DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claim Objections
Claims 17-20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 17, line 1, “… having instructions…” should read “… having the instructions…”.
Claim 17, line 2, “… at least one computing device…” should read “…the at least one computing device…”.
Claim 18, line 1, “… having instructions…” should read “… having the instructions…”.
Claim 18, line 2, “… at least one computing device…” should read “…the at least one computing device…”.
Claim 19, line 1, “… having instructions…” should read “… having the instructions…”.
Claim 19, line 2, “… at least one computing device…” should read “…the at least one computing device…”.
Claim 20, line 1, “… having instructions…” should read “… having the instructions…”.
Claim 20, line 2, “… at least one computing device…” should read “…the at least one computing device…”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 15 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 15, line 6, the limitation of “the rest position” lacks antecedent basis.
Regarding claim 20, line 8, the limitation of “the rest position” lacks antecedent basis.
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) 1-2, 6-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song (US 20240069167 A1, hereinafter “Song”), modified in view of Klemme et al. (US 20230008801 A1, hereinafter “Klemme”).
Regarding claim 1, Song teaches a lidar sensor comprising:
a series of emitters, each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away along a transmission axis to form a transmission field-of-view (Tx FoV) (Song; Fig. 1, Fig. 2, [0033], LiDAR device 101 includes a laser beam emitting unit 104 (including multiple laser emitters), a laser beam direction controller 106, a laser beam receiving unit 109, a control unit 107; [0034], directions of outgoing laser beams 113 can be changed by the shifting device such that the LiDAR device 101 can have denser point clouds along the shifting orientation within the whole predetermined FOV (equivalent to Tx FoV));
at least one detector configured to receive at least a portion of the light pulses that reflect off of an object within a reception field-of-view (Rx FoV) along a reception axis (Song; Fig. 1, Fig. 2, [0035], the laser light receiving unit 109 can collect laser beams 112 reflected from a target object 103 (equivalent to Rx FoV) using one or more imaging lens 115, and focused the reflected laser beams (reflected pulses [0038]) on one or more light detectors 117); and
a transmit optic mounted for translation along a transverse axis and configured to intersect each transmission axis without intersecting the reception axis to adjust the Tx FoV without adjusting the Rx FoV (Song; Fig. 1, Fig. 2, [0034], laser beams 113 emitted by the laser beam emitting unit 104 can be steered by the laser beam direction controller 106 (equivalent to a transmit optic); [0042], the laser beam direction controller 106 includes an elastic structure 211 and a shifting device 215. The shifting device 215 together with the elastic structure 211 can shift the lens array 207 up and down (equivalent to translation along a transverse axis). Since the laser beam direction controller 106 moves vertically respect to the laser beam emitting direction, implies the laser beam direction control 106 intersect with each transmission axis. Furthermore, Fig. 1 clearly shows the laser beam direction controller 106 is positioned right before laser beam emitting unit 104 and the reflected laser beams 112 did not passing through it. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to realize the laser beam direction controller 106 only adjusts the Tx FoV without adjusting the Rx FoV).
Song does not teach,
each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle.
Klemme disclosed in paragraph [0018] that LiDAR system are useful in a number of applications such as driver assisted vehicle guidance system including self-driving cars, autonomous drones, etc. to detect the range from an emitter to a target by irradiating the target with electromagnetic radiation in the form of light. This implies the transmit light pulses is emitted away from a vehicle when using the LiDAR system in driver assisted vehicle guidance system.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the lidar sensor taught by Song to include each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is using LiDAR system on driver assisted vehicle guidance systems to detect the range from an emitter to a target (Klemme; [0018]).
Regarding claim 2, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 1, wherein the Tx FoV and the Rx FoV overlap (Song; Fig. 1, [0034], the laser light receiving unit 109 can collect laser beams 112 reflected from a target object 103 and focus the reflected laser beams on one or more light detectors; implies Tx FoV and Rx FoV has overlap), and wherein the adjusted Tx FoV is located within a region of the Tx FoV (Song; Fig. 1, [0034], directions of outgoing laser beams 113 can be changed by the shifting device such that the LiDAR device 101 can have denser point clouds along the shifting orientation within the whole predetermined FOV; implies the adjusted Tx FoV is located within a region of the Tx FoV).
