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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 13 have been considered but are moot. Depending on interpretation of term “face” the Art explicitly teaches the limitation. And fig. 2 shows other type of obvious surfaces.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 1 and claims bellow are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hamalainen US 20030094566 A1 (herein and after D1) in view of Ruh US 9366752 B2 (herein and after D2) further in view of D4 US 20050180698 A1.
Regarding claim 1 D1 teaches
[Claim 1] An optical module comprising:
a light-emitting section (2)configured to emit light;(fig. 4)
a light-receiving(10) section including a first light-receiving section(part which is receiving 22) and a second light- receiving section(part which is receiving light 30);
a first cover part(4) provided on a light emission side of the light-emitting section(fig. 4), and
configured to
guide, in the direction of target(28) first light that is a portion of the light emitted from the light-emitting section (28 is guided towards the target)and
guide second light(22) that is another portion of the light emitted from the light-emitting section in a direction different from the direction of the target(fig. 4); and
first cover part(4) has a first principal surface(surface where 28 is emitted) and a first reflecting surface(surface 7), the first reflecting surface is oblique with respect to the first principal surface(fig. 4),
and the first reflecting surface is configured to reflect the second light in the first direction;(fig. 4)
a second cover part(8) provided on a light incidence side of the light-receiving section(10), and configured to guide reflected light that is the first light reflected by the target in a direction of the first light-receiving section and guide the second light guided from the first cover part in a direction of the second light-receiving section.(fig. 4)
the second cover part has a second principal surface(surface where 30 hits) and a second reflecting surface(curved end surface 9 which comes at the end of principal surface),
the second reflecting surface is oblique with respect to the second principal surface,(fig. 4)
the second reflecting surface is an end face of the second cover part,(fig. 4)
and the second reflecting surface is configured to reflect the second light in the direction of the second light-receiving section(fig. 4)
but does not teach
the first reflecting surface is convex to a side of the light-receiving section,
the first cover part has a first recess,
the first reflecting surface is an inner wall of the first recess,
D2 teaches
the first reflecting surface(50a) is convex to a side of the light-receiving section,(fig. 8)
D4 teaches
the first cover part has a first recess,(5 or 6)
the first reflecting surface is an inner wall of the first recess,(fig. 3)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 with teaching by D2 in order to create an optical structure for reflecting a portion of light in a non-vertical direction and further to modify using D4 in order to create reflecting surface in other well known obvious methods commonly practiced in the art .
16. (New) The optical module according to claim 1, wherein the first reflecting surface is oblique having an angle of 45 degree with respect to the first principal surface.(fig. 3 [0035])
[Claim 4] The optical module according to claim 1, wherein the first reflecting surface is an end face of the first cover part.(fig. 1, 2)
[Claim 5] The optical module according to claim 1, wherein the second cover part has, in a portion of the second cover part, a second reflecting surface provided obliquely with respect to a principal surface of the second cover part and configured to reflect the second light in the direction of the second light-receiving section.(fig. 1,2 4)
[Claim 6] The optical module according to claim 5, wherein the second cover part has a second recess provided in the portion of the second cover part, and
the second reflecting surface is an inner wall of the second recess. .(fig. 1,2 4)
[Claim 7] The optical module according to claim 5, wherein the second reflecting surface is an end face of the second cover part. (fig. 1,2 )
[Claim 8] The optical module according to claim 1, wherein the second light-receiving section is provided to extend elongated in one direction, the first cover part has, in a portion of the first cover part, a first reflecting surface provided obliquely with respect to a principal surface of the first cover part and configured to reflect the second light in the direction different from the direction of the target to spread the second light in a same direction as the one direction, and
fig. 1 2)
Claim(s) 9-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of D2 and D4.
Although D1 does not explicitly teach
[Claim 9] The optical module according to claim 8, wherein the second light-receiving section is a single pixel having a shape extending elongated in the one direction.(obvious design choice to use single or multiple pixels for reference beam)
[Claim 10] The optical module according to claim 8, wherein the second light-receiving section includes a plurality of pixels arranged elongated in the one direction. (obvious design choice to use single or multiple pixels for reference beam)
[Claim 11] The optical module according to claim 1, wherein the first cover part and the second cover part are integrally configured.(Obvious design choice to make it integrally solid)
[Claim 12] The optical module according to claim 1, wherein the first light-receiving section and the second light-receiving section are integrally configured.(Using single detector array is mater of design choice does not provide any benefits)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 to use multiple pixels arranged as an array , part of which is designated to the reference beam and another part is designated to the FOV beam in order to perform simultaneous reference beam measurement and proximity measurements and use integral configuration in order to make device more rigid and prone to misalignment of optical elements.
Claim(s) 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 and D2 and D4 further in view of Eisele US 20140071433 A1 (herein and after D3).
Regarding claim 13 D1,D2 and D4 teach
[Claim 13] A distance-measuring device comprising:
a light-emitting section configured to emit light;
a light-receiving section including a first light-receiving section and a second light- receiving section;
a first cover part provided on a light emission side of the light-emitting section, and
configured to guide first light that is a portion of the light emitted from the light-emitting section in a direction of a target and guide second light that is another portion of the light emitted from the light-emitting section in a direction different from the direction of the target;
a second cover part provided on a light incidence side of the light-receiving section, and configured to guide reflected light that is the first light reflected by the target in a direction of the first light-receiving section and guide the second light guided from the first cover part in a direction of the second light-receiving section; and the rest added part (see rejection for claim 1 )
the first cover part has a first recess,
the first reflecting surface is an inner wall of the first recess, (see rejection for claim 1 )
but does not explicitly teach
a processor configured to calculate a distance to the target on a basis of a first pixel signal outputted from the first light-receiving section in response to the reflected light incident on the first light-receiving section, and configured to calibrate the distance on a basis of a second pixel signal outputted from the second light-receiving section in response to the second light incident on the second light-receiving section.
D3 teaches
a processor configured to calculate a distance to the target on a basis of a first pixel signal outputted from the first light-receiving section in response to the reflected light incident on the first light-receiving section, (title )and configured to calibrate the distance on a basis of a second pixel signal outputted from the second light-receiving section in response to the second light incident on the second light-receiving section.[0007]
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 with teaching by D4 in order to perform calibration and measurements of the distance.
Using direct or indirect method of calculation of the distance as claimed in claims 14 or 15
[Claim 14] The distance-measuring device according to claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to calculate the distance by a direct method.(time of flight method)
are just matter of well known Application of the devices and can be considered as matter of the design choice regarding how the device will operate which gives obvious advantages of one method over the other method which are well known in the art.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 to use direct or indirect method of the distance calculation in order to measure the distance to the object. (for example art by MARKENDORF; Albert et al. US 20160252619 A1 teaches one of indirect measurements methods and direct method [0064]. )
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 15 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
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/HOVHANNES BAGHDASARYAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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