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 Interpretation
Claim(s) 1-5 do not use “means for” (or “step for”) language, or generic placeholders for "means” coupled with functional language without recitation of sufficient structure for carrying out the claimed functions and therefore do not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph).
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2021/0377496 A1) in view of Yoshino (US 2011/0184236 A1).[claim 1]
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses an operating method of an image sensor (e.g. Figure 12), comprising:
coupling a first floating diffusion node included in a first pixel group to a second floating diffusion node included in a second pixel group among the first and second pixel groups and a third pixel group, and reading out at least one synthesized first pixel signal from some or all first pixels corresponding to a first color filter group in a first sub- pixel array including the first to third pixel groups, during a first time section (e.g. Figures 17, 19 and 21; coupling FD11, FD12, FD21 and FD22 together to output signal of B11+B12+B21+B22).
However, Kim does not disclose:
coupling the second floating diffusion node included in the second pixel group to a third floating diffusion node included in the third pixel group among the first to third pixel groups, and reading out at least one synthesized second pixel signal from some or all second pixels corresponding to a second color filter group in the first sub-pixel array, during a second time section;
coupling the first floating diffusion node included in the first pixel group to the second floating diffusion node included in the second pixel group among the first to third pixel groups, and reading out at least one synthesized third pixel signal from some or all third pixels corresponding to a third color filter group in the first sub-pixel array, during a third time section; and
coupling the second floating diffusion node included in the second pixel group to the third floating diffusion node included in the third pixel group among the first to third pixel groups, and reading out at least one synthesized fourth pixel signal from some or all fourth pixels corresponding to a fourth color filter group in the first sub-pixel array, during a fourth time section.
Yoshino discloses an imaging system including a pixel binning read mode which bins pixels into four color channels, e.g. R, Gr, Gb and B to output a reduced resolution image (e.g. Figure 4; Paragraphs 0081-0082). The pixel binning mode taught by Yoshino would allow for increased sensitivity in each of the color channels, thereby improving low-light imaging and allowing for faster readout and image processing by reducing image resolution.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to include a pixel binning mode as taught by Yoshino in the method of Kim so that each color channel may be binned. Following the teachings of Kim for binning pixels of a certain color, it would further be obvious to couple the floating diffusion nodes together during second, third and fourth time sections to synthesize outputs for R, Gr and Gb pixels so that each color channel may be binned.[claim 2]
Regarding claim 2, note that Kim discloses wherein each of the first to third pixel groups includes even- numbered pixels (e.g. Figures 12 and 17; note that each of the groups contain an even and odd numbered pixels), and wherein each of the first to fourth color filter groups includes odd-numbered color filters (Figures 12 and 17; note that each of the groups include even and odd-numbered color filters).
Claim(s) 3 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2021/0377496 A1) in view of Yoshino (US 2011/0184236 A1) in view of Fu et al. (US 2017/0302865 A1).[claim 3]
Regarding claim 3, Kim in view of Yoshino does not teach wherein during the first time section, a fifth floating diffusion node included in a fifth pixel group corresponding to an arrangement position of the second pixel group is coupled to a sixth floating diffusion node included in a sixth pixel group corresponding to an arrangement position of the third pixel group among a fourth pixel group and the fifth and sixth pixel groups, and at least one synthesized fifth pixel signal is read out from some or all fifth pixels corresponding to a fifth color filter group in a second sub-pixel array including the fourth to sixth pixel groups,
wherein during the second time section, a fourth floating diffusion node included in the fourth pixel group corresponding to an arrangement position of the first pixel group is coupled to the fifth floating diffusion node included in the fifth pixel group corresponding to the arrangement position of the second pixel group among the fourth to sixth pixel groups, and at least one synthesized sixth pixel signal is read out from some or all sixth pixels corresponding to a sixth color filter group in the second sub-pixel array,
wherein during the third time section, the fifth floating diffusion node included in the fifth pixel group is coupled to the sixth floating diffusion node included in the sixth pixel group among the fourth to sixth pixel groups, and at least one synthesized seventh pixel signal is read out from some or all seventh pixels corresponding to a seventh color filter group in the second sub-pixel array, and
wherein during the fourth time section, the fourth floating diffusion node included in the fourth pixel group is coupled to the fifth floating diffusion node included in the fifth pixel group among the fourth to sixth pixel groups, and at least one synthesized eighth pixel signal is read out from some or all eighth pixels corresponding to an eighth color filter group in the second sub-pixel array.
Fu discloses an image sensor with shard floating diffusion pixel binning (e.g. Figure 5) and further discloses pixel bins of up to 8x8 pixels (Paragraph 0046). By binning additional pixels, the sensitivity and low-light imaging performance the image sensor may be improved.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to couple additional floating diffusion nodes in the first, second, third and fourth time sections to bin additional color pixels so that up to 8x8 color pixels may be binned together for improved sensitivity and low-light imaging performance.[claim 4]
Regarding claim 4, see the rejection of claim 2 above and note that by including additional pixel groups in an 8x8 array, the combined system would teach wherein each of the fourth to sixth pixel groups includes even- numbered pixels, wherein each of the fifth to eighth color filter groups includes odd-numbered color filters, wherein the first and eighth color filter groups have the same color filter, wherein the second and seventh color filter groups have the same color filter, wherein the third and sixth color filter groups have the same color filter, and wherein the fourth and fifth color filter groups have the same color filter (i.e. each pixel group would include odd-numbered color filters and the color filter groups binned would have the same color filter as taught by the binning arrangement of Kim extended to 8x8 pixels as taught by Yu).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is allowed.[claim 5]
Regarding claim 5, while the prior art teaches binning pixels in various time sections (see rejections above), the prior art does not teach such a read out applied to an image sensor comprising: an array of even-numbered pixels that are grouped into at least first to third pixel groups of 1X3 arrangement having respective first to third floating nodes while grouped into at least first to fourth color filter groups of 2X2 arrangement as claimed.
Conclusion
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/Timothy J Henn/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
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