Regarding claim 6, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 1, wherein the series of emitters comprise a linear array of emitters arranged in parallel with the transverse axis, the linear array of emitters comprising a proximal emitter, and a distal emitter arranged opposite the proximal emitter (Song; Fig. 2, [0041], the laser beam emitting unit 104 include multiple laser 201-205 which are equally spaced (equivalent to linear array of emitter comprising a proximal emitter and a distal emitter arranged opposite the proximal emitter); [0042], the shifting device 215 together with the elastic structure 211 can shift the lens array 207 up and down. This implies the transverse axis is in parallel with the laser array).
Regarding claim 7, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 6, further comprising:
an actuator connected to the transmit optic (Song; Fig. 2, [0042], the laser beam direction controller 106 comprising an elastic structure 211 on one end, a shifting device 215 (can be a piezoelectric actuator that is powered by electric current) on the other end and a lens array 207 in between) and configured to translate the transmit optic through a range between a rest position and a distal position to intersect the transmission axis of the distal emitter (Song; Fig. 2, [0042], the shifting device 215 together with the elastic structure 211 can shift the lens array 207 up and down; implies the lens can be shifted from rest position to a distal position to intersect the transmission axis of the distal emitter. This can also be seen in Fig. 3B that the shifting lens can translate from rest position (Fig. 3A) to intersect the transmission axis of the distal emitter laser A 201 (Fig. 3B)).
Song does not teach,
a rest position, in which the transmit optic does not intersect any transmission axis of the linear array of emitters.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 5, Fig. 7, paragraph [0039], an FoV resolution manager 702 provides closed loop control of the operation of a beam generator 704. During baseline operation, a normal beam scan pattern 706 is emitted by the generator 704 to rasterize over the whole FoV in Fig. 5 (this implies there is no other shifting device to intersect any transmission such that to adjust the FoV); [0040], when the manager 702 identifies an area of interest (such as 502 in Fig. 5), at least a portion of the beam 706, denoted at 708, is directed through lens 710 (equivalent to transmit optic) to output a directed beam scan pattern for the area of interest. The lens 710 can remain stationary or can additionally/alternatively be moved as required using appropriate piezo, mechanical or electromechanical mechanism to further direct the beam to the intended area. As disclosed above, during normal beam scan pattern, the laser beam can scan the full FoV in Fig. 5. During Focused beam scan pattern, a portion of the beam 706 is directed to an area of interest. This implies the lens 710 (similar to transmit optic) was position in a range between a rest position (transmit optic does not interest transmission axis) and a distal position (intersect the transmission axis).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the lidar sensor taught by Song to include each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle; the transmit optic at a rest position, in which the transmit optic does not intersect any transmission axis of the linear array of emitters taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is initially positioning the transmit optic at a rest position which is not intersect with the baseline scan (scan for whole FoV) such that to scan the whole FoV and identify the area of interest to perform a focused scan (Klemme; [0039], [0040]).
Regarding claim 8, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 1, further comprising a controller configured to translate the transmit optic along the transverse axis (Song; Fig. 1, [0037], the control unit 107 can coordinate operations of the laser beam emitting unit 104, the laser beam direction controller 106 (equivalent to transmit optic) and the light detector 117).
Regarding claim 9, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 8.
