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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. DE102021214433.0, filed on Filing Date 12/15/2021.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description:
10 (Fig. 1)
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 19-31 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 19, the limitation “damped in an area of the emitting unit and/or in an area of the receiving unit” is indefinite because it is unclear what defines emitting unit area and receiving unit area. What defines the boundaries of these areas?
Further, regarding claim 19, “the scanning area” lacks antecedent basis. Previously, in line 1, there was “scanning areas.” Which of these is considered “the scanning area”?
Claims 20-31 are rejected due to dependency.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song (US20210208276A1, "Song1").
Regarding claim 16, Song1 teaches a method for scanning scanning areas using a LIDAR device, comprising the following steps: generating beams in pulsed form by at least one beam source, and emitting the generated beams into the scanning area (Para [0048], Fig 2, where the light emitting unit 104 which is a further illustrated embodiment of Fig. 1, may include one or more laser emitters as stated generally by Para [0037]);
receiving, by at least one detector, beams reflected and/or backscattered from the scanning area (Para [0041], Fig 2, where light receiving unit 109 includes photodetector 117, with multiple high-sensitivity photodiodes each detecting light);
wherein the scanning area is scanned by beams having a damped radiant power and/or by beams having an undamped radiant power in order to expand a dynamic range of the LIDAR device (Para [0049], Fig 2, where low-intensity beam 203 has damped radiant power and high-intensity beam 201 has undamped radiant power).
Regarding claim 18 Song1 teaches the method as recited in claim 16, wherein the beams having the damped radiant power and the beams having the undamped radiant power are generated and received in temporal succession and/or the beams having the damped radiant power and the beams having the undamped radiant power are emitted into the scanning area and received from the scanning area spatially separated from one another (Para [0048], Fig 2, where the light emitting unit 104 is done at different times and intensities. As a further illustrated embodiment of Fig. 1, 104 may include one or more laser emitters as stated generally by Para [0037]. If more than one emitter is used then the different beams will both be separate and temporally spaced).
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.
Claims 17, 19-26 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song1 in view of Song (US 20190331775 A1, "Song2”), and Droz et al. (US 20200141716 A1, “Droz”).
Regarding claim 17, Song1 teaches the method as recited in claim 16, wherein the beams having damped radiant power are generated by at least one beam source with reduced power (Song1, Para [0049], Fig 2, where low-intensity beam 203 has damped radiant power).
However, Song1 does not teach and/or the beams reflected and/or backscattered from the scanning area are damped by active or passive damping elements with respect to the radiant power to form beams having the damped radiant power.
On the other hand, Song2 teaches an active damping LCD spatial filter allowing beams of certain orientation to be received by a detector (Song2, Para [0081]-[0082], Fig 3A and 3B, where spatial filter 301 is an active damping LCD spatial filter that can be turned on to allow beams of a certain direction through the filter to be received by the detector).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the Lidar apparatus of Song1 in view of Song2, to have placed an LCD filter upstream from the detector to actively damp beams of different intensities, by only allowing beams of a specific orientation through the filter. See MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale A.
However, Song1 in view of Song2 does not teach passive damping elements with respect to the radiant power to form beams having the damped radiant power.
On the other hand, Droz teaches a passive filter that selectively allows light to be detected (Droz, Para [0110], Fig 4D where Diaphragm 446 is a passive filter configured to have a select portion of light to be received by the detector).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the Lidar apparatus of Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz by either changing the intensity of the beam sources in combination with an LCD spatial filter to actively damp laser pulses, or by using a filter to passively damp receiving pulses at different wavelengths. This further eliminates the possibility for crosstalk by either allowing for activated detectors, or by reducing the radiant power through filters, when measuring reflective or non-reflective objects. See MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale A.
