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 on 07/03/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because of square brackets [ ] being used. Specifically, [Problem] and [Solution] should be corrected or removed. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Response to Preliminary Amendment
The preliminary amendment to the specification filed on 07/03/2024 is acknowledged and entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 6 recites the limitation "the predetermined period" in line 3 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Note: The following art rejections contain multiple rejections on some claims.
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)(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, 2, 11-14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Takahashi et al. (US 2022/0247950 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Takahashi discloses an imaging element including a pixel array unit (Fig. 2) in which a plurality of pixels including a photoelectric conversion element is arranged in a matrix, the pixel array unit comprising:
a plurality of first pixels (201-1 in imaging region 600) that performs normal imaging (Fig. 7 & 8 and par. [0095] & [0097]);
a second pixel (201-2 in optical black region 601) capable of acquiring black level information (Fig. 7 & 8, par. [0095] & [0097]);
a first control line (TX_C) that controls charge transfer of the plurality of first pixels; and
a second control line (TX_O1) that is different from the first control line and controls charge transfer of the second pixel (see Fig. 7 & 8 and par. [0098]).
Regarding claim 2, Takahashi also discloses that the plurality of first pixels and the plurality of second pixels are arranged in a same row (Fig. 6 & 7), the plurality of first pixels is connected to the first control line (TX_C) arranged corresponding to the same row, and the plurality of second pixels is connected to the second control line (TX_O1) arranged corresponding to the same row (see Fig. 6 and par. [0086]-[0089]. It should be noted that the optical black pixel is also arranged on the same row in region 610L1 - 610L4 with the imaging pixel in the region 600).
Regarding claim 11, as also disclosed in Takahashi, a plurality of the second pixels is arranged in a plurality of predetermined columns of the pixel array unit (see Fig. 6-8 in which the optical black pixels are also arranged in columns of the pixel array).
Regarding claim 12, it is clearly seen in Fig. 6-8 and par. [0085]-[0089] in Takahashi that the second pixels are arranged in a plurality of predetermined rows of pixel array unit.
Regarding claim 13, it is also clearly seen in Fig. 6-8 and par. [0085]-[0089] in Takahashi that the second pixels are arranged in a plurality of predetermined row at an end portion of the pixel array (the bottom and right end portion of the pixel array).
Regarding claim 14, as also disclosed in Fig. 6-8 and par. [0085]-[0089] in Takahashi, an arrangement position of the plurality of first pixels on a predetermined row is different from an arrangement position of the plurality of second pixels on a row different from the predetermined row (the imaging pixels are arranged in the middle portion of the pixel array while the optical black pixels are arranged on the peripheral regions of the pixel array).
Regarding claim 20, Takahashi discloses an electronic device (Fig. 5) comprising: the imaging element according to claim 1; and an optical system (501) that supplies imaging light to the imaging element (Fig. 5 and par. [0072]).
Claims 1-6 and 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guidash et al. (US 2019/0045149 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Guidash discloses an imaging element including a pixel array unit in which a plurality of pixels including a photoelectric conversion element is arranged in a matrix (Fig. 59), the pixel array unit comprising:
a plurality of first pixels (single-mode pixels 90 illustrated in Fig. 1A or white squares in Fig. 59) that performs normal imaging (see Fig. 1A, par. [0080]-[0081], wherein normal imaging is performed by the pixels of single-mode);
a second pixel (dual-mode pixel(s) 100 illustrated in Fig. 1B or shaded squares in Fig. 59) capable of acquiring black level information (the dual-mode pixel 100 is switchable from a normal imaging mode to a dark-emulation mode which is capable of acquiring black level information by virtue of dark current level information as described in Fig. 59 & 60(c) and par. [0081]-[0085] and [0328]-[0331]);
a first control line (TG shown in Fig. 1A) that controls charge transfer of the plurality of first pixels; and a second control line (TGc shown in Fig. 1B) that is different from the first control line and controls charge transfer of the second pixel (see Fig. 1A, 1B, par. [0080]-[0081], [0327]-[0331]).
Regarding claim 2, Guidash also discloses that the plurality of first pixels and the plurality of second pixels are arranged in a same row (see Fig. 59 where every row contains both the first and second pixels), the plurality of first pixels is connected to the first control line arranged corresponding to the same row, and the plurality of second pixels is connected to the second control line arranged corresponding to the same row (see Fig. 59 and note Fig. 1A & 1B in which the control lines TG and TGc must be arranged on the same row because both first and second pixels are on the same row).
