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 .
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.
Response to Amendment
The following addresses applicant’s remarks/amendments dated 25th November 2025.
Claims 1, 13, 20 were amended; claims 6 and 7 were cancelled; no new Claims were added; therefore, claims 1-5 and 13-25 are pending in current application and are addressed below.
The objections to Figs. 8, 9A, 9B and 9C have been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 25th November 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the specific combination of the references being used in the current rejection.
In response to applicant’s argument that references fail to show certain features of applicant’s invention, it is noted that features upon which applicant relies (i.e., “wherein the optical components operatively connected to the light emitter include a depolariser …, and wherein the depolariser is further …”) are not recited in the rejected claims. Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). [[Here, Applicant argues that Cyr does not disclose the limitation of amended claim 1 which requires, both “a first depolariser operatively positioned to depolarise the outgoing light” and “a second depolariser operatively positioned to depolarise the at least one local oscillator signal….”]] However, these claim limitations were not present in the original independent claims and were presented by amendment on 25th November 2025. Therefore, the issue of whether Woodward and Kuksenkov addresses these limitations are not relevant. These amended claims containing new limitations have been addressed by Woodward, Kuksenkov and Cyr in the present Office Action.
In response to applicant’s argument in page 13 (paragraph 2) that Cyr does not disclose that limitation of amended claim 1 which requires, both “a first depolarizer operatively positioned to depolarize the outgoing light” and “a second depolarizer operatively positioned to depolarize the at least one local oscillator signal for receipt by the optical combiner to provide the combined signal for detection of the reflected light”.
However, Cyr disclosed in Fig. 1, paragraph [0036], the apparatus comprises a coherent light source 10, specifically a tunable laser 12 and a depolarizer 14. Signal output from light source 10 passing through a first coupler 18 with two arms 20 (equivalent to local oscillator signal) and 22 (equivalent to outgoing light). The device under test (DUT) 26, whose parameters are to be measured, is connected into arm 22 of the interferometer 16. After measurement, the signal from the DUT 26 and signal from arms 20 (local oscillator signal) is then combined using a second coupler 24. Therefore, the depolarizer 14 depolarizes both outgoing light (arm 22) and local oscillator signal (arm 20) and both signals are combined to detector (PD 30, 32, 34) (equivalent to the optical combiner to provide the combined signal for detection of the reflected light).
In response to applicant’s argument in page 13 (paragraph 4), Cyr does not transmit outgoing light into the environment nor receive light reflected from the environment. However, Cyr disclosed in Fig. 1, [0037], device under test (DUT) 26, whose parameters are to be measured, is connected into arm 22 (equivalent to transmit outgoing light into to the environment) and signal passing DUT 26 is combined with local oscillator signal (arm 20) in coupler 24 (equivalent receive light reflected from the environment). Therefore, Cyr does teach the claim limitation of amended claim 1.
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) 1-3 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woodward et al. (US 20140209798 A1, hereinafter “Woodward”) modified in view of Kuksenkov et al. (US 20120127437 A1, hereinafter “Kuksenkov”), in view of Cyr (US 20060114471 A1, hereinafter “Cyr”).
