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 .
Claims 1-12, 17-42 are currently pending and examined below.
Response to amendment
This is a Final Office action in response to applicant's remarks/arguments filed on 12/11/2025.
Status of the claims:
Claims 1, 27, 42 have been amended.
Claims 14-15 have been cancelled.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks pages 9-14, filed 12/11/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-12, 14-15, 17-42 under 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of PHY1076-01 necessitated by the claim amendment.
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.
Claims 1-12, 17-42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milgrome et al. (US 20210041567 A1) in view of PHY1076-01.
Regarding claim 1, Milgrome teaches a method for detecting a fault condition in a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) transmitter (Para 54), the method comprising:
a) generating a control signal that comprises an address and desired drive voltage and current information for a laser in a laser array (para 82-85, Fig. 3. Control device 350 sets the power for the laser array and addresses each laser to be in an "on" or "off" state. Para 76 discloses multiple channels. Each channel has its own modulator and is, therefore, independent. Furthermore, each channel has own laser diode. Therefore, each diode is addressable.);
b) generating a drive signal for the laser in the laser array in response to the generated control signal and applying the generated drive signal to a contact associated with the address for the laser in the laser array, thereby energizing the laser at a desired output power for a desired time (Figs. 3 and 5);
c) determining, (at a predetermined delay time after the generating of the control signal,) if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for eye safety (Fig. 5B, monitor the voltage….); and
e) reporting the address and the fault condition to a host that takes an action on the LiDAR transmitter in response to the fault condition (Figs. 3-5, para 54-64 “a local energy monitor (306) may monitor voltage that a local energy storage (305) provides to each laser diodes (DLl-DLn) and trigger a safety alarm signal (308) when the monitored voltage violates a safety condition related to a safety threshold voltage, wherein the safety condition may be defined as an expected operating condition meeting regulated eye safety standards; and an energy rate limiter (302) may terminate an energy transfer from a power supply to the local energy storage (305) in response to the safety alarm signal (308)”).
Milgrome fails to explicitly teach storing, (at the predetermined delay time after the generating of the control signal,) the address and a fault condition if the parameter has the value outside the threshold range for eye safety. Milgrome in para 63 teaches the safety alarm signal 308 may remain asserted until any suitable safety criteria are met (e.g., until a reset signal is received, until the voltage of internal node satisfies the safety condition, etc.). It would have been obvious that the error is stored as the alarm needs to be reset.
Milgrome teaches a method for detecting a fault condition in a LiDAR transmitter, including generating a control signal comprising an address and desired drive voltage/current information for a laser in a laser array, generating and applying a corresponding drive signal to energize the addressed laser, monitoring a drive or bias parameter relative to an eye-safety threshold, and asserting and maintaining a fault or alarm condition associated with the addressed laser when the threshold is violated. While Milgrome does not explicitly describe delaying the timing of the fault determination and storage relative to generation of the control signal, the PHY1076-01 laser driver expressly teaches a predetermined delay following a laser enable or turn-on event before safety monitoring is performed. Specifically, PHY1076-01 states that “when the laser is turned on, during power up or after a fault, there will be a short period during which the bias control loop is allowed to settle (t_settle) before the safety control loop circuit is enabled” (see Section 4.4.1, “Fault Management,” pages 19-20; see also Section 3.4.3, “Bias Loop Settling Time (t_settle),” page 7). Thus, determination of whether a monitored drive or bias parameter is outside an eye-safety threshold is performed only after expiration of the predetermined settling time, rather than in real time. PHY1076-01 further teaches that operation outside fixed eye-safety limits causes a safety fault to be asserted (see Section 3.4.4, “Eye Safety Internal Fixed Limits,” page 8) and that detected safety faults are latched and maintained until reset (see Section 4.4.1, “Fault Management,” page 19), which constitutes storing the fault condition. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate this known delayed-enable safety monitoring and fault-latching technique into Milgrome’s addressed LiDAR fault-detection method so that the determination of whether the drive signal parameter is outside the eye-safety threshold and the storing of the address and fault condition are performed at the predetermined delay time after generating the control signal, as recited in claim 1, in order to avoid false fault indications during transient ramp-up conditions.