Song does not teach, wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and
translate the transmit optic along the transverse axis between a proximal position and a distal position while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 7, paragraph [0039], a FoV resolution manager 702 provides close loop control of the operation of a beam generator 704. During baseline operation, a normal beam scan pattern 706 is emitted by the generator 704 to rasterize the FoV in Fig. 5; [0040], at such time that the manager 702 identifies an area of interest (such as 502 ([0036], the area of interest 502, 504 may specifically correspond to particular targets, equivalent to unknown object) in Fig. 5), at least a portion of the beam 706, denoted at 708 is directed through lens 710 to output a directed beam scan pattern for the area of interest. The lens 710 can additionally or alternatively be moved as required using appropriate piezo, mechanical or electromechanical mechanisms to further direct the beam to the intended area (equivalent to translate the transmit optic along the transverse axis between a proximal position and a distal position while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the lidar sensor taught by Song to include each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle; determine, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and translate the transmit optic along the transverse axis between a proximal position and a distal position while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is identifying the unknown object/area of interest and adjusting the transmit optic to focused on the unknown object/area of interest for focused scan (Klemme; [0036], [0039], [0040]).
Regarding claim 10, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 9.
Song does not teach, wherein the controller is further configured to:
receive sweep data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while translating the transmit optic;
determine a location of the unknown object based on the sweep data; and
translate the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis such that the adjusted Tx FoV aligns with the location of the unknown object.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 7, paragraph [0039], a FoV resolution manager 702 provides close loop control of the operation of a beam generator 704. During baseline operation, a normal beam scan pattern 706 is emitted by the generator 704 to rasterize the FoV in Fig. 5 (equivalent to receive sweep data); [0040], at such time that the manager 702 identifies an area of interest (such as 502 ([0036], the area of interest 502, 504 may specifically correspond to particular targets, equivalent to unknown object) in Fig. 5), at least a portion of the beam 706, denoted at 708 is directed through lens 710 to output a directed beam scan pattern for the area of interest. The lens 710 can additionally or alternatively be moved as required using appropriate piezo, mechanical or electromechanical mechanisms to further direct the beam to the intended area. Fig. 8, [0041]-[0042], further shows the scan patterns by first perform a baseline scan of FoV 1 and followed by redirected the beam into the smaller area of field to perform a focused scan of FoV 2 after unknown object/area of interest is identified. The optical element can be activated for selected number of cycles after which the system can return to scanning the entirely of FoV 1 in order to maintain tracking information for targets that are within FoV 1 but are not within FoV 2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the lidar sensor taught by Song to include each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle; determine, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and translate the transmit optic along the transverse axis between a proximal position and a distal position while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic; receive sweep data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while translating the transmit optic; determine a location of the unknown object based on the sweep data; and translate the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis such that the adjusted Tx FoV aligns with the location of the unknown object taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is identifying the unknown object/area of interest and adjusting the transmit optic to focused on the unknown object/area of interest for focused scan (Klemme; [0036], [0039]-[0042]).
Claims 11-13 are the method claim possess nearly identical limitation to those of claim 1, 9 and 10 and are thus rejected for the same reasoning.
Regarding claim 14, Song as modified above teaches the method as recited in claim 13.
Song does not teach, further comprising:
translating the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis corresponding to a region of the Rx FoV based on the location of the unknown object.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 7, paragraph [0039], a FoV resolution manager 702 provides close loop control of the operation of a beam generator 704. During baseline operation, a normal beam scan pattern 706 is emitted by the generator 704 to rasterize the FoV in Fig. 5 (equivalent to receive sweep data); [0040], at such time that the manager 702 identifies an area of interest (such as 502 ([0036], the area of interest 502, 504 may specifically correspond to particular targets, equivalent to unknown object) in Fig. 5), at least a portion of the beam 706, denoted at 708 is directed through lens 710 to output a directed beam scan pattern for the area of interest. The lens 710 can additionally or alternatively be moved as required using appropriate piezo, mechanical or electromechanical mechanisms to further direct the beam to the intended area. Fig. 5 can clearly see that the area of interest 1 (502) and 2 (504) are within the Rx FoV (full FoV) and Fig. 7 disclosed using lens 710 with actuator system 712 to translate the lens 710 (equivalent to transmit optic) to the area of interest 502, 504 along the transverse axis.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the method taught by Song to include each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle; determine, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and translate the transmit optic along the transverse axis between a proximal position and a distal position while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic; receive sweep data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while translating the transmit optic; determine a location of the unknown object based on the sweep data; and translate the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis such that the adjusted Tx FoV aligns with the location of the unknown object; translating the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis corresponding to a region of the Rx FoV based on the location of the unknown object taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is identifying the unknown object/area of interest and adjusting the transmit optic to focused on the unknown object/area of interest for focused scan inside the Rx FoV (Klemme; [0036], [0039]-[0042]).