Regarding claim 3, Guidash discloses that the second pixel is capable of changing between a first mode in which normal imaging is performed and a second mode in which black level information is acquired under control of the second control line (see Fig. 1B, 59-60 and par. [0081], [0327]-[0331], wherein the dual-mode pixel switches from a normal imaging mode to a dark-emulation mode when TxEn (TGr & TGc) is active high as illustrated in Fig. 60 to acquire black level information or so-called dark current information).
Regarding claim 4, it is further seen in Guidash that the second pixel further includes a floating diffusion (FD 112 in Fig. 1B) configured to output electric charge photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion element, and a transfer transistor (101) (TGx)connected to the photoelectric conversion element and the floating diffusion, and the second control line (TGc) is connected to a gate of the transfer transistor (see Fig. 1B and par. [0081]).
Regarding claim 5, as also seen in Guidash, in the second mode, the second control line supplies a low-level signal in a predetermined period during an imaging operation (see par. [0330]-[0031], dark emulation readout in Fig. 60(c) in which the second control line represented by TxEn (TGr & TGc) is at a low level in a predetermined period except for the period “952” and “unconditional” period. It should be noted that “a predetermined period” is considered as either a period between “952” and “unconditional” or after “unconditional”).
Regarding claim 6 (note that this claim is rejected based on best understanding in view of the 35 U.S.C 112(b) rejection above), it is also seen in Guidash that, in the first mode, the second control line supplies a high-level signal in a period corresponding to the predetermined period (see Fig. 60(a), 60(b) and par. [0330]-[0331] in which the second control line represented by TxEn (TGr & TGc)).
Regarding claim 11, Guidash discloses a plurality of the second pixels is arranged in a plurality of predetermined columns of the pixel array unit (see Fig. 59, wherein the second pixels (shaded pixels) are arranged in a plurality of columns).
Regarding claim 12, similarly seen in Fig. 59 in Guidash, the second pixels are arranged in a plurality of predetermined rows of the pixel array unit.
Regarding claim 13, also disclosed by Guidash is that a plurality of the second pixels is arranged in a predetermined row at an end portion of the pixel array unit (see Fig. 59 and note that each row of pixel array unit comprises a plurality of second pixels, and hence, this arrangement of the second pixels also encompasses a predetermined row at an end portion of the pixel array unit).
Regarding claim 14, as clearly seen in Fig. 59 in Guidash, an arrangement position of the plurality of first pixels on a predetermined row is different from an arrangement position of the plurality of second pixels on a row different from the predetermined row (par. [0328]-[0329]).
Regarding claim 15, Guidash further discloses a row scanning circuit (635 in Fig. 32 & 55A) that drives the pixel array unit in units of rows to read pixel signals from the pixels; and a plurality of analog-to-digital conversion units (653) that performs analog-to-digital conversion of the pixel signals for each column of the pixel array unit (see Fig. 32 & 55A, par. [0185], [0188]).
Regarding claim 16, as also shown in Fig. 32, 55A and Fig. 59-61, a pixel drive unit (635) that drives the pixel array unit in units of rows to read pixel signals from the pixels; and a plurality of analog-to-digital conversion units (653) that performs analog-to-digital conversion of the pixel signals of the pixels arranged in a column shape of the pixel array unit for each row (Fig. 55A, par. [0185], [0188]).
Regarding claim 17, Guidash also discloses that the second pixel is arranged to correspond to a predetermined analog-to-digital conversion unit among the plurality of analog-to-digital conversion units (Fig. 55A and 59. It should be noted that the dark emulation pixel in each column corresponds to one ADC unit among the plurality of ADC units since ADC units are column parallel units).
Regarding claim 18, Guidash further discloses a signal processing circuit that corrects an output value of each pixel of the pixel array unit on a basis of information of a black level acquired by the second pixel (see par. [0174]-[0175], [0331] in which the black level (dark frame or dark current) is subtracted from the output value of each pixel to remove dark current noises).
Regarding claim 19, it is clear in Guidash that the signal processing circuit corrects the output value of each of the pixels in a case of the second mode (par. [0174]-[0175], [0331]. Note the discussion in claim 18).
Regarding claim 20, Guidash also discloses an electronic device comprising: the imaging element according to claim 1; and an optical system that supplies imaging light to the imaging element (see par. [0203], wherein a camera system inherently comprises an optical system).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 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 7, the prior art references of record, either alone or in combination, fail to teach or suggest: “the second control line is connected to the first control line connected to the first pixel arranged in a same row through a first switching element.”
Regarding claims 8-10, these claims are directly or indirectly dependent from claim 7.
Conclusion
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/NHAN T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638