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
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) 1-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tsai et al (US 20210132196 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tsai et al discloses a light ranging and detection (LiDAR) system comprising one or more metasurface based optics (paragraph [0044]), the system comprising: a transmitter comprising one or more transmitter optics, the transmitter being configured to provide one or more transmission light beams; a beam steering apparatus optically coupled to the transmitter (paragraphs [0004], [0027], [0032], [0059], the beam steering apparatus comprising one or more steering optics (See Fig. 9 and paragraphs [0044]) configured to: scan the one or more transmission light beams in at least one of a horizontal and a vertical directions to a field-of-view, and direct return light formed based on the scanned one or more transmission light beams (See Fig. 9 and paragraph [0044]); a receiver comprising one or more receiver optics, the receiver being configured to receive the return light directed by the beam steering apparatus (See Fig. 9 and paragraph [0044]); wherein at least one of the one or more transmitter optics, the one or more steering optics, and the one or more receiver optics comprise the one or more metasurface-based optics (See Fig. 9 and paragraph [0044]); at least one of the metasurface-based optics having subwavelength structures disposed on a semiconductor wafer substrate, wherein features of the subwavelength structures have sizes smaller than an operational wavelength of the LiDAR system (paragraph [0058]).
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Regarding claim 2, Tsai et al discloses wherein the subwavelength structures are preconfigured to modulate light according to one or more optical requirements associated with the transmitter, beam steering apparatus, or the receiver (paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 3, Tsai et al discloses wherein the operational wavelength of the LiDAR system is between 750 nm to 2000 nm (paragraph [0057]).
Regarding claim 4, Tsai et al discloses wherein each of the subwavelength structures has a dimension between 1/20-9/10 of the operational wavelength of the LiDAR system (See Fig. 17 and paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 5, Tsai et al discloses wherein the subwavelength structures form a 2-dimensional or 3- dimensional pattern configured to module light to have different optical phase changes at different locations of the subwavelength structures such that light formed by the subwavelength structures is manipulated according to at least one optical requirement associated with the transmitter, beam steering apparatus, or the receiver (paragraph [0059]).
Regarding claim 6, Tsai et al discloses wherein the at least one optical requirement comprises one or more requirements related to: beam direction, reflection, deflection, refraction, diffraction, focusing, collimation, splitting, merging, converging, steering, scattering, dispersion, or polarization of the one or more transmission light beams and the return light (paragraph [0059]).
Regarding claim 7, Tsai et al discloses wherein the subwavelength structures comprise dielectric-based structures on the order of nanometers or micrometers (See Fig. 17 and paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 8, Tsai et al discloses wherein the subwavelength structures comprise a monolayer or multilayers of nanostructures (See Fig. 17 and paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 9, Tsai et al discloses wherein a thickness of the at least one of the one or more metasurface-based optics is less than one micrometer (See Fig. 17 and paragraph [0058]).
Regarding claim 10, Tsai et al discloses wherein the transmitter further comprises: a transmitter fiber array configured to emit respective light beams from respective transmitter optical fibers of the transmitter fiber array to the beam steering apparatus, and wherein the one or more metasurface-based optics comprises one or more first transmitter Metalens disposed between the transmitter optical fibers and the beam steering apparatus (See Fig. 1 and paragraph [0040]).
Regarding claim 11, Tsai et al discloses wherein the one or more first transmitter Metalenses are configured to: collimate the light beams emitted from the transmitter optical fibers; and direct collimated light beams along different directions to form the one or more transmission light beams, wherein neighboring transmission light beams have a predetermined angular spacing (paragraph [0044]).
Regarding claim 12, Tsai et al discloses wherein the one or more metasurface-based optics comprises further comprise one or more second transmitter Metalenses configured to: perform one or more of a shifting, shaping, splitting, and converging of the one or more transmission light beams (paragraph [0044]).
Regarding claim 13, Tsai et al discloses wherein the receiver further comprises: a receiver fiber array, wherein the one or more receiver optics are disposed between the beam steering apparatus and the receiver fiber array, and wherein the one or more metasurface-based optics comprises a first receiver Metalens; and a detector optically coupled to the receiver fiber array (See Fig. 1 and paragraph [0044]).
Regarding claim 14, Tsai et al discloses wherein the first receiver Metalens is configured to collect the return light formed by scattering or reflecting the one or more transmission light beams by one or more objects in the field-of-view (paragraph [0059]).
Regarding claim 15, Tsai et al discloses wherein the one or more metasurface-based optics further comprise: one or more second receiver Metalenses configured to perform one or more of: a collimation, shifting, shaping, splitting, and converging of the return light (paragraph [0059]).
