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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 6/5/2025, 4/17/2026 and 6/9/2026 were filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
1: Claim(s) 1, 8, 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2023/0122172 A1 Iwahara et al.
2: As for Claim 1, Iwahara et al depicts in Figures 5, 12A and 12B and teaches in Paragraphs [0007, 0008, 0042-0043] An image pickup apparatus comprising: an image sensor(100) that has a plurality of focus detecting pixels arranged in rows and columns (201-204), each of which receives a light beam passing through a different partial pupil region in an imaging optical system (501), and which sequentially starts exposure for each row or for each block of a plurality of rows of pixels to perform sequential readout (Paragraphs [0083 and 0093]); and one or more processors (elements 505 and 506) that operate to: perform a first focus detection using output signals from focus detecting pixels having a pupil division direction in a row direction (pixels 201 and 202) and being of the plurality of the focus detecting pixels (Paragraphs [0007, 0010 and Claim 1]), and a second focus detection using output signals from focus detecting pixels having a pupil division direction in a column direction (see Figure 12A) and being of the plurality of the focus detecting pixels (Paragraph [0008]), and determine whether to use a result of the second focus detection according to drive information (imaging mode) of the image sensor (100) (Paragraph [0082]).
3: As for Claim 8, Iwahara et al depicts in Figure 5 and teaches in Paragraphs [0056] wherein the one or more processors (505 and 506) further operate to drive the image sensor (100) via a drive circuit, and wherein the drive information is included in instruction information from the one or more processors (506) to the drive circuit (output control signals from 506 control the operation of the image sensor 100).
4: As for Claim 12, Claim 13 is rejected for reasons discussed related to Claim 1.
5: As for Claim 13, Claim 13 is rejected for reasons discussed related to Claim 1.
6: As for Claim 14, Claim 14 is rejected for reasons discussed related to Claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 9-11 are 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. USPN 12,069,384 B2 Li et al teaches on Column 17, Line 51- Column 18, Line 9 a camera system with phase detection pixels in both the vertical and horizontal directions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M HANNETT whose telephone number is (571)272-7309. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM-5:00 PM Monday thru Thursday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Twyler Haskins can be reached at 571-272-7406 The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/JAMES M HANNETT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2639
JMH
September 9, 2026
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