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 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 Nakamura US 20080007446 A1 in view of StudyKorner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBxhe0ZG1VY, 2017 further in view of Sheynblat US 6313786 B1 further in view of D1 CN 108490426 A.
Regarding claim 1 Nakamura teaches
1. A distance measuring device that detects a reflected wave from an object and measures a distance to the object based on the reflected wave, comprising(title)
a signal output unit(5) configured to output a detection signal corresponding to intensity of the reflected wave;[0021]
a detection unit configured to monitor intensity[0021] of the detection signal outputted from the signal output unit and detect a top of a crest and a bottom of a trough of a waveform of the detection signal and configured to perform a top detection process and a bottom detection process,[0131-0133] and (fig. 12-14) the top
detection process being a process in which a maximum value of the intensity of the detection signal is stored, and when the intensity of the detection signal is reduced from the stored maximum value to a value that is smaller by a predetermined top determination value(fig. 14), a point of the detection signal that indicates the stored maximum value is determined as the top of the crest of the waveform of the detection signal, the bottom detection process being a process in which after the top of the crest is detected, a minimum value of the intensity of the detection signal is stored, and when the intensity of the detection signal is increased from the stored minimum value to a value that is larger by a predetermined bottom determination value, a point of the detection signal that indicates the stored minimum value is determined as the bottom of the trough of the waveform of the detection signal;(fig. 12)(In this limitations Applicant just claimed how human brain identifies the peaks start and stop)[0022]
a waveform dividing unit configured to divide, based on the bottom of the trough detected by the detection unit, the waveform of the detection signal for each peak waveform indicating that the reflected wave is received; and(fig. 20 identified 0 state then peak 1 state peak 3 state)
a distance calculation unit configured to calculate the distance to the object based on the peak waveform obtained by the waveform dividing unit.[0143]
but does not explicitly say
that maximum and minimum obtained by
the top detection process comprising
storing a maximum value of the intensity of the detection signal,
determining that the intensity of the detection signal decreases from the stored maximum value by at least a predetermined top determination value,
determining that the stored maximum value is the top of the crest of the waveform of the detection signal,
the bottom detection process comprising
storing a minimum value of the intensity of the detection signal after the top of the crest is determined,
determining that the intensity of the detection signal increases from the stored minimum value by at least a predetermined bottom determination value,
determining that the stored minimum value is the bottom of the trough of the waveform of the detection signal;
Examiner wants to not the procedure above is well known elementary algorithm which find a min and max of the array of numbers (the histogram is an array of numbers )
the distance calculation unit calculates the peak width based on a period in which the peak waveform exceeds a threshold value
For example StudyKorner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBxhe0ZG1VY explicitly teaches the min and max finding algorithm which performs
storing a maximum value of the intensity of the detection signal,
determining that the intensity of the detection signal decreases from the stored maximum value by at least a predetermined top determination value,
determining that the stored maximum value is the top of the crest of the waveform of the detection signal,
the bottom detection process comprising
storing a minimum value of the intensity of the detection signal after the top of the crest is determined,
determining that the intensity of the detection signal increases from the stored minimum value by at least a predetermined bottom determination value,
determining that the stored minimum value is the bottom of the trough of the waveform of the detection signal;
Sheynblat teaches
the calculation unit calculates the distance to the object by obtaining a peak distance by converting a peak top position(implicit TOF converted to distance) from a value based on the time axis to a value based on the distance, and corrects the peak distance using a correction amount determined based on a peak width. (claim 13)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by Nakamura with teaching by StudyKorne in order to find min and max of the histogram an further modify using teachings by Sheynblat in order to provide correct time of flight.
D1 teaches
the distance calculation unit calculates the peak width based on a period in which the peak waveform exceeds a threshold value (claim 10 preset time window is a period in which the peak waveform exceeds a threshold value) (as one knows the peak width is indication of the error of the peak position calculated for example in Gauss distribution)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by Nakamura with teaching by D1 in order to estimate the error with which distance is calculated.
2. The distance measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit repeatedly performs the top detection process and the bottom detection process.(fig. 20 multiple peaks detected)
3. The distance measuring device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a noise acquisition unit configured to acquire a noise value that indicates variation in the
intensity of the detection signal outside a reflected wave detection period;[0151] and
a value setting unit configured to set at least one of the top determination value and the bottom determination value based on the noise value.(fig. 21a, b)
4. The distance measuring device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a detection determination unit configured to determine whether to perform the top detection process by the detection unit, wherein when the intensity of the detection signal outputted from the signal output unit exceeds a predetermined detection threshold, the detection determination unit determines to perform the top detection process by the detection unit.(claim 2 implicit)+[0018]
5. The distance measuring device according to claim 3, further comprising:
a detection determination unit configured to determine whether to perform the top detection process by the detection unit, wherein:[0018]
when the intensity of the detection signal outputted from the signal output unit exceeds a
predetermined detection threshold, the detection determination unit determines to perform the top detection process by the detection unit; and[0018]
the value setting unit further sets the detection threshold based on the noise value.[0018]
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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