces of 30, fig. 1,2) .
[Claim 6] An imaging device (fig. 1), comprising: an imaging element (fig. 1) that includes a photoelectric conversion region (6, fig. 1, [0045] and optionally 30) that is provided on a substrate (13, fig. 1), and an inter-pixel separation section (12, fig. 1) that is disposed on the substrate and positioned between the photoelectric conversion regions adjacent to each other (fig. 1), an opening (40, fig. 1) in the inter-pixel separation section having an inclined surface formed by a (111) plane (opening 40 has a pair of inclined surfaces 41 as can be seen in fig. 11b, is formed at a (111) plane see [0140]); and a processing section that processes signals from the imaging element (13, fig. 1, it is also inherent as a processing section is required in order for the device to function).
Conclusion
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/AMAR MOVVA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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