DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (Claims 1-13, 26, and 28-39) in the reply filed on 19 December 2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 14-25 and 27 have been withdrawn (cancelled) from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 19 December 2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-11, 13, 26, 28-37, and 39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as anticipated by Asghari (US 2020/0158830).
Regarding Claim 1, Asghari discloses a LIDAR system, comprising: one or more cores that each outputs a system output signal that illuminates multiple sample regions in a field of view [0023-24], a reference one of the cores including a light combiner configured to generate a composite signal beating at a beat frequency [0023; 0033; 0048; 0119; 0130], and electronics configured to use a real Fourier transform to determine a beat frequency of the composite signal [0097; 0108; 0110; 0113-15], the electronics configured to use the beat frequency of the composite signal to calculate the magnitude of a radial velocity indicator for a reference one of the sample regions illuminated by the system output signal output from the reference core [0044; 0058; 0105; 0137], the radial velocity indicator indicating a radial velocity between the LIDAR system and an object in the reference sample region [0024; 0044; 0105; 0113-14], the electronics configured to identify a direction of the radial velocity indicator [0024; 0049], the identification of the direction including a comparison of the magnitude of the radial velocity indicator to data calculated for a subject sample region selected from among the sample regions [0049-51; 0075; 0102; 0104-06], the reference sample region being different from the subject sample region [0024; 0049; 0100-01; 0127; 0131].
Regarding Claim 26, Asghari discloses a method of operating a LIDAR system, comprising: illuminating multiple sample regions in a field of view with system output signals output from different cores [0023-24]; combining light signals so as to generate a composite signal beating at a beat frequency [0023; 0033; 0048; 0119; 0130]; using the value of the beat frequency of the composite signal to calculate a magnitude of a radial velocity indicator [0097; 0108; 0110; 0113-15] for a reference one of the sample regions illuminated by the system output signal output from the reference core [0044; 0058; 0105; 0137], the radial velocity indicator indicating a radial velocity between the LIDAR system and an object in the reference sample region [0024; 0044; 0105; 0113-14]; and identifying a direction of the radial velocity indicator [0024; 0049] by comparing the magnitude of the radial velocity indicator to data calculated for a subject one of the sample regions [0049-51; 0075; 0102; 0104-06], the reference sample region being different from the subject sample region [0024; 0049; 0100-01; 0127; 0131].
Regarding Claims 2 and 28, Asghari also discloses wherein the radial velocity indicator is a calculation of the radial velocity for the reference sample region [0024; 0044].
Regarding Claims 3 and 29, Asghari also discloses wherein the radial velocity indicator is the beat frequency of the composite signal that results from illumination of the reference sample region by one of the system output signals [0044; 0049-50].
Regarding Claims 4 and 30, Asghari also discloses wherein the data from the subject sample regions includes multiple possible LIDAR data solutions for the subject sample region [0049; 0106; 0113].
Regarding Claims 5 and 31, Asghari also discloses wherein each of the possible LIDAR data solutions for the subject sample region includes all or a portion of the components selected from the group consisting of an fr value, an fd value, a radial velocity value and a range value [0044; 0047; 0049], the fd value being a Doppler frequency shift [0104-07], the fr value being a frequency shift that results from a distance between the system and an object in the subject sample region [0049; 0105], the radial velocity value indicating a radial velocity between the system and the object in the subject sample region [0024; 0044; 0073; 0113-14], and the range value indicating a range between the system and the object in the subject sample region [0044; 0047; 0049].
Regarding Claims 6 and 32, Asghari also discloses wherein each of the possible LIDAR data solutions includes a comparative component selected from an fd value and a radial velocity value,the fd value being a Doppler frequency shift [0095; 0104-07] and the radial velocity value indicating a radial velocity between the system and an object in the subject sample region [0024; 0044; 0073; 0113-14]; and the comparison of the magnitude of the radial velocity indicator to data calculated for one or more reference sample regions includes comparing the magnitude of the radial velocity indicator to the comparative component [0055].
Regarding Claims 7 and 33, Asghari also discloses wherein the electronics identify the possible LIDAR solution with the comparative component that has a magnitude closest to the magnitude of the magnitude of the radial velocity indicator [0051; 0058; 0105].
Regarding Claims 8 and 34, Asghari also discloses wherein the electronics set the direction of the radial velocity indicator equal to a direction of the identified comparative component [0088; 0136].
Regarding Claims 9 and 35, Asghari also discloses wherein the reference sample region and the subject sample region at least partially overlap [0029; 0075; 0133; 0143].
Regarding Claims 10 and 36, Asghari also discloses wherein the reference sample region is the sample region that is closest to the subject sample region [0088; 0133].
Regarding Claims 11 and 37, Asghari also discloses wherein the one or more cores is multiple cores and the system output signal that illuminated the subject sample region is different from the system output signal that illuminated the sample region that is closest to the subject sample region [0024; 0088; 0131-33; 0137].
Regarding Claims 13 and 39, Asghari also discloses wherein the electronics use a real Fourier transform to calculate a value of the beat frequency [0105-06; 0113-15].
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) 12 and 38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Asghari (US 2020/0158830), as applied to claims 1 and 26 above, and further in view of Cai (US 2021/0325520).
Regarding Claims 12 and 38, Asghari also teaches wherein the electronics estimate a range …calculated for multiple different sample regions selected from among the sample regions illuminated by system output signals from the one or more cores [0024; 0044; 0100; 0144]. Asghari does not explicitly teach – but Cai does teach estimate a range for the subject sample region by interpolating between ranges [0035-37; 0049-53; 0086; 0116]. It would have been obvious to modify the system and method of Asghari to include estimating a range by interpolating as therefore the error introduced by interpolating between adjacent entries in the improved calibration map is generally significantly smaller.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R HULKA whose telephone number is (571)270-7553. The examiner can normally be reached M-R: 9am-6pm, F: 10am-2pm.
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JAMES R. HULKA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3645
/JAMES R HULKA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645