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
A series of singular dependent claims is permissible in which a dependent claim refers to a preceding claim which, in turn, refers to another preceding claim.
A claim which depends from a dependent claim should not be separated by any claim which does not also depend from said dependent claim. It should be kept in mind that a dependent claim may refer to any preceding independent claim. In general, applicant's sequence will not be changed. See MPEP § 608.01(n).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
(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.
(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 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mun (KR20210004761A).
Referring to claim 1, Mun shows What is claimed is:
A LiDAR device (see figure 3) comprising:
a rotating mirror being driven to rotate around an axis of rotation oriented
longitudinally (see figure 3 Ref 20);
light emitters, each being configured to emit light toward the rotating mirror (see figure 3 Ref 10A and 10b also see paragraph 44); and
light receivers, each being configured to receive light reflected by the rotating mirror and convert the received light into an electrical signal (see figure 3 Ref 10a and 10b also paragraph 44-45), wherein
the rotating mirror includes reflective surfaces reflecting light (see figure 3 note the reflective surfaces on the top and bottom of the mirror block Ref 20 Ref 21b and 22b),
each of the reflective surfaces is configured to, with rotation of the rotating mirror, cause light emitted by a corresponding one of the light emitters to scan a
distance measurement range in a lateral direction (see the outgoing light as shown by the dotted lines in figure 3), and
cause light reflected from the distance measurement range to travel toward
a corresponding one of the light receivers (see figure 3 Ref 10a and 10b, note each laser module includes a corresponding receiver that receives return light from the mirror block see paragraph 45-47),
the light emitters include
a first light emitter (figure 3 Ref 10a) configured to emit light in an orientation where an upper section of the distance measurement range is scanned (see the light impinging on the triangular pyramid formed on the upper portion of the mirror block), the distance measurement range being divided into the upper section and a lower section (see the outgoing light as well as the shape of the triangular pyramid that would inherently project light towards the upper portion of the FOV), and
a second light emitter (see figure 3 Ref 10b) configured to emit light in an orientation where the lower section of the distance measurement range is scanned (see figure 3 note the polygonal mirror with flat surfaces as shown in figure 3 Ref 21b) ,
the first light emitter is provided at a position facing one of the reflective surfaces (see figure 3 Ref 10a and 22b),
and the second light emitter is provided at a position facing another one of the reflective surfaces whose orientation is different from the one of the reflective surfaces to which the first light emitter faces (see figure 3 Ref 10b and 21b), and
the light receivers include
a first light receiver provided at a position where light emitted by the first
light emitter and reflected at the distance measurement range is received via the rotating mirror (see paragraph 45 note that the first laser module Ref 10a includes a receiver for detecting reflections), and
a second light receiver provided at a position where light emitted by the
second light emitter and reflected at the distance measurement range is received via the rotating mirror (see paragraph 45 note the second laser module Ref 10b includes a receiver for detecting reflections).
Referring to claim 3, Mun shows the first light emitter and the second light emitter each include at least a light- emitting element and a collimator lens,
an optical axis of the light-emitting element and an axis of rotational symmetry of
the collimator lens are substantially parallel to a virtual plane orthogonal to the axis of
rotation of the rotating mirror, and
the axis of rotational symmetry of the collimator lens is shifted by a predetermined distance from the optical axis of the light-emitting element in a direction along the axis of rotation of the rotating mirror (see the collimator lens as shown in paragraph 77 also see figure 3).
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(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mun (KR20210004761A) in view of Yang (20230028159).
Referring to claim 2, Mun shows the first light emitter and second light emitter each include at least a light emitting element and a collimator lens (see paragraph 77) however Mun is silent to the angle of the optical axis of the emitter and the collimating lens.
Yang shows a similar device that includes an optical axis of the light-emitting element and an axis of rotational symmetry of the collimator lens are tilted with respect to a virtual plane orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the rotating mirror (see figures 17 and 19). It would have been obvious to include the tilted axis as shown by Yang because this allows for a more compact device that maintains the upper and lower scanning FOV.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mun (KR20210004761A) in view of Cho (20200049819).
Referring to claim 9, A control method for controlling a timing of pulsed laser emission performed by a
pair of light-emitting elements of a LiDAR device and controlling rotation of a rotating mirror provided between the pair of light-emitting elements, the control method
comprising (see figure 3 also see paragraph 70):
driving a motor to rotate the rotating mirror (see paragraph 70);
driving one of the pair of light-emitting elements to emit light (see paragraph 70;
obtaining output of one of a pair of line sensors, the pair of line sensors being provided to correspond to the pair of light-emitting elements (see paragraph 70);
waiting for elapse of a predetermined time (see paragraph 70 note the preset position or timing of the mirror block to control the operation);
However Mun does not specifically show alternating light sources.
Cho shows a similar device that includes driving the other of the pair of light-emitting elements to emit light;
obtaining output of the other of the pair of line sensors;
stopping driving of both of the pair of light-emitting elements when distance
measurement is finished; and
stopping driving of the motor (see paragraph 144-151 note the vertical scanning performed by multiple light sources through the use of a scanning polygonal mirror). It would have been obvious to include the emission of the light elements as shown because this allows for vertical and horizontal scanning as shown by Cho.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUKE D RATCLIFFE whose telephone number is (571)272-3110. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:00PM EST.
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/LUKE D RATCLIFFE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645