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 § 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)(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.
(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 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kishimoto et al. (US 2018/0149750, disclosed in IDS 16 April 2025), hereinafter Kishimoto.
Claim 1: Kishimoto discloses a measurement device (100, Fig. 1) comprising:
a light emitting unit (1) [0028] configured to emit pulsed light (“The pulse method is a driving method of outputting a plurality of exposure signals” [0072]);
an imaging sensor (2) configured to output a signal value corresponding to an exposure amount for each pixel (“Solid-state imager 2 is a solid-state imaging device that is exposed to reflected light at the timing indicated by the exposure signal, to output a raw signal (imaging signal) indicating the exposure amount” [0031]);
a timing control unit (4) configured to set an exposure period corresponding to a measurement target region and cause the pixel of the imaging sensor (2) to be exposed to reflected light in the exposure period (“solid-state imager 2 performs, for an area including object OB, exposure to light a plurality of times according to the timing indicated by the exposure signal generated by drive controller 4” [0031]); and
a signal acquisition unit (3) configured to acquire a signal value corresponding to the exposure amount of the pixel in the exposure period based on an output of the imaging sensor (2) (“TOF calculator 3 calculates and outputs a TOF signal (distance signal), i.e. information of the distance to object OB, based on a signal that is based on the raw data received from solid-state imager 2” [0032]), wherein
the timing control unit (4) sets, as the exposure period, a plurality of sub-exposure periods that are longer than a width of the pulsed light and have different start timings so as to have an overlap period corresponding to the width of the pulsed light, and causes the pixel of the imaging sensor (2) to be exposed to the reflected light in each of the sub-exposure periods (“the first distance value (Za in this embodiment) is calculated using first exposure signal group A that is made up of a plurality of exposure signals φA0 to φA2 different from each other in delay time with respect to light emission signal φA and in which, before the exposure period of one exposure signal ends, the exposure period of at least one other exposure signal starts” [0082]; “Exposure signals φA0 to φA2 may have overlapping exposure periods, as illustrated in FIG. 12” [0105]), and
the signal acquisition unit acquires the signal value corresponding to a sum of exposure amounts of the pixel in the plurality of sub-exposure periods (“solid-state imager 2… obtains raw data (imaging information) corresponding to the total exposure amount of the exposure performed the plurality of times” [0031]).
Claim 2: Kishimoto further discloses a calculation unit configured to calculate an arrival time of the reflected light based on signal values corresponding to two consecutive regions (“distance value Za can be calculated according to the following Expressions 7 to 12, depending on the magnitude relationship of exposure amounts A0, A1, and A2” [0105]).
Claim 3: Kishimoto further discloses wherein the calculation unit calculates the arrival time (TA) based on a ratio of the signal value corresponding to one of the regions to a sum of the signal values corresponding to the two regions and a start timing of the overlap period of the plurality of sub-exposure periods corresponding to the other region (see Expressions 7-12).
Claim 4: Kishimoto further discloses wherein
when a width of the sub-exposure period is Gw,
the signal value corresponding to one of the regions is Sa,
the signal value corresponding to the other region is Sb, and
a time from emission of the pulsed light to the start timing of the overlap period is Tb,
the calculation unit calculates the arrival time Tx (TA) according to Tx = Tb - Gw x {Sa/(Sa + Sb)} (see Expressions 7-12).
Claim 6: Kishimoto further discloses wherein the imaging sensor (2)
includes a light receiving element that generates charges corresponding to an exposure amount for each pixel (“Solid-state imager 2 is a solid-state imaging device that is exposed to reflected light at the timing indicated by the exposure signal, to output a raw signal (imaging signal) indicating the exposure amount” [0031]) and a storage unit that stores the charges (“Solid-state imager 2 includes… an A/D converter for generating and outputting raw data” [0031]), and
causes the storage unit to store the charges generated in the light receiving element in a certain sub-exposure period and the charges generated in the light receiving element in another sub-exposure period having a different start timing, and outputs a signal value corresponding to the charges stored in the storage unit (“Signal charge detector 23 sequentially detects the charges received from horizontal transfer portion 22, converts each charge into a voltage signal, and outputs the voltage signal” [0034]).
