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) bellow 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, 10 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 US 20210072381 A1 in view of D4 US 20200319338 A1 further in view of D0 US 20180081027 A1.
Regarding claims 1, 10 , 19 D1 teaches
19. A light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system comprising:
an optical beam source to transmit a first optical beam to a target;(fig. 2)
a photo detector to receive a return from the target; and(fig. 2)
signal processing circuitry(fig. 2) including a memory(implicit) storing instructions which, when executed, cause the signal processing circuitry to:
threshold a frequency domain waveform to identify a plurality of peaks above a threshold level corresponding to a plurality of targets;[0131-0132]
apply a primary peak selection to the frequency domain waveform to identify a primary peak from the plurality of peaks;[0053](fig. 1e)
apply a secondary peak selection to a portion of the frequency domain waveform outside a guard-band (fig. 1e [0053] implicit fig. 10b)area to identify a secondary peak from the plurality of peaks that is outside the guard-band area;[0053]
determine range and velocity information corresponding to the primary peak and secondary peak;[0052, 0053] and
feed the range and velocity information to a point cloud.[0102]
but does not explicitly teach
wherein the guard-band area comprises an area proximate to the primary peak
wherein a peak from the plurality of peaks within the guard-band area is associated with the primary peak
set a guard-band area based on a peak property, wherein the guard-band area comprises a frequency area proximate to the primary peak in the frequency domain waveform, and wherein a peak from the plurality of peaks within the guard-band area is associated with the primary peak;
D2 teaches
Separating distinguishable peaks for further analysis by applying the guard-band area comprises an area proximate to the primary peak(fig. 9)
wherein a peak from the plurality of peaks within the guard-band area is associated with the primary peak(fig. 9 first highest peak)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 with teaching by D4 in order to identify and further analyze distinguishable peaks in the distribution.
D0 teaches
set a guard-band area(window size [0032]) based on a peak property(sensor resolution), wherein the area comprises a area proximate to the primary peak in the frequency domain waveform, and wherein a peak from the plurality of peaks within the guard-band area is associated with the primary peak;([0032])
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 with teaching by D0 in order to correctly identify the peak position .
2, 11, 20 The system of claim 1, wherein thresholding the frequency domain waveform includes applying a signal-to-noise ratio threshold,[0132] and applying the primary and secondary peak selection includes applying an intensity threshold.[0132](power level)
5, 14, 22 The system of claim 1, wherein applying the secondary peak selection includes selecting a highest intensity peak, a highest frequency peak, or a lowest frequency peak of the plurality of peaks that is outside the guard-band area.(fig. 1 e implicit)
Regarding claims 6, 15 teaches
apply a primary peak selection and a secondary peak selection for a segment
amd also teaches segmenting data (fig. 10b)
but does not teach
6, 15 The system of claim 1, wherein the signal processing circuitry is further configured to:
divide the frequency domain waveform into a plurality of segments;
threshold each of the plurality of segments;
apply a primary peak selection and a secondary peak selection to a maximum value of each of the plurality of segments.
Although D1 does not explicitly teach segmenting the data and then analyzing every segment It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 to analyze all segments in order to identify all objects.
Although does not explicitly teach
7., 16 The system of claim 1, wherein the signal processing circuitry is further configured to:
divide the frequency domain waveform into a plurality of sub-bands;
threshold a first sub-band of the plurality of sub-bands to identify a plurality of peaks above a threshold level;
perform a first pass through the first sub-band to apply the primary peak selection and determine a first sub-band primary peak from the plurality of peaks;
perform a second pass through the first sub-band to apply the secondary peak selection and determine a first sub-band secondary peak from the plurality of peaks; and
perform thresholding, primary peak selection, and secondary peak selection to remaining sub-bands of the plurality of sub-bands to determine all peaks with a single pass through the frequency domain waveform. (Well known technique of multiple peak identification)
8. , 17The system of claim 7, wherein the signal processing circuitry is further configured to:
store the first sub-band primary peak and the first sub-band secondary peak in memory;
store all of the plurality of peaks above the threshold level from the first sub-band within two guard-bands of a second sub-band in memory;
perform thresholding, primary peak selection, and secondary peak selection to the second sub-band to identify a second sub-band primary peak and a second sub-band secondary peak; and
compare the first sub-band primary peak, the first sub-band secondary peak, the second sub-band primary peak, and the second sub-band secondary peak to determine a new primary peak and a new secondary peak for the first and second sub-band. (Well known technique of multiple peak identification)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 to remove primary peak from spectrum and identify second , and repeating procedure in order to identify all the peaks in the spectrum and then to identify if new objects are present in FOV or only old.
9, 18 The system of claim 1, wherein the signal processing circuitry is further configured to:
store the primary peak and secondary peak in a peak value buffer in memory;
analyze a new input of the frequency domain waveform to identify a new peak above the threshold level;
if the new peak has a value greater than the primary and secondary peak and is outside the guard band area for the primary and secondary peaks, update the peak value buffer with the new peak as the new primary peak;
if the new peak has a value greater than the secondary peak but less than the primary peak and is outside the guard band area for the primary and secondary peaks, update the peak value buffer with the new peak as the new secondary peak; and
if the new peak has a value less than the primary and secondary peaks and is outside the guard band area for the primary and secondary peaks, update the peak value buffer with the new peak as a third peak.(updating detected target information over time is well known as well as accounting for previous detections. For example [0102] teaches updating the point cloud which is not exactly the same as described in the claim but still uses old information and then based on new information transforms the old one)
Claim(s) 4, 13, 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 US 20210072381 A1 in view of D4 further in view of D3 US 20030174333 A1.
Regarding claims 4, 13 D1 does not teach but D3 teaches
4. (Currently amended) The LIDAR system of claim 1, wherein the guard-band area further comprises an expected peak roll-off value(fig. 7 band consist of multiple peaks roll off will be surface 1 ) that models how a peak magnitude is expected to decay away from the primary peak(D4 also teaches guard band area fully encompass the peak position and roll off), and wherein toapply the secondary peak selection, the signal processing circuitry identifies the secondary peak to falls within a guard band associated with the guard-band area and that the secondary peak is above he expected peak roll-off value, and the expected peak roll-off value is a distribution based on an intensity and a frequency of the primary peak.[0037](deconvolution identifies multiple overlapping peaks. )
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 with teaching by D3 in order to identify multiple overlapping peaks.
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