DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-19 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 1-3, 11, 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ohmaru (US 2017/0025456 A1).
As per claim 1, Ohmaru discloses a photodetection element (fig. 5, circuit 20) comprising:
a photoelectric conversion element that accumulates charges according to an amount of incident light (fig. 5, circuit 20, photoelectric conversion element PD); and
a pixel circuit that outputs a pixel signal according to the charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element (fig. 5, circuit 20, circuit 22), wherein the pixel circuit includes:
at least one current path (fig. 5, circuit 20, circuit 22, current path represented by dotted line running from circuit 20 and outputted by circuit 22); and
at least two current cutoff switching units that switch whether or not to cut off the current path (fig. 5, circuit 20, transistors 45 and 46 may cut off current path).
As per claim 2, Ohmaru further discloses the photodetection element according to claim 1, wherein
the pixel circuit includes a first current path, a second current path, a first current cutoff switching unit, and a second current cutoff switching unit,
the first current cutoff switching unit switches whether or not to cut off the first current path, and
the second current cutoff switching unit switches whether or not to cut off the second current path (figs. 5-7, circuits 20 and 22, fig. 5 shows a first current path, fig. 7 shows a second current path controlled respectively by transistors 45 and 46, para 0114).
As per claim 3, Ohmaru further discloses the photodetection element according to claim 1, wherein
the pixel circuit includes a first current cutoff switching unit and a second current cutoff switching unit disposed on one current path, and
the first current cutoff switching unit and the second current cutoff switching unit switch whether or not to cut off the current path independently of each other (figs. 5-7, circuits 20 and 22, fig. 5 shows a first current path, fig. 7 shows a second current path controlled respectively by transistors 45 and 46, transistor 45 will be considered a first current cutoff switching unit and transistor 46 will be considered a second current cutoff switching unit, para 0114).
As per claim 11, Ohmaru further discloses the photodetection element according to claim 1, wherein
some current cutoff switching units of the at least two current cutoff switching units perform control of a bias current and switching of whether or not to cut off the current path (figs. 5-7, circuits 20 and 22, fig. 5 shows a first current path, fig. 7 shows a second current path controlled respectively by transistors 45 and 46, wherein current is biased).
As per claim 16, Ohmaru further discloses the photodetection element according to claim 1, wherein
the pixel circuit includes an analog-to-digital conversion unit that converts a voltage signal according to the charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element into a digital signal, and
the analog-to-digital conversion unit includes the at least one current path and the at least two current cutoff switching units (fig. 3A, imaging device, A/D converter circuit 24, para 0117).
As per claim 17, Ohmaru further discloses the photodetection element according to claim 1, wherein
the current cutoff switching units each include one transistor that switches whether or not to cut off the current path (fig. 5, circuit 20, transistors 45 and 46 may cut off current path).
As per claim 18, Ohmaru further discloses the photodetection element according to claim 1, wherein
the current cutoff switching units each include one transistor that switches whether or not to cut off the current path, and switches whether or not to supply a bias current to the current path (figs. 5-7, circuits 20 and 22, fig. 5 shows a first current path, fig. 7 shows a second current path controlled respectively by transistors 45 and 46, wherein current may be biased, para 0125).
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 12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohmaru (US 2017/0025456 A1) in view of Mandelli et al (US 2022/0141403 A1).
As per claim 12, the photodetection element according to claim 1, wherein
the pixel circuit includes an event detection circuit that detects an event generated on a basis of an amount of change of the charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element, and
the event detection circuit includes the at least one current path and the at least two current cutoff switching units.
Ohmaru fails to teach the limitations as recited above in claim 12. However, Mandelli discloses an electronic device comprising an image sensor, wherein the image sensor comprises a dynamic vision sensor 420 (i.e. event detection) which may be coupled to an image sensor having multiple current paths and switches (Mandelli, fig. 11, image sensor 1100, dynamic vision sensor 420, para 0050-0054).
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 Ohmaru in view of Mandelli, as a whole, by incorporating the dynamic vision sensor as taught by Mandelli, into the image sensor as taught by Ohmaru, because doing so would provide a more efficient way of detecting an event, thus enhancing the overall functionality of the image sensor.
As per claim 19, Ohmaru discloses an electronic device (fig. 60A, camera module) comprising:
a photodetection element that outputs image data; and
wherein the photodetection element includes:
a photoelectric conversion element that accumulates charges according to an amount of incident light; and
a pixel circuit that outputs a pixel signal according to the charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element, and the pixel circuit includes:
at least one current path; and
at least two current cutoff switching units that switch whether or not to cut off the current path (claim limitations have been discussed and rejected, see claim 1 above).
Ohmaru fails to teach a processing unit that performs processing on the image data. However, Mandelli discloses an electronic device 120 wherein the image sensor is connected to CPU(s) 302 which may be a GPU for processing image data (Mandelli, fig. 3, electronic device 120, CPU(s) 302, para 0023).
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 Ohmaru in view of Mandelli, as a whole, by incorporating the CPU(s) as taught by Mandelli, into the image sensor as taught by Ohmaru, because doing so would provide a more efficient way of processing image data, thus enhancing the overall functionality of an electronic device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-10 and 13-15 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 4, 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 photodetection element according to claim 1, further comprising: a first control unit that performs control to switch two or more of the current cutoff switching units in two or more of the pixel circuits arranged in a first direction at an identical timing; and a second control unit that performs control to switch sequentially two or more of the current cutoff switching units in two or more of the pixel circuits arranged in a second direction.
Regarding claims 5-10, claims depend from claim 4, are allowable for the same reasons above.
Regarding claim 13, 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 photodetection element according to claim 12, wherein the event detection circuit includes: a current-voltage conversion unit that converts the charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element into a voltage; a buffer that generates a voltage signal according to an output of the current-voltage conversion unit; a differentiation circuit that detects an amount of change of the voltage signal; a comparison circuit that compares the amount of change of the voltage signal with a predetermined threshold; and an output circuit that outputs an event signal representing the event according to a comparison result by the comparison circuit.
Regarding claims 14 and 15, claims depend from claim 13, are allowable for the same reasons above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN H MOREHEAD III whose telephone number is (571)270-3845. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 0930-1800 EST.
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/JOHN H MOREHEAD III/Examiner, Art Unit 2639
/TWYLER L HASKINS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2639
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