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 Objections
Claims 2, 3, 6, and 7 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 2 recites “whereby said ambient light measurement circuit is configured to perform an ambient light measurement at the begin of each cycle”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 3 recites “whereby said measurement settings are configured based the measured ambient light intensity”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claims 6 and 7 recite “The optical proximity sensor according to one of the claim 3”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6, 9, and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kriebrernegg et al. (US #2016/0079447).
Regarding Claim 1, Kriebrernegg discloses an optical proximity sensor (title, abstract, figs. 1-3, ¶0055: "The optical sensor arrangement 10 is configured for proximity and/or gesture detection”), comprising:
an infrared light emitter configured to emit AC pulses of infrared light, the infrared light emitter further being configured to emit no or low levels of infrared light in-between AC pulses (Kriebrernegg ¶0053 discloses … the optical sensor arrangement 10 comprises a light source 50. ... The light source 50 may be arranged between an output of the pulse generator 51 and the reference potential terminal 14);
a light detector configured to detect ambient light DC signals and infrared light AC pulses emitted by the light emitter and reflected from an object to be detected towards the light detector (Kriebrernegg ¶0055 discloses the light detected by the light sensor 11 is a function of a distance of the target 52 to the light source 50 and to the light sensor 11. Additionally, ambient light, for example emitted by the sun 53, may be detected by the light sensor 11), and
an integrator circuit which performs a proximity measurement employing said light emitter and said light detector (Kriebrernegg ¶0044 discloses … the optical sensor arrangement 10 comprises an integrator 21 having an input that is coupled to the summation node 13),
wherein said integrator circuit comprises an ambient light measurement circuit configured to perform an ambient light measurement before performing a proximity measurement and to configure measurement settings of (Kriebrernegg ¶0081 discloses the right value of the source current S3 is found by running a so called successive approximation routine, abbreviated to SAR, in combination with the comparator signal S10 of the comparator 28) and/or said integrator circuit (Kriebrernegg ¶0073 discloses by this switching scheme, a subtraction of the first value VP1 of the integrator signal S6 from the second value VP2 of the integrator signal S6 is achieved) based on said ambient light measurement, and wherein said integrator circuit is configured to perform said proximity measurement based on said measurement settings (Kriebrernegg ¶0113 discloses the optical sensor arrangement 10 uses the implementation of the pulse-wise ambient light cancellation and a further ambient light current suppressor implemented by the low noise source current S3 provided to the input of the proximity/gesture integrator 21 in parallel to the light sensor 11 in the form of a photo diode. ¶0114-¶0116 discloses … this leads to a wider ambient light cancellation range independent of the proximity and/or gesture signal gain settings).
Claim 15 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 2, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 1,
wherein said integrator circuit is configured to perform proximity measurements in cycles, and whereby said ambient light measurement circuit is configured to perform an ambient light measurement at the begin of each cycle (Kriebrernegg ¶0082 discloses the optical sensor arrangement 10 is operated by a first operation phase OP1 and a second operation phase OP2 which follows the first operation phase OP1; fig. 2B).
Regarding Claim 3, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 1,
whereby said measurement settings are configured based the measured ambient light intensity (Kriebrernegg ¶0079 discloses the maximum ambient light level which can be handled by the optical sensor arrangement 10 …).
Regarding Claim 6, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to one of the claim 3,
whereby as at least one measurement setting at least one parameter of said light detector is set dependent on the ambient light intensity (Kriebrernegg ¶0081 discloses the right value of the source current S3 is found by running a so called successive approximation routine, abbreviated to SAR, in combination with the comparator signal S10 of the comparator 28).
Regarding Claim 9, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 1,
whereby said an ambient light measurement circuit is identical to said integrator circuit (Kriebrernegg ¶0088-¶0092 discloses the SAR rough ambient light cancellation procedure takes place ... the node signal S5 charges the integrating capacitor 24 ...).
Regarding Claim 14, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 1,
whereby said light detector is built as a photo diode (Kriebrernegg ¶0074 discloses the light sensor 11 is fabricated as photo diode).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 4-5 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kriebrernegg et al. (US #2016/0079447) in view of Ele et al. (WO #2022/129037).
Regarding Claim 4, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 3, but may not explicitly disclose whereby a plurality of ambient light intensity ranges is defined, and whereby for each intensity range related measurement settings are defined in said integrator circuit, and whereby said integrator circuit is configured to select said related measurement settings based on the intensity range which comprises the measured ambient light intensity.
