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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 11-12, 31 and 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ruhl, Jr (US 5,282,014).
With regard to claim 1, Ruhl discloses a system comprising (see Fig. 2):
a light source (laser 27) configured to generate an emitted beam of light comprising an emitted pulse of light;
an optical splitter (19a) configured to split the emitted beam of light to produce at least (i) a test beam of light comprising a test pulse of light, the test pulse of light comprising a first portion of the emitted pulse of light and (ii) an output beam of light comprising an output pulse of light, the output pulse of light comprising a second portion of the emitted pulse of light allowed to at least in part exit the system; and
a pulse-energy measurement circuit (detector module 20 and electronics assembly 4) configured to receive the test pulse of light and determine a numerical value corresponding to an individual energy amount of the test pulse of light (3rd col. lines 49-54).
With regard to claim 31, a method comprising (5th col. lines 25-40 and 50-54):
generating an emitted beam of light comprising an emitted pulse of light (from laser 27);
splitting the emitted beam of light (at 19a) to produce at least (i) a test beam of light comprising a test pulse of light, the test pulse of light comprising a first portion of the emitted pulse of light and (ii) an output beam of light comprising an output pulse of light, the output pulse of light comprising a second portion of the emitted pulse of light;
producing a pulse of photocurrent corresponding to the test pulse of light; producing a voltage pulse corresponding to the pulse of photocurrent (energy detector 24 inherently converts photons to current pulse, the remaining part of the energy detector electronics uses the voltage converted from the current (6th col. lines 23-25) ;
producing a voltage signal corresponding to a peak of the voltage pulse (from peak detector (45); and
determining a numerical value corresponding to an individual energy amount of the test pulse of light, wherein the numerical value is determined based on the voltage signal corresponding to the peak of the voltage pulse (peak detector circuit 45 and energy display 14).
With regard to claims 11-12, the individual energy amount of energy of the test pulse is determined by the energy display (14), which inherently includes a processor for converting the voltage signal to a numerical value.
With regard to claim 32, Ruhl discloses a system, comprising:
a light source (laser 27) configured to generate an emitted beam of light comprising an emitted pulse of light;
an optical splitter (19a) configured to split the emitted beam of light to produce at least (1) a test beam of light comprising a test pulse of light, the test pulse of light comprising a first portion of ) the emitted pulse of light and (ii) an output beam of light comprising an output pulse of light, the output pulse of light comprising a second portion of the emitted pulse of light allowed to at least in part exit the system;
a pulse-energy measurement circuit configured to receive the test pulse of light and produce a digital numerical value corresponding to a voltage peak of the test pulse of light (peak detector circuit) 45; and
a processor configured to determine an individual energy amount of the test pulse of light based on the digital numerical value corresponding to the voltage peak of the test pulse of light (energy display 14, which inherently includes a processor for converting the voltage signal to a numerical value).
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) 2-3, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ruhl as applied to claims 1 and 31 above, and further in view of Fu et al. (US 2021/0247501).
With regard to claim 2, Ruhr discloses an electronic amplifier (36) applied to a trigger signal generated from detecting the laser pulse at detector (25). It appears that Ruhr also illustrates an electronic amplifier between the energy signal detector (24) and display (14) as shown in Fig. 4, although this is not recited (see Fig. 4 below):
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Ruhl does not specifically disclose that the detectors are photodetectors, nor the elements peak-hold circuit and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to determine the numeral value corresponding to the individual energy of the test pulse; however, in the same field of endeavor Fu et al. teach a readout module for a LIDAR system. The module includes a photodetector for detecting light received by the receiver (para. [0032]), a current-to-voltage converter and an amplifier (para. [0038]) to convert and amplify the detected light signal prior to further processing. Fu et al. further teach in Fig. 3-3 an intensity (i. e. pulse energy) readout circuit, comprising a peak-and-hold circuit (344), and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC 338) to measure an amount of voltage over time and convert it the energy signal in numerical form [0059-60]. These elements taught by Fu function to obtain the peak energy and/or total energy of the measured optical pulse in numerical form, as desired by Ruhl. Therefore, including the elements taught by Fu in the system of Ruhl would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, i. e. an optical or electrical engineer, before the effective filing date of the application.
With regard to claim 3, Fu teaches a threshold detector configured to produce a trigger signal when the voltage signal rises above a particular threshold voltage (para. [0039]). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to include the threshold detector to the LIDAR receiver, to remove spurious pulses from the data.
With regard to claim 6, the circuit of Fu further teaches a timer (timing readout path 220) configured to determine a time of receipt of the pulse. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to include the timer taught by Fu to provide the normal function of determining distance from the LIDAR system to an object by time-of-flight.
Claim(s) 13 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ruhl.
With regard to claim 13, Ruhl does not specifiy the expression for the energy of the output pulse based on the test pulse based on the split ratio of the optical splitter; however, the expression would have been obvious to one skilled in the art based on the known operation of an optical splitter.
