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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in China on 12/21/2020. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the priority application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 7/12/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed 6/13/2023 are approved by the examiner.
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, 2, 5, 21, 22, 25, 29, 30, 35 and 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bang (United States Patent No. 11,513,192) in view of Liu et al (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0142039).
With respect to claim 1, Bang disclose: A method for controlling a lidar [ taught by the control of the device in figure 1 ], the method comprising: emitting a first sequence of laser pulses, the first sequence of laser pulses comprising at least a first detection pulse and a second detection pulse coded at a time interval T [ taught by the laser diode (LD) generating the pulse waveforms shown by figure 2 ]; receiving a plurality of echo pulses [ taught by the photodiode (PD) receiving the waveforms in figure 2 ]; determining whether an overlay is present among the plurality of echo pulses; and controlling the lidar to emit a second sequence of laser pulses to perform re-detection [ column 5, line 45 to column 6, line 7 teach emitting a sequence of pulse wave combinations ] based on a determination of whether the overlay is present among the plurality of echo pulses.
Bang does not disclose determining whether an overlay is present among the plurality of echo pulses wherein re-detection is based on a determination of whether the overlay is present among the plurality of echo pulses.
Liu et al teaches it was known before the effective filing date of the present application to have detected the overlapping of a detected internal reflection pulse and a pulse reflected from by a surrounding object wherein signal processing taking into account the detected internal pulse reflection is used to improve the distance of measurement on the surrounding object.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have had a reasonable expectation of success in using the overlay detection method of Liu et al in the device of Bang, when seeking to improve range measurement accuracy that takes into account reflections from the device window. The limitation of re-detection is met by the device produced by the combination making measurements via the sequence of pulse wave combination taught by Bang.
The subject matter of claims 2 and 5 are taught by figure 3 of Liu et al wherein return signal (314) overlays internal return signal (311) and return signal (317) does not overlay the internal return signal (311). Therefore, claims 2 and 5 are met by the combination of Bang and Liu et al, as applied to claim 1.
With respect to claim 21, Bang discloses: A lidar [ taught by figure 1 ], comprising: an emitting unit [ taught by laser diode (LD) ], configured to emit a first sequence of laser pulses, the first sequence of laser pulses comprising at least a first detection pulse and a second detection pulse coded at a time interval T [ taught by the laser diode (LD) generating the pulse waveforms shown by figure 2 ]; a receiving unit, configured to receive a plurality of echo pulses [ taught by the photodiode (PD) receiving the waveforms in figure 2 ]; a re-detection and control unit, configured to determine whether an overlay is present among the plurality of echo pulses; and an emission control unit, configured to control the lidar to emit a second sequence of laser pulses [ column 5, line 45 to column 6, line 7 teach emitting a sequence of pulse wave combinations ] to perform re-detection based on a determination of whether the overlay is present among the plurality of echo pulses.
Bang does not disclose a re-detection and control unit, configured to determine whether an overlay is present among the plurality of echo pulses wherein the system is configured to perform re-detection based on a determination of whether the overlay is present among the plurality of echo pulses.
Liu et al teaches it was known before the effective filing date of the present application to have detected the overlapping of a detected internal reflection pulse and a pulse reflected from by a surrounding object wherein signal processing taking into account the detected internal pulse reflection is used to improve the distance of measurement on the surrounding object.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have had a reasonable expectation of success in adding a redetection and control unit to implement the overlay detection method of Liu et al in the device of Bang, when seeking to improve range measurement accuracy that takes into account reflections from the device window. The limitation of re-detection is met by the device produced by the combination making measurements via the sequence of pulse wave combination taught by Bang.
The subject matter of claims 22 and 25 are taught by figure 3 of Liu et al wherein return signal (314) overlays internal return signal (311) and return signal (317) does not overlay the internal return signal (311). Therefore, claims 22 and 25 are met by the combination of Bang and Liu et al, as applied to claim 1.
Column 6, lines 39-46 of Bang state, “…For example, the effective data processing unit 40 may modulate the time duration from the ascending edge of the 1-1 pulse wave of the first pulse combination transmitted from the laser diode LD to the ascending edge of the 1-1 reflective wave of the reflected waves received by the photodiode PD to a digital signal through TDC, calculate the TOF value TOF1 through a counter and store it in the memory M…”; thus teaching the subject matter of claim 29.
Therefore, claim 29 is met by the combination of Bang and Liu et al, as applied to claim 21.
Claim 30 is taught by the processor in figure 2 of Bang applying timing to the (LD) and (PD0 such that they meet the timing shown by figure 2.
Therefore, claim 30 is met by the combination of Bang and Liu et al, as applied to claim 29.
Claims 35 and 36 are met by the combination of Bang and Liu et al, as applied to claim 30, because figure 2 of Bang shows a sequence of single or multiple pulses wherein the modification provided by Liu et al determined overlay as the pulses are detected. Note that the pulse sequence with varying time intervals is used in Bang to eliminate false object detection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4, 6-20, 23, 24, 26-28, 31-34 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to MARK HELLNER at telephone number (571)272-6981.
Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
/MARK HELLNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645