Claim 7: Kishimoto further discloses wherein the imaging sensor (2) causes the storage unit to alternately and repeatedly store the charges generated in the light receiving element in the certain sub-exposure period and the charges generated in the light receiving element in the other sub-exposure period having a different start timing, and outputs the signal value corresponding to the charges stored in the storage unit (“Photodiode 20 converts received light into a charge. Vertical transfer portion 21 includes a plurality of gates, and transfers charges read from photodiodes 20 sequentially in the vertical direction. Horizontal transfer portion 22 transfers charges received from vertical transfer portions 21 sequentially in the horizontal direction.” [0034]).
Claim 8: Kishimoto further discloses wherein the imaging sensor (2)
includes a plurality of the storage units, and a drive circuit that distributes and stores the charges to the respective storage units according to the exposure periods (“TOF calculator 3 is composed of a processing unit such as a microcomputer, as with drive controller 4. TOF calculator 3 calculates the TOF signal, by a processor executing a calculation program stored in memory” [0032]), and
distributes and stores the charges generated by one pulsed light to the respective storage units according to the exposure periods (“TOF calculator 203 calculates, from the first imaging signal (respective raw data indicating A0, A1, and A2 in this embodiment), at least one of the offset component and the component of exposure” [0110]).
Claims 1 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Morikawa et al. (US 2024/0027585), hereinafter Morikawa.
Claim 1: Morikawa discloses a measurement device (1, Fig. 1) comprising:
a light emitting unit (11) [0084] configured to emit pulsed light (evident from Fig. 2, Emission Light);
an imaging sensor (12) configured to output a signal value corresponding to an exposure amount for each pixel (“The light receiving section 12 outputs a valid pixel signal within the exposure period indicated by the exposure control signal” [0086]);
a timing control unit (within 13) configured to set an exposure period corresponding to a measurement target region and cause the pixel of the imaging sensor (12) to be exposed to reflected light in the exposure period (“the ranging processing section 13 generates an exposure control signal for controlling an exposure period in the light receiving section 12 in synchronization with the light source control signal and supplies the exposure control signal to the light receiving section 12” [0086]); and
a signal acquisition unit (also within 13) configured to acquire a signal value corresponding to the exposure amount of the pixel in the exposure period based on an output of the imaging sensor (12) (“The ranging processing section 13 calculates distance information on the basis of the pixel signal output from the light receiving section 12 in response to light reception” [0087]), wherein
the timing control unit (13) sets, as the exposure period, a plurality of sub-exposure periods that are longer than a width of the pulsed light and have different start timings so as to have an overlap period corresponding to the width of the pulsed light, and causes the pixel of the imaging sensor (12) to be exposed to the reflected light in each of the sub-exposure periods (evident from Fig. 3A, “since the measurement periods of the enable signals EN3 and EN4 have overlapping periods, the amount of light N4 measured in the measurement period by the enable signal EN4 corresponds to the amount of light N1+N2 in the example of FIG. 2” [0114]), and
the signal acquisition unit (13) acquires the signal value corresponding to a sum of exposure amounts of the pixel in the plurality of sub-exposure periods (“The ranging processing section 13 executes light reception by the light receiving section 12 a plurality of times in different phases” [0090]).
Claim 5: Morikawa further discloses wherein the sub-exposure period is an integral multiple of the width of the pulsed light (evident from Fig. 3A: the pulsed light has a width of T/12 and the sub-exposure period has a width of T/2).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to HINA F AYUB whose telephone number is (571)270-3171. The Examiner can normally be reached on 9am-5pm ET Mon-Fri.
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, Tarifur Chowdhury can be reached on 571-272-2287. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Hina F Ayub/
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2877
Prosecution Insights