Regarding claim 15, Song as modified above teaches the method as recited in claim 14.
Song does not teach, further comprising:
receiving focused scan data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while the transmit optic is located at the position corresponding to the location of the unknown object;
identifying the unknown object based on the focused scan data; and
translating the transmit optic to the rest position along the transverse axis in response to identifying the unknown object.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 7-9, [0041], a baseline 1st FoV 1 is generally denoted at 802 and represents a 1st area being scanned by the system at a baseline resolution; [0042], identified an area of interest ([0036], area of interest may specifically correspond to particular targets, equivalent to unknown object) within the field 802, denoted as a 2nd FoV 2. Beams 814 correspond to the beam 804 but are redirected into the smaller area of field 812. At the time, no beams 804 are emitted on the rest of the area of FoV 1 while FoV 2 is being scanned. In some cases the optical element can be activated for a selected number of cycles after which the system can return to scanning the entirely of FoV 1 in order to maintain tracking information for targets that are within FoV 1 but are not within FoV 2. This implies that after identifying the target in the area of interest (e.g. FoV 2), the optical element can return to original position such that the system can go back to scan the entirety of FoV 1.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the method taught by Song to include each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle; determine, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and translate the transmit optic along the transverse axis between a proximal position and a distal position while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic; receive sweep data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while translating the transmit optic; determine a location of the unknown object based on the sweep data; and translate the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis such that the adjusted Tx FoV aligns with the location of the unknown object; translating the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis corresponding to a region of the Rx FoV based on the location of the unknown object; receiving focused scan data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while the transmit optic is located at the position corresponding to the location of the unknown object; identifying the unknown object based on the focused scan data; and translating the transmit optic to the rest position along the transverse axis in response to identifying the unknown object taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is identifying the unknown object/area of interest and adjusting the transmit optic to focused on the unknown object/area of interest for focused scan inside the Rx FoV. After identifying the unknown object based on the scan data, position the transmit optic to the rest position which is not intersect to the transmission axis such that to scan the whole FoV 1 in order to maintain tracking information for targets that are within FoV 1 but are not within FoV 2 (Klemme; [0036], [0039]-[0042]).
Regarding claim 16, Song teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising (Song; [0104], some or all of the components can be implemented as software installed and stored in a persistent storage device, which can be loaded and executed in a memory by a processor to carry out the processes or operations described throughout this application):
transmitting light pulses away to form a transmission field-of-view (Tx FoV) (Song; Fig. 1, Fig. 2, [0033], LiDAR device 101 includes a laser beam emitting unit 104 (including multiple laser emitters), a laser beam direction controller 106, a laser beam receiving unit 109, a control unit 107; [0034], directions of outgoing laser beams 113 can be changed by the shifting device such that the LiDAR device 101 can have denser point clouds along the shifting orientation within the whole predetermined FOV (equivalent to Tx FoV));
receiving at least a portion of the light pulses that reflect off of an object within a reception field-of-view (Rx FoV) (Song; Fig. 1, Fig. 2, [0035], the laser light receiving unit 109 can collect laser beams 112 reflected from a target object 103 (equivalent to Rx FoV) using one or more imaging lens 115, and focused the reflected laser beams (reflected pulses [0038]) on one or more light detectors 117); and
translating a transmit optic along a transverse axis to adjust the Tx FoV without adjusting the Rx FoV (Song; Fig. 1, Fig. 2, [0034], laser beams 113 emitted by the laser beam emitting unit 104 can be steered by the laser beam direction controller 106 (equivalent to a transmit optic); [0042], the laser beam direction controller 106 includes an elastic structure 211 and a shifting device 215. The shifting device 215 together with the elastic structure 211 can shift the lens array 207 up and down (equivalent to translation along a transverse axis). Since the laser beam direction controller 106 moves vertically respect to the laser beam emitting direction, implies the laser beam direction control 106 intersect with each transmission axis. Furthermore, Fig. 1 clearly shows the laser beam direction controller 106 is positioned right before laser beam emitting unit 104 and the reflected laser beams 112 did not passing through it, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to realize the laser beam direction controller 106 only adjusts the Tx FoV without adjusting the Rx FoV).
