Appeal No. 2003-0089
Application No. 08/976,474
photodiodes. We find that Ohba provides for clamping circuit 21
positioned between the photodiode and a vertical scanning line in
an array of photodiodes of an imaging device (column 3, lines 39-
45). The clamping circuit is not in its conductive state until
the vertical scanning line V3 reaches a high potential of 9V
during which the photodiode is reset or precharged (col. 4, lines
36-48). In order to remove the excess charges in case of intense
incoming light, the potential of the vertical scanning line is
set at 1V which, in turn, clamps the photodiode to the difference
between the vertical line potential and the threshold voltage of
the clamping circuit (col. 5, lines 7-20). However, the Examiner
points to no specific reference in Ohba related to the clocking
means or the step for disabling the clamping circuit while the
bias charge is injected on the photodiode, nor can we find such
teachings in the reference.
Additionally, in contrast to the Examiner’s assertion and
different from the claimed disabling of the spillover protection
device, Ohba uses the same circuit element 21 for resetting or
precharging the photodiode (col. 4, line 40) and removing the
excess charges to prevent blooming (col. 5, lines 14-17).
Furthermore, we find nothing in Ohba that positively recites
disabling of circuit element 21 during the charge injection step
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007