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 .
Response to Amendment
This action is responsive to the amendment and remarks received June 05, 2026. Claims 1-14 are amended. Claims 15-20 are canceled. Claims 1-14 are pending in the application.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention I, claims 1-14 in the reply filed on June 05, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 8-14, previously held as a separate invention, have been amended to depend upon claim 1, and are thusly now grouped with invention I. Claims 15-20, grouped as Invention III previously, have been canceled. Non-elected claims have been canceled so no claims are withdrawn from consideration.
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Drawings
The drawings were received on June 08, 2023. These drawings are acceptable.
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) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hajati et al. (US Patent 11,977,259, hereinafter referred to as “Hajati”). Hajati anticipates claims:
A light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system (see column 11, lines 40-56), comprising:
a receiver component (the bus 96 that provides the optical signals to the LiDAR systems, see figures 1-18, is interpreted as the receiver component) adapted to receive light transmitted from an optical source (the light source either shown in the figures or which ultimately creates the optical signals in the system is interpreted as the optical source, see figures 1-18); and
a photonics grating coupler (see figures 8-18, specifically the orientation shown in figure 15, which illustrates the grating coupler) comprising a plurality of light scattering elements, wherein the plurality of light scattering elements comprises:
a set of first light scattering elements (the grating elements of 264 are interpreted as the first light scattering elements), wherein each element of the set of first light scattering elements is adapted to receive the light from the receiver component to produce refracted light; and
a set of second light scattering elements (the grating elements of 262 are interpreted as the second light scattering elements), wherein each element of the set of second light scattering elements is adapted to transmit the refracted light towards a first waveguide (248) coupled to receive the refracted light (see column 16, line 7 – column 19, line 59).
2. The LiDAR system of claim 1, wherein the LiDAR system is a frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) LiDAR system (see column 11, lines 40-56).
3. The LiDAR system of claim 1, wherein a boundary between the set of first light scattering elements and the set of second light scattering elements extends diagonally on the photonics grating coupler (see figure 15).
4. The LiDAR system of claim 1, wherein a first cross section of a first element of the set of first light scattering elements is decreased relative to a second cross section of a second element of the set of second light scattering elements (see figure 15, the cross-sections are chosen such that the first cross section is decreased relative to the second cross section) to increase a mode size of the light received from the optical source to produce a transverse magnetic (TM) portion of the light at a first position of the photonics grating coupler (see figure 15).
5. The LiDAR system of claim 4, wherein the first cross section is circular (see figure 15, a circular cross-section can be interpreted).
6. The LiDAR system of claim 4, wherein the light scattering elements of the set of second light scattering elements are apodised (see figure 15, the tapers are interpreted as being apodised).
7. The LiDAR system of claim 1, wherein a first duty cycle of the set of first light scattering elements is less than a second duty cycle of the set of second light scattering elements (see figure 15, the first duty cycle is interpreted as being negative compared to the second duty cycle, as they extend in opposing directions, making the first duty cycle less than the second duty cycle).
8. The LiDAR system of claim 1, wherein the photonics grating coupler is an asymmetric photonics grating coupler (see figure 15) comprising a plurality of grating structures, the plurality of grating structures comprising a transmission (TX) grating structure and a receiver (RX) grating structure, the TX grating structure and the RX grating structure respectively comprising the second light scattering elements and the first light scattering elements (see column 16, line 7 – column 19, line 59), wherein the RX grating structure and the TX grating structure are configured such that:
the center of a TM mode of an optical beam received by the asymmetric photonics grating coupler and the center of the TE mode of the optical beam are aligned along a receiving (RX) axis (the RX is interpreted as being perpendicular to the second waveguide and such that the center of the TM and TE modes are aligned along the axis), the RX axis being perpendicular to a second waveguide (250); and
the TM mode is larger than the TE mode (the TM mode is larger than the TE mode in the large sections of the receiving grating, meeting the limitation).
9. The LiDAR system of claim 8, wherein the asymmetric photonics grating coupler is an asymmetric coaxial photonics grating coupler (see figure 13 for an alternative embodiment that has the gratings being coaxial).
10. The LiDAR system of claim 8, wherein the TM mode is deviated from the TE mode along a transmission (TX) axis (see figure 18 for an interpreted deviation).
11. The LiDAR system of claim 10, wherein the TX axis is perpendicular to the first waveguide (the TX axis is interpreted as being perpendicular to the first waveguide).
12. The LiDAR system of claim 8, wherein:
the asymmetric photonics grating coupler is rectangular (see figure 15, the asymmetric photonics grating coupler is interpreted as the rectangular area encompassing 262 and 265); and
the asymmetric photonics grating coupler is divided into two regions by a diagonal (see figure 15),
wherein a first region of the two regions comprises the TX grating structure and a second region of the two regions comprises the RX grating structure, the two regions being operatively connected (see figure 15).
13. The LiDAR system of claim 12, wherein each of the two regions is a congruent right triangle and the two regions are operatively connected along their respective hypotenuses (see figure 15).
14. The LiDAR system of claim 8, wherein the second light scattering elements of the TX grating structure have a different shape than the first light scattering elements of the RX grating structure (see figure 15, they’re asymmetric and therefore interpreted as having opposing shapes).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN M BEDTELYON whose telephone number is (571)270-1290. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Uyen-Chau Le can be reached at 571-272-2397. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/John Bedtelyon/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