However, Ele (title, abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches whereby a plurality of ambient light intensity ranges is defined (Ele page 2, lines 26-29 discloses advantageously, such a device may be suitable to more accurately compensate the output from the radiation sensor for crosstalk across a range of ambient radiation levels. Each ambient radiation level can have a different ambient radiation amplitude or intensity. page 3, lines 7-27 discloses advantageously, such a device may be suitable for operation in a presence of strong ambient radiation. …. The processing circuitry of the proximity sensing device may be configured to select the coefficient from the plurality of coefficients using at least one of steps (a)-(c): (a) comparing the measured ambient radiation level to the ambient radiation level ranges; (b) selecting the ambient radiation level range that the measured ambient radiation level is within or closest to; (c) selecting the coefficient from the plurality of coefficients that maps onto the ambient radiation level range that the measured ambient radiation level is within or closest to. Advantageously, selecting the ambient radiation level range that the measured ambient radiation level is within may be performed if the ambient radiation levels are continuous), and
whereby for each intensity range related measurement settings are defined in said integrator circuit (Ele page 4, lines 26-35 discloses the proximity sensing device may be configured to normalize the measured ambient radiation level for an integration time of the ambient radiation sensor. The integration time of the ambient radiation sensor may be approximately 10ms, 100ms, 1 000ms, 1 0000ms. Advantageously, normalizing the measured ambient radiation level may enable ambient radiation levels to be more easily used to compensate the output from the radiation sensor for crosstalk. Advantageously, the integration time may be varied based on the ambient radiation level. For example, for a high ambient radiation level, a low integration time may be used and vice versa), and
whereby said integrator circuit is configured to select said related measurement settings based on the intensity range which comprises the measured ambient light intensity (Ele page 3, lines 20-27 discloses advantageously, selecting the ambient radiation level range that the measured ambient radiation level is within may be performed if the ambient radiation levels are continuous. Advantageously, selecting the ambient radiation level range that the measured ambient radiation level is closest to may be performed if the ambient radiation levels are discontinuous. For example, if some ambient radiation level data is missing. Advantageously, a combination of continuous and non-continuous ambient radiation levels may be used. page 4, lines 26-35 discloses the proximity sensing device may be configured to normalize the measured ambient radiation level for an integration time of the ambient radiation senso).
Kriebrernegg and Ele are analogous art as they pertain to proximity sensors. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify detection of ambient light (as taught by Kriebrernegg) to provide a proximity sensing device 15 and method for compensating for crosstalk across a range of ambient IR light Intensities (as taught by Ele, page 2, lines 14-16) using a single digital signal value may be unsuitable to provide compensation across a range of ambient IR light intensities (Ele, page 2, lines 9-10).
Regarding Claim 5, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 3, but may not explicitly disclose whereby as a measurement setting the power of said light emitter during said proximity measurement is set dependent on the ambient light intensity.
However, Ele (title, abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches whereby as a measurement setting the power of said light emitter during said proximity measurement is set dependent on the ambient light intensity (Ele page 12, line 11 to page 13, line 20 discloses in a first step 202, the processing circuitry 112 is configured to receive data in the form of an output of a radiation sensor 106. In a second step 204, the processing circuitry 112 is configured to receive data in the form of a measured ambient radiation level [e.g. from ambient light sensor ALS 108]. After the measured ambient radiation level has been received, in a third step 206, the processing circuitry 112 is configured to retrieve data from memory 110. Memory 110 contains a plurality of ambient radiation level ranges and a plurality of coefficients that map onto the plurality of ambient radiation level ranges. The data retrieved from memory 110 is determined based on the measured ambient radiation level and is either: a coefficient selected from the plurality of coefficients, or a value derived from the plurality of coefficients. In a fourth step 208, the processing circuitry 112 is configured to compensate the output for crosstalk by subtracting from the output the measured ambient radiation level scaled by either: the coefficient selected from the plurality of coefficients; or the value derived from the plurality of coefficients).
Kriebrernegg and Ele are analogous art as they pertain to proximity sensors. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify detection of ambient light (as taught by Kriebrernegg) to provide a proximity sensing device 15 and method for compensating for crosstalk across a range of ambient IR light Intensities (as taught by Ele, page 2, lines 14-16) using a single digital signal value may be unsuitable to provide compensation across a range of ambient IR light intensities (Ele, page 2, lines 9-10).
Regarding Claim 13, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 1, but may not explicitly disclose which is configured to provide normalized proximity data as an output.
which is configured to provide normalized proximity data as an output (Ele page 15, lines 19-21 discloses advantageously, normalizing the measured ambient radiation level may enable ambient radiation levels to be more easily used to compensate the output from the radiation sensor for crosstalk).
Kriebrernegg and Ele are analogous art as they pertain to proximity sensors. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify detection of ambient light (as taught by Kriebrernegg) to provide a proximity sensing device 15 and method for compensating for crosstalk across a range of ambient IR light Intensities (as taught by Ele, page 2, lines 14-16) using a single digital signal value may be unsuitable to provide compensation across a range of ambient IR light intensities (Ele, page 2, lines 9-10).
