DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-14 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 8/15/2023 fails to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609 because the three non patent literature documents (1) European Office Action dated 2023-04-26, (2) Extended European Search Report dated 2023-01-30, and (3) Partial European Search Report dated 2022-10-28, do not have English language translations. All other references have been considered. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered as to the merits. Applicant is advised that the date of any re-submission of any item of information contained in this information disclosure statement or the submission of any missing element(s) will be the date of submission for purposes of determining compliance with the requirements based on the time of filing the statement, including all certification requirements for statements under 37 CFR 1.97(e). See MPEP § 609.05(a).
Claim Objections
Claims 8-14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding Claim 8:
Line 6 recites the limitation of “a telescope”, but the limitation of “telescope” has already been recited in line 4 of the claim. This can be corrected to recite --the telescope--.
Line 8 recites the limitation of “the event timer” but there is a lack of antecedent basis and should be corrected to recite --an event timer--.
Line 8 further recites “the transmit wave time” but there is a lack of antecedent basis and should be corrected to recite --a transmit wave time--.
Line 10 recites the limitation of “the echo” but there is a lack of antecedent basis for “echo”.
Line 14 recites the limitation of “the echo signal” but there is a lack of antecedent basis for “echo signal”.
Line 14 further recites the limitation of “an event timer” but this is recited earlier in line 8 of the claim, and should be corrected to recite --the event timer--.
Line 11 recites “the rotating shutter” but there is lack of antecedent basis for “rotating shutter”
Line 12 recites “the adjustable diaphragm” and there is lack of antecedent basis for “adjustable diaphragm”
Line 12 recites “the collimating lens” and there is lack of antecedent basis for “collimating lens”
Line 13 recites “the optical filter” and there is lack of antecedent basis for “optical filter”
Line 13 recites “the detector” and there is a lack of antecedent basis for “detector”
Line 15 recites “the distance” and there is a lack of antecedent basis for “distance”
Line 15 recites “the time difference…” and there is a lack of antecedent basis for “time difference..”
Finally, the last line recites “the arrival time” but there is also a lack of antecedent basis for “arrival time”.
All other claims objected to by virtue of dependency. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
Claims 3 and 10 recite the limitation of -- 3’’ to 15’’-- and this is being interpreted as “3 arcseconds to 15 arcseconds.”
Claim 8 is interpreted to be an independent claim.
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, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu (CN 101650438 A) in view of Ipatov (RU 2760829 C1).
Regarding Claim 1: Fu discloses a commonpath high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging system (Fig. 1) comprising: a laser emitting optical path, a telescope and an echo receiving optical path (Fig. 1),
the laser emitting optical path comprises a kHz laser (Fig. 1, kHz laser 8; [0013]), a beam expanding negative lens, a beam expanding positive lens (Fig. 1, lenses 9 and 10; [0013]), and a laser docking mirror which are sequentially arranged along the optical path direction (Fig. 1, 11; [0013]);
the laser beam emitted by the kHz laser enters the telescope through the laser docking mirror after passing through the beam expanding negative lens and the beam expanding positive lens and is then emitted to a retro-reflector (Fig. 1; [0018] beam emitted to target having a retro reflector), the beam expanding lens and the beam expanding positive lens are arranged in a confocal manner ([0013]);
the echo receiving optical path comprises a beam splitter, a focusing lens, a rotating shutter, an adjustable diaphragm, a collimating lens, an optical filter and a detector, which are sequentially arranged along the optical path direction (Fig. 1, reflector 7, lens 12, shutter 13, diaphragm 14, lens 15, filter 16, detector 17);
the focusing lens and the collimating lens are a pair of confocal lenses ([0014]); the adjustable diaphragm is installed at the common focus of the focusing lens and the collimating lens ([0017]); the echo of the telescope is focused by the focusing lens after being reflected by the beam splitter, filtered by the rotating shutter and the adjustable diaphragm, transformed into an unfocused beam by the collimating lens, and finally filtered by the optical filter and then enters the detector ([0034] and Fig. 1).
Based on applicant’s disclosure in the specifications and referring to Fig. 2, with beam splitter 15, the claimed beam splitter does not split the beam, and merely acts as a reflector to reflect the echo light back to the detector. See Paragraphs [0009], [0022], [0036], and [0087] “…reflected by [a/the] beam splitter…”.
While Fu teaches performing ranging measurements and tracking a satellite ([0018]), Fu does not expressly teach that the beam is emitted to a lunar retro-reflector.