Regarding claim 1, Woodward teaches an optical system for spatial estimation, the system including:
at least one light emitter operatively connected to optical components, configured or collectively configured to provide (Woodward; Fig. 1, Fig. 3, [0037], transmitter 310 transmit a light beam passing through a lens 332 towards objects 320):
at least one local oscillator signal usable for detection of the outgoing light (Woodward; Fig. 1, [0029], local oscillator 154 which is an optical signal that is known to have correlated spatial mode, frequency and phase with the single mode light beam);
at least one beam director, for receiving the outgoing light and directing the outgoing light over free space into an environment remote from the beam director, the beam director configured to direct the first and second sets of one or more wavelengths in different directions (Woodward; Fig. 3, [0037], a lens 332 (configured to collect more light due to multimode detector 330 is larger than a single mode detector), receives the light (including light scattered by an object, light generated by an object, light from a transmitter….which means the light are from different direction) which is obtained by multimode detector 330);
components to receive light from at least the different directions, including reflected light of the first and second sets of one or more wavelengths, the components including:
at least one optical power splitter for splitting the power of the received light into a plurality of light signals each having non-zero power (Woodward; Fig. 1, Fig. 2C, [0030], mode transformation device 140 includes an input optical waveguide 142, optically coupled to multiple output optical waveguides 146 by an optical coupling structure 144. Fig. 5, [0049], mode transformation device 540 transforms the multimode light into multiple single mode light beams);
at least one optical combiner to combine a said local oscillator signal and each of the plurality of light signals, to provide a combined signal for detection of the reflected light (Woodward; Fig. 2E, [0036], step 243 and step 244. Fig. 5, [0050], optical coupler 552 combined single mode light beam with local oscillator 559 for detection of information by optical photoreceivers 558)
wherein the at least one optical combiner and the at least one optical power splitter provide a plurality of said combined signals for detection (Woodward; Fig. 5, [0050], transformation device (splitter) 540 and optical coupler (combiner) 552 provide plurality of combined signal for detection (more than one set of signal to different detectors 558));
a plurality of light detectors arranged to receive the plurality of combined signals and provide, based on the received combined signals, a plurality of electrical signals for processing into a spatial estimation of the remote environment (Woodward; Fig. 5, [0051], plurality of optical photo-receivers 558 receive signal from plurality of optical coupler (combiner) 552; plurality of electrical signal from receivers 558 to electrical circuit 556 (includes one or more processors or computing elements) for signal processing).
Woodward does not teach,
outgoing light for spatial estimation, the outgoing light including:
a first set of one or more wavelength channels for a duration of time; and
a second set of one or more wavelength channels, different from the first set, for the same or a different duration of time;
including the first set of one or more wavelengths and the second set of one or more wavelengths;
wherein the optical components operatively connected to the light emitter include a depolariser operatively positioned to depolarise the outgoing light, whereby the outgoing light directed over free space into the environment is unpolarised light, and
wherein the depolariser is further operatively positioned to depolarise the at least one local oscillator signal for receipt by the optical combiner to provide the combined signal for detection of the reflected light.
Kuksenkov teaches,
outgoing light for spatial estimation, the outgoing light including:
a first set of one or more wavelength channels for a duration of time; and
a second set of one or more wavelength channels, different from the first set, for the same or a different duration of time (Kuksenkov; [0047], the pump wavelength of the laser should switch from one wavelength to another wavelength over a transition time that is less than 4 ms);
including the first set of one or more wavelengths and the second set of one or more wavelengths (same as above);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the optical system taught by Woodward to include outgoing light for spatial estimation, the outgoing light including: a 1st/2nd set of one or more wavelength channels for the same or a different duration of time taught by Kuksenkov with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for introducing outgoing light for spatial estimation, the outgoing light including: a 1st/2nd set of one or more wavelength channels for the same or a different duration of time is to use wavelength switched optical systems for a laser-beam scanning projector system with short frame time to match the typical inter-frame time from the end of one frame to the beginning of the next frame while operating a laser-beam scanning projector system matched frame rate (Kuksenkov; [0047]).
However, Woodward modified in view of Kuksenkov still not teach,
wherein the optical components operatively connected to the light emitter include a depolariser operatively positioned to depolarise the outgoing light, whereby the outgoing light directed over free space into the environment is unpolarised light, and
wherein the depolariser is further operatively positioned to depolarise the at least one local oscillator signal for receipt by the optical combiner to provide the combined signal for detection of the reflected light.
