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 1-11 for examination. The Office rejects Claims 1-11 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 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hopper et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210055418) in view of Schwemmer (Schwemmer et al.; "Holographic Optical Elements as Scanning Lidar Telescopes"; Optics and Lasers in Engineering, Volume 44, Issue 9, 2006).
As for Claim 1, Hopper teaches a first laser generator configured to generate a first laser beam (Fig. 3, lasers 202, ¶54|15: “Generally, the laser transmission system 200 can transmit laser pulses at two different wavelengths (schematically illustrated by laser pulses 202) to illuminate an area on the ground that is aligned with the field of view of the receiver system 100.”); a second laser generator configured to generate a second laser beam having a wavelength different from that of the first laser beam (Fig. 3, lasers 202, ¶54|15: “Generally, the laser transmission system 200 can transmit laser pulses at two different wavelengths (schematically illustrated by laser pulses 202) to illuminate an area on the ground that is aligned with the field of view of the receiver system 100.”); an optical manifold configured to receive and couple the first laser beam and the second laser beam to generate a combine laser beam (Fig. 17, beam combiner optic 232, ¶76|19: “At the end of the 532 nm zoom leg there can be a mirror 230 which, along with a beam combiner optic 232, aligns the 532 nm beam with the 1064 nm beam, such that the beams are concentric and pointing in the same direction, ensuring that the spots are sufficiently concentric on the ground.”); a transfer mirror configured to reflect the combine laser beam received from the optical manifold in a direction parallel to a first axis (¶76|19: “At the end of the 532 nm zoom leg there can be a mirror 230 which, along with a beam combiner optic 232, aligns the 532 nm beam with the 1064 nm beam, such that the beams are concentric and pointing in the same direction [i.e., parallel to a first axis], ensuring that the spots are sufficiently concentric on the ground.”); a prism configured to refract the combine laser beam at a first angle based on the first axis to emit the combine laser beam to a target, and to rotate based on the first axis (¶47|1: “Another important design criterion for an ALB system is maintaining a constant off-nadir laser beam angle [i.e., first angle based on the first axis]. There are many effective ways to achieve a constant off-nadir scan angle, including passing a nadir pointing laser beam through a rotating wedge, Fresnel prism or leveraging multiple scanning mirrors. The design of the prism can be selected once an optimal off-nadir angle is determined. The circular scan pattern that is generated from a rotating prism, or orthogonal sinusoidal scan mirrors, is also well suited to an arrayed detector.”);
[…1]; a telescope configured to condense the return laser beam […2] to generate a return combine laser beam, and to emit the return combine laser beam in a direction parallel to the first axis (¶56|19: “After the beam is collimated and redirected to be on-axis, the beam diameter can be reduced with the down-collimating telescope, described in more detail below.”); and a detector configured to measure a distance to the target using at least one of a light amount, an image of a wavelength, a speed, and an arrival time of the first laser beam and the second laser beam included in the return combine laser beam received from the telescope (¶25|9: “Once the surface of the water is detected the distance to the seafloor is calculated from the time difference and knowledge of the speed of light in both air and water. The speed of light in water is roughly a third slower than in air and this bias must be corrected. Thus accurate determination of ranging distance is dependent on reliable detection of both the water surface and the sea floor from the waveform of the laser return pulse.”) Hopper teaches using a reflective aperture relay (RAR) to direct incoming light and does not explicitly teach a holographic optical element integrated with the receiving elements to refract the return laser beam.
But Schwemmer teaches [1] a holographic optical element configured to refract a return laser beam reflected from the target to emit the return laser beam to be parallel to the first axis (Fig. 11 (2) P898, showing off-axis return light refracted by HOE layer of telescope to be on-axis. P899|16), and to integrally rotate with the prism (Fig. 1, P883, HOE integrated with rotating mechanism, which would include the prism of Hopper, P882: “Spinning the HOE about the center normal axis generates a conical scan with the transmitted light and the receiver FOV (Fig. 1). Components from the field stop to the detector remain fixed so no slip rings are required. This makes for a simple compact design.”); a telescope configured to condense the return laser beam received [2] from the holographic optical element…(Fig. 11 (b) P898, showing off-axis return light refracted by HOE layer of telescope to be on-axis. P899|16)
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 Hopper and Schwemmer because the holographic scanning telescope offers advantages over an ordinary scanning telescope by reducing complexity and number of components (Schwemmer, P882).
