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
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.
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.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roustaei, US 2001/0055422 A1, in view of Steinberg, et al., US 2019/0227175 A1.
As per Claim 1, Roustaei teaches a measurement head (¶ 125; “scanning head”) comprising:
a reflection surface configured to reflect a part of a laser pulse transmitted from a laser light source unit toward the laser light source unit and generate a reference pulse (¶¶ 39-40; “lens assembly 212 that filters and focuses light reflected from the two-dimensional image 108 (in FIG. 3) onto the detector 206” of Figures 2 and 3); and
a beam splitter configured to distribute a measurement pulse received from a measurement target (¶ 135; beam splitter 1802 of Figure 18).
Roustaei does not expressly teach: a position sensor configured to receive the measurement pulse distributed by the beam splitter, wherein the measurement pulse is the laser pulse reflected from the measurement target, and a distance between the reflection surface and the measurement target is measured based on a time difference between time at which the measurement pulse passing through the beam splitter reaches the laser light source unit and time at which the reference pulse reaches the laser light source unit. Steinberg teaches: a position sensor configured to receive the measurement pulse distributed by the beam splitter (¶ 52), wherein the measurement pulse is the laser pulse reflected from the measurement target, and a distance between the reflection surface and the measurement target is measured based on a time difference between time at which the measurement pulse passing through the beam splitter reaches the laser light source unit and time at which the reference pulse reaches the laser light source unit (¶¶ 29-30, 53). At the time of the invention, a person of skill in the art would have thought it obvious to combine the reflector and beam splitter of Roustaei with the position sensor of Steinberg, in order to enable a larger three-dimensional depiction of a working environment.
As per Claim 2, Roustaei teaches: that an optical axis of the laser pulse emitted toward the measurement target and an optical axis of the measurement pulse are aligned to coincide with each other (¶ 135; beam 1808 and detector 1803 of Figure 18) on the basis of a detection result of the position sensor (¶ 113; “as a function of object position”).
As per Claim 3, Roustaei teaches that: the position sensor comprises any one of a quadrant photodiode (QPD), a lateral effect photodiode, a CCD sensor, and a CMOS sensor (¶¶ 48-50).
As per Claim 4, Roustaei does not expressly teach: a holder configured to rotatably support the measurement head in a vertical direction; and a mount configured to rotatably support the measurement head in a horizontal direction. Steinberg teaches: a holder configured to rotatably support the measurement head in a vertical direction; and a mount configured to rotatably support the measurement head in a horizontal direction. Steinberg teaches:
a holder configured to rotatably support the measurement head in a vertical direction; and a mount configured to rotatably support the measurement head in a horizontal direction. Steinberg teaches:
a holder configured to rotatably support the measurement head in a vertical direction (¶ 81; “LIDAR system 100 may include a motor or other mechanisms for rotating housing 200 about the axis of the LIDAR system 100” as in Figure 3D); and
a mount configured to rotatably support the measurement head in a horizontal direction (¶ 83; “the LIDAR system 100 (or part thereof, including at least one light source 112 and at least one sensor 116) may be rotated about at least one axis to determine a three-dimensional map of the surroundings of the LIDAR system 100” as in Figure 3D).
See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 5 Roustaei teaches a multi-target distance measurement system comprising:
one or more optical dividers configured to divide a laser pulse into a plurality of optical paths (¶ 135; beam splitter 1802 of Figure 18); and
measurement heads optically connected one by one to an end of each of the plurality of optical paths, wherein each of the measurement heads is the measurement head of claim 1 (¶¶ 115-116; “scanner head” or scanning head”).
As per Claim 6, Roustaei teaches: that lengths of the optical paths from the one or more optical dividers to the measurement heads are configured to be different from each other (¶ 46; as “two or more distinct wavelengths of light are selected”).
As per Claim 7, Roustaei does not expressly teach that each of the plurality of optical paths is composed of an optical fiber. Steinberg teaches that each of the plurality of optical paths is composed of an optical fiber (¶¶ 28, 88). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 8, Roustaei does not expressly teach that a gradient of the measurement target is calculated based on the detection result of the position sensor of the measurement head. Steinberg teaches that a gradient of the measurement target is calculated based on the detection result of the position sensor of the measurement head (¶ 82; after “comparing several properties of reflected light 206 with projected light 204, at least one aspect of object 208 may be determined”). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 9, Roustaei further teaches a laser generation unit configured to generate the laser pulse (¶ 134; lasers 1701 and 1702 of Figure 17).
Roustaei does not expressly teach: a range finder configured to receive a reference pulse and measurement pulse from each of the measurement heads and calculate a distance between the reflection surface and the measurement target based on a reception time difference between the reference pulse and the measurement pulse. Steinberg teach a range finder configured to receive a reference pulse and measurement pulse from each of the measurement heads and calculate a distance between the reflection surface and the measurement target based on a reception time difference between the reference pulse and the measurement pulse (¶¶ 29-30, 53). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 10, Roustaei does not expressly teach: a measurable distance of each of the measurement heads is determined based on a time interval between a reception time at which the range finder receives a reference pulse of the measurement head and a reception time of the next reference pulse received thereafter. Steinberg teaches: that a measurable distance of each of the measurement heads is determined based on a time interval between a reception time at which the range finder receives a reference pulse of the measurement head and a reception time of the next reference pulse received thereafter (¶¶ 29-30 (“the light signal may be a short pulse, whose rise and/or fall time may be detected in reception”), ¶ 53). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 11, Roustaei teaches that the one or more optical dividers comprise: a first optical divider configured to divide the laser pulse into a plurality of first optical paths (¶ 133; “a binary optic is located in the beam path of the laser diode 1601 to divide the beam into a plurality of beamlets”).
Roustaei does not expressly teach second optical dividers 30, 40 and 50 configured to be optically connected to each of the first optical paths divided by the first optical divider and divide the first optical path into at least one or more second optical paths, wherein each of the measurement heads is optically connected to the second optical path one by one. Steinberg divide the beam into a plurality of beamlets”).
Roustaei does not expressly teach second optical dividers 30, 40 and 50 configured to be optically connected to each of the first optical paths divided by the first optical divider and divide the first optical path into at least one or more second optical paths, wherein each of the measurement heads is optically connected to the second optical path one by one (¶¶ 65-66; polarized beam splitter 216 of Figure 2B). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
Conclusion
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ATUL TRIVEDI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3661
/ATUL TRIVEDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661