Cyr teaches in Fig. 1 paragraph [0036], the apparatus comprises a coherent light source 10, specifically a tunable laser 12 and a depolarizer 14. Signal output from light source 10 passing through a first coupler 18 with two arms 20 (equivalent to local oscillator signal) and 22 (equivalent to outgoing light). The device under test (DUT) 26, whose parameters are to be measured, is connected into arm 22 of the interferometer 16. After measurement, the signal from the DUT 26 and signal from arms 20 (local oscillator signal) is then combined using a second coupler 24. Therefore, the depolarizer 14 depolarizes both outgoing light (arm 22) and local oscillator signal (arm 20) and both signals are combined to detector (PD 30, 32, 34); [0037], device under test (DUT) 26, whose parameters are to be measured, is connected into arm 22 (equivalent to transmit outgoing light into to the environment) and signal passing DUT 26 is combined with local oscillator signal (arm 20) in coupler 24 (equivalent receive light reflected from the environment); [0045], the output of the tunable laser 12 is directed through a depolarizer 14 which scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and then sent unpolarized light to detect the target 26.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the optical system taught by Woodward to include outgoing light for spatial estimation, the outgoing light including: a 1st/2nd set of one or more wavelength channels for the same or a different duration of time taught by Kuksenkov, include wherein the optical components operatively connected to the light emitter include a depolariser operatively positioned to depolarise the outgoing light, whereby the outgoing light directed over free space into the environment is unpolarised light, and wherein the depolariser is further operatively positioned to depolarise the at least one local oscillator signal for receipt by the optical combiner to provide the combined signal for detection of the reflected light taught by Cyr with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is using depolarizer to scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and then sent unpolarized light to detect the target 26 as well as for local oscillator signal (Cyr; Fig. 1, [0045]).
Regarding claim 2, Woodward as modified above teaches the optical system as recited in claim 1.
Woodward does not teach, wherein the first set of one or more wavelength channels transitions to the second set of one or more wavelength channels within 5 ms.
Kuksenkov teaches, wherein the first set of one or more wavelength channels transitions to the second set of one or more wavelength channels within 5 ms (Kuksenkov; [0047], the pump wavelength of the laser should switch from one wavelength to another wavelength over a transition time that is less than 4 ms).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the optical system taught by Woodward to include outgoing light for spatial estimation, the outgoing light including: a 1st/2nd set of one or more wavelength channels for the same or a different duration of time; wherein the first set of one or more wavelength channels transitions to the second set of one or more wavelength channels within 5 ms taught by Kuksenkov, include wherein the optical components operatively connected to the light emitter include a depolariser operatively positioned to depolarise the outgoing light, whereby the outgoing light directed over free space into the environment is unpolarised light, and wherein the depolariser is further operatively positioned to depolarise the at least one local oscillator signal for receipt by the optical combiner to provide the combined signal for detection of the reflected light taught by Cyr with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for introducing wherein the first set of one or more wavelength channels transitions to the second set of one or more wavelength channels within 5 ms is to use short wavelength transition time that is less than 4 ms to match the typical inter-frame time from the end of one frame to the beginning of the next frame while operating a laser-beam scanning projector system with a 60Hz frame rate (Kuksenkov; [0047]).
Regarding claim 3, Woodward as modified above teaches the optical system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one local oscillator signal is derived from a light source including temporal phase noise (inherently from any laser source), and the at least one optical combiner is configured to combine a first said local oscillator signal with a first temporal phase induced by the temporal phase noise with a first light signal of the plurality of light signals and combine a second said local oscillator signal with a second temporal phase induced by the temporal phase noise with a second light signal of the plurality of light signals (Woodward; Fig. 2E, [0036], mixing 1st (or 2nd) single mode light beam with 1st (or 2nd) local oscillator (have correlated spatial mode, frequency, and phase with eh single mode light beam [0029]) having a 1st (or 2nd) mode to obtain a 1st (or 2nd) measurement step 243 (or step 244); [0027], the 1st and 2nd combination are different combination).
Regarding claim 5, Woodward as modified above teaches the limitation of claim 3.
Woodward does not explicitly teach, wherein the light source has a minimum spatial coherence such that at least two of the plurality of light signals have an intensity difference of 3dB or more.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of invention to modify the optical system for spatial estimation taught by Woodward such that wherein the light source has a minimum spatial coherence such that at least two of the plurality of light signals have an intensity difference of 3dB or more, since it has been held that the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the modified prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. With the limitation of at least two of the plurality of light signals have intensity difference of 3dB or more would allow the minimum spatial coherent light source to excited multiple single mode signals to achieve better performance.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woodward, modified in view of Kuksenkov, in view of Cyr, in view of Moqanaki et al. (US 20180259828 A1, hereinafter “Moqanaki”).