As for Claim 2, which depends on Claim 1, Hopper teaches wherein a wavelength of the first laser beam is 1030nm to 1100nm, and a wavelength of the second laser beam is 490nm to 570nm (¶32|12: “IR lasers are often used in conjunction with green lasers to aid in surface detection and provide topographic measurements. Frequency doubled lasers can be used to emit aligned IR (1064 nm) and green (532 nm) beams.”)
As for Claim 3, which depends on Claim 1, Hopper teaches wherein the first angle is in a range of 15 degrees to 25 degrees (¶33|3: “Due to the effects of refraction and the high variability of surface returns as function of the angle of incidence, most ALB systems use a scanner with a fixed or narrow range of off-nadir beam angles, typically around 15-20 degrees. ”)
As for Claim 4, which depends on Claim 1, Hopper teaches further comprising: a scanner motor configured to rotate the prism and the holographic optical element about the first axis (¶59|1”Still referring to FIG. 7, the scanning wobble mirror 106 can have a toroidal surface that is rotated about the optical axis of the system by a motor 107.”)
As for Claim 5, which depends on Claim 4, Hopper teaches wherein the scanner motor comprises: a shaft configured to accommodate the prism in an internal space and to rotate about the first axis; and a clamp configured to extend outward from the shaft and to fix the holographic optical element (¶33|3: “Due to the effects of refraction and the high variability of surface returns as function of the angle of incidence, most ALB systems use a scanner with a fixed or narrow range of off-nadir beam angles, typically around 15-20 degrees. Linear scan patterns are avoided in favor of circular, semi-circular, or elliptical scan patterns. Nutating mirrors, Risley prisms, wedge prisms, and Fresnel prisms can be used to design scanners with these patterns.”)
As for Claim 6, which depends on Claim 4, Schwemmer teaches wherein the holographic optical element comprises: a coupling region having a coupling hole coupled to the scanner motor; a first optical region provided in a ring shape to surround the coupling region and having a first optical pattern on a surface thereof to pass the first laser beam of the return laser beam; and a second optical region provided in a ring shape to surround the first optical region and having a second optical pattern on a surface thereof to pass the second laser beam of the return laser beam (P899: “…the laser can be transmitted using mirrors or prisms mounted in a fixture attached to a hole through which the beam passes, cut in the center of the grating.”)
As for Claim 7, which depends on Claim 6, Schwemmer teaches wherein the transfer mirror and the prism are disposed to overlap the coupling hole of the holographic optical element in a first direction in which the first axis extends (P899: “…the laser can be transmitted using mirrors or prisms mounted in a fixture attached to a hole through which the beam passes, cut in the center of the grating.”)
As for Claim 8, which depends on Claim 1, Schwemmer teaches wherein a footprint of the holographic optical element is larger than a footprint of the prism (899: “Several years of use have shown the HOE assemblies to be robust and reliable. Future developments include scaling to meter apertures and larger, increasing angular resolution, and multiplexing HOEs to utilize multiple wavelengths or multiple fields of view so as to negate the need to move the HOE in order to scan.”)
As for Claim 9, which depends on Claim 1, Hopper teaches wherein the combine laser beam reflected by the transfer mirror is coaxial with the return combine laser beam emitted by the telescope (¶56|19: “After the beam is collimated and redirected to be on-axis, the beam diameter can be reduced with the down-collimating telescope, described in more detail below.”)
As for Claim 10, which depends on Claim 1, Hopper teaches wherein the detector comprises: a photomultiplier tube configured to detect a wavelength corresponding to the second laser beam; and an avalanche photodetector configured to detect a wavelength corresponding to the first laser beam (¶41|1: “Due to their ability to detect weak optical signals, both photomultiplier tubes (PMT) and avalanche photodiodes (APD) are commonly used detectors in LiDAR systems.”)
As for Claim 11, which depends on Claim 10, Hopper teaches wherein the detector further comprises: a splitter configured to distribute the second laser beam of the return combine laser beam received from the telescope to the photomultiplier; and a reflecting mirror configured to reflect the first laser beam received from the splitter to the avalanche photodetector (¶56|25: “The detector system 110 can have an array of 5 detectors, for example. Each detector can operate at a single wavelength. The wavelengths are separated using dichroic beamsplitters.”)
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