DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. 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.
3. Claims 1-3, 6-7 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent Pub. No. 2020/0241113 A1 by Cullumber et al. (hereinafter Cullumber).
Regarding Claim 1, Cullumber teaches a LiDAR (Title, Abstract), comprising at least one laser beam emission module (Fig. 1 @ 110a, 130, form the laser beam emission module, Par. [0018]) and at least one laser beam receiving module (Fig. 1 @ 160a, 140, form the laser beam receiving module, Par. [0019]), wherein
each laser beam emission module (Fig. 1 @ 110a, 130, form the laser beam emission module, Par. [0018]) comprises a light emission device (Fig. 1 @ 110a, Par. [0018]) and an emission lens (Fig. 1 @ 130, Par. [0018]), the emission lens (Fig. 1 @ 130, Par. [0018]) is on a light outgoing side (Fig. 1 @ 120, Par. [0018]) of the light emission device (Fig. 1 @ 110a, Par. [0018]);
each laser beam receiving module (Fig. 1 @ 160a, 140, form the laser beam receiving module, Par. [0019]) comprises a detection device (Fig. 1 @ 160a, Par. [0019]) and a receiving lens (Fig. 1 @ 140, Par. [0019]), and the receiving lens (Fig. 1 @ 140, Par. [0019]) is on a light incident side (Fig. 1 @ 122’, Par. [0019]) of the detection device (Fig. 1 @ 160a, Par. [0019]); and
a focal length of an emission lens (Par. [0024]) of the at least one laser beam emission module (Fig. 1 @ 110a, 130, form the laser beam emission module, Par. [0018]) is set to be less than a first focal length value (Par. [0024]: f is the focal length of the emitting lens 130. For a given scan range h, shorter focal lengths would produce wider AFOVs. For a given focal length f, larger scan ranges would produce wider AFOVs. The total AFOV of the LiDAR sensor 100 may range from about 5 degrees to about 15 degrees, or from about 15 degrees to about 45 degrees, or from about 45 degrees to about 120 degrees, depending on the focal length of the emitting lens thus teaches the limitation).
Regarding Claim 2, Cullumber teaches a focal length of a receiving lens (Fig. 1 @ 140, Par. [0019], inherently teaches a focal length) of the at least one laser beam receiving module (Fig. 1 @ 160a, 140, form the laser beam receiving module, Par. [0019]) is set to be less than a second focal length value (Par. [0024]: each detector being conjugate with a respective laser source. Same technique used for the emission lens can be used for the receiving lens (See claim 1 rejection above)).
Regarding Claim 3, Cullumber teaches the light emission device comprises multiple light emission units, the multiple light emission units are arranged along a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and a total emission angle of view comprises a horizontal emission angle of view and a vertical emission angle of view, wherein the at least one laser beam emission module satisfies: f1<first focal length value, f1 is the focal length of the emission lens of the laser beam emission module, q1x>first horizontal preset value, q1y >first vertical preset value, and q1x and q1y are the horizontal emission angle of view and the vertical emission angle of view, respectively (Par. [0024]. Also see claim 1 rejection above).
Regarding Claim 6, Cullumber teaches the detection device comprises multiple detection units arranged along a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and a total receiving angle of view comprises a horizontal receiving angle of view and a vertical receiving angle of view, wherein the at least one laser beam receiving module satisfies: f2<second focal length value, f2 is a focal length of a receiving lens of the laser beam receiving module, q2x>second horizontal preset value, q2y>second vertical preset value, q2x is the horizontal receiving angle of view, and q2y is the vertical receiving angle of view (Par. [0024], therefore, 1x is the sum of horizontal emission field angles of all laser emission modules, 1y is the sum of vertical emission field angles of all laser emission modules, H1x is the total emission area dimension of the light emitting devices of all laser emission modules along the horizontal direction, and H1y is the total emission area dimension of the light emitting devices of all laser emission modules along the vertical direction, respectively).
