DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-17 are pending in the application.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 9, 10, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jung et al (US 2020/0007808 A1).
As per claim 1, Jung discloses a solid-state imaging device (fig. 2, image sensor 100), comprising:
pixel circuits (fig. 2, image sensor 100, pixel array 110), wherein each pixel circuit (fig. 2, image sensor 100, pixel 111) is configured to output pixel signals on a data signal line in response to an active row select signal in a row selection interval, wherein each pixel circuit comprises a floating diffusion, and wherein a floating diffusion potential of the floating diffusion determines a voltage level of the pixel signals (fig. 4, pixel array 110, pixels 111a, row driver 120, floating diffusion capacitor Cf, floating diffusion node voltage VFD); and
a differencing circuit (fig. 2, image sensor 100, analog to digital converter (ADC) 130) configured to receive, for each of the pixel circuits (fig. 2, image sensor 100, pixel array 110, pixels 111), two pixel signals successively transmitted from the pixel circuit on the data signal line within a same row selection interval, and to obtain a difference signal from the two pixel signals (fig. 2, image sensor 100, pixel array 110, pixel 111, ADC 130, row driver 120, data signals are sent to row lines (RL) and outputted to column lines (CL) from multiple pixel(s) 111 and difference is calculated by comparison block 140, comparison circuit 141),
wherein the solid-state imaging device (fig. 2, image sensor 100) is configured to control each pixel circuit (fig. 2, image sensor 100, pixel array 110, pixel 111) to output a previous pixel signal and a new pixel signal in a same row selection interval, and wherein the previous pixel signal and the new pixel signal contain image information about an imaged scene at different points in time (fig. 2, image sensor 100, row driver 120, buffer 180, may output a previous pixel signal and new pixel signal in a same row).
As per claim 2, Jung further discloses the solid-state imaging device according to according to claim 1,
wherein the solid-state imaging device is configured to control the floating diffusion to keep a floating diffusion potential from a readout of a new pixel signal in a first row selection interval for a pixel circuit until a readout of a previous pixel signal in a second row selection interval for the pixel circuit (fig. 2, image sensor 100, row driver 120, para 0026 and 0027).
As per claim 9, Jung further discloses the solid-state imaging device according to claim 1,
wherein the pixel circuit further comprises a photoelectric conversion element configured to determine the floating diffusion potential by photocurrent (fig. 4, pixel 111, photodiode PD), and a transfer transistor configured to connect a cathode of the photoelectric conversion element (fig. 4, pixel 111, transfer transistor TX) and the floating diffusion in response to an active transfer signal in the row selection interval (fig. 4, pixel 111, floating diffusion capacitor Cf).
As per claim 10, Jung further discloses the solid-state imaging device according to claim 9,
wherein the pixel circuit further comprises a photodetector reset transistor configured to reset a potential at the cathode of the photoelectric conversion element to a fixed potential in response to an active photodetector reset signal (fig. 4, pixel 111, reset transistor RX, para 0058).
As per claim 12, the solid-state imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the pixel circuit further comprises a floating diffusion reset transistor configured to connect the floating diffusion with a pixel reset voltage in response to at least an active floating diffusion reset signal, and further comprising
a threshold drift compensation circuit configured to control the pixel reset voltage as a function of a current voltage of the pixel signal on the data signal line (fig. 2, image sensor 100, row driver 120, CLP controller 121)
As per claim 13, Jung further discloses the solid-state imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a converter circuit configured to gate the difference signal with a threshold signal (fig. 2, image sensor 100, analog to digital converter (ADC) 130, para 0042-0045).
As per claim 14, Jung further discloses the solid-state imaging device according to claim 13,
wherein the converter circuit is configured to obtain digital event information from the difference signal (fig. 2, image sensor 100, analog to digital converter (ADC) 130, para 0042-0045).
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.
Claims 3, 4, and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung et al (US 2020/0007808 A1) in view of Niwa et al (US 2018/0270438 A1).
