DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 05/01/2026 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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 1, 20 and claims bellow are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over D1 in view of D2 US 10466360 B1.
Regarding claims 1, 20 D1 teaches
1. A lidar system comprising:
an optical emitter(2) that emits optical signals into a field of view(fig. 3), wherein the field of view comprises a plurality of zones;(fig. 5 360 degree coverage can be defined as plurality of zones one can divide 0-30 as zone 1 , 30-60 as zone 2….)
an optical sensor(9) that senses optical returns of a plurality of the emitted optical signals from the field of view; and(fig. 3)
a plurality of light steering optical elements(11, 7) that are movable to align different light steering optical elements with (1) an optical path of the of the emitted optical signals at different times and/or (2) an optical path of the optical returns to the optical sensor at different times, wherein each light steering optical element corresponds to a zone within the field of view; and(fig. 3)
wherein each aligned light steering optical element provides (1) steering of the emitted optical signals incident thereon into its corresponding zone and/or (2) steering of the optical returns from its corresponding zone to the optical sensor so that movement of the light steering optical elements causes the lidar system to step through the zones on a zone-by-zone basis according to which of the light steering optical elements becomes aligned with the optical path of the emitted optical signals and/or the optical path of the optical returns over time.(fig. 3 abstract)
but does not teach but D2 teaches
wherein each light steering optical element corresponds to a different zone of the plurality of zones within the field of view(col 6 lines 40-61)
plurality of light steering optical elements causes the lidar system to step through the plurality of zones on a zone-by-zone basis according to which light steering optical element of the plurality of light steering optical elements becomes aligned with the optical path of the emitted optical signals and/or the optical path of the optical returns over time. (col 6 lines 40-61 moving from one angular FOV to another step by step changing the DOE)
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 with teachings by D1 in order to scan different regions with different patterns for example in front of vehicle have pattern with higher resolution while in the back and sides have lower resolution pattern and therefore save the computation power.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the movement comprises rotation, and wherein each zone corresponds to multiple angular positions of a rotator or carrier on which the light steering optical elements are mounted.(abstract )
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the light steering optical elements comprise diffractive optical elements (DOEs).(abstract)
9. The system of claim 1 wherein the movement of the light steering optical elements comprises rotation, the lidar system further comprising:
a rotator for rotating the light steering optical elements about an axis; and(abstract implicit)
a circuit that drives rotation of the rotator to align different light steering optical elements with the optical path of the emitted optical signals and/or the optical path of the optical returns over time. (abstract implicit and fig. 3)
10. The system of claim 9 wherein each light steering optical element aligns with (1) the optical path of the emitted optical signals and/or (2) the optical path of the optical returns to the optical sensor over an angular extent of an arc during the rotation of the light steering optical elements about the axis.(fig. 2, 3)
11. The system of claim 1 wherein the light steering optical elements comprise emitter light steering optical elements that provide steering of the emitted optical signals incident thereon into their corresponding zones in response to alignment with the optical path of the of the emitted optical signals.(page 11 collimating lens with fig. 2)
12. The system of claim 1 wherein the light steering optical elements comprise receiver light steering optical elements(6) that provide steering of the optical returns from their corresponding zones to the optical sensor in response to alignment with the optical path of the optical returns to the optical sensor.(fig. 3)
13. The system of claim 1 wherein the light steering optical elements comprise emitter light steering optical elements and receiver light steering optical elements;
wherein the emitter light steering optical elements provide steering of the emitted optical signals incident thereon into their corresponding zones in response to alignment with the optical path of the of the emitted optical signals; and
wherein the receiver light steering optical elements provide steering of the optical returns from their corresponding zones to the optical sensor in response to alignment with the optical path of the optical returns to the optical sensor.(rejection of combination of claims 11, 12)
14. The system of claim 13 further comprising a carrier on which the emitter light steering optical elements and the receiver light steering optical elements are commonly mounted.(implicit cannot everything hang on air)
15. The system of claim 13 wherein the movement of the light steering optical elements comprises rotation, and wherein the emitter light steering optical elements and the receiver light steering optical elements are arranged in a concentric relationship with each other.(fig. 3)
17. The system of claim 1 wherein the lidar system is a point illumination scanning lidar system, the system further comprising a scanning lidar transmitter that scans a plurality of the optical signals toward points in the field of view over time within each zone.(fig. 6)
Claim 3 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over D1 in view of D2 US 10466360 B1.
Regarding claim 3 D1 teaches
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the zone-by-zone basis comprises
D2 teaches discrete stepwise(fig. 4b discrete zones 411-418)
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 illuminate F)V with its own discrete , distinguishable pattern.
Claim 5-7 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over D1 and F2 further in view of D3 KR 20200071590 A.
Regarding claim 5 ,6 D1 does not teach but D3 teaches
5. The system of claim 4 wherein the DOEs comprise metasurfaces.(abstract)
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the metasurfaces exhibit light steering properties that are defined according to phase delay functions, wherein each metasurface has a corresponding phase delay function that causes the metasurface to steer light to and/or from its corresponding zone.(page 2)
7. The system of claim 5 wherein the metasurfaces comprise a plurality of nanostructures imprinted on an optically transparent substrate in a pattern that causes the aligned metasurfaces to steer light to and/or from its corresponding zone.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the light steering optical elements comprise transmissive light steering optical elements.(abstract)
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 create DOE required for D1.
Claim 16, 19 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over D1 and D2.
D1 does not teach
16. The system of claim 1 wherein the lidar system is a flash lidar system.
But using flash Lidar is just a matter of design choice in order to scan separate discrete zones. (for example D2 fig. 4b gives example of flash lidar system which illuminate discrete zones 411-418)
D1 teaches
19. The system of claim 1 wherein the optical sensor comprises a photodetector array(fig. 6), the system further comprising a receiver barrel, the receiver barrel comprising:
the photodetector array;(fig. 6 elements 9)
a collection lens(6) that collects incident light from aligned light steering optical elements;
a focusing lens(6) that focuses the collected incident light on the photodetector array.(fig. 3)
but does not teach
a spectral filter that filters the collected incident light; and
Using spectral filter is well known in the art and used to decrease the background level and therefore It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 to add spectral filter in order to remove environmental noise.
Claim 18 is/are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over D1 and D2 in view of D4 US 20170003392 A1.
D1 teaches
18. The system of claim 1 wherein the optical emitter comprises an array of optical emitters(fig. 6), the system further comprising a driver circuit for the emitter array(implicit lasers are driven),
But does not explicitly teach
wherein the driver circuit independently controls how a plurality of the different emitters in the emitter array are driven to adaptively illuminate different regions in the zones with different optical power levels based on data derived from one or more objects in the field of view.
Although D1 does not teach this can be considered operation parameter which allows obtaining different illumination patterns and resolution and there
D4 teaches
wherein the driver circuit independently controls how emitters in the emitter array are driven to adaptively illuminate different regions in the zones with different optical power levels based on data derived from one or more objects in the field of view.(fig. 15, 16 how emitters in relation ship to scanner controlled to obtain higher resolution and optical power in desired region [0050,0068-0070])
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1with teachings by D4 in order to satisfy safety levels .
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
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