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 § 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 1, 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0152732 to Eki (“Eki”) and further in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0042834 to Miao (“Miao”).
Regarding claim 1, Eki teaches an imaging device comprising:
a sensor unit (reference number 10, image sensor) that generates image data of a reference image obtained by imaging an imaging target region with a resolution of a maximum angle of view (paragraphs [0138]-[0139] teach capturing and generating high-resolution image data; paragraph [0147] teaches an example of capturing a wide view angle) and image data of a reduced image obtained by imaging the imaging target region with a resolution lower than the resolution of the reference image (paragraph [0140] further teaches an example of generating an image at low resolution); and
a logic unit that processes the image data (reference number 13, processing unit), wherein the sensor unit includes:
a pixel array section including a plurality of pixels that each generates an analog pixel signal obtained by photoelectrically converting incident light from the imaging target region (reference number 101, pixel array unit);
a row selection section that selects a pixel that outputs the analog pixel signal from the pixel array section according to the resolution (pixel rows are selected by the vertical drive circuit and input to the column processing circuit through vertical signal lines of respective pixel columns, see paragraph [0193]); and
a signal processing section that generates the image data by performing digital processing on the analog pixel signal of the pixel selected by the row selection section, and outputs the image data to the logic unit (the ADC, reference number 17 generates digital image data by converting an analog pixel signal read from the image capturing unit 11 for each unit pixel into a digital value, see paragraph [0056]).
Eki is silent on indicating the resolution in the image data. Miao teaches the resolution setting may be stored in the buffer memory with the pixel data, see paragraph [0021].
It 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 to modify the teaching of Eki with that of Miao to indicate the resolution in the image data for later processing or reconstructing different versions of the image.
Regarding claim 11, Eki in view of Miao teach the imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the resolution is indicated in a header or a footer of the image data (Miao further teaches the resolution may be stored in the metadata of the image).
Regarding claim 12, Eki in view of Miao teach the imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the signal processing section includes: an analog-to-digital (AD) converter that converts the analog pixel signal into a digital pixel signal; and a processing circuit that generates the image data on a basis of the digital pixel signal, indicates the resolution in the image data, and outputs the image data to the logic unit (Eki further teaches the analog to digital converter in paragraph [0182] and processor 20).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-10, 13 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMY R HSU whose telephone number is (571)270-3012. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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AMY R. HSU
Examiner
Art Unit 2664
/AMY R HSU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2638
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