DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
Claim 12, 14, 16 and 20-22 are amended.
Claim 18 is cancelled.
Claims 12-17, 19-22 are pending.
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) 12-17, 19-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wyland (US 2016/0365846) in view of Ghosh (US 2015/0362585).
Regarding Claims 12 and 22, Wyland teaches a time-of-flight ("ToF") camera and method for measuring distance information for objects of a scene [#102, #130 of Fig 1; 0014; 0016], the ToF camera comprising: a light source for emitting modulated light signals for illuminating the objects [#116, #130 of Fig 1; 0014-15]; an image sensor for capturing light signals reflected from the objects [#126 of Fig 1; 0014; 0016]; one or more shutters for opening and closing the exposure of the image sensor [#126 of Fig 1; 016]; a pulse generator for generating first pulses for switching the light source and second pulses for switching the one or more shutters [#104, #116, #126 of Fig 1; 0014; 0016]; a first driver for amplifying the first pulses and for outputting them to the light source, and a second driver for amplifying the second pulses and for outputting them to the one or more shutters [#112, #116, #122, #126 of Fig 1; 0014]; and a processing unit for generating a distance measurement image based on the captured reflected light signals [0021], wherein the processing unit is adapted to use the measured propagation time of the pulses or the measured pulse duration to reduce the influence of phase errors on the distance measurement image [0066]. Wyland broadly teaches a time measuring unit for measuring the propagation time of the pulses through the drivers [0014; 0027; 0030; 0032; 0034; 0064-67; 0093; 0120]. Ghosh teaches a time measuring unit for measuring the propagation time of the pulses through the drivers [0092-94]. It would have been obvious to modify the sensor and method of Wyland to measure a pulse length through the driver to synchronize the emitted pulse and the time-of-flight measurement, thus the measurement of the emitted pulse through the driver increases the accuracy of the time-of—flight measurement.
Regarding Claim 13, Wyland also teaches wherein the time measurement unit is a time-to-digital converter [#302 of Fig 3; 0049].
Regarding Claim 14, Wyland also teaches wherein the pulse generator is adapted to generate and output a start pulse to the time measurement unit [#104, #108 of Fig 1; 0020; 0064-67], and wherein the time measurement unit is adapted to start the measurement of the propagation time of the pulses through the drivers upon receipt of the start pulse [#108, #112, #122 of Fig 1; 0020; 0064-67]. Ghosh also teaches this limitation in [0092-94].
Regarding Claim 15, Wyland also teaches a memory unit for storing the temporal positions of the pulses generated by the pulse generator relative to the temporal position of the start pulse [#107 of Fig 1; 0014]
Regarding Claim 16, Wyland also teaches wherein the time measurement unit is adapted to receive the pulses output from the drivers and to measure the propagation time of the pulses through the drivers based on the received pulses [Fig 6; 0062; 0066]. Ghosh also teaches this limitation in [0092-94].
Regarding Claim 17, Wyland also teaches wherein the pulses output from the drivers have a leading edge and the time measurement unit is adapted to measure the propagation time of the pulses through the drivers based on the temporal position of the leading edge [0064-67].
Regarding Claim 19, Wyland also teaches wherein the pulses output from the drivers have a leading rising edge and a trailing falling edge [0064-67].
Regarding Claim 20, Wyland also teaches wherein the processing unit is adapted, based on the measured propagation time of the pulses to control the pulse generator to adjust the temporal positions of the pulses so as to reduce the phase errors in generating the distance measurement image [#104, #108 of Fig 1; 0035; 0039; 0047]. Ghosh also teaches this limitation in [0092-94].
Regarding Claim 21, Wyland also teaches wherein the processing unit is adapted to perform a correction of the distance measurement values based on the measured propagation time of the pulses when generating the distance measurement image, so as to reduce errors caused by the phase errors in the distance measurement image [#108 of Fig 1; 0066]. Ghosh also teaches this limitation in [0092-94].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claims 12-17 and 19-22 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.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R HULKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7553. The examiner can normally be reached M-R: 9am-6pm, F: 10am-2pm.
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JAMES R. HULKA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3645
/JAMES R HULKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645