Regarding claim 2, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the laser comprises a group of lasers in the laser array (Milgrome, Para 71, claim 1 and figs. 3-4).
Regarding claim 3, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01 teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the parameter comprises drive signal pulse duration (Milgrome, Para 66, optical pulse duration).
Regarding claim 4, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01 teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the parameter comprises drive signal power (Milgrome, Para 63, 86).
Regarding claim 5, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the parameter comprises drive signal repetition rate (Milgrome, Para 66).
Regarding claim 6, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the drive signal comprises a low-side drive signal (Milgrome, Fig. 4, para 71-72, cathode terminal; each of one or more laser diodes (DLl-DLn) may receive an electric current from a power supply to its anode terminal when an electrical switch (SC l) is closed, and be energized when a laser enable signal is provided to an electrical switch connected to its cathode terminal).
Regarding claim 7, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01 teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the drive signal comprises a high-side drive signal (Milgrome, Fig. 4, para 71-72, anode terminal; each of one or more laser diodes (DLl-DLn) may receive an electric current from a power supply to its anode terminal when an electrical switch (SC l) is closed, and be energized when a laser enable signal is provided to an electrical switch connected to its cathode terminal).
Regarding claim 8, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for eye safety comprises performing an XOR operation (Milgrome, Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage).
Regarding claim 9, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for eye safety comprises comparing the drive current to a predetermined low current value (Milgrome, Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage. Voltage and current are directly proportional, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm%27s_law . So, monitoring the current instead of the voltage is a design choice and expected results).
Regarding claim 10, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for eye safety comprises comparing the drive voltage to a predetermined low voltage value (Milgrome, Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage).
Regarding claim 11, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for eye safety comprises comparing the drive voltage to a predetermined high voltage value (Milgrome, Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage).
Regarding claim 12, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for eye safety comprises comparing the drive current to a predetermined high current value (Milgrome, Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage. Voltage and current are directly proportional, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm%27s_law . So, monitoring the current instead of the voltage is a design choice and expected results).
Regarding claim 17, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the drive voltage is a high side drive voltage (Milgrome, Fig. 4, para 71-72; an electrical switch (SCI) may be closed to commonly increase voltage on each anode terminal of laser diodes (DLl-DLn), and one or more laser enable signals may be selectively applied to one or more electrical switches (SDL1-SDLn) each connected to respective cathode tem1inals of the laser diodes (DLI-DLn) so that each laser diode (DLl -DLn) may be selectively energized by conducting current from its anode terminal to its cathode terminal).
Regarding claim 18, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the drive voltage is a low side drive voltage (Milgrome, Fig. 4, para 71-72; an electrical switch (SCI) may be closed to commonly increase voltage on each anode terminal of laser diodes (DLl-DLn), and one or more laser enable signals may be selectively applied to one or more electrical switches (SDL1-SDLn) each connected to respective cathode tem1inals of the laser diodes (DLI-DLn) so that each laser diode (DLl -DLn) may be selectively energized by conducting current from its anode terminal to its cathode terminal).
Regarding claim 19, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the laser array comprises a two-dimensional laser array (Figs. 3-4, para 62-71; an electro optical modulator (303) may include any suitable number of lasers, for example, 1-64 lasers, (DLl-DLn). The way that those lasers may arrange is a design choice and expected results).
Regarding claim 20, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 19 wherein the laser array has at least two lasers that can be operated independently (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 62-71; an electro optical modulator (303) may include any suitable number of lasers, for example, 1-64 lasers, (DLl-DLn) that can be selectively energized.).
Regarding claim 21, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 further comprising reporting a severity of the fault condition to the host (Milgrome, Fig. 3, para 64, a safety alarm signal (308) may indicate how many single point failure criteria exist).
Regarding claim 22, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 further comprising performing additional diagnostics in response to the fault condition (Milgrome Figs. 3-4, para 54, 67, in response to a fault condition, an energy rate limiter (302) limits an energy transfer from a power supply to a local energy storage (305)).
Regarding claim 23, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the host adapts operating parameters based on the fault condition (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 54, 67, in response to a fault condition, an energy rate limiter (302) limits an energy transfer from a power supply to a local energy storage (305), and a firing operation of each laser diode (DL 1-DLn) may be limited to a remaining energy stored in the local energy storage (305)).