Song does not teach,
transmitting light pulses away from a vehicle.
Klemme disclosed in paragraph [0018] that LiDAR system are useful in a number of applications such as driver assisted vehicle guidance system including self-driving cars, autonomous drones, etc. to detect the range from an emitter to a target by irradiating the target with electromagnetic radiation in the form of light. This implies the transmit light pulses is emitted away from a vehicle when using the LiDAR system in driver assisted vehicle guidance system.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the lidar sensor taught by Song to include transmitting light pulses away from a vehicle taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is use LiDAR system on driver assisted vehicle guidance systems to detect the range from an emitter to a target (Klemme; [0018]).
Regarding claim 17, Song as modified above teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising (Song; [0104], some or all of the components can be implemented as software installed and stored in a persistent storage device, which can be loaded and executed in a memory by a processor to carry out the processes or operations described throughout this application):
Song does not teach,
determining, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and
translating the transmit optic along the transverse axis to adjust the Tx FoV while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 7, paragraph [0039], a FoV resolution manager 702 provides close loop control of the operation of a beam generator 704. During baseline operation, a normal beam scan pattern 706 is emitted by the generator 704 to rasterize the FoV in Fig. 5; [0040], at such time that the manager 702 identifies an area of interest (such as 502 ([0036], the area of interest 502, 504 may specifically correspond to particular targets, equivalent to unknown object) in Fig. 5), at least a portion of the beam 706, denoted at 708 is directed through lens 710 to output a directed beam scan pattern for the area of interest. The lens 710 can additionally or alternatively be moved as required using appropriate piezo, mechanical or electromechanical mechanisms to further direct the beam to the intended area (equivalent to translate the transmit optic along the transverse axis between a proximal position and a distal position while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the non-transitory computer-readable medium taught by Song to include transmitting light pulses away from a vehicle; determining, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and translating the transmit optic along the transverse axis to adjust the Tx FoV while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is identifying the unknown object/area of interest and adjusting the transmit optic to focused on the unknown object/area of interest for focused scan (Klemme; [0036], [0039], [0040]).
Regarding claim 18, Song as modified above teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising (Song; [0104], some or all of the components can be implemented as software installed and stored in a persistent storage device, which can be loaded and executed in a memory by a processor to carry out the processes or operations described throughout this application):
Song does not teach,
receiving sweep data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while translating the transmit optic; and
determining a location of the unknown object based on the sweep data.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 7, paragraph [0039], a FoV resolution manager 702 provides close loop control of the operation of a beam generator 704. During baseline operation, a normal beam scan pattern 706 is emitted by the generator 704 to rasterize the FoV in Fig. 5 (equivalent to receive sweep data); [0040], at such time that the manager 702 identifies an area of interest (such as 502 ([0036], the area of interest 502, 504 may specifically correspond to particular targets, equivalent to unknown object) in Fig. 5), at least a portion of the beam 706, denoted at 708 is directed through lens 710 to output a directed beam scan pattern for the area of interest. The lens 710 can additionally or alternatively be moved as required using appropriate piezo, mechanical or electromechanical mechanisms to further direct the beam to the intended area. Fig. 8, [0041]-[0042], further shows the scan patterns by first perform a baseline scan of FoV 1 and followed by redirected the beam into the smaller area of field to perform a focused scan of FoV 2 after unknown object/area of interest is identified. The optical element can be activated for selected number of cycles after which the system can return to scanning the entirely of FoV 1 in order to maintain tracking information for targets that are within FoV 1 but are not within FoV 2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the non-transitory computer-readable medium taught by Song to include transmitting light pulses away from a vehicle; determining, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and translating the transmit optic along the transverse axis to adjust the Tx FoV while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic; receiving sweep data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while translating the transmit optic; and determining a location of the unknown object based on the sweep data taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is identifying the unknown object/area of interest and adjusting the transmit optic to focused on the unknown object/area of interest for focused scan (Klemme; [0036], [0039]-[0042]).