As per claim 3, the solid-state imaging device according to claim 1,
wherein the differencing circuit comprises an amplifier circuit, a sample capacitor in a first input leg between the data signal line and an inverting input of the amplifier circuit, and a switchable feedback path between an output of the amplifier circuit and the inverting input of the amplifier circuit.
Jung fails to teach the limitations as recited above in claim 3. However, Niwa discloses an imaging device having a column signal processing circuit 14 comprising a comparator 52 having signal lines 23a and 23b and feedback switch 73 between the output of the comparator and inverting input of the comparator 52 (Niwa, figs. 1 and 7, imaging element 11, signal processing circuit 14, comparator 52, para 0101-0103).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Jung in view of Niwa, as a whole, by incorporating the signal processing circuit elements of as disclosed by Niwa, into the imaging device as taught by Jung, because doing so would provide a more efficient way of processing the output of image signals captured, thus enhancing the image being outputted.
As per claim 4, the combined teachings of Jung in view of Niwa, as a whole, further discloses the solid-state imaging device according to claim 3,
wherein the solid-state imaging device is configured to control the differencing circuit to sample a voltage corresponding to a signal level of a first pixel signal across the sample capacitor in a first phase, and to obtain the difference signal from a difference between the voltage sampled at the sample capacitor and a voltage level of a second pixel signal applied to an input electrode of the sample capacitor in a second phase (Niwa, fig. 7, comparator 52, output lines 23a and 23b, voltages 42a and 42b, capacitors 71a and 71b).
As per claim 6, the combined teachings of Jung in view of Niwa, as a whole, further discloses the solid-state imaging device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a noise reduction circuit configured to reduce kTC noise in the pixel signals prior to obtaining the difference signal (Niwa, para 0103).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7, 8, 11, and 15-17 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 5, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the solid-state imaging device according to claim 3, wherein the solid-state imaging device is configured to control the differencing circuit to sample a voltage corresponding to a signal level of a previous pixel signal across the sample capacitor in a first phase, and to obtain the difference signal from a difference between the voltage sampled at the sample capacitor and a voltage level of a next pixel signal applied to an input electrode of the sample capacitor in a second phase, wherein the previous pixel signal and the new pixel signal contain image information about an imaged scene at different points in time.
Regarding claim 7, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the solid-state imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the differencing circuit comprises a fully differential amplifier and a sample/hold circuit electrically connected in a first input leg between the data signal line and a first input of the fully differential amplifier, and wherein a second input leg couples the data signal line and a second input of the fully differential amplifier.
Regarding claim 8, claims depend from claim 7, and are allowable for the same reasons stated above.
Regarding claim 11, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the solid-state imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the pixel circuit further comprises a floating diffusion reset transistor configured to connect the floating diffusion with a pixel reset voltage in response to at least an active floating diffusion reset signal, and wherein the pixel circuit further comprises an auxiliary transistor electrically connected in series between the floating diffusion reset transistor and a node supplying the pixel reset voltage and configured to connect the floating diffusion reset transistor to the node supplying the pixel reset voltage in response to an active auxiliary signal, and a pixel coupling capacitor electrically connected in parallel to the floating diffusion reset transistor.
Regarding claim 15, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the solid-state imaging device according to claim 13, the solid-state imaging device according to wherein the converter circuit comprises an analog-to-digital converter, and wherein the solid-state imaging device is configured to control the analog-to-digital converter such that the difference signal is quantized with high accuracy only when after k out of N possible quantization steps the difference signal is above a predefined frame difference threshold.
Regarding claim 16, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the solid-state imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the differencing circuit comprises an amplifier circuit, a sample capacitor in a first input leg between the data signal line and an inverting input of the amplifier circuit, and an autozero switch element between an output of the amplifier circuit and the inverting input of the amplifier circuit, and wherein the differencing circuit is configured to receive a variable threshold signal at the non-inverting input of the amplifier circuit.
Regarding claim 17, claims depend from claim 16, and are allowable for the same reasons stated above.
Conclusion
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/JOHN H MOREHEAD III/Examiner, Art Unit 2639
/TWYLER L HASKINS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2639