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 filed 02/13/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Prior art by D2 US 20190294019 A1 in [0082] explicitly teach “ wavelength of incident light are varied” which means the for example single source providing multiple frequencies mor collocated multiple sources provided multiple frequencies. One can achieve it in plurality of well known ways for example combining the multiple different wavelength beams into single beam or changing the source characteristics.
Now due to the fact that multiple frequencies in the beam have been established as response of the phased array is different for the different wavelength the angle will be different.(the antenna array works similar to diffraction grating ) In any case additional art will be provided to support the rejection.
D0 US 20160291137 teaches the basic operation of the diffraction grating with multiple frequency light. As in D2 the device effectively becomes a diffractive grating the operation with different wavelength as described in the claim will be inherent.
OFFICIAL NOTICE
Subject matter of claims 4-18, 20-22 either explicitly disclosed in D1 US 20210349190 or obvious as evidenced by European search report provided with current Application.
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, 19, 23 and claims bellow rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D2 US 20190294019 A1 in view of D3 US 20060098258 A1 further in view of D4 US 11131773 B2 further in view of D0 US 20160291137 A1.
Regarding claim 1 D2 teaches
A distance information acquisition apparatus comprising:
a plurality of light sources (120s in fig. 16)configured to emit light of different wavelengths;[0065]
the plurality of light sources comprising a first light source, a second light source, and a third light source;(fig. 16)
a beam steering device comprising a plurality of nano-antennas, the beam steering device being configured to form an effective grating and steer a traveling direction of light incident from the plurality of light sources at an angle of incidence by modulating a phase by displacement of the effective grating;(200 [0063-0064])
photo detector(140) being configured to detect light that is steered by the beam steering device and reflected from an object; and
a processor(150) configured to control the beam steering device to acquire distance information by steering a traveling direction of light.[0086]
wherein the beam steering device is further configured to steer the combined light incident at a same angle at different beam[0082] steering angles based on the different wavelengths of light[0082](implicit )
but does not teach
a first beam splitter configured to reflect light from the first light source, a second beam splitter configured to reflect light from the second light source, and a third beam splitter configured to reflect light from the third light source
wherein the light reflected from the first beam splitter, the light reflected from the second beam splitter, and the light reflected from the third beam splitter are combined and transmitted to the beam steering device.
a plurality of photodetectors, each photodetector among the plurality of photodetectors corresponding to a respective different light source among the plurality of light sources, the plurality of photodetectors being configured to detect light that is steered by the beam steering device and reflected from an object
D3 teaches
a first beam splitter(28) configured to reflect light from the first light source(20), a second beam splitter(28) configured to reflect light from the second light source(22), and a third beam splitter(28) configured to reflect light from the third light source(24)
wherein the light reflected from the first beam splitter, the light reflected from the second beam splitter, and the light reflected from the third beam splitter are combined and transmitted to the beam steering device.(fig. 1)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D2 with teaching by D3 in order to place beams along the same optical path.
D4 teaches
a plurality of photodetectors, each photodetector among the plurality of photodetectors corresponding to a respective different light source among the plurality of light sources, the plurality of photodetectors being configured to detect light that is steered by the beam steering device and reflected from an object(fig. 8)
D0 also teaches
wherein the beam steering device(9) is further configured to steer the combined light incident at a same angle at different beam steering angles based on the different wavelengths of light[0139]
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D2 with teaching by D4 in order to sample distinct points by individual pair of emitter and detector.(col 21-col22 description of fig. 8) and further modify with teachings by D0 in order to direct light in different scanning regions.
Claim 2 obvious over combination of D2 and D3 as D3 combines all three beams into single optical path
6. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam steering device further comprises a reflective layer, an active layer having an optical property that changes based on a control signal, and at least one insulating layer, [0021] [0068]and wherein the beam steering device is further configured to form the effective grating by forming a charge accumulation region or a charge depletion region in the active layer to correspond to the plurality of nano-antennas based on a voltage applied to at least one of the plurality of nano-antennas and the reflective layer.[0068]
7. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the light steered by the beam steering device is first-order diffracted light. [0092]
8. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nano-antennas comprise metal nano-antennas. [0063-0064]
Claim 9 recites inherent property of the First order diffractive grating with one period of effective grating (fig. 16)(see evidence by Edmund Optic https://www.edmundoptics.com/knowledge-center/application-notes/optics/all-about-diffraction-gratings/ 2021, grating equation )
Claim 10 inherent property of the First order diffractive grating with one period of effective grating of type presented in fig. 18 and [0088] (derivable from evidence by Edmund Optic https://www.edmundoptics.com/knowledge-center/application-notes/optics/all-about-diffraction-gratings/ 2021, grating equation )
Claim 11 (fig. 18)
12. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of pixels comprises one or more antenna groups, the one or more antenna groups respectively comprises the plurality of nano-antennas, and a period of the effective grating is the same as a period of the one or more antenna groups.(fig. 18 depending on what we call pixel several antennas can be called as a pixel)
13. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of pixels comprises two or more antenna groups, and control signals of a same pattern are applied to the two or more antenna groups included in a same pixel. .(fig. 18 depending on what we call pixel several antennas can be called as a pixel)
14. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 11, wherein the plurality of pixels have a one-dimensional array structure or a two-dimensional array structure.(fig. 18)
15. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam steering device is further configured so that the formation of the effective grating and displacement adjustment of the beam steering device are performed by any one of electrical gating(applying voltage claim 14), light stimulation, a heating chemical reaction, a magnetic field, and a mechanical method.
16. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam steering device is further configured to operate in regions of extreme ultraviolet, visible light, near infrared, mid-infrared, far-infrared, terahertz (THz), gigahertz (GHz), and radio frequency (RF). [0060]
17. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of light sources comprises one of an edge-emitting laser, a vertical cavity surface- emitting laser, a photonic crystal surface-emitting laser, and a laser diode or a combination thereof. [0060]
Although D2 does not explicitly teach D4 teaches
18. (original): The distance information acquisition apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of photodetectors comprise one of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM), avalanche photodiodes (APD), single-photon avalanche photodiodes (SPAD), and a photodetector (PD).(col 5 -col 6)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D2 with teaching by D4 to use SPAD in order to provide detector responsive to incident photons for LIDAR device.
Claim 20, 21, 22 [0004]
Claim(s) 4 and claims bellow rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D2 US 20190294019 A1 in view of D3 US 20060098258 A1 further in view of D4 US 11131773 B2 further in view of D1 US 20210278535 A1.
D2 does not teach but D1 teaches using band pass filters [0485]
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 D1 in order to filter out the non relevant frequencies.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOVHANNES BAGHDASARYAN whose telephone number is (571)272-7845. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7am - 5 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuqing Xiao can be reached at (571) 270-3603. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HOVHANNES BAGHDASARYAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
Prosecution Insights