Regarding claim 19, Song as modified above teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising (Song; [0104], some or all of the components can be implemented as software installed and stored in a persistent storage device, which can be loaded and executed in a memory by a processor to carry out the processes or operations described throughout this application):
Song does not teach,
translating the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis corresponding to a region of the Rx FoV based on the location of the unknown object.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 7, paragraph [0039], a FoV resolution manager 702 provides close loop control of the operation of a beam generator 704. During baseline operation, a normal beam scan pattern 706 is emitted by the generator 704 to rasterize the FoV in Fig. 5 (equivalent to receive sweep data); [0040], at such time that the manager 702 identifies an area of interest (such as 502 ([0036], the area of interest 502, 504 may specifically correspond to particular targets, equivalent to unknown object) in Fig. 5), at least a portion of the beam 706, denoted at 708 is directed through lens 710 to output a directed beam scan pattern for the area of interest. The lens 710 can additionally or alternatively be moved as required using appropriate piezo, mechanical or electromechanical mechanisms to further direct the beam to the intended area. Fig. 8, [0041]-[0042], further shows the scan patterns by first perform a baseline scan of FoV 1 and followed by redirected the beam into the smaller area of field to perform a focused scan of FoV 2 after unknown object/area of interest is identified. The optical element can be activated for selected number of cycles after which the system can return to scanning the entirely of FoV 1 in order to maintain tracking information for targets that are within FoV 1 but are not within FoV 2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the non-transitory computer-readable medium taught by Song to include transmitting light pulses away from a vehicle; determining, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and translating the transmit optic along the transverse axis to adjust the Tx FoV while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic; receiving sweep data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while translating the transmit optic; and determining a location of the unknown object based on the sweep data; translating the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis corresponding to a region of the Rx FoV based on the location of the unknown object taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is identifying the unknown object/area of interest and adjusting the transmit optic to focused on the unknown object/area of interest for focused scan (Klemme; [0036], [0039]-[0042]).
Regarding claim 20, Song as modified above teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 19, having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising (Song; [0104], some or all of the components can be implemented as software installed and stored in a persistent storage device, which can be loaded and executed in a memory by a processor to carry out the processes or operations described throughout this application):
Song does not teach,
receiving focused scan data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while the transmit optic is located at the position corresponding to the location of the unknown object;
identifying the unknown object based on the focused scan data; and
translating the transmit optic to the rest position along the transverse axis in response to identifying the unknown object.
Klemme disclosed in Fig. 7-9, [0041], a baseline 1st FoV 1 is generally denoted at 802 and represents a 1st area being scanned by the system at a baseline resolution; [0042], identified an area of interest (area of interest may specifically correspond to particular targets, equivalent to unknown object) within the field 802, denoted as a 2nd FoV 2. Beams 814 correspond to the beam 804 but are redirected into the smaller area of field 812. At the time, no beams 804 are emitted on the rest of the area of FoV 1 while FoV 2 is being scanned. In some cases the optical element can be activated for a selected number of cycles after which the system can return to scanning the entirely of FoV 1 in order to maintain tracking information for targets that are within FoV 1 but are not within FoV 2. This implies that after identifying the target in the area of interest (e.g. FoV 2), the optical element can return to original position such that the system can go back to scan the entirety of FoV 1.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the non-transitory computer-readable medium taught by Song to include transmitting light pulses away from a vehicle; determining, from the received light pulses, that the object is an unknown object; and translating the transmit optic along the transverse axis to adjust the Tx FoV while transmitting light pulses through the transmit optic; receiving sweep data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while translating the transmit optic; and determining a location of the unknown object based on the sweep data; translating the transmit optic to a position along the transverse axis corresponding to a region of the Rx FoV based on the location of the unknown object; receiving focused scan data indicative of the light pulses that reflect off of the unknown object while the transmit optic is located at the position corresponding to the location of the unknown object; identifying the unknown object based on the focused scan data; and translating the transmit optic to the rest position along the transverse axis in response to identifying the unknown object taught by Klemme with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is identifying the unknown object/area of interest and adjusting the transmit optic to focused on the unknown object/area of interest for focused scan inside the Rx FoV. After identifying the unknown object based on the scan data, position the transmit optic to the rest position which is not intersect to the transmission axis such that to scan the whole FoV 1 in order to maintain tracking information for targets that are within FoV 1 but are not within FoV 2 (Klemme; [0036], [0039]-[0042]).