Regarding claim 24, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the host alters the firing sequence based on the fault condition (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 54, 67, in response to a fault condition a firing operation of each laser diode (DL 1-DLn) may be limited to a remaining energy stored in the local energy storage (305)).
Regarding claim 25, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 wherein the host alters the laser-to-pixel mapping based on the fault condition (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 54, 67, in response to a fault condition a firing operation of each laser diode (DL 1-DLn) may be limited to a remaining energy stored in the local energy storage (305)).
Regarding claim 26, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 1 further comprising reporting health status to a host that takes an action on the LiDAR transmitter in response to the health status (Fig. 3, para 63, while continuous or periodic monitoring of voltage across a local energy storage (305), a local energy monitor (306) may assert a safety alam1 signal (308) when the monitored voltage violates a safety condition, and remain the asserted safety alarm signal (308) until the monitored voltage satisfies the safety condition).
Regarding claim 27, Milgrome teaches a method for detecting a fault condition in a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) transmitter, the method comprising:
a) generating a control signal that comprises an address and desired drive voltage information for a laser in a laser array (para 82-85, Fig. 3. Control device 350 sets the power for the laser array and addresses each laser to be in an "on" or "off" state. Para 76 discloses multiple channels. Each channel has its own modulator and is, therefore, independent. Furthermore, each channel has own laser diode. Therefore, each diode is addressable.);
b) generating a drive signal for the laser in the laser array in response to the generated control signal and applying the generated drive signal to a contact associated with that address of the laser array, thereby energizing the laser at a desired output power for a desired time (Figs. 3 and 5);
c) determining, (at a predetermined delay time after the generating of the control signal,) if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for functional safety (Fig. 5B, monitor the voltage….); and
e) reporting the address and the fault condition to a host that takes an action on the LiDAR transmitter in response to the fault condition (Figs. 3-5, para 54-64 “a local energy monitor (306) may monitor voltage that a local energy storage (305) provides to each laser diodes (DLl-DLn) and trigger a safety alarm signal (308) when the monitored voltage violates a safety condition related to a safety threshold voltage, wherein the safety condition may be defined as an expected operating condition meeting regulated eye safety standards; and an energy rate limiter (302) may terminate an energy transfer from a power supply to the local energy storage (305) in response to the safety alarm signal (308)”).
Milgrome fails to explicitly teach d) storing, (at the predetermined delay time after the generating of the control signal,) the address and a fault condition if the parameter has the value outside the threshold range for functional safety. Milgrome in para 63 teaches the safety alarm signal 308 may remain asserted until any suitable safety criteria are met (e.g., until a reset signal is received, until the voltage of internal node satisfies the safety condition, etc.). It would have been obvious that the error is stored as the alarm needs to be reset.
Milgrome teaches a method for detecting a fault condition in a LiDAR transmitter, including generating a control signal comprising an address and desired drive voltage/current information for a laser in a laser array, generating and applying a corresponding drive signal to energize the addressed laser, monitoring a drive or bias parameter relative to an eye-safety threshold, and asserting and maintaining a fault or alarm condition associated with the addressed laser when the threshold is violated. While Milgrome does not explicitly describe delaying the timing of the fault determination and storage relative to generation of the control signal, the PHY1076-01 laser driver expressly teaches a predetermined delay following a laser enable or turn-on event before safety monitoring is performed. Specifically, PHY1076-01 states that “when the laser is turned on, during power up or after a fault, there will be a short period during which the bias control loop is allowed to settle (t_settle) before the safety control loop circuit is enabled” (see Section 4.4.1, “Fault Management,” pages 19-20; see also Section 3.4.3, “Bias Loop Settling Time (t_settle),” page 7). Thus, determination of whether a monitored drive or bias parameter is outside an eye-safety threshold is performed only after expiration of the predetermined settling time, rather than in real time. PHY1076-01 further teaches that operation outside fixed eye-safety limits causes a safety fault to be asserted (see Section 3.4.4, “Eye Safety Internal Fixed Limits,” page 8) and that detected safety faults are latched and maintained until reset (see Section 4.4.1, “Fault Management,” page 19), which constitutes storing the fault condition. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate this known delayed-enable safety monitoring and fault-latching technique into Milgrome’s addressed LiDAR fault-detection method so that the determination of whether the drive signal parameter is outside the eye-safety threshold and the storing of the address and fault condition are performed at the predetermined delay time after generating the control signal, as recited in claim 27, in order to avoid false fault indications during transient ramp-up conditions.