With regard to claim 23, the specific percentage of the energy of the split light is a mere design choice without affecting the function of the system of Ruhl; therefore, one skilled in the art would have found it the particular range claimed to be obvious before the effective filing date of the application.
Claim(s) 7, 9, 14 and 24-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ruhl as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Gaalema et al. (US 2020/025961).
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
With regard to claim 7, Ruhl discloses a detector does not disclose, but Gaalema teaches as part of a similar LIDAR system, a pulse measurement system comprising (see Figs. 7 and 9, & para. [0085]):
A detector (e. g. photodetector) configured to configured to produce a pulse of photocurrent corresponding to a pulse of light, an electronic amplifier (TIA) configured to produce a voltage pulse corresponding to the pulse of photocurrent (para. [0098]); and a plurality of comparators (610) and a plurality of time-to-digital converters (TDCs 612), wherein each comparator of the plurality of comparators is coupled to a corresponding one of the TDCs and is configured to provide an electrical-edge signal to the corresponding TDC when the voltage rises above a particular threshold voltage; and the corresponding TDC is configured to produce a time value corresponding to a time when the electrical-edge was received. The detector and TIA configuration taught by Gaalema provide the required function of creating a voltage based on the detected pulse. The configuration of TDCs and comparators taught by Gaalema provides input to an envelope detector which analyzes the shape of the amplitude of the signal over time, which in turn is used to determine the distance (range) to the object [0093] as needed for the LIDAR to function. Therefore, the circuit configurations taught by Gaalema would have been obvious to incorporate into the system of Ruhl, by one skilled in the art e. g. an optical or electrical engineer, before the effective filing date of the invention.
With regard to claim 9, as described above regarding claim 7 the envelope detector functions as the processor to determine the shape of the pulse of light based on the time values.
With regard to claim 14, Ruhl does not disclose, but Gaalema teaches in the same field of endeavor, a LIDAR system comprising a receiver configured to detect energy of a pulse of light comprising the output pulse of light scattered by a target located a distance from the system; wherein the processor is further configured to determine the reflectivity of the target based on the energy of the received pulse of light, the individual energy amount of the output pulse of light, and the distance from the system to the target (claim 11, intensity is equivalent to energy of the pulse, also uses determined range (distance to target). The additional processing of distance and energy data taught by Gaalema results in identification of the object, which is useful in the application of the LIDAR to avoid collisions in autonomous vehicles. Therefore, including the teaching of Gaalema to dconfigure the processor to determine reflectivity of the object would have been an obvious modification to the system of Ruhl by one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the application
With regard to claim 24, Ruhl does not specifically disclose, but Gaalema teaches in the same field of endeavor, the emitted pulses of light have characteristics wavelength between 900 nm and 200 nm, a pulse energy around 1 mJ, a pulse repetition frequency between 100 kHz and 10 MHz, and a pulse duration between 100 ps and 100 ns. Since the ranges overlap with the claimed ranges, and a particular value of the characteristic would be chosen based on environmental conditions, easily available components, and object distances to be measured, these limitations would have been obvious to apply to the system of Ruhl, by one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the application.
With regard to claims 25-28, Ruhr does not disclose, but Gaalema teaches in the same field of endeavor, the LIDAR system light source comprises a seed laser diode configured to produce seed light, and an SOA configured to amplify the seed light to produce the emitted beam of light (para.[0022]). Ruhr does not disclose, but Gaalema further teaches, the LIDAR system light source comprises a fiber-optic amplifier (as one or as one of multiple amplification stages) configured to further amplify the amplified seed light to produce the emitted beam of light (para. [0022]). These teachings of Gaalema would have been obvious to one skilled in the art, e. g. an optical engineer, before the effective filing date of the application, for the advantage of higher energy optical pulses which can be used to obtain measurements from objects at larger distances.
With regard to claims 29-30, Ruhr discloses a receiver to detect a received pulse of light. However Ruhr does not disclose, but Gaalema teaches in the same field of endeavor, a LIDAR system with a scanner configured to scan the output beam of light across a field of regard of the system; the receiver configured to detect a portion of the output pulse of light scattered by a target located a distance from the system; and a processor configured to determine the distance from the system to the target based on round-trip time for the pulse to travel to the target and back to the system. Further Gaalema teaches that the scanner comprises one or more scanning mirrors configured to rotate about one or more rotation axes (para. [0030]). These teachings would have been obvious to apply to the system of Ruhl, by one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the application for the purpose of measuring distances to objects over a wide three-dimensional environment.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed on Feb. 3, 2023 has been considered by the Examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 8, 10, and 15-22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Dielacher discloses measurement of optical pulse energy with samplers and ADC.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to ERIC L BOLDA whose telephone number is 571-272-8104. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 8:30am to 5pm.
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/ERIC L BOLDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645