DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to application 19/172,863 filed on April 8, 2025. Claims 1-17 are pending in the application and have been examined by the Examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on August 12, 2025 was received and has been considered by the Examiner.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
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
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Lack of clarity and precision.
Claim 1 recites “a camera having a least one image sensor” and it appears that this should instead read “a camera having at least one image sensor” in order to improve clarity. Appropriate correction is required.
Applicant is advised that should claim 9 be found allowable, claim 17 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
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 1-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2021/0385389).
Consider claim 1, Lee et al. teaches:
A method in a camera (figure 12) having at least one image sensor (image sensor, 1100, figure 12, 100, figure 1, paragraphs 0023, 0025, 0026 and 0116), said image sensor including a pixel array (pixel array, 110, figures 1 and 3, paragraphs 0025 and 0026) with at least three colors of narrowband pixels (i.e. red (R), green (Gr and Gb) and blue (B) pixels, figure 3, paragraph 0046) and wideband pixels (i.e. white (W) pixels, paragraph 0046), the method comprising:
reading out the narrowband pixels (R, G, B) and wideband pixels (W) with different gains, wherein the wideband pixels are read out with a higher gain than the narrowband pixels (The narrowband pixels (R, G, B) are read out with a low conversion gain, while the wideband pixels (W) are read out with a high conversion gain, paragraphs 0049, 0055, 0058 and 0060.).
Consider claim 2, and as applied to claim 1 above, Lee et al. further teaches that the narrowband pixels include red pixels, green pixels, and blue pixels (i.e. red (R), green (Gr and Gb) and blue (B) pixels, figure 3, paragraph 0046), and wherein the method includes:
reading out wideband pixels (W) with a gain that is, a factor of H times a gain used for readout of the green pixels (The narrowband pixels (R, G, B) are read out with a low conversion gain, while the wideband pixels (W) are read out with a high conversion gain, paragraphs 0049, 0055, 0058 and 0060. Thus, the gain at which the wideband pixels (W) are read out at is implicitly H times a gain used for readout of the green pixels (G).).
Consider claim 6, and as applied to claim 2 above, Lee et al. further teaches that H is one or more of: greater than 2 or less than 6 (The range of less than 6 or greater than 2 encompasses all numbers and thus all possible gains.).
Consider claim 3, and as applied to claim 1 above, Lee et al. further teaches that said method includes:
selectively operating the camera in a first mode in which the image sensor has first gain settings and generates an output having a first response (The image sensor operates in a “second mode” (i.e. normal mode) in which binning is not performed, paragraphs 0038-0040. When operating in the “second mode”, the image sensor implicitly has a first gain setting and first response output.), or in a second mode in which the image sensor has second gain settings and generates an output having a second response (The image sensor operates in a “first mode” in which a binning operation is performed and high and low conversion gains are utilized, paragraphs 0041, 0043, 0054 and 0055.); and
generating, in the first mode, a digital output (IDT1, paragraphs 0038-0040) in which the wideband pixels (W) have a spectral output response approximately equal to the sum of spectral output responses of the narrowband pixels (i.e. due to a white spectral band being approximately equal to a combination of red, green and blue spectral bands); and
generating, in the second mode, a digital output (IDT1) in which the wideband pixels (W) have a spectral output response greater than in said first mode (i.e. due to use of a high conversion gain, paragraphs 0041, 0049, 0055).
Consider claim 4, and as applied to claim 3 above, Lee et al. further teaches that in the second mode, the wideband pixels have a spectral output response approximately equal to H times the sum of spectral output responses of the narrowband pixels (i.e. due to use of a high conversion gain for the white pixels (W) and the low conversion gain for the narrowband pixels (R, G, B), paragraphs 0041, 0049, 0055).
Consider claim 16, and as applied to claim 4 above, Lee et al. further teaches that H is one or more of: greater than 2 or less than 6 (The range of less than 6 or greater than 2 encompasses all numbers and thus all possible gains.).
Consider claim 5, and as applied to claim 3 above, Lee et al. further teaches that a gain applied to the wideband pixels (W) in the second mode is a factor of H greater than a gain applied to the wideband pixels in the first mode (i.e. due to use of a high conversion gain, paragraphs 0041, 0049, 0055).
Consider claim 15, and as applied to claim 5 above, Lee et al. further teaches that H is one or more of: greater than 2 or less than 6 (The range of less than 6 or greater than 2 encompasses all numbers and thus all possible gains.).
Consider claim 7, and as applied to claim 1 above, Lee et al. further teaches that said gain is an analog gain (The gain is based on the capacitance of a floating diffusion node of a pixel, paragraphs 0031 and 0032.).