Regarding claim 4, Woodward as modified above teaches the optical system as recited in claim 3.
Woodward does not teach, wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter.
Moqanaki teaches, wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter (Moqanaki; [0013], the apparatus has a coherent length of around 10m).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the optical system taught by Woodward to include outgoing light for spatial estimation, the outgoing light including: a 1st/2nd set of one or more wavelength channels for the same or a different duration of time taught by Kuksenkov, include wherein the optical components operatively connected to the light emitter include a depolariser operatively positioned to depolarise the outgoing light, whereby the outgoing light directed over free space into the environment is unpolarised light, and wherein the depolariser is further operatively positioned to depolarise the at least one local oscillator signal for receipt by the optical combiner to provide the combined signal for detection of the reflected light taught by Cyr and include wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter taught by Moqanaki with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for introducing wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter is to use a coherence length around 10m to generate narrow-band single photon and multiphoton state and further generate a second harmonic of the laser light from the laser pump (Moqanaki; [0013], [0014]).
Claim(s) 13, 16-18, 20, 23-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woodward, modified in view of Cyr.
Regarding claim 13, Woodward teaches a method of detection of transmitted light reflected from an environment, the method comprising:
transmitting light from a light source to an environment, the light source including temporal phase noise (Woodward; Fig. 1, transmitter 110 where the temporal phase noise is inherently from any laser source);
receiving light reflected from the environment (Woodward; Fig. 2A, [0034], step 220, obtaining the light beam from objects);
splitting the light reflected from the environment into a plurality of reflected light signals (Woodward; Fig. 2C, [0035], step 230 transforming the light beam (multiple mode) into single mode light beams (1st, 2nd …. mode light beam));
combining a local oscillator signal derived from the light source with each of the plurality of reflected light signals, to produce a plurality of mixed signals, comprising a first mixed signal produced based on a combination of a first local oscillator signal derived from the light source and a first of the plurality of reflected light signals and a second mixed signal produced based on a combination of a second local oscillator signal derived from the light source and a second of the plurality of reflected light signals, wherein the first and second local oscillator signals have different temporal phases induced by the temporal phase noise (Woodward; Fig. 2E, [0036], mixing 1st (or 2nd) single mode light beam with 1st (or 2nd) local oscillator (have correlated spatial mode, frequency, and phase with eh single mode light beam [0029]) having a 1st (or 2nd) mode to obtain a 1st (or 2nd) measurement step 243 (or step 244); [0027], the 1st and 2nd combination are different combination); and
detecting each of the plurality of mixed signals by a light receiver (Woodward; Fig. 5, [0050], transformation device (splitter) 540 and optical coupler (combiner) 552 provide plurality of combined signal for detection (more than one set of signals to different detectors 558)).
Woodward does not teach, the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer.
Cyr teaches, the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer (Cyr; [0036], the apparatus comprises a coherent light source 10, specifically a tunable laser 12 and a depolarizer 14; [0045], the output of the tunable laser 12 is directed through a depolarizer 14 which scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and then sent unpolarized light to detect the target 26).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the method taught by Woodward to include the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer taught by Cyr with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is using depolarizer to scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and then sent unpolarized light to detect the target 26 (Cyr; Fig. 1, [0045]).
Regarding claim 16, Woodward as modified above teaches the method as recited in claims 13, wherein the received light reflected from an environment has a plurality of light modes (Woodward; Fig. 2A, [0034], step 220, obtaining the light beam (multiple modes) from objects) and splitting the light reflected from the environment into the plurality of reflected light signals (Woodward; Fig. 2C, [0035], step 230 transforming the light beam (multiple mode) into single mode light beams (1st, 2nd …. mode light beam)) comprises splitting the received light into a plurality of light signals each with a single light mode (Woodward; Fig. 5, [0049], mode transformation device 540 transforms the multimode light into multiple single mode light beams).