Claims 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kriebrernegg et al. (US #2016/0079447) in view of Wilson et al. (US #8810263).
Regarding Claim 7, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to one of the claim 3, but may not explicitly disclose whereby as a measurement setting the amplification factor of said integrator circuit is set dependent on the ambient light intensity.
However, Wilson (title, abstract, figs. 1-10) teaches whereby as a measurement setting the amplification factor of said integrator circuit is set dependent on the ambient light intensity (Wilson col. 5, lines 21-25 discloses ..., the adaptive resolution circuit 240 can selectively modify the integration capacitance by selectively coupling an additional capacitor 211 <CINT,touch> in parallel to an integrator capacitor 209 <CINT,stylus>; fig. 2).
Kriebrernegg and Wilson are analogous art as they pertain to proximity sensors. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify detection of ambient light (as taught by Kriebrernegg) to selectively switch a capacitor in parallel to the integrator capacitor using a comparator to modify the integration capacitance of the integrator (as taught by Wilson, col. 6, lines 1-10) to use capacitive sensing elements to replace mechanical buttons, knobs and other similar mechanical user interface controls; which can provide reliable operation under harsh conditions (Wilson, col. 1, lines 21-26).
Regarding Claim 8, Kriebrernegg in view of Wilson discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 7. But Kriebrernegg may not explicitly disclose whereby said integrator circuit comprises an operational amplifier and a capacitor arrangement with a plurality of capacitors that can be arranged electrically parallel to said operational amplifier, and whereby said integrator circuit is configured to select a parallel capacitor of said capacitor arrangement depending on said measured ambient light intensity during said proximity measurement.
However, Wilson (title, abstract, figs. 1-10) teaches whereby said integrator circuit comprises an operational amplifier and a capacitor arrangement with a plurality of capacitors that can be arranged electrically parallel to said operational amplifier (Wilson fig. 2: coupling an additional capacitor 211 <CINT,touch> in parallel to an integrator capacitor 209 <CINT,stylus>), and
whereby said integrator circuit is configured to select a parallel capacitor of said capacitor arrangement depending on said measured ambient light intensity during said proximity measurement (Wilson fig. 2: selectively modify the integration capacitance by selectively coupling an additional capacitor 211 <CINT,touch> in parallel to an integrator capacitor 209 <CINT,stylus>).
Kriebrernegg and Wilson are analogous art as they pertain to proximity sensors. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify detection of ambient light (as taught by Kriebrernegg) to selectively switch a capacitor in parallel to the integrator capacitor using a comparator to modify the integration capacitance of the integrator (as taught by Wilson, col. 6, lines 1-10) to use capacitive sensing elements to replace mechanical buttons, knobs and other similar mechanical user interface controls; which can provide reliable operation under harsh conditions (Wilson, col. 1, lines 21-26).
Claims 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kriebrernegg et al. (US #2016/0079447) in view of Wong et al. (US #2011/0121182) further in view of Ele et al. (WO #2022/129037).
Regarding Claim 10, Kriebrernegg discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 1, but may not explicitly disclose comprising a crosstalk measurement circuit.
However, Wong (title, abstract, figs. 1-9) teaches a crosstalk measurement circuit (Wong ¶0029 discloses referring to fig. 8, a method of measuring and cancelling crosstalk in proximity sensor 10. Crosstalk, indicated by integrated photo-detector signal 41, is measured and stored in a register after a first burst of LED pulses 22 is emitted by light emitter 16. ¶0035 discloses referring to fig. 9, another method of measuring and cancelling crosstalk in proximity sensor 10. In the method illustrated in fig. 9, crosstalk cannot be measured accurately unless the magnitude or amount of the crosstalk does not exceed a predetermined threshold for signals detected and integrated by the photodetector [PD]. By way of example, the predetermined threshold is set to one-half the full-scale measurement or reading).
Kriebrernegg and Wong are analogous art as they pertain to proximity sensors. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify detection of ambient light (as taught by Kriebrernegg) to provide an optical proximity sensor that is capable of accurately measuring or quantifying the actual amount of crosstalk that occurs between the light emitter and light detector sections thereof (as taught by Wong, ¶0006) since measuring or quantifying the amount of crosstalk in proximity sensors has proven to be a proposition fraught with substantial difficulty (Wong, ¶0006).
Regarding Claim 11, Kriebrernegg in view of Wong discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 10, but may not explicitly disclose comprising an ADC, whereby the outputs of said measured ambient light and said cross talk measurements are converted to digital signals in said ADC, and whereby a digital core is configured to conduct ambient light and cross talk corrections of the digitized proximity measurement signal.
