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, 17 19 and claims bellow are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 US 20190339190 A1 in view of D01 US 20170289524 A1 .
Regarding claims 1, 17, 19 D1 teaches
1. A distance measurement system comprising:
a light emitting unit(26) that includes a first light emission section including a light emitting element that emits light having a first wavelength and a second light emission section including a light emitting element that emits light having a second wavelength;[0048]
a drive unit that performs driving to cause light to be simultaneously emitted in both the first light emission section and the second light emission section;[0043](drive unit is inherent as both lights are projected)
a light receiving unit(28a,b,c) that includes a first light reception(28a) section including a light receiving element that receives the light having the first wavelength and a second light reception(28b) section including a light receiving element that receives the light having the second wavelength; and[0038]
a distance measurement unit that measures a distance to a target object from a time during which the light emitted by the light emitting unit is reflected by the target object and then is received by the light receiving unit.[0004], [0006](inherent function of lidar)
but does not teach
wherein the adjacent first light emission section and the second light emission section are configured to emit light having different wavelengths
wherein the adjacent first light reception section and the second light reception section are configured to receive light having different wavelengths
D01 teaches
wherein the adjacent first light emission section and the second light emission section are configured to emit light having different wavelengths(fig. 1 [0027])
wherein the adjacent first light reception section and the second light reception section are configured to receive light having different wavelengths(fig. 1 [0027])
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 with teachings by D01 in order to decrease interference between the sources.
20. The light receiving device according to claim 19, wherein a plurality of the first light reception sections (28a, b, c )for receiving the light having the first wavelength are provided, and
a total number of the light reception sections is more than a total number of wavelengths of the light received by the light receiving device.(three detectors and two wavelength)
4. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the drive unit performs driving such that light is emitted in all the light emission sections in the same period.(light emitted simultaneously in 20 and 22 )
5. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the drive unit divides the light emission section(20, 22) of the light emitting unit into a plurality of drive sections(24a, 24b, 24c) and performs driving for each drive section, and(fig. 6 section 20 and 22)
in a case where the drive section includes two or more light emission sections, the two or more light emission sections emit light at different wavelengths.(each section has its own wavelength claim 5)
6. The distance measurement system according to claim 5, wherein the drive section(24a) includes a plurality of light emission sections(20 and part of 22) corresponding to all wavelengths of the light emitted from the light emitting unit.(claim 5)
18. The light emitting device according to claim 17, wherein the light emission section(fig. 6) is divided into a plurality of drive sections(20 and 222), each drive section is individually driven,(fig. 6) and
the drive section includes light emission sections corresponding to the first wavelength and the second wavelength.(claim 5)
Claim(s) bellow are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1.
Although D1 does not explicitly teach
2. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit includes a plurality of the first light emission sections for emitting the light at the first wavelength, and
a total number of the light emission sections is more than a total number of wavelengths of the light emitted by the light emitting unit.
Placing a multiple units of fig. 4 all around airplane is just a matter of optimization of the data gathering which allows simultaneously gather information all around the aircraft instead of very small localized area.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 in order to obtain data regarding environment all around aircraft simultaneously and therefore optimize the data gathering.
Although D1 does not explicitly teach
3. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit includes three or more light emission sections, and emits light having different wavelengths in the light emission sections.
Placing a multiple units of fig. 4 all around airplane is just a matter of optimization of the data gathering which allows simultaneously gather information all around the aircraft instead of very small localized area. And using different frequencies is just a matter of the optimization in order to reduce interference between different beams.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 in order to obtain data regarding environment all around aircraft simultaneously and therefore optimize the data gathering and decrease the interference.
Although D1 does not explicitly teach
8. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the wavelength of the light emitted by the light emitting unit is within a wavelength range of 800 to 1500 nm.
9. The distance measurement system according to claim 8, wherein the light emitting unit includes one or more light emission sections in which light is emitted a wavelength of 800 to 900 nm or 1000 to 1100 nm, and
the distance measurement unit measures the distance to the target object by using a result obtained in a manner
that the light receiving unit receives light in a wavelength range of 900 to 1000 nm under sunlight irradiation.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art, at the time of invention to modify apparatus by D1, since it has been held that the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Regarding claim 10-16 D1 explicitly teaches that
first light reception section(28a) which receives light having the first wavelength
and second light reception section(28c) which receives light having the second wavelength[0038]
but does not explicitly teach bandpass filter
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 to use bandpass filter in order to protect receivers from noisy unnecessary radiation and blinding.
Claim(s) 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 and D01 in view of D2 US 20130208256 A1.
Regarding claim 7 D1 does not teach but D2 teaches
7. The distance measurement system according to claim 1, further comprising:
a diffractive optical element that is provided on an optical path of the light emitting unit, and branches and emits the light emitted by the light emitting unit.(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 D2 in order to generate specific desired radiation pattern.
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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