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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: the word “communicated” should be “communicating”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 7-8, and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tsai et al. (US 2022/0293813).
With regard to claim 1, Tsai discloses a TOF optical sensing module (para. [0039), comprising (see Fig. 3 reproduced below, and paras. [0040] & [0051]):
a substrate (20);
a cap comprising a body (302), and a transmitting window (70), a receiving window (80), a partition structure (331) and at least one protruding structure (333) all connected to the body, wherein the body and the substrate together define a chamber, the body has a lower surface facing the substrate and the chamber, and the at least one protruding structure protrudes from the lower surface toward the chamber; and
a transceiving unit provided in the chamber, wherein the partition structure is disposed between the lower surface and the substrate to divide the chamber into an emitting chamber (31) and a receiving chamber (32) respectively corresponding to the transmitting window (70) and the receiving window (80), in conjunction with the transceiving unit;
the transceiving unit is configured to emit detection light (from transmitter 40) from the emitting chamber and receive sensing light (at sensor 60) in the receiving chamber through the receiving window; and
each of the at least one protruding structure (333) is disposed in the emitting chamber to reflect and/or absorb the detection light traveling in the emitting chamber towards the receiving chamber.
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With regard to claim 7, the protruding structure (333) is in contact with the partition structure (331).
With regard to claim 8, the transceiving unit comprising at least one reference pixel (60), and at least one part ( right part of 333) of the protruding structure is disposed between the reference pixel and the transmitting window (70).
With regard to claim 10, the transceiving unit comprises: a reference pixel (60) disposed in the emitting chamber (31), between the partition structure and the transmitting window (70);
A sensing pixel (50) disposed in the receiving chamber and below the receiving window (80), and
A light-emitting unit (40) disposed in the emitting chamber and below the transmitting window (70), irradiates a target object above the cap, then is reflected from the target object, and then travels through the receiving window and is received by the sensing pixel (50) as sensing light [0040]; and another portion of the detection light is reflected and/or absorbed in the emitting chamber by the at least one protruding structure (part of the inner surface of upper cap portion, [0042], and then is at least partially received by the reference pixel (60) as reference light.
With regard to claim 11, the emitting chamber (31) and the receiving chamber (32) do not (optically) communicate with each other (no stray light between cavities, para. [0048]).
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.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai et al. (US 2022/0293813). Tsai does not specifically disclose that all of the at least one protruding structure is disposed between the reference pixel and the transmitting window. However, the exact position of the protruding structure is a design choice based on the intensity and pulse characteristics of the transmitted light, and consideration of how much light is to be detected at the reference sensor. It would have been well within the skill of an artisan, e. g. an optical engineer, before the effective filing date of the application to configure all of the protruding structure between the reference pixel and the transmitting window, to reduce the light intensity to the reference sensor by reflection from the protruding structure (para. [0042]).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chen (US 2020/0007668).
Tsai does not disclose, but Chen teaches in the same field of endeavor, that a barrier between an emitter and a receiver of a TOF optical sensing module, has at least one surface provided with a coating layer for absorbing the detection light (Fig. 4B, and para [0051], baffle (6) between emitter (21) and sensor (22) is a protrusion coated with an absorbing material configured to absorb the first signal emitted by the laser). The absorbing coating on the baffle further reduces background noise from the emitter being received by the receiver (para. [0052]). Therefore, one skilled in the art, e. g. an optical engineer, would have been motivated before the effective filing date of the application, by the teaching of Chen to provide a coating layer for absorbing the detection light on the protrusion in the TOF optical sensing module of Tsai et al.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed on Dec. 28, 2022 has been considered by the Examiner.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Campbell, Ho, Chou, and Droz disclose laser range-finders with integrated transmitter and receiver structures.
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/ERIC L BOLDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645