Regarding claim 17, , Woodward as modified above teaches the method as recited in claims 13, comprising using as the first and second local oscillator signals (Woodward; Fig. 1, [0029], multimode detector 130 includes multiple optical receivers 152 having a corresponding local oscillator 154), an outgoing light into the environment occasioning at least a portion of the light reflected from the environment (Woodward; Fig. 1, [0023], transmitter 110 transmits a light beam towards objects 120, which reflect or scatter at least a portion of the transmitted light beam back from objects 120).
Woodward does not teach, an unpolarised light signal comprising a sample of artificially generated outgoing light.
Cyr teaches, an unpolarised light signal comprising a sample of artificially generated outgoing light (Cyr; Fig. 1, [0045], the output of the tunable laser 12 is directed through a depolarizer 14 which scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and separate by coupler 18 to the variable delay 46 then to the input port 24B of coupler 24 for reference signal).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the method taught by Woodward to include the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer; an unpolarised light signal comprising a sample of artificially generated outgoing light taught by Cyr with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is using depolarizer to scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and separate by coupler 18 to the variable delay 46 then to the input port 24B of coupler 24 for reference signal. The other end to the target 26. Finally combine both end to the photodetector to detect the target property (Cyr; Fig. 1, [0045]).
Regarding claim 18, Woodward teaches the method as recited in claim 13, comprising using as the first and second local oscillator signals (Woodward; Fig. 1, [0029], multimode detector 130 includes multiple optical receivers 152 having a corresponding local oscillator 154), outgoing light into the environment occasioning at least a portion of the light reflected from the environment (Woodward; Fig. 1, [0023], transmitter 110 transmits a light beam towards objects 120, which reflect or scatter at least a portion of the transmitted light beam back from objects 120).
Woodward does not teach, an unpolarised light signal operating at the same or substantially the same centre wavelength as artificially generated outgoing light.
Cyr teaches, an unpolarised light signal operating at the same or substantially the same centre wavelength as artificially generated outgoing light (Cyr; Fig. 1, [0045], the output of the tunable laser 12 is directed through a depolarizer 14 which scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and separate by coupler 18 to the variable delay 46 then to the input port 24B of coupler 24 for reference signal).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the method taught by Woodward to include the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer; an unpolarised light signal comprising a sample of artificially generated outgoing light; an unpolarised light signal operating at the same or substantially the same centre wavelength as artificially generated outgoing light taught by Cyr with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is using depolarizer to scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and separate by coupler 18 to the variable delay 46 then to the input port 24B of coupler 24 for reference signal. The other end to the target 26. Finally combine both end to the photodetector to detect the target property (Cyr; Fig. 1, [0045]).
Regarding claim 20, Woodward teaches an optical system including:
at least one optical assembly arranged to (Woodward; Fig. 1, multimode detector 130):
receive at least one optical local oscillator signal derived from a light source having temporal phase noise (Woodward; Fig. 1, [0029], local oscillator 154, could be an optical signal that is known to have correlated spatial mode, frequency and phase with the single mode light beam);
receive an optical remote light signal (Woodward; Fig. 2A, [0034], step 220, obtaining the light beam from objects);
provide a plurality of optical combined signals based on the at least one local oscillator signal and the remote light signal, wherein each of the plurality of combined signals is formed based on a portion, less than all, of the received light signal (Woodward; . Fig. 2C, [0035], step 230 transforming the light beam into single mode light beams (1st and 2nd … mode light beam)), and comprise a first combined signal based on a first temporal phase of the at least one local oscillator signal induced by the temporal phase noise and a second combined signal based on the a second temporal phase of the least one local oscillator signal induced by the temporal phase noise, the second temporal phase different to the first temporal phase (Woodward; Fig. 2E, [0036], mixing 1st (or 2nd) single mode light beam with 1st (or 2nd) local oscillator (have correlated spatial mode, frequency, and phase with eh single mode light beam [0029]) having a 1st (or 2nd) mode to obtain a 1st (or 2nd) measurement step 243 (or step 244); [0027], the 1st and 2nd combination are different combination);
a plurality of light receivers arranged to receive the combined signals and provide, based on the received combined signals, a plurality of electrical signals carrying information indicative of at least one characteristic of the received reflected light signal (Woodward; Fig. 5, [0051], plurality of optical photo-receivers 558 receive signal from plurality of optical coupler (combiner) 552; plurality of electrical signal from receivers 558 to electrical circuit 556; [0019], the detected information regarding a variety of different objects may include position, velocity …); and
one or more electrical signal processors configured to receive the plurality of electrical signals and provide, based on the received electrical signals, an electrical output signal carrying information indicative of the at least one characteristic of the received light signal (Woodward; Fig. 5, [0051], plurality of optical photo-receivers 558 receive signal from plurality of optical coupler (combiner) 552; plurality of electrical signal from receivers 558 to electrical circuit 556 (includes one or more processors or computing elements) for signal processing. [0019], the detected information regarding a variety of different objects may include position, velocity…).
