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 .
Election/Restrictions
The restriction dated 8/5/2025 is withdrawn and claims 17 and 44-45 are rejoined.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Referring to claim 1, the claim includes a limitation that “a second at least one optical element configured to receive the laser pulses reflected from a field of view”. The claim continues to indicate that the mirror “direct reflected light from the field of view to inputs of the second plurality of fibers”. It appears that both the second at least one optical element and the mirror receive reflections from the field of view however while reviewing the disclosure it appears that the second at least one optical element receives reflections from the field of view and the mirror directs the light from the second at least one optical element to inputs of the second plurality of fibers
Claim 8 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are:.
The middle layer between the input layer and the output layer. It is unclear what this element is and how the element is integrated into the system of claim 1.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the input layer" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the output layer" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claim 8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 38-62 are allowed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Tsadaka (WO2020234797).
Referring to claim 1, Tsadaka shows 1. A scanning LiDAR system comprising:
a laser (see figure 1 Ref 110);
a first optical switch having an input configured to receive laser pulses from the
laser and to redirect the laser pulses to a selected one of a plurality of outputs (see figure 1 Ref 112);
a first plurality of fibers each coupled to a different one of the plurality of outputs
of the first optical switch (see figure 1 Ref 114);
a mirror configured to pivot or rotate in response to a control signal (see figure 5 also see the rotating mirror as shown in paragraph 70);
a first at least one optical element configured to receive the laser pulses from the
first plurality of fibers and to redirect the laser pulses to the mirror (see figure 5 Ref 540 also see paragraph 70 note the rotating mirror is connected to the OH);
at least one detector (see figure 1 Ref 164 and figure 5 Ref 520);
a second plurality of fibers having outputs coupled to the at least one detector (see figure 1 Ref 152);
a second at least one optical element (see figure 5 Ref 550)
at least one controller configured to control the first optical switch to direct the laser pulses from the input of the first optical switch to each of the plurality of outputs in turn (see the controller Ref 516 controlling the optical switch), to generate the control signal to control the mirror to pivot or rotate to direct light from the first plurality of fibers to scan at least a portion of the field of view and direct reflected light from the field of view to inputs of the second plurality of fibers (inherent with the use of the scanning mirror as shown in paragraph 70), and to process signals from the at least one detector to generate data representing the at least a portion of the field of view (see paragraph 54).
However, the language in the claim places the mirror between the second at least one optical element and the second plurality of fibers. The rotating or pivoting mirror between the fiber array and the second optical elements is not shown or suggesting by the prior art.
Rindle (20100066995) shows similar prior art in figure 4 however fails to make up for the deficiencies of Tsadaka referenced above.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUKE D RATCLIFFE whose telephone number is (571)272-3110. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:00PM EST.
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/LUKE D RATCLIFFE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645