Regarding claim 19, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches a LIDAR device for scanning scanning areas, comprising: an emitting unit including at least one beam source configured to generate and emit beams into the scanning area (Song1, Para [0048], Fig 2, where the light emitting unit 104 which is a further illustrated embodiment of Fig. 1, may include one or more laser emitters as stated generally by Para [0037]);
and a receiving unit including at least one detector configured to receive beams reflected and/or backscattered from the scanning area (Song1, Para [0041], Fig 2, where light receiving unit 109 includes photodetector 117, with multiple high-sensitivity photodiodes each detecting light);
wherein a radiant power of the beams reflected and/or backscattered from the scanning area directed at the at least one detector is actively and/or passively damped in an area of the emitting unit and/or in an area of the receiving unit, for expanding a dynamic range of the LIDAR device (Song1, Para [0049], Fig 2, where low-intensity beam 203 has damped radiant power; Song2, Para [0081]-[0082], Fig 3A and 3B, where spatial filter 301 is an active damping LCD spatial filter that can be turned on to allow beams of a certain direction through the filter to be received by the detector, or Droz, Para [0110], Fig 4D where Diaphragm 446 is a passive filter configured to have a select portion of light to be received by the detector).
Regarding claim 20, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches the LIDAR device as recited in claim 19, wherein the at least one detector includes at least one first detector and at least one second detector, only measured data of the first detector or only measured data of the second detector or measured data of the first detector and of the second detector combined with one another, being situationally receivable for a further processing by a control unit (Song2, Para [0084], Fig 3A and 3B, where a first detector can be Column A 317 and a second detector can be Column B 323 on SPAD Array 213, each column being its own detector depending on the direction of received light. As disclosed in Para [0085] the controlling unit can read data from the SPAD Array).
Regarding claim 21, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches The LIDAR device as recited in claim 20, wherein: (i) at least one filter upstream from the first detector is situated in the receiving unit and/or at least one filter downstream from the at least one beam source is situated in the emitting unit, configured to passively damp the radiant power, or (ii) at least one LCD array upstream from the first detector is situated in the receiving unit configured to actively damp the radiant power ( (i) Droz, Para [0110], Fig 4D where Diaphragm 446 is a passive filter configured to have a select portion of light to be received by the detector in the receiving area, and Para [0105], Fig 4C, where the optical window 448 selectively transmits light to damp beams in the passively emitting area according to Para [0096] lin. 4-12 or (ii) Song2, Para [0081]-[0082], Fig 3A and 3B, where spatial filter 301 is an active damping LCD spatial filter that can be turned on to allow beams of a certain direction through the filter to be received by the detector).
Regarding claim 22, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches the LIDAR device as recited in claim 21, wherein the LCD array is activatable pixelwise by the control unit to damp an entire detection surface or at least a section of the detection surface of the first detector with respect to incoming radiant power (Song2, Para [0081] lin. 3-10 and Para [0082] lin. 3-13, Fig 3A and 3B, where Aperture A 307 and Aperture B 321 are selectively used to damp the detection surface SPAD array depending on the direction of light being received).
Regarding claim 23, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches the LIDAR device as recited in claim 19, wherein the radiant power of the beams backscattered and/or reflected from the scanning area directed at the at least one detector is actively dampable indirectly by at least one power-regulated beam source, a radiant power of beams generated by the power-regulated beam source being adjustable by the control unit (Song1, Para [0049], Fig 2, where power controller 215 actively indirectly damps the power of beams by emitting low-intensity beam 203 having damped radiant power from high-intensity beam 201 having undamped radiant power).
Regarding claim 24, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches the LIDAR device as recited in claim 23, wherein the control unit is configured to decrease the radiant power of the power-regulated beam source in the case of a crosstalk of the at least one detector ascertained based on received measured data of at least one detector of the at least one detector (Song1, Para [0047]-[0048], Fig 2, where saturation detector 219 will cause power controller 215 to reduce the radiant power of laser emitting unit if a macro-pixel is saturated which is an indication of crosstalk).
Regarding claim 25, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches the LIDAR device as recited in claim 20, wherein the at least one beam source includes a first beam source and a second beam source, the second beam source configured to generate beams having a lower radiant power compared to the generated beams of the first beam source (Song1, Para [0048], Fig 2, where the light emitting unit 104 which is a further illustrated embodiment of Fig. 1, may include one or more laser emitters as stated generally by Para [0037]. One emitter emitting a higher intensity beam 201, and a second emitter emitting a lower intensity beam 203).