Woodward does not teach,
optical local oscillator signal depolarized by a depolariser.
optical remote light signal depolarized by the depolariser.
Cyr teaches in Fig. 1 paragraph [0036], the apparatus comprises a coherent light source 10, specifically a tunable laser 12 and a depolarizer 14. Signal output from light source 10 passing through a first coupler 18 with two arms 20 (equivalent to local oscillator signal) and 22 (equivalent to outgoing light). The device under test (DUT) 26, whose parameters are to be measured, is connected into arm 22 of the interferometer 16. After measurement, the signal from the DUT 26 and signal from arms 20 (local oscillator signal) is then combined using a second coupler 24. Therefore, the depolarizer 14 depolarizes both outgoing light (arm 22) and local oscillator signal (arm 20) and both signals are combined to detector (PD 30, 32, 34); [0037], device under test (DUT) 26, whose parameters are to be measured, is connected into arm 22 (equivalent to transmit outgoing light into to the environment) and signal passing DUT 26 is combined with local oscillator signal (arm 20) in coupler 24 (equivalent receive light reflected from the environment); [0045], the output of the tunable laser 12 is directed through a depolarizer 14 which scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and then sent unpolarized light to detect the target 26. Since the outgoing light (arm 22) is depolarized, expected the received optical remote light signal will be depolarized, too.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the optical system taught by Woodward to include the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer taught by Cyr with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is using depolarizer to scrambles polarization state at a rate that is high relative to bandwidth of the detection system and then sent unpolarized light to detect the target 26 as well as for local oscillator signal (Cyr; Fig. 1, [0045]).
Regarding claim 23, Woodward teaches the optical system as recited in claim 20, wherein the plurality of light receivers utilize photodiode detectors (Woodward; Fig. 5, [0050], optical photo-receivers 558 are a pair of balanced photo-diodes).
Regarding claim 24, Woodward teaches the optical system as recited in claim 20, wherein the optical remote light signal is received by the optical assembly via a few mode or multimode optical fibre (Woodward; Fig. 4, [0024], light propagates from one or more objects to a multimode detector 130 which includes a multimode optical fiber (optical waveguide 442 may be a multimode optical fiber [0039])).
Regarding claim 25, Woodward teaches the optical system as recited in claim 24, wherein the optical assembly interfaces the few mode or multimode optical fibre with a plurality of single mode optical fibres, each single mode optical fibre carrying a said portion of the received light signal (Woodward; Fig. 4, [0039], mode transformation device 440 includes an input optical waveguide 442 (multimode optical fiber) and a plurality of output optical waveguides 446 (single mode optical fibers); Fig. 2C, step 232, Propagating the light beam into an input optical waveguide. The input optical waveguide being or including a multimode optical waveguide (442). And being optically coupled to many output optical waveguides (446). Step 234, obtaining the single mode light beams from the output optical waveguides (446)).
Claim(s) 14 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woodward, modified in view of Cyr, in view of Moqanaki.
Regarding claim 14, Woodward as modified above teaches the method as recited in claim 13.
Woodward does not teach, wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter.