Ipatov teaches a laser ranging system that is designed to perform ranging using time of flight measurements (paragraph [0007]) and the beam is emitted to both a lunar retro-reflector and a satellite, and is reflected back from the lunar retro-reflector ([0005], [0006], Fig. 1, corner reflectors on moon 9, satellite with retro reflectors 8).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the ranging system disclosed by Fu, such that the ranging measurements are performed not just for satellites, but also for the moon, as taught by Ipatov. This would merely be a predictable variation of the system disclosed by Fu, where a ranging telescope is used to perform measurements of the moon, as taught by Ipatov. See MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale F.
Regarding Claim 8: Fu discloses a common-path high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging method […] wherein the ranging method comprises:
using a telescope to track a retro-reflector ([0018]);
emitting, by a kHz laser, a laser beam through a beam expanding negative lens and beam expanding positive lens, a laser docking mirror, and the telescope ([0033] and Fig. 1);
triggering, by the laser beam output by the kHz laser, a detector to generate a transmit wave signal and send the transmit wave signal to the event timer to determine the transmit wave time ([0035]);
reflecting, by the retro reflector, the laser beam back to the telescope ([0035] “generates echo”);
receiving, by the telescope, the echo reflected by the retroreflector, wherein the echo is focused by a focusing lens after being reflected by a beam splitter, filtered by the rotating shutter and the adjustable diaphragm, transformed into an unfocused beam by the collimating lens, and finally filtered by the optical filter, and then enters the detector ([0018] and see echo receiving path in Fig. 1);
sending the echo signal generated by the detector to the event timer ([0035]);
determining the distance of the retro reflector according to a time difference between an arrival time of the echo recorded by the event timer and the transmit wave time ([0035]).
Fu does not expressly teach track a lunar retro-reflector, and emitting a laser beam to the moon.
Ipatov teaches a laser ranging system that is designed to perform ranging using time of flight measurements (paragraph [0007]) and the beam is emitted to a lunar retro-reflector, located on the moon, and is reflected back from the lunar retro-reflector ([0005], [0006], Fig. 1, corner reflectors on moon 9).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the ranging system disclosed by Fu, such that the ranging measurements are performed not just for satellites, but also for the moon, as taught by Ipatov. This would merely be modifying the method for measuring distance to a satellite, taught by Fu, such that the ranging measurements can be performed to measure distance to the moon, as taught by Ipanov. “Known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art” (MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale F).
Furthermore, Fu, as modified by Iptaov teaches a common path high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging system according to claim 1 (See claim mapping there).
Regarding Claims 3 and 10: Fu, in view of Ipanov, teaches the common path high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging system according to claim 1, and the method according to claim 8. Fu further discloses wherein the aperture of the adjustable diaphragm increases corresponding to the field of view of 3 arcseconds to 15 arcseconds ([0033] the range for laser divergence, which corresponds to field of view, is 2 arcseconds to 2 arcminutes).
Regarding Claims 6 and 13: Fu, in view of Ipanov, teaches the common path high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging system according to claim 1, and the method according to claim 8. Fu further discloses further comprising an event timer, wherein the event timer is configured to range/measure the time when an event occurs ([0035]).
Claims 2 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu (CN 101650438 A) in view of Ipatov (RU 2760829 C1), further in view of Li (CN 105928689 A). Fu, in view of Ipanov, teaches the common path high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging system according to claim 1, and the method according to claim 8. They do not expressly teach that wherein the laser beam expanded by the beam expanding negative lens and the beam expanding positive lens has a diameter of 40mm and the laser beam emitted to the lunar retro reflector has a diameter of 300 mm.
Li teaches a far-field ranging system that performs satellite ranging and expands the beam that is emitted to the target to a diameter of 300mm ([0042] 200-1000mm; beam diameter over 200mm).
It would have been obvious to a person ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the ranging system taught by Fu and Ipanov, such that the beam is expanded to a large diameter, as further taught by Li. While Li does not expressly state that the beam is first expanded to 40mm before being expanded to a larger diameter size, expanding the beam to a particular diameter in this manner would have been obvious because one ordinarily skilled in the art would select the optimal operational range of values for their particular system. Expanding a beam from a laser to a diameter of 40mm before expanding to 300mm is simply one way to expand the beam to the desired diameter. See MPEP 2144.05.
Claims 4 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu (CN 101650438 A) in view of Ipatov (RU 2760829 C1), further in view of Wagner (US 20050030628 A1), further in view of Jiang (CN 110989064 A). Fu, in view of Ipanov, teaches the common path high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging system according to claim 1, and the method according to claim 8. Fu further discloses the optical filter is an ultra narrowband filter ([0034]).