Regarding claim 28, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for functional safety comprises comparing drive current of the drive signal to a predetermined low current value (Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage. Voltage and current are directly proportional, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm%27s_law . So, monitoring the current instead of the voltage is a design choice and expected results).
Regarding claim 29, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for functional safety comprises comparing the drive voltage to a predetermined low voltage value (Milgrome, Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage).
Regarding claim 30, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for functional safety comprises comparing the drive voltage to a predetermined high voltage value (Milgrome, Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage).
Regarding claim 31, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the determining if the drive signal has a parameter with a value that is outside a threshold range for functional safety comprises comparing drive current of the drive signal to a predetermined high current value (Milgrome, Figs. 3-5, para 63, 86, a local energy monitor (306) may determine that a safety condition is violated when monitored voltage across a local energy storage (305) exceeds or is below a safety threshold voltage. Voltage and current are directly proportional, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohm%27s_law . So, monitoring the current instead of the voltage is a design choice and expected results).
Regarding claim 32, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the drive voltage is a high side drive voltage (Milgrome, Fig. 4, para 71-72; (DLl-DLn), and one or more laser enable signals may be selectively applied to one or more electrical switches (SDL1-SDLn) each connected to respective cathode tem1inals of the laser diodes (DLI-DLn) so that each laser diode (DLl -DLn) may be selectively energized by conducting current from its anode terminal to its cathode terminal).
Regarding claim 33, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the drive voltage is a low side drive voltage (Milgrome, Fig. 4, para 71-72; an electrical switch (SCI) may be closed to commonly increase voltage on each anode terminal of laser diodes (DLl-DLn), and one or more laser enable signals may be selectively applied to one or more electrical switches (SDL1-SDLn) each connected to respective cathode tem1inals of the laser diodes (DLI-DLn) so that each laser diode (DLl -DLn) may be selectively energized by conducting current from its anode terminal to its cathode terminal).
Regarding claim 34, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the laser array comprises a two-dimensional laser array (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 62-71; an electro optical modulator (303) may include any suitable number of lasers, for example, 1-64 lasers, (DLl-DLn). The way that those lasers may arrange is a design choice and expected results).
Regarding claim 35, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 34 wherein the laser array has at least two lasers that can be operated independently (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 62-71; an electro optical modulator (303) may include any suitable number of lasers, for example, 1-64 lasers (DLl-DLn) that can be selectively energized.).
Regarding claim 36, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 further comprising reporting a severity of the fault condition to the host (Milgrome, Fig. 3, para 64, a safety alarm signal (308) may indicate how many single point failure criteria exist).
Regarding claim 37, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 further comprising performing additional diagnostics in response to the fault condition (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 54, 67, in response to a fault condition, an energy rate limiter (302) limits an energy transfer from a power supply to a local energy storage (305)).
Regarding claim 38, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the host adapts operating parameters based on the fault condition (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 54, 67, in response to a fault condition, an energy rate limiter (302) limits an energy transfer from a power supply to a local energy storage (305), and a firing operation of each laser diode (DL 1-DLn) may be limited to a remaining energy stored in the local energy storage (305)).
Regarding claim 39, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the host alters the firing sequence based on the fault condition (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 54, 67, in response to a fault condition a firing operation of each laser diode (DL 1-DLn) may be limited to a remaining energy stored in the local energy storage (305)).
Regarding claim 40, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 wherein the host alters the laser-to-pixel mapping based on the fault condition (Milgrome, Figs. 3-4, para 54, 67, in response to a fault condition a firing operation of each laser diode (DL 1-DLn) may be limited to a remaining energy stored in the local energy storage (305)).