Consider claim 8, and as applied to claim 1 above, Lee et al. further teaches generating one or both of:
narrowband luminance values Y based on an output from said narrowband pixels (Green pixel values (Gr, Gb) are generated, paragraph 0058. Green pixel values may be considered to represent luminance.); and
wideband luminance values W based on an output from said wideband pixels (White pixel values (W) are generated, paragraph 0060. White pixel values may be considered to represent luminance.).
Consider claim 9, and as applied to claim 8 above, Lee et al. further teaches processing said narrowband luminance values and said wideband luminance values to generate a combined luminance value (White pixel values (W) and green pixel values (Gr or Gb) are merged to generated combined luminance values, as detailed in paragraph 0063.).
Consider claim 10, and as applied to claim 9 above, Lee et al. further teaches that said narrowband luminance values have a saturation value of Ysat, and said wideband luminance values have a saturation value Wsat, wherein Wsat is greater than Ysat (i.e. due to the wideband pixels (W) being white pixels having the high conversion gain compared to the colored pixels having the low conversion gain of the narrowband pixels (R, G, B), paragraphs 0049, 0054, 0055, 0058 and 0060).
Lee et al. does not explicitly teach that Wsat/Ysat is greater than 3. However, as stated in MPEP 2144.05(II), “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955). Determining an optimum ratio of the saturation values of the narrowband luminance values and the wideband luminance values taught by Cheung, would only require routine skill in the art. Therefore, the Wsat/Ysat value of 3 recited in claim 10 does not differentiate the method of operating the camera of claim 9 from the prior art.
Consider claim 11, and as applied to claim 10 above, Lee et al. further teaches that said narrowband luminance values have a saturation value of Ysat, and said wideband luminance values have a saturation value Wsat, wherein Wsat is greater than Ysat (i.e. due to the wideband pixels (W) being white pixels having the high conversion gain compared to the colored pixels having the low conversion gain of the narrowband pixels (R, G, B), paragraphs 0049, 0054, 0055, 0058 and 0060).
Lee et al. does not explicitly teach that Wsat/Ysat is greater than 6, or greater than 8, or approximately 9. However, as stated in MPEP 2144.05(II), “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955). Determining an optimum ratio of the saturation values of the narrowband luminance values and the wideband luminance values taught by Cheung, would only require routine skill in the art. Therefore, the Wsat/Ysat value of greater than 6, or greater than 8, or approximately 9, recited in claim 11 does not differentiate the method of operating the camera of claim 9 from the prior art.
Consider claim 17, and as applied to claim 8 above, Lee et al. further teaches processing said narrowband luminance values and said wideband luminance values to generate a combined luminance value (White pixel values (W) and green pixel values (Gr or Gb) are merged to generated combined luminance values, as detailed in paragraph 0063.).
Consider claim 12, Lee et al. teaches a camera (figure 12) configured to perform a method as claimed in claim 1 (paragraph 0116, see claim 1 rationale).
Consider claim 13, and as applied to claim 12 above, Lee et al. further teaches that the pixel array includes three types of narrowband pixels (T1, T2, T3) and one type of wideband pixels (w) (i.e. red (R), green (Gr and Gb) and blue (B) pixels, figure 3, and white (W) pixels, paragraph 0046).
Consider claim 14, and as applied to claim 13 above, Lee et al. further teaches that the pixel array has a unit cell with pixels in the ratio of T1:T2:T3 (i.e. R:G:B) of 1:1:1 (see figure 3).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jung et al. (US 2023/0156360) teaches a pixel array having narrowband pixels (R, G, B) and wideband pixels (W), wherein the wideband pixels (W) are read out with a higher conversion gain than the narrowband pixels (see figure 7, paragraphs 0052 and 0116-0118).
Park et al. (US 2012/0200731) teaches a pixel array having narrowband pixels (R, G, B) and wideband pixels (WNIR), wherein a higher digital gain is applied to the wideband pixels (WNIR, see paragraph 0053).
Kanda (US 2016/0295102) teaches “an output of a Green pixel is usually used as a luminance value” (paragraph 0076).
Shoyama (US 2014/0002698) teaches, “Instead of using white pixels to acquire luminance components, for example, green pixels may be used to acquire luminance components, and in such a case, the green pixels are disposed in the locations of the white pixels in FIG. 1B.”
Lin (US 2010/0177203) teaches “the green pixel signal (G) may be used to approximate the luminance value L” (paragraph 0066).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALBERT H CUTLER whose telephone number is (571)270-1460. The examiner can normally be reached approximately Mon - Fri 8:00-4:30.
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/ALBERT H CUTLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637
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