They do not expressly teach that the narrowband filter is held at a constant temperature or that the bandwidth is specifically 0.2 nm to 0.4nm.
Wagner teaches a narrowband optical filter that has a heater to control the temperature of the filter ([0056] “heater for varying the temperature of the filter”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing range of the claimed invention to further modify the system taught by Fu and Ipanov, such that the optical filter has a heater in order to control the temperature of the filter, as taught by Wagner. The passband of the optical filter changes as temperature changes, and having control over the temperature of the optical filter can control the passband of the optical filter (Wagner, Abstract).
This still does not expressly teach that the bandwidth is specifically 0.2nm to 0.4nm.
Jiang teaches a bandpass filter which has a bandwidth within the range of 0.2nm to 0.4nm (Fig. 5).
It would have been obvious to a person ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date to further modify the filter in the system taught by Fu, Ipanov, and Wagner, such that the bandwidth is 0.2 to 0.4nm, as taught by Jiang. This would be a simple substitution of a narrowband optical filter with a narrowband optical filter that has a particular bandwidth. See MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale B.
Claims 5 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu (CN 101650438 A) in view of Ipatov (RU 2760829 C1), further in view of Chia (US 20140319638 A1), further in view of Salvoni (D. Salvoni et al., "Large Area SNSPD for Lidar Measurements in the Infrared," in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 1-4, June 2022), further in view of Henderson (US 20200284884 A1). Fu, in view of Ipanov, teaches the common path high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging system according to claim 1, and the method according to claim 8. They do not expressly disclose wherein the kHz laser outputs a wavelength of 532 nm, the detector is a HQE SPAD, and when the kHz laser outputs a wavelength of 1064nm, the detector is a 2x2 superconducting array detector.
Chia teaches a high quantum efficiency spad that can detect light having a wavelength of 532nm ([0037] and [0005] this is a high quantum efficiency spad).
It would have been obvious to a person ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date to further modify the detector in the system taught by Fu and Ipanov, such that the detector is a high quantum efficiency SPAD that can detect a wavelength of 532nm, as taught by Chia. This would be a simple substitution of a generic detector in the system disclosed by Fu, with a SPAD having high quantum efficiency for a wavelength of 532nm, as taught by Chia. See MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale B.
This still does not teach when the kHz laser outputs a wavelength of 1064nm, the detector is a 2x2 superconducting array detector.
Salvoni teaches a superconducting nanowire single photon detector that can detect a wavelength of 1064nm (Section II, paragraph 1).
It would have been obvious to a person ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date to further modify the detector in the system taught by Fu, Ipanov, and Chia such that the detector is a SNSPD that can detect a wavelength of 1064nm, as taught by Salvoni. This would be a simple substitution of a generic detector in the system disclosed by Fu, with specific detector that can detect a wavelength of 1064nm as taught by Salvoni. See MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale B.
While this combination does not expressly teach a 2 by 2 array of pixels for the detector, Henderson teaches a LIDAR detector with 4 pixels arranged in a 2 by 2 array (Fig. 4).
It would have been obvious to a person ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date to further modify the detector in the system taught by Fu, Ipanov, Chia and Salvoni, such that, in a case where the light is 1064nm, the detector is a 2 by 2 array as taught by Henderson. This is simply another detector configuration and “Known work in one field of endeavor may prompt variations of it for use in either the same field or a different one based on design incentives or other market forces if the variations are predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art” MPEP 2141.III KSR Rationale F.
Claims 7 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fu (CN 101650438 A) in view of Ipatov (RU 2760829 C1), further in view of Weston (US 20240012143 A1). Fu, in view of Ipanov, teaches the common path high repetition frequency lunar laser ranging system according to claim 6, and the method according to claim 13. They do not expressly teach the event timer comprises a dual channel or multi channel event timer.
Weston teaches this limitation in Fig. 16 and paragraph [0138]: “detected electrical signals from the reference detection channel 450 and the target detection channel 452 are fed to a lidar timer circuit 440.”
It would have been obvious to a person ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date to further modify the timer in the system taught by Fu and Ipanov, such that the event timer is a multi-channel event timer as taught by Weston. This would enable the timer circuit to measure time of flight by measuring the time that has elapsed between the emission and reception of the measurement signal (Weston, [0138]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ISABELLE LIN BOEGHOLM whose telephone number is (571)270-0570. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30am-5pm, Fridays 8am-12pm.
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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. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ISABELLE LIN BOEGHOLM/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/YUQING XIAO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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