Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after 16 Mar 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Applicant presents Claims 1-12 for examination. The Office rejects Claims 1-12 as detailed below.
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 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (U.S. Pub. 20150006070) in view of Bao et al. (U.S. Pub. 20180188371).
As for Claim 1, Kim teaches a first light-emitting element generating a first emitting signal with wavelengths distributed within a first wavelength range (Fig.1, light emitting unit 111, ¶26|1: “As illustrated in FIG. 1, an object recognition system 100 according to the exemplary embodiment may include a transmitting unit 110 which includes a first light emitting unit 111 …to transmit multi-wavelength laser light [i.e. a first wavelength range]”); a second light-emitting element, generating a second emitting signal with wavelengths distributed within a second wavelength range, said first wavelength range differing from the second wavelength range; and a light-sensing element (Fig.1, light emitting unit 112, ¶26|1: “As illustrated in FIG. 1, an object recognition system 100 according to the exemplary embodiment may include a transmitting unit 110 which includes …a second light emitting unit 112 to transmit multi-wavelength laser light [i.e. a second wavelength range]”); …and when said first emitting signal and said second emitting signal are reflected by an object and received by said light-sensing element, said control circuit judges the type of said object according to the signal sensed by said light-sensing element (¶29|1: “The receiving unit 120 may acquire information on reflected light of an object, that is, information on a size of an object, a speed of an object, the number of reflectors which may be obtained based on a radiance of light reflected from an object, whether a number plate is present, and a material of an object, and information on a distance value which is distance information between objects and a coordinate value which indicates a position of an object, based on the reflected light received.”) Kim does not explicitly teach the remaining limitations.
But Bao teaches where a control circuit controls sequentially said first light-emitting element and said second light-emitting element to emit said first emitting signal and said second emitting signal (¶54|13: “LiDAR system 600 may then repeat this sequence of light pulses ( e.g., along a new scan direction) or use a different sequence of light pulses ( e.g., based on new anticipated ranges to objects in a new scan direction).” That is, the LiDAR system uses multiple signals at multiple wavelengths and transmits the signal pulses sequentially.)
It 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 to combine Kim and Bao because sequentially transmitting signals can prevent oversaturating the detectors.
As for Claim 2, which depends on Claim 1, Kim teaches wherein said first emitting signal is reflected by said object and forming a first reflection signal to be received by said light-sensing element; said second emitting signal is reflected by said object and forming a second reflection signal to be received by said light-sensing element; and said control circuit senses distance according to said first reflection signal or said second reflection signal sensed by said light-sensing element (¶29|1: “The receiving unit 120 may acquire information on reflected light of an object, that is, information on a size of an object, a speed of an object, the number of reflectors which may be obtained based on a radiance of light reflected from an object, whether a number plate is present, and a material of an object, and information on a distance value which is distance information between objects and a coordinate value which indicates a position of an object, based on the reflected light received.”)
As for Claim 3, which depends on Claim 1, Kim teaches wherein the peak wavelength of said first wavelength range is lower or higher than the peak wavelength of said second wavelength range (¶27|1: “The transmitting unit 110 includes the first and second light emitting units 111 and 112 to transmit the multi wavelength laser light to an object ahead of a vehicle, in which the first light emitting unit 111 and the second light emitting unit 112 may emit laser light having different wave lengths.”)
As for Claim 4, which depends on Claim 1, Kim teaches wherein said light-sensing element includes a plurality of light-sensing units; and the light-sensing characteristics of said plurality of light-sensing units correspond to said first wavelength range and said second wavelength range (¶26|5: “a receiving unit 120 which includes two avalanche photo diodes (APDs) to receive information on light reflected from an object, and a processing unit 130 which recognizes the object from the information on the reflected light received through the receiving unit 120.”)
As for Claim 5, which depends on Claim 1, Kim teaches wherein said control circuit is coupled to said first light-emitting element, said second light-emitting element, and said light-sensing element, respectively (Fig. 1, Receiving unit and transmitting units with ECU controller.)
As for Claim 6, which depends on Claim 1, Kim teaches wherein said light-sensing element and said control circuit are integrated on an integrated-circuit chip (Fig. 1, Receiving unit and controlling ECU shown on a single chip)
As for Claim 7, which depends on Claim 2, Kim teaches wherein said control circuit produces an identification rate according to said first reflection signal and said second reflection signal sensed by said light-sensing element for judging the type of said object (¶41|1: “Therefore, in the actual application environment of the vehicle recognition system, the G values between other objects are substantially similar and therefore the difference in the radiance is represented by the difference in the material of the object. Therefore, the albedo depending on a kind of object having different material types may be simplified based on the simple comparison of the radiance.”)
Claims 8-10 and 12 recite substantially the same subject matter as Claims 1-3 and 7, respectively, and stand rejected on the same basis accordingly.
As for Claim 11, which depends on Claim 8, Bao teaches wherein said control circuit controls said first light-emitting element and said second light-emitting element to emit light sequentially or said second light-emitting element and said first light-emitting element to emit light sequentially (¶54|13: “LiDAR system 600 may then repeat this sequence of light pulses ( e.g., along a new scan direction) or use a different sequence of light pulses ( e.g., based on new anticipated ranges to objects in a new scan direction).” That is, the LiDAR system uses multiple signals at multiple wavelengths and transmits the signal pulses sequentially.)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLINT THATCHER whose telephone number is (571)270-3588. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm ET and generally keeps a daily 2:30pm timeslot open for interviews.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuqing Xiao, can be reached at (571) 270-3603.
Though not relied on, the Office considers the additional prior art listed in the Notice of Reference Cited form (PTO-892) pertinent to Applicant's disclosure.
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/Clint Thatcher/
Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/YUQING XIAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645