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 § 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, 9, 16 and claims bellow are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 US 10247547 B2 in view of D2 US 20170328989 A1 further in view of D3 US 20170094251 A1 .
Regarding claims 1, 9 , 16 D1 teaches
1, 9, 16 An optical device, comprising:
an emitter array(1) to emit light;
a collimating element(2) to create an image of the light emitted by the emitter array;
a diffractive optical element (DOE)(4) to generate a pattern from the image of the light; and
but does not explicitly teach
a distortion correction element to reduce distortion in the pattern on a screen or to shape the pattern on the screen.
wherein the distortion correction element is configured to be after the DOE on an optical path of the optical device, and
wherein the light travels through the distortion correction element.
D2 teaches
a distortion correction element to reduce distortion in the pattern on a screen or to shape the pattern on the screen.[0066]
D3 teaches
wherein the distortion correction element is configured to be after the DOE on an optical path of the optical device, and
wherein the light travels through the distortion correction element.[0060-0061]
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 D2 in order to generate patterns which fall into the rectangular grid and further modify with teachings by D3 in order to correct aberrations of the diverging pattern.
4, 12 The optical device of claim 1, wherein the distortion correction element is a discrete element. (D2 [0066])
5, 13 The optical device of claim 1, wherein the distortion correction element has a free-form shape(D2 [0066]), a radially symmetric shape, or a biconvex shape.
6, 14 The optical device of claim 1, wherein a phase profile of the distortion correction element is realized with meta-material surfaces, a continuous surface relief profile, a Fresnel profile, a binary surface relief profile, or a multi-level surface relief profile.(D2 [0066] DMD shape)
7. The optical device of claim 1, wherein the optical device is a dot projector.(fig. 1)
8. The optical device of claim 1, wherein the optical device is a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device.(D2[0002])
15. The device of claim 9, wherein the DOE is a tiling DOE, a one-dimensional diffuser, or a two-dimensional diffuser(Fig. 1 D1).
17. The method of claim 16, wherein manipulating the pattern comprises reducing distortion in the pattern on the screen. (D2 [0066])
18. The method of claim 16, wherein manipulating the pattern comprises shaping the pattern on the screen. (D2 [0066])
Claim(s) 2, 10, 19, 3, 11, 20 and claims bellow are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 US 10247547 B2 in view of D2 US 20170328989 A1 further in view of D3 US 20180063390 A1.
Regarding claims D1 does not teach
2, 10, 19 The optical device of claim 1, wherein the DOE is on a first surface of an optical substrate and the distortion correction element is on a second surface of the optical substrate.
3, 11, 20 The optical device of claim 1, wherein the DOE and the collimating element are on a first surface of an optical substrate and the distortion correction element is on a second surface of the optical substrate.
D2 teaches stacking multiple optical elements on top of each other (fig. 7 701)
D3 teaches correction element (such as frensel lens [0018, 0020] ) instead of DMD and therefore stacking elements it is just a matter of design choice in order to achieve predictable result of distortion correction.
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 correct distortion in completely predictable manner.
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