Regarding Claim 7, Cullumber teaches the number of laser beam receiving modules is one, and the laser beam receiving module satisfies: f2=(H2x/q2x)=(H2y/q2y), q2x=(H2x/f2), and q2y=(H2y/f2); or f2=(H2x/tan(q2x))=(H2y/tan(q2y)), q2x=arctan(H2x/f2), and q2y=arctan(H2y/f2), wherein H2x is a dimension of a total detection surface of detection devices of all laser beam receiving modules along the horizontal direction, and H2y is a dimension of a total detection surface of detection devices of all the laser beam receiving modules along the vertical direction (Par. [0024], therefore, 2x is the sum of horizontal receiving field angles of all laser beam receiving modules, 2y is the sum of vertical receiving field angles of all laser beam receiving modules, H2x is the total beam receiving area dimension of the beam receiving devices of all laser beam receiving modules along the horizontal direction, and H2y is the total beam receiving area dimension of the beam receiving devices of all laser beam receiving modules along the vertical direction, respectively).
Regarding Claim 12, Cullumber teaches a LiDAR design method, comprising designing a laser beam emission module, wherein the designing the laser beam emission module (See Claim 1 rejection above. Note: an apparatus claim can be used to implement a method claim) comprises:
selecting a light emission device (Fig. 1 @ 110a, 110b. Also See Claim 1 rejection above) based on a required total emission angle of view (Fig. 1 @ 120’, 150); and
setting a focal length of at least one emission lens to be less than a first focal length value based on the required total emission angle of view and the selected light emission device (See Claim 1 rejection above).
Regarding Claim 13, Cullumber teaches designing a laser beam receiving module (See Claims 1, 2 rejection above), wherein the designing the laser beam receiving module comprises:
selecting a detection device (Fig. 1 @ 160a, 160b. Also See Claims 1, 2 rejection above) based on a required total receiving angle of view (Fig. 1 @ 122’, 150); and
setting a focal length of at least one receiving lens to be less than a second focal length value based on the required total receiving angle of view and the selected light detection device (See Claim 2 rejection above).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Culumber in view of CN112234432A by Guo et al. (hereinafter Guo).
Regarding Claim 4, Cullumber teaches there are multiple laser beam emission modules (Fig. 1 @ 110a, 110b, 130, form the multiple laser beam emission module, Par. [0018]), emission lenses (Fig. 1 @ 130, top and bottom portions of the lens) of the multiple laser beam emission modules have the same structure, the emission lens of each laser beam emission module comprises a first optical axis, and first optical axes of the emission lenses of the multiple laser beam emission modules are parallel to each other (Fig. 1 @ 110a, 110b, 130, illustrates such configuration); and
when the first optical axes of emission lenses of two adjacent laser beam emission modules (Fig. 1 @ 110a, 110b, 130, form the multiple laser beam emission module, Par. [0018]) are aligned along the first optical axis direction (Fig. 1, illustrates such configuration), light emission surfaces of light emission devices of the two adjacent laser beam emission modules cover different regions along the horizontal direction (Fig. 1 @ 150, illustrates such configuration), and the light emission surfaces of the light emission devices of the two adjacent laser beam emission modules abut on or overlap with each other along the horizontal direction (Fig. 1 @ 120, illustrates such configuration), wherein the multiple laser beam emission modules satisfy: f1=(H1x/q1x)=(H1y/q1y), q1x=(H1x/f1), and q1y=(H1y/f1); or f1=(H1x/tan(q1x))=(H1y/tan(q1y)),q1x=arctan(H1x/f1), and q1y=arctan(H1y/f1), wherein H1x is a dimension of a total light emission surface of the light emission devices of all the laser beam emission modules along the horizontal direction, and H1y is a dimension of a total light emission surface of the light emission devices of all the laser beam emission modules along the vertical direction (Par. [0024], therefore, 1x is the sum of horizontal emission field angles of all laser emission modules, 1y is the sum of vertical emission field angles of all laser emission modules, H1x is the total emission area dimension of the light emitting devices of all laser emission modules along the horizontal direction, and H1y is the total emission area dimension of the light emitting devices of all laser emission modules along the vertical direction, respectively) but does not explicitly teach emission lenses of the multiple laser beam emission modules.