Regarding claim 26, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches the LIDAR device as recited in claim 25, wherein the beams generated by the first beam source are guidable as backscattered and/or reflected beams from the scanning area onto the second detector, and the beams generated by the second beam source are guidable as backscattered and/or reflected beams from the scanning area onto the first detector (Song2, Para [0081] lin. 3-10 and Para [0082] lin. 3-13, Fig 3A and 3B, where Aperture A 307 can be directing laser pulses 305 of the first beam source towards first detector Column A 317 and Aperture B 321 can be directing laser pulses 306 of the second beam source towards first detector Column B 323).
Regarding claim 28, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches the LIDAR device as recited in claim 25, wherein the beams generated by the first beam source are guidable as backscattered and/or reflected beams from the scanning area onto the first detector and the second detector, and/or the beams generated by the second beam source are guidable as backscattered and/or reflected beams from the scanning area onto the first detector and onto the second detector, wherein the first beam source or the second beam source is adaptively activatable and/or blockable by the control unit (Song1, Para [0049], Fig 2, where power controller 215 only activates the source of the low intensity beam when saturation is detected. Para [0056] discloses a first beam source with high illumination due to high intensity beam emission, where in Fig 3A, the photodetector 117 is illuminated in multiple regions of the detecting array for both low and high reflectivity objects. This would be indicative of the first beam source emitting a high intensity beam that when backscattered/reflected would illuminate multiple detectors).
Claims 27 and 29-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song1 in view of Song2, Droz and Yeun (KR102297399B1, "Yeun").
Regarding claim 27, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz teaches The LIDAR device as recited in claim 26.
However, Song1 in view of Song2 and Droz does not explicitly teach wherein the first beam source and the second beam source are situated at an angle next to one another in order to illuminate different detectors.
On the other hand, Yeun teaches two detectors situated next to each other emitting different wavelengths (Yeun, Fig 1, where light source 110 can be either one intensity light source and 130 is another intensity source and can illuminate different detectors by:
1) emitting light at angles such as Song2 Fig 3A and 3B Horizontal A/B degree,
2) reflecting off/going through Yeun, Fig 1 MEMS mirror 120 and Dichroic mirror 140,
3) and activating Song2 Fig 3A and 3B LCD Spatial filter 301 to illuminate different detectors on SPAD Array 213).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention to have modified the Lidar apparatus of Song "High Dynamic Range" in view of Song2, Droz, and Yeun to have positioned the emitters of Song1 as shown in Yeun, so multiple emitters can be used to emit light at different angles such that when different intensity light is transmitted it can illuminate different detectors, eliminating crosstalk error from using one light source. See MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale D.
Regarding claim 29 Song1 in view of Song2, Droz, and Yeun teaches The LIDAR device as recited in claim 28, wherein the generated beams of the first beam source are emittable via a deflection mirror and through a semi-transparent mirror into the scanning area, the generated beams of the second beam source being emittable via the semi-transparent mirror into the scanning area (Yeun, Para [0045] Fig 1, where dichroic mirror 140 is the semi-transparent mirror and scan mirror 120 is a MEMS deflection mirror as disclosed by Para [0040]).
Regarding claim 30, Song1 in view of Song2, Droz, and Yeun teaches The LIDAR device as recited in claim 29, wherein the semi-transparent mirror is a polarizing, semi-transparent mirror or a dichroic mirror (Yeun Para [0045], Fig 1, where dichroic mirror 140 is the semi-transparent mirror).
Regarding claim 31, Song1 in view of Song2, Droz, and Yeun teaches the LIDAR device as recited in claim 30, wherein the semi-transparent mirror is a dichroic mirror, and wherein the first beam source emits generated beams, which have a wavelength different from the generated beams of the second beam source. (Yeun Para [0045], Fig 1, where dichroic mirror 140 is the semi-transparent mirror and Para [0040] discloses a first light source of a first wavelength and Para [0042] discloses a second light source with a second wavelength).
Conclusion
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/ZAKI KEHINDE HAWKINS/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/YUQING XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645