Regarding claim 16, Tsai et al discloses wherein the receiver further comprises: an optical slit configured to pass through a portion of the return light; wherein the one or more metasurface-based optics further comprise one or more third Metalenses configured to receive the portion of the return light passing through the optical slit and perform beam homogenization; and a detector configured to receive the beam homogenized return light (paragraph [0059]).
Regarding claim 17, Tsai et al discloses wherein the one or more steering optics comprises one or more cylindrical-shaped structures, each of the cylindrical-shaped structures having a surface printed with subwavelength structures configured to redirect the one or more transmission light beams to the FOV in at least one of the horizontal and vertical directions (paragraph [0062]).
Regarding claim 18, Tsai et al discloses wherein the one or more steering optics comprises a disk-shaped structure having a surface printed with subwavelength structures configured to redirect the one or more transmission light beams to the FOV in at least one of the horizontal and vertical directions (paragraph [0062]).
Regarding claim 19, Tsai et al discloses wherein the transmitter further comprises a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) emitting the transmission light beams in a plurality of transmitter channels (paragraphs [0044], [0058]).
Regarding claim 20, Tsai et al discloses wherein the VCSEL comprises 30 or more transmitter channels such that scanlines of the LiDAR system have an angular resolution of less than 0.5 degrees (paragraphs [0043], [0058]).
Regarding claim 21, Tsai et al discloses wherein the one or more metasurface-based optics comprise a third transmitter Metalens configured to operate as a transmitter lens group to perform coarse and fine collimation of the transmission light beams (See Fig. 1 and paragraph [0040]).
Regarding claim 22, Tsai et al discloses wherein the one or more metasurface-based optics comprises a fourth receiver Metalens configured to operate as a receiver lens group to focus the return light; wherein the receiver further comprises: a detector or a multi-element detector array; and additional spatial or spectral filter structures disposed in front of the detector elements (paragraph [0059]).
Regarding claim 23, Tsai et al discloses wherein the receiver further includes a folding mirror with an opening configured to pass through the transmission light beams to the beam steering apparatus (See Fig. 9 and paragraph [0044]).
Regarding claim 24, Tsai et al discloses wherein a vehicle comprising a system for light ranging and detection (LiDAR) (See Fig. 1 and paragraph [0040]), the system comprising: a transmitter comprising one or more transmitter optics, the transmitter being configured to provide one or more transmission light beams; a beam steering apparatus optically coupled to the transmitter, the beam steering apparatus comprising one or more steering optics (See Fig. 9 and paragraph [0044]) configured to: scan the one or more transmission light beams in at least one of a horizontal and a vertical directions to a field-of-view, and direct return light formed based on the scanned one or more transmission light beams (See Fig. 9 and paragraph [0044]); a receiver comprising one or more receiver optics, the receiver being configured to receive the return light directed by the beam steering apparatus (See Fig. 9 and paragraph [0044]); wherein at least one of the one or more transmitter optics, the one or more steering optics, and the one or more receiver optics comprise the one or more metasurface-based optics (See Fig. 9 and paragraph [0044]), at least one of the metasurface-based optics having subwavelength structures disposed on a semiconductor wafer substrate, wherein features of the subwavelength structures have sizes smaller than an operational wavelength of the LiDAR system (See Fig. 1 and paragraph [0058]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jang et al (US 20200025893 A1) discloses a lidar device comprises: a laser emitting unit for including a plurality of VCSEL elements emitting a laser beam; a metasurface for including a plurality of beam steering cells arranged in a form of two-dimensional array by a row direction and a column direction, wherein the plurality of beam steering cells guide the laser beam by using nanopillars; wherein the nanopillars included in the plurality of beam steering cells form a subwavelength pattern, wherein the increase of an attribute related to at least one of the width, height, and number per unit length of the nanopillars is repetitive along the direction from the center of the metasurface to the position of the row corresponding to the plurality of beam steering cells.
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Kim et al (US 2021/0364603 A1) discloses a LiDAR device comprising: a transmission module including a laser emitting array and a first lens assembly, wherein the laser emitting array is configured to emit a plurality of lasers at a first wavelength and wherein the first lens assembly is configured to steer the plurality of lasers at different angles within a first angle range; a reception module including a laser detecting array and a second lens assembly, wherein the laser detecting array includes at least two detectors for detecting at least a portion of the plurality of lasers and wherein the second lens assembly is configured to distribute the plurality of lasers to the at least two detectors; wherein the second lens assembly comprise: at least four lens layers including a first lens layer, a second lens layer, a third lens layer and a fourth lens layer; at least two gap layers including a first gap layer and a second gap layer; and a filter layer located in the first gap layer.
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/F.P.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2884
/UZMA ALAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2884