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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smits, US 2019/0302264 A1, in view of Beuschel, et al., US 2019/0277952 A1.
As per Claim 1, Smits teaches a distance information acquisition system (¶¶ 35-37), include:
a light source module (¶ 38), a receiving module (¶ 40) and a processing module (¶ 60; processor 202 of Figure 2);
the light source module includes N groups of emission light with timing correlation (¶ 73), where N is an integer greater than or equal to 3 (¶¶ 32-33; between “one or more outgoing light beams” and “one or more incoming light beams”), and at least two groups of adjacent emission light include timing correlation in emission timing (¶¶ 89-90).
Smits does not expressly teach: that the receiving module receives the returned light of N groups of emission light in the field of view and converts the returned light signal into electrical signal, where the N groups of emission light are emitted by the light source module; and that the processing module obtains a set of distance information of the detected object in the complete field of view according to the electrical signals converted by the N groups of emission light. Beuschel teaches:
that the receiving module receives the returned light of N groups of emission light in the field of view and converts the returned light signal into electrical signal (¶ 45), where the N groups of emission light are emitted by the light source module (¶¶ 39-40; from “component DC”); and
that the processing module obtains a set of distance information of the detected object in the complete field of view according to the electrical signals converted by the N groups of emission light (¶¶ 42, 45).
At the time of the invention, a person of skill in the art would have thought it obvious to combine the lidar system of Smits with the electrical converter of Beuschel, in order to reduce the amount of memory space that must be used to store measurement data.
As per Claim 2, Smits teaches that the N groups of emission light are at least divided into M emitting types of light, where M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, wherein there are at least 2 groups of emission light in at least one type of light (¶ 33; “one or more incoming light beams”), the at least 2 groups of emission light includes a first timing correlation in emission timing (¶ 103), the M emitting types of light include a second timing correlation in emission timing (¶ 100).
As per Claim 3, Smits teaches that the N is 4 of the N groups of emission light with timing correlation (¶¶ 153-154; based on “second incoming light beam 672” and “second pulsed outgoing light beam 662” of Figure 6B).
As per Claim 4, Smits teaches that the light emission time interval of the first timing correlation is less than or equal to the light emission time interval of the second timing correlation (¶ 151; “t.sub.2>t.sub.0”).
As per Claim 5, Smits does not expressly teach that the light emission time interval of the first timing correlation further includes a quench time interval where the quench time interval is not more than 20% of the minimum duration of the N groups of emission light. Beuschel teaches that the light emission time interval of the first timing correlation further includes a quench time interval where the quench time interval is not more than 20% of the minimum duration of the N groups of emission light (¶ 43; based on “a time period that is much shorter than 1 ns”). See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 6, Smits teaches that the N groups of emission light with time correlation are all emission light spot clusters, where each spot cluster includes the same number of multiple discontinuous light spots (¶¶ 86-87; “a highly collimated ‘fine-tipped’ beam that produces a beam spot less than 10 millimeter (mm) in diameter”).
As per Claim 7, Smits teaches that the receiving module includes SPAD array modules (¶¶ 33, 40, 51).
As per Claim 8, Smits teaches that the processing module obtains at least two different time windows widths statistical results according to at least one group of emission light conversion signals output by the SPAD array module (¶¶ 151-154; based on “Δt.sub.0” and “Δt.sub.1”).
As per Claim 9, Smits teaches that the processing module obtains the distance result information of the detected object in the field of view according to the at least two different time windows widths statistical results of the at least one group of emission light conversion signals (¶¶ 194-197).
As per Claim 10, Smits does not expressly teach that the distance information acquisition system acquires not less than 30 groups distance information of the detected objects in a complete field of view, during at least part of the working time. However, in light of Beuschel’s teaching “that the evaluation circuit stores 100 to 150 measurements, preferably 130 measurements, for each light pulse” (¶ 26), and distance ranges of “a distance of 150 to 300 meters (¶ 25), it would have fallen within the range of routine optimization, under MPEP 2144.05 II.A., that the distance information acquisition system acquires not less than 30 groups distance information of the detected objects in a complete field of view, during at least part of the working time. See Claim 1 above for the rationale based on obviousness, motivations and reasons to combine.
As per Claim 11, Smits teaches that at least two groups of emission light of at least one emitting type further include a third timing correlation in the emission timing (¶ 154; based on “t.sub.3”).
As per Claim 12, Smits teaches that the light emission time interval of the third timing correlation is less than the light emission time interval of the first timing correlation (¶ 154; “t.sub.3>t.sub.1”).
Conclusion
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ATUL TRIVEDI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3661
/ATUL TRIVEDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
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