However, Guo teaches emission lenses of the multiple laser beam emission modules (Fig. 4 @ 3, 8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Cullumber by Guo as taught above such that emission lenses of the multiple laser beam emission modules is accomplished in order to realize the function of illumination compensation using the combination of multi-chip and multi-lens (Guo, Page 5).
6. Claims 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Culumber in view of CN216748063A by Li (hereinafter Li).
Regarding Claim 9, Cullumber teaches there are multiple laser beam emission modules (Fig. 1 @ 110a, 110b) but does not explicitly teach one laser beam receiving module; and
the multiple laser beam emission modules are arranged on two sides of the laser beam receiving module, or the multiple laser beam emission modules are arranged around the laser beam receiving module; and
a combined emission field of view of the multiple laser beam emission modules matches a receiving field of view of the laser beam receiving module.
However, Li teaches one laser beam receiving module (Fig. 1 @ 120); and
the multiple laser beam emission modules (Fig. 1 @ 110) are arranged on two sides of the laser beam receiving module (Fig. 1 @ 120), or the multiple laser beam emission modules are arranged around the laser beam receiving module; and
a combined emission field of view of the multiple laser beam emission modules matches a receiving field of view of the laser beam receiving module (Page 4).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Cullumber by Li as taught above such that there are multiple laser beam emission modules, one laser beam receiving module; and the multiple laser beam emission modules are arranged on two sides of the laser beam receiving module, or the multiple laser beam emission modules are arranged around the laser beam receiving module; and a combined emission field of view of the multiple laser beam emission modules matches a receiving field of view of the laser beam receiving module is accomplished in order to make the arrangement of two laser emitting module 110 is more flexible, so as to realize the miniaturization design of the laser radar 100; and the two laser emitting module 110 also can improve the laser receiving module 120 of the field receiving rate, expanding the laser radar 100 of the detection field angle and also the two laser emitting module 110 emitting field will be approximately distributed on the two sides of the laser receiving module 120, convenient for laser receiving module 120 to receive. and the emitting field of the two laser emitting module 110 is substantially distributed on two sides of the laser receiving module 120, it is convenient for adjusting at least one laser emitting module 110 to make the emitting field of the two laser emitting module 110 in the middle has an overlapping area, so that the emitting field of the laser receiving module 120 of the whole receiving field of view, avoiding the detection blind spot (Li, Page 4).
Regarding Claim 10, Cullumber as modified by Li teaches there are multiple laser beam emission modules, the multiple laser beam emission modules are arranged on two sides of the laser beam receiving module along a horizontal direction (See Claim 9 rejection above), and outgoing beams emitted by at least two laser beam emission modules are directed to different detection regions along the horizontal direction (Li, Page 4: it is convenient for adjusting at least one laser emitting module 110 to make the emitting field of the two laser emitting module 110 in the middle has an overlapping area, so that the emitting field of the laser receiving module 120 of the whole receiving field of view, avoiding the detection blind spot thus teaches different detection regions).
Regarding Claim 11, Cullumber teaches each laser beam emission module comprises multiple light emission devices arranged in a vertical direction, and the multiple light emission devices corresponding to each laser beam emission module cover different regions along the vertical direction (Fig. 1-4, 6, 7, Par. [0016-0017, 0028, 0033, 0040, 0048]).
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 5 and 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.
Additional Prior Art
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. The reference listed teaches of other prior art method/system of LIDAR.
CN109416399A by Pei et al.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMIL AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-1950. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kara Geisel can be reached on 571-272-2416. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JAMIL AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877
Prosecution Insights