Regarding claim 41, Milgrome in view of PHY1076-01, teaches the method of claim 27 further comprising reporting health status to a host that takes an action on the LiDAR transmitter in response to the health status (Milgrome, Fig. 3, para 63, while continuous or periodic monitoring of voltage across a local energy storage (305), a local energy monitor (306) may assert a safety alam1 signal (308) when the monitored voltage violates a safety condition, and remain the asserted safety alarm signal (308) until the monitored voltage satisfies the safety condition).
Regarding claim 42, Milgrome teaches a method for detecting a health condition (Para 67. Health condition may refer to a component's internal condition and it also indicates whether the component is performing as expected, or failed) in a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) transmitter, the method comprising:
a) generating a control signal that comprises an address and desired drive voltage information for a laser in a laser array (para 82-85, Fig. 3. Control device 350 sets the power for the laser array and addresses each laser to be in an "on" or "off" state. Para 76 discloses multiple channels. Each channel has its own modulator and is, therefore, independent. Furthermore, each channel has own laser diode. Therefore, each diode is addressable.);
b) determining, (at a predetermined delay time after the generating of the control signal), a value for a health condition of the laser in the laser array ((Fig. 5B, monitor the voltage…. See also, para 67); and
d) reporting the address and the health condition to a host that takes an action on the LiDAR transmitter in response to the health condition (Fig. 3, para 63, while continuous or periodic monitoring of voltage across a local energy storage (305), a local energy monitor (306) may assert a safety alam1 signal (308) when the monitored voltage violates a safety condition, and remain the asserted safety alarm signal (308) until the monitored voltage satisfies the safety condition).
Milgrome fails to explicitly teach c) storing the address and the value of the health condition if the value is outside a threshold range for functional safety (Figs. 3-5, para 54-64, 67 “a local energy monitor (306) may monitor voltage that a local energy storage (305) provides to each laser diodes (DLl-DLn) and trigger a safety alarm signal (308) when the monitored voltage violates a safety condition related to a safety threshold voltage, wherein the safety condition may be defined as an expected operating condition meeting regulated eye safety standards; and an energy rate limiter (302) may terminate an energy transfer from a power supply to the local energy storage (305) in response to the safety alarm signal (308)”);
Milgrome fails to explicitly teach d) storing, (at the predetermined delay time after the generating of the control signal), the address and a fault condition if the parameter has the value outside the threshold range for functional safety. Milgrome in para 63 teaches the safety alarm signal 308 may remain asserted until any suitable safety criteria are met (e.g., until a reset signal is received, until the voltage of internal node satisfies the safety condition, etc.). It would have been obvious that the error is stored as the alarm needs to be reset.
Milgrome teaches a method for detecting a health condition in a LiDAR transmitter, including generating a control signal comprising an address and desired drive voltage information for a laser in a laser array, monitoring laser operating parameters to determine a health or safety condition, storing an indication of the health condition when a functional-safety threshold is violated, and reporting the address and health condition to a host that takes protective action on the LiDAR transmitter. While Milgrome does not explicitly describe delaying the timing of the health determination relative to generation of the control signal, the PHY1076-01 laser driver expressly teaches a predetermined delay following a laser enable or turn-on event before safety monitoring is performed. Specifically, PHY1076-01 states that “when the laser is turned on, during power up or after a fault, there will be a short period during which the bias control loop is allowed to settle (t_settle) before the safety control loop circuit is enabled” (see Section 4.4.1, “Fault Management,” pages 19-20; see also Section 3.4.3, “Bias Loop Settling Time (t_settle),” page 7). Thus, determination of a laser health or safety condition value is performed only after expiration of the predetermined settling time, rather than in real time. PHY1076-01 further teaches that operation outside fixed functional-safety limits causes a safety fault to be asserted (see Section 3.4.4, “Eye Safety Internal Fixed Limits,” page 8) and that detected faults are latched and maintained until reset (see Section 4.4.1, “Fault Management,” page 19), which constitutes storing the value of the health condition. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate this known delayed-enable safety monitoring and fault-latching technique into Milgrome’s addressed LiDAR health-detection method so that the determination of the health condition value is performed at a predetermined delay time after generating the control signal and the address and health condition are stored when the value is outside a functional-safety threshold, as recited in claim 42, in order to avoid false health indications during transient ramp-up conditions.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/JEMPSON NOEL/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/YUQING XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645