Claim(s) 3-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song, modified in view of Klemme, in view of Richards et al. (US 20210311171 A1, hereinafter “Richards”).
Regarding claim 3, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 1.
Song does not teach, further comprising a collimator mounted adjacent to the series of emitters and configured to focus and direct the light pulses along each transmission axis to collectively form a transmission beam.
Richards teaches, further comprising a collimator mounted adjacent to the series of emitters and configured to focus and direct the light pulses along each transmission axis to collectively form a transmission beam (Richards; Fig. 1, Fig. 9B, [0063], shows the similar design as Song’s invention using a miniature actuator 110 to shift a lens 310 to steer the light (equivalent to transmit optic). The optical stack also includes a collimation lens 311 which is separate from the shift lens 310. From Fig. 9B, the collimation lens is adjacent to the VCSEL (the light source 106 may comprise at least one laser, laser array (e.g. a VCSEL array…) [0045])).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the lidar sensor taught by Song to include each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle taught by Klemme, include further comprising a collimator mounted adjacent to the series of emitters and configured to focus and direct the light pulses along each transmission axis to collectively form a transmission beam taught by Richards with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is including collimation lens system for collimation of the light (Richards; [0061], [0063]).
Regarding claim 4, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 3.
Song does not teach, wherein the transmit optic is arranged adjacent to the collimator and configured to focus the transmission beam onto a region of the Tx FoV to form the adjusted Tx FoV.
Richards teaches, wherein the transmit optic is arranged adjacent to the collimator and configured to focus the transmission beam onto a region of the Tx FoV to form the adjusted Tx FoV (Richards; Fig. 9B, [0063], illustrates an example in which the miniature actuator 110 is used to shift a lens 310 to steer the light. The shifting lens system 310 is adjacent to the collimator as shown in Fig. 9B. This implies using shift lens system to adjust Tx FoV).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of this invention to modify the lidar sensor taught by Song to include each emitter being configured to transmit light pulses away from a vehicle taught by Klemme, include further comprising a collimator mounted adjacent to the series of emitters and configured to focus and direct the light pulses along each transmission axis to collectively form a transmission beam; wherein the transmit optic is arranged adjacent to the collimator and configured to focus the transmission beam onto a region of the Tx FoV to form the adjusted Tx FoV taught by Richards with a reasonable expectation of success. The reasoning for this is using the miniature actuator 110 to shift a lens 310 to steer the light. Translational movement of the shift lens 310 in direction perpendicular to the optical axis result in steering of light or adjusting the Tx FoV (Richards; [0061], [0063]).
Regarding claim 5, Song as modified above teaches the lidar sensor as recited in claim 4, wherein the transmit optic comprises a cylindrical lens (Song; Fig. 2, [0045], the lens array 207 includes at least one fast axis collimator (FAC); [0090], a customized collimation lens assembly (the lens array 207 in Fig. 2) can include a number of cylinder lenses to collimate laser beams from the EELs in the laser beam unit).
Conclusion
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/CHIA-LING CHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/YUQING XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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