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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 5, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Choi et al. (US 20250005776, hereinafter Choi)
Regarding claim 1, “A camera module comprising: an optical system including at least one or more lenses; an imaging device” Choi teaches (¶0042 and Fig. 1) The electronic device 100 may be a device that obtains an image of a real-world object captured by using a camera including a lens assembly 110 and an image sensor 130; (¶0033 and ¶0076) the electronic device 100 may include a lens assembly 110 including at least one camera lens.
As to “and a liquid crystal panel including an electrode for forming an aperture pattern which makes light incident on the imaging device; a liquid crystal layer, and a driver driving the liquid crystal layer, wherein to allow light transmitted through at least one lens included in the optical system to be made incident; the liquid crystal panel is arranged between the lens and the imaging device” Choi teaches (¶0103 and Fig. 4) by modulating the a phase profile of a control voltage applied to the plurality of first array excitation electrodes 120e-1 to 120e-5 and the plurality of second array excitation electrodes 120e-6 to 120e-10 via the plurality of driver terminals 120d, the controller 140C may determine the plurality of apertures A.sub.1 to A.sub.n in which an arrangement angle of the liquid crystal molecules 120m is changed in the entire region of the liquid crystal layer 1201, and form a coded aperture pattern including the plurality of apertures A.sub.1 to A.sub.n; (¶0077, ¶0087) The active mask panel 120 may be disposed between the lens assembly 110 and the image sensor 130. Light related to an object reaches the phase mask of the active mask panel 120 through the lens assembly 110 and is phase-modulated by changing a refractive index via the phase mask. The phase-modulated light is received by a specific pixel on the image sensor 130.
Regarding claim 5, “The camera module of claim 1, wherein a capturing range of the camera module is divided into a plurality of areas, the driver drives the liquid crystal layer to form aperture patterns different from each other in the plurality of areas, respectively, and point spread functions different from each other are set in the plurality of areas, respectively.” Choi teaches (¶0034) the phase mask 122 may be formed to have a coded aperture pattern of a shape and size that causes the distortion of the image to occur according to a point spread function (PSF) based on the depth values of the objects ob1 and ob2. The coded aperture pattern of the phase mask 122 may induce a phase delay of light by changing a refractive index of the light according to the depth value of the objects ob1 and ob2; (¶0156) performing convolution of a plurality of RGB-D images with PSF patterns corresponding to pixel-wise depth values of the plurality of RGB-D images; (¶0157 and ¶0158) generating a second phase mask having a second coded aperture pattern in a partial area of the active mask panel 120; (¶0159) , the first coded aperture pattern may be a pattern having a plurality of apertures for obtaining a first coded image having a first PSF corresponding to a first depth value. The second coded aperture pattern may be a pattern having a plurality of apertures for obtaining a second coded image having a second PSF corresponding to a second depth value.
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 (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 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.
Claim(s) 2-3, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi in view Sangu (US 20160316142.)
Regarding claim 2, “The camera module of claim 1, wherein the optical system further includes a … mechanism for controlling an amount of light made incident on the imaging device, and the liquid crystal panel is provided near a location of arrangement of the …mechanism.” Choi teaches (¶0079) A phase mask is located in a part of a diaphragm of a camera; (¶0080, ¶0082) The electronic device 100, according to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 may have the active mask panel 120 disposed between the lens assembly 110 and generating an active phase mask in a specific region on the active mask panel 120. This enables adaptively changing a coded aperture pattern of the active mask panel 120 according to an object having a specific depth, rather than causing the same focus distortion; (¶0083) The amount of light transmitted through the phase mask 122 may vary depending on an extent of opening of the plurality of apertures included in the phase mask 122, and the amount of light transmitted may cause focus distortion according to a depth of an object; (¶0101, ¶0084, Fig. 6A-6B) an arrangement angle of liquid crystal molecules disposed in an area corresponding to each of the plurality of apertures A.sub.1 to A.sub.n among the plurality of liquid crystal molecules 120m included in the liquid crystal layer 120l
Choi does not teach “diaphragm” mechanism. However, Sangu teaches (Fig. 1 and ¶0033, ¶0062) a physical diaphragm/aperture 7 which adjusts and incident amount of light, found in the lens group 30. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the imaging device that has a LC aperture as taught by Choi with the diaphragm as taught by Sangu for the benefit of having a complementary component to control the rays entering the lens/reducing lens aberrations, improving optical image formation, and having a physical optical stop.
Regarding claim 3, “The camera module of claim 2, wherein the liquid crystal panel is arranged between the diaphragm mechanism and the imaging device.” Sangu further teaches (Fig. 1, ¶0032) that the liquid crystal device 21 is between diaphragm/aperture 7 and image sensor 22.
Claim(s) 4, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi in view Tanaka et al. (US 20220279106, hereinafter Tanaka.)
Regarding claim 4, Choi does not teach “The camera module of claim 1, wherein the lens includes 360 degrees in a horizontal direction in a capturing range.” However, Tanka teaches (¶0056, ¶0058) The optical component unit 18 includes a wide-angle lens, an ultra-wide-angle lens, a 360-degree lens, an anamorphic lens, or the like. As a result, the imaging apparatus 10 can capture the video with a wide angle of view in a horizontal direction. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the imaging device as taught by Choi with the 360 lens as taught by Tanaka for the benefit of capturing the entire scene, better for monitoring and having full situational awareness for certain uses (e.g., security cameras, autonomous vehicles, etc..)
Claim(s) 6, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi in view Chiyoda (US 20240184183.)
Regarding claim 6, Choi does not teach “The camera module of claim 5, wherein the capturing range of the camera module is in a circular shape, and the plurality of areas are formed by concentrically dividing the circular capturing range.” However, Chiyoda (¶0095) a resolution range is wider when the distance OD is a middle distance (330 mm), and the resolution is higher when the distance OD is a short distance (100 mm) as compared with the optical characteristic graphs illustrated in FIG. 11. Note that the aperture pattern of the liquid crystal optical aperture 130 is not limited to the concentric pattern illustrated in FIG. 12 (a circular shape.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the imaging device as taught by Choi with the concentric circular shape as taught by Chiyoda for the benefit of preserving rotational symmetry, having multi-zone light control, and reducing orientation/directional sensitivity/bias.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Philipp et al. (US 20230314906) – (abstract) camera has an adaptive aperture plane configured to change both an aperture size and an aperture shape in response to an aperture signal.
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/Frank Johnson/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425
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