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 .
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 1-7 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. The claims will be examined as best understood.
Claim 1 recites multiple signal values: “a signal acquisition unit configured to acquire signal values corresponding to the charge in the plurality of accumulation portions” and “a correction unit configured to identify a minimum signal value that indicates the smallest exposure amount from among the plurality of signal values” then later “to correct the signal value”.
Not clear from the claim or the specification: Do the signal values correspond to a single charge among a plurality of accumulation portions? Should this be plural charges? Which of the plurality of signal values is referred to as the one to be corrected. Are all of the signal values corrected?
Claim 2 recites “the correction unit corrects the signal value corrected by the first correction value based on the minimum signal value corrected by the first correction value.” Not clear what is used to correct which signal value. Is a prior corrected signal value being corrected by a later correction value? Recommend rephrasing to clearly state what process is used in correcting the signal values.
Claim 4 recites a similar limitation and is similarly rejected.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the number". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 3, 5, 7 are rejected as based upon a rejected base claim.
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 1, 2, 6, 7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ookubo et al (US 20230412934) in view of Aotake et al (US 20190331776).
In regards to claim 1, Ookubo discloses a measurement apparatus comprising:
a sensor including a light-receiving element configured to generate charge according to an exposure amount (Fig. 1 ref. 32, [0004] “The photoelectric conversion element of the light-receiving unit generates the charge according to light incident from the measurement space”), and a plurality of accumulation portions configured to accumulate the charge distributed according to an exposure period ([0004], [0005] discloses accumulating/storage from light emitting pulses, which emit and reflect light during an exposure period “multiple charge storage units”);
a signal acquisition unit configured to acquire signal values corresponding to the charge in the plurality of accumulation portions (Fig. 1 ref. 3 disclosed as light receiving unit), respectively;
while Ookubo discloses control units for adjusting measurements, Ookubo Fig. 1 ref. 4, Ookubo does not expressly disclose the terminology for a correction unit.
Aotake teaches a correcting unit ([0092] “the distance measurement operation processing section 15 includes a correction parameter calculating section 51 and a distance measuring section 52”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify, with the reasonable expectation of success, Ookubo with Aotake by providing a correction unit within the control units of Ookubo in order to provide separate processes which are carried out independent of other calculations to avoid interference.
Therefore, Ookubo as combined discloses:
a correction unit configured to identify a minimum signal value that indicates the smallest exposure amount from among the plurality of signal values (Ookubo Fig. 1 ref. 4 contains units for adjusting measurements), and to correct the signal value based on the minimum signal value (abstract “The calculation unit calculates the distance by subtracting a second charge from each first charge, the second charge being noise charge as an integrated charge other than the charge distributed and integrated by the switching operation”, the limitation merely states “to correct the signal based on” in correcting/compensating for a signal value, [0320] “The noise charge estimation unit 420 extracts smallest charge from the reference ambient light charges QBR1, QBR2 QBR3, QBR4 as a smallest reference ambient light charge”).
In regards to claim 2, Ookubo discloses the measurement apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit has a first correction value that corresponds to the signal value when there is no reflected light corresponding to each of the accumulation portions (Ookubo [0202], [0203] “The distance calculation unit 42 reads the first noise charges QNSN from the storage and adds the read first noise charges QNSN to the respective adjusted third noise charges kQNSP to calculate fourth noise charges QN (QN1, QN2, QN3, QN4”, the step, S107, occurring without light emission), and the correction unit corrects the signal value corrected by the first correction value based on the minimum signal value corrected by the first correction value (Ookubo abstract).
In regards to claim 6, Ookubo discloses the measurement apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the signal acquisition unit acquires a signal value that corresponds to the charge of the accumulation portion accumulated in the multiple exposure periods (Ookubo as least Fig. 5 suggests multiple exposure periods/frames), and the correction unit calculates the first correction value based on the number of the exposure periods (Ookubo [0175] “the distance calculation unit 42 divides the distribution count in the frames of the ranging charge acquisition mode subjected to distance calculation”).
In regards to claim 7, Ookubo discloses the measurement apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a calculation unit configured to calculate a distance to an object based on the corrected signal value (Ookubo Fig. 1 ref. 42).
Claim 3 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ookubo, Aotake as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Takemoto et al (US 20180329063).
In regards to claim 3, Ookubo discloses the measurement apparatus according to claim 2, but does not expressly disclose: wherein the correction unit has a parasitic correction value that corresponds to the signal value when no exposure period is provided corresponding to each of the accumulation portions,
Takemoto teaches an optical measurement device in which consideration of output of a light sensor during dark periods is used in adjustment of the exposure time ([0090] “electrons subjected to photoelectric conversion in photodiode 201 are accumulated in the parasitic capacitance of photodiode 201 and charge accumulating capacitor 208, which corresponds to a start of exposure, specifically corresponding to the start time of each of exposure times E.sub.11, E.sub.12, and E.sub.13 in (b) of FIG. 2”, [0091]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify, with the reasonable expectation of success, Ookubo with Takemoto by providing the correction unit has a parasitic correction value that corresponds to the signal value when no exposure period is provided corresponding to each of the accumulation portions in order to allow the system to correct for charges or noise from the detector during no-exposure periods.
Ookubo as combined further discloses: and the correction unit calculates the first correction value based on the parasitic correction value (Ookubo [0202], [0203] details use of corrected signal values).
Claim 4, 5 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ookubo, Aotake as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Hurwitz (US 20210356598).
In regards to claim 4, Ookubo discloses the measurement apparatus according to claim 2, but does not expressly disclose: wherein the correction unit has a second correction value for correcting variation of the gain of the signal value corresponding to each of the accumulation portions,
Hurwitz teaches a light sensor system in which a correction is made for a gain value within a sensor ([0099], [0100] “transistors in the circuitry, such as those in source followers, may introduce offsets and/or gain errors as a result of not being perfectly matched”, [0109], [0113] “gain and/or offset for the readout circuitry of a particular pixel column can be corrected”)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify, with the reasonable expectation of success, Ookubo with Hurwitz by providing the correction unit has a second correction value for correcting variation of the gain of the signal value corresponding to each of the accumulation portions in order to allow greater accuracy for the measurements.
Ookubo as combined further discloses: and the correction unit corrects the signal value corrected based on the minimum signal value based on the second correction value (Ookubo abstract “The calculation unit calculates the distance by subtracting a second charge from each first charge”).
In regards to claim 5, Ookubo discloses the measurement apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the correction unit calculates the second correction value based on the first correction value and a gain correction value that corresponds to the gain (Ookubo as combined, Hurwitz discloses use of gain correction, Ookubo discloses second correction value: Fig. 11 ref. S105, S108 use correction/adjustment factor)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure cited on PTO 892. The cited references display measurement units which use corrections/offsets/adjustments to light return measurements.
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/V.R./Examiner, Art Unit 3642 /JOSHUA D HUSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3642
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