However, Ele (title, abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches an ADC (Ele fig. 4: ADC 416), whereby the outputs of said measured ambient light and said cross talk measurements are converted to digital signals in said ADC (Ele page 15, lines 1-9 discloses during the off phase, the photodiode 406 is operable only to detect ambient radiation. At the end of each pulse, a signal representative of only the radiation resulting from the radiation emitter may be obtained by subtracting off-phase signals from on-phase signals [e.g. which removes a contribution due to the ambient radiation]. Each signal representative of only the radiation resulting from an individual pulse of the radiation emitter may be accumulated using the second stage (OPAMP 403) to obtain an integrated voltage. Once the programmed number of pulses are completed, the integrated voltage is converted to a digital signal using ADC 416. lines 19-21 discloses advantageously, normalizing the measured ambient radiation level may enable ambient radiation levels to be more easily used to compensate the output from the radiation sensor for crosstalk), and
whereby a digital core is configured to conduct ambient light and cross talk corrections of the digitized proximity measurement signal (Ele page 17, lines 10-33 discloses the proximity analogue front end 514 generates a signal in response to the sensed radiation and the first ADC 524 converts this signal to a digital input to the digital controller 534. At a same or similar time, the ALS IR photodiode 506 senses the ambient IR radiation and the ALS analogue front end 516 generates a signal in response to the measured ambient radiation and the third ADC 526 converts this signal to a digital input to the digital controller 534. Thus, the digital controller 534 receives digital inputs representing the sensed reflected radiation [i.e. output from the first ADC 524] and the measured ambient radiation [i.e. from the third 20 ADC 526]. The configuration registers 535 [i.e. memory 110] contain a plurality of ambient radiation level ranges and a plurality of coefficients that map onto the plurality of ambient radiation level ranges. The digital controller 534 queries the configuration registers 535 to retrieve a coefficient selected from the plurality of coefficients [or a value derived from the plurality of coefficients] based on the measured ambient radiation level. The digital controller 534 then compensates the output [i.e. from the first ADC 524] for crosstalk by subtracting from the output the measured ambient radiation level scaled by the coefficient selected from the plurality of coefficients [or the value derived from the plurality of coefficients]. The digital controller 534 may then transmit the compensated output to another device [e.g. via the I2C interface 542] or may perform further processing based on the compensated output [e.g. to analyze the compensated output for proximity information and deactivate a display, for example]).
Kriebrernegg, Wong, and Ele are analogous art as they pertain to proximity sensors. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify detection of ambient light (as taught by Kriebrernegg) to provide a proximity sensing device 15 and method for compensating for crosstalk across a range of ambient IR light Intensities (as taught by Ele, page 2, lines 14-16) using a single digital signal value may be unsuitable to provide compensation across a range of ambient IR light intensities (Ele, page 2, lines 9-10).
Regarding Claim 12, Kriebrernegg in view of Wong discloses the optical proximity sensor according to claim 10, but may not explicitly disclose whereby in crosstalk calibration coefficients are stored in a digital core which are applied during crosstalk correction based on the measured crosstalk signal.
However, Ele (title, abstract, figs. 1-7) teaches whereby in crosstalk calibration coefficients are stored in a digital core which are applied during crosstalk correction based on the measured crosstalk signal (Ele page 17, lines 10-33 discloses the digital controller 534 receives digital inputs representing the sensed reflected radiation [i.e. output from the first ADC 524] and the measured ambient radiation [i.e. from the third 20 ADC 526]. The configuration registers 535 [i.e. memory 110] contain a plurality of ambient radiation level ranges and a plurality of coefficients that map onto the plurality of ambient radiation level ranges. The digital controller 534 queries the configuration registers 535 to retrieve a coefficient selected from the plurality of coefficients [or a value derived from the plurality of coefficients] based on the measured ambient radiation level. The digital controller 534 then compensates the output [i.e. from the first ADC 524] for crosstalk by subtracting from the output the measured ambient radiation level scaled by the coefficient selected from the plurality of coefficients [or the value derived from the plurality of coefficients]. page 19, lines 3-10 discloses thus, depending on the measured ambient radiation level, a suitable coefficient (e.g. C1-C5) may be used to accurately reflect the amount of ambient radiation that could affect crosstalk in the proximity sensing device 100. Also refer to claims 1, 9 and 16).
Kriebrernegg, Wong, and Ele are analogous art as they pertain to proximity sensors. Therefore it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to modify detection of ambient light (as taught by Kriebrernegg) to more accurately compensate for crosstalk at different levels of ambient radiation (as taught by Ele, page 19, lines 3-10) when compared to prior art systems that employ the same coefficient regardless of the ambient radiation 10 level (Ele, page 19, lines 3-10).
Conclusion
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/YOGESHKUMAR PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2691
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