Moqanaki teaches, wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter (Moqanaki; [0013], the apparatus has a coherent length of around 10m).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the method taught by Woodward to include the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer taught by Cyr, include wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter taught by Moqanaki with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for introducing wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter is to use a coherence length around 10m to generate narrow-band single photon and multiphoton state and further generate a second harmonic of the laser light from the laser pump (Moqanaki; [0013], [0014]).
Regarding claim 21, Woodward as modified above teaches the method as recited in claim 20.
Woodward does not teach, wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter.
Moqanaki teaches, wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter (Moqanaki; [0013], the apparatus has a coherent length of around 10m).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the method taught by Woodward to include the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer taught by Cyr, include wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter taught by Moqanaki with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for introducing wherein the light source has maximum temporal coherence length of 10m or shorter is to use a coherence length around 10m to generate narrow-band single photon and multiphoton state and further generate a second harmonic of the laser light from the laser pump (Moqanaki; [0013], [0014]).
Claim(s) 15 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woodward, modified in view of Cyr.
Regarding claim 15, Woodward as modified above teaches the limitation of claim 13.
Woodward does not explicitly teach, wherein the light source has a minimum spatial coherence such that at least two of the plurality of reflected light signals have an intensity difference of 3dB or more.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of invention to modify the method of detection of transmitted light reflected from an environment taught by Woodward such that wherein the light source has a minimum spatial coherence such that at least two of the plurality of reflected light signals have an intensity difference of 3dB or more, since it has been held that the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the modified prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. With the limitation of wherein the light source has a minimum spatial coherence such that at least two of the plurality of reflected light signals have an intensity difference of 3dB or more would allow the minimum spatial coherent light source to excited multiple single mode signals to achieve better performance.
Regarding claim 22, Woodward as modified above teaches the limitation of claim 20.
Woodward does not explicitly teach, wherein the light source has a minimum spatial coherence such that at least two of the plurality of reflected light signals have an intensity difference of 3dB or more.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of invention to modify the optical system taught by Woodward such that wherein the light source has a minimum spatial coherence such that at least two of the plurality of reflected light signals have an intensity difference of 3dB or more, since it has been held that the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the modified prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. With the limitation of wherein the light source has a minimum spatial coherence such that at least two of the plurality of reflected light signals have an intensity difference of 3dB or more would allow the minimum spatial coherent light source to excited multiple single mode signals to achieve better performance.
Claim(s) 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woodward, modified in view of Cyr, in view of Sandusky (US 7995191, hereinafter “Sandusky”).
Regarding claim 19, Woodward as modified above teaches the method as recited in claim 13.
Woodward does not teach, wherein the light reflected from the environment is received via a wavelength dependent bidirectional beam director and the outgoing light is provided into the environment via the bidirectional beam director, wherein reflected light shares at least part of an optical path of the outgoing light within the beam director.
Sandusky teaches, wherein the light reflected from the environment is received via a wavelength dependent bidirectional beam director and the outgoing light is provided into the environment via the bidirectional beam director, wherein reflected light shares at least part of an optical path of the outgoing light within the beam director (Sandusky; Fig. 1, column 6, line 22, the light beam 14 can be made coaxial with backscattered light 20 (e.g. with a mirror or polarization beam splitter). Such a coaxial arrangement can allow the input optics 22 to be used in a dual pass configuration to direct the light beam 14 from the source 12 outward to illuminate the FOV 100 and target 110, and also to collect the backscattered light 20 from the target 110; The system is operating in the wavelength region 1.4-1.7 µm which means the input optics 22 is wavelength dependent bidirectional beam director).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the method taught by Woodward to include the transmitted light being depolarized by a depolarizer taught by Cyr, include wherein the light reflected from the environment is received via a wavelength dependent bidirectional beam director and the outgoing light is provided into the environment via the bidirectional beam director, wherein reflected light shares at least part of an optical path of the outgoing light within the beam director taught by Sandusky with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is to combine the outgoing light path and reflected light path into a coaxial arrangement such that the input optics 22 can be used in a dual pass configuration to direct the input light beam to the target and collect the reflected light from the target. This can eliminate the need for separate transmitting optics 32 (Sandusky; Fig. 1, column 6, line 22).
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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/CHIA-LING CHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/YUQING XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645