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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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.
Claim(s) 1, 10, 17 and claims bellow are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by D1 CN110535028A.
Regarding claims 1, 10, 17 D1 teaches
A laser emission drive circuit(210+ part of the 220 without D2), configured to be coupled to a laser device(D2) and an energy storage unit(C1), (fig. 1)
wherein the laser emission drive circuit comprises a drive unit,
a switch unit(M2+ S1+S2) , and
a detection unit(230),
wherein the drive unit(everything but D2) is configured to strobe a light-emitting circuit(fig. 1 Vpulse) of the laser device based on a laser emission trigger signal of a first control terminal, to cause the laser device to emit light;(page 6)
the switch unit is configured to strobe a voltage supply path in response to a switch signal of a second control terminal, and to charge the energy storage unit(c1);
a first terminal of the energy storage(C1) unit is coupled to the laser device(D2) and the switch unit(M2), and a second terminal of the energy storage unit is grounded,(fig. 2) the energy storage unit forms the voltage supply path with a supplied voltage and the switch unit and forms the light-emitting circuit of the laser with the drive unit and the ground, (fig. 2)the energy storage unit being configured to perform charging based on the switch signal of the second control terminal and perform discharging based on the laser emission trigger signal of the first control terminal; and(page 6,7)
the detection unit(230) is coupled to the switch unit, the laser device, and the energy storage unit, and is configured to detect a signal of the first terminal of the energy storage unit during discharging and generate a corresponding state feedback signal based on a comparison of the signal with a preset threshold.(page 6, 7)
2. The laser emission drive circuit according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit comprises at least one detection module; and
the detection module comprises a first input terminal, a second input terminal, and a state feedback signal output terminal, wherein the first input terminal is configured to be coupled to the first terminal of the energy storage unit, the second input terminal is configured for the input of a threshold(implicit threshold is supplied to circuit 230) corresponding to the detection module, and the state feedback signal output terminal is configured for the output of the corresponding state feedback signal based on a magnitude relationship between an output signal of the energy storage unit detected at the first input terminal and the threshold inputted at the second input terminal.(page 6 and 7)
3. The laser emission drive circuit according to claim 2, wherein the detection unit comprises:
a first detection module, configured to compare a voltage signal detected at the first input terminal with a first threshold voltage inputted by the second input terminal, and output a first state
feedback signal when a minimum voltage detected at the first input terminal is less than the first threshold voltage, wherein the first threshold voltage is related to a human eye safety protection threshold.(page 6, 7)
6. The laser emission drive circuit according to claim 2, wherein the detection unit further comprises:
a voltage dividing module, coupled between the first terminal of the energy storage unit and the ground and coupled to the first input terminal of the at least one detection module through a voltage dividing terminal; and
a voltage regulating module, configured to initialize the voltage at the voltage dividing terminal.(page 8, 9 voltage division)
9. The laser emission drive circuit according to claim 6, wherein the voltage dividing module comprises a first resistor and a second resistor coupled between the first terminal of the energy storage unit and the ground, and the voltage dividing terminal is arranged between the first resistor and the second resistor.(page 8, 9)
11. The lidar according to claim 10, wherein the control unit is further configured to perform corresponding processing based on a determination that the state feedback signal is received and a type of the state feedback signal. (page 6, 7)
12. The lidar according to claim 11, wherein the state feedback signal comprises a first state feedback signal, and the control unit is further configured to generate a laser device turn-off signal in response to the first state feedback signal, to control the laser device to stop operating. (page 6, 7, page 9)
13. The lidar according to claim 11, wherein the state feedback signal comprises a first state feedback signal, and the control unit is further configured to:
control a first terminal of the energy storage unit to be grounded;
set an emission channel corresponding to the laser device as a light-emission-prohibited channel; and
output human eye safety alarm information in response to the first state feedback signal.(page 7)
16. The lidar according to claim 10, wherein the laser emission drive circuit comprises a detection unit that is configured to detect a signal of a second terminal of the energy storage unit during discharging and generate a corresponding state feedback signal based on a comparison of the signal with a preset threshold.(page 6, 7)
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the preset emission control parameter comprises at least one of an emission time sequence, an emission power(page 8), a pulse width, and a quantity of continuously transmitted pulse signals of the laser device.(page 6, 7)
19. The method of claim 17, wherein the energy storage unit is configured to perform discharging based on the laser emission trigger signal. (page 6, 7)
20. The method of claim 17, wherein the state feedback signal is generated based at least in part on a comparison of a signal of the energy storage unit with a preset threshold. (page 6, 7)
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) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1.
Regarding claims 4 D1 does not explicitly teach
4. The laser emission drive circuit according to claim 3, wherein the detection unit further comprises:
a second detection module, configured to compare the voltage signal detected at the first input terminal with a second threshold voltage inputted by the second input terminal, and output a second state feedback signal when the minimum voltage detected at the first input terminal is less than the second threshold voltage, wherein the second threshold voltage is related to a minimum energy required for normal operation of the laser device, and the second threshold voltage is greater than the first threshold voltage.
5. The laser emission drive circuit according to claim 4, wherein the detection unit further comprises:
a third detection module, configured to compare a voltage signal detected at the first input terminal with a third threshold voltage inputted at the second input terminal, and output a third state feedback signal when the minimum voltage detected at the first input terminal is less than the third threshold voltage, wherein the third threshold voltage is between the first threshold voltage and the second threshold voltage, and is related to a current preset luminous intensity of the laser device.
15. The lidar according to claim 11, wherein the state feedback signal comprises a third state feedback signal, and the control unit is further configured to output a corresponding excessive light intensity alarm signal when receiving the third state feedback signal.
But teaches using threshold voltage for safe operation. And therefore It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 to use different threshold settings in order to ensure proper operation of the device at different conditions .(just simple multiplication of the elements to include multiple thresholds)
Although D1 does not explicitly teach
7. The laser emission drive circuit according to claim 6, wherein the voltage dividing module comprises a first capacitor and a second capacitor coupled between the first terminal of the energy storage unit and the ground, and the voltage dividing terminal is arranged between the first capacitor and the second capacitor.
8. The laser emission drive circuit according to claim 7, wherein the energy storage unit comprises a third capacitor, and a ratio of a capacitance value of the third capacitor to a capacitance value of either the first capacitor or the second capacitor is greater than 1000.
Using more than one capacitor is just matter of design choice in order to ensure accumulation of the larger charge.
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of filing to modify teachings by D1 in order to accumulate large charge for the source.
Although D1 does not explicitly teach
14. The lidar according to claim 11, wherein the state feedback signal comprises a first state feedback signal and a second state feedback signal, and the control unit is further configured to perform accumulative counting when the control unit receives neither of the first state feedback signal and the second state feedback signal within a preset duration since the laser emission trigger signal is outputted, and to output a blind line alarm signal when a counted value reaches a preset counting threshold.
D1 teaches comparing to the threshold for safe operation and hence operating between two thresholds is just a matter of design choice in order to ensure that device is efficiently illuminates for example without blinding .
Conclusion
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/HOVHANNES BAGHDASARYAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645