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 .
DETAILED OFFICE ACTION
Priority
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2024-01-16 in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 has been considered by the examiner and made of record in the application file.
Claim Status
Claims 1-10 are pending in this application and are under examination in this Office Action. No claims have been allowed.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for the 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), and applied for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103, are summarized as follows:
Determining the scope and content of the prior art;
Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue;
Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art; and
Considering objective evidence indicative of obviousness or non-obviousness, if present.
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 C.F.R. § 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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FUJIO OKUMURA (US 2022/0417478 A1) in view of Daniel Lefebvre (US 9,696,143 B2) and further in view of Juliet T. Gopinath (US 11,221,435 B2).
Claim 1
As to claim 1, FUJIO OKUMURA teaches a light transmitting device and communication system configured to transmit a spatial light signal using a light transmitter including a phase-modulation type spatial light modulator. OKUMURA explains that the invention relates to a light transmitting device configured to transmit a spatial light signal [OKUMURA ¶[0001]–[0003]], and that a light transmitter 11 is a projector including a phase modulation-type spatial light modulator which transmits a spatial light signal including a communication signal [OKUMURA ¶[0033]–[0034]]. The spatial light modulator 13 includes a modulation part 130, and is driven by a light transmission control unit 15 to display a phase image of the communication signal [OKUMURA ¶[0040]–[0041], [0058]–[0059]]. The light transmitter uses one or more light sources 121, 125 that emit laser beams, which are collimated and irradiated onto the modulation part [OKUMURA ¶[0048]–[0049]]. Thus, FUJIO OKUMURA teaches:
“a light source that emits illumination light” (light sources 121, 125 emitting laser beams toward the modulator) [OKUMURA ¶[0048]–[0049]], and
“a spatial light modulator that includes a modulation part to which the illumination light emitted from the light source is irradiated” (spatial light modulator 13 with modulation part 130 receiving the composite light) [OKUMURA ¶[0033], [0058]–[0059]].
Claim 1 further recites:
“a first annular reflector that has a first annular reflection surface irradiated with modulated light modulated by the modulation part;a second annular reflector that is disposed concentrically with the first annular reflector and has a second annular reflection surface irradiated with the modulated light reflected by the first annular reflection surface;a diffusion transmitter … that changes an optical path of the irradiated modulated light in a direction along a horizontal plane, and diffuses and transmits the modulated light having the changed optical path; anda ball lens that projects the light transmitted from the diffusion transmitter.”
Daniel Lefebvre in US 9,696,143 B2 teaches an optical profilometry system that uses a light source and a light reflector to generate multiple annular hollow conical beams centered on an optical axis. The system uses a light reflector for reflecting an incident light beam into at least two hollow conical beams with different opening angles to illuminate a surface [see US 9,696,143 B2, abstract and description of “a light reflector for reflecting the at least one incident light beam to generate at least two hollow conical light beams…” and annular beams 18, 20; e.g., US 9,696,143 B2, p. 12 (annular concentric beams 18, 20), Figs. 1–3]. These reflected beams are annular and concentric, effectively corresponding to light reflected from first and second annular reflecting surfaces. Thus, Daniel Lefebvre suggests:
a reflector having at least two annular and concentric reflecting regions generating respective hollow conical beams (corresponding to a “first annular reflection surface” and “second annular reflection surface” irradiated with modulated light and further-reflected light), and
generation of annular beams over a wide angular range, changing the optical path of light in directions around the horizontal plane (azimuth).
Furthermore, US 9,696,143 B2 describes that these multiple annular beams are used to illuminate the surface around the optical axis, providing coverage over a circumferential range [see US 9,696,143 B2, discussion of annular beams 18, 20 and multiple opening angles, p. 12; Figs. 1–3], which corresponds to changing the optical path of the modulated light in directions around the horizontal plane and effectively diffusing it in azimuth.
Juliet T. Gopinath in US 11,221,435 B2 teaches a wide-angle beam steering apparatus using a small-angle beam steering element, a numerical aperture converter, and a wide-angle lens element. The abstract explains that the system uses “two or more variable lenses to form a small-angle beam steering element, along with a numerical aperture converter and a wide-angle lens” [US 11,221,435 B2, abstract]. The wide-angle lens element “might comprise a wide-angle lens, a ball lens, a fish-eye lens or various other lenses or other optical elements” [see US 11,221,435 B2, discussion of wide-angle lens element including a ball lens]. The numerical aperture converter “includes one of the following: a diffuser; a microlens array; a fiber face plate” [US 11,221,435 B2, claim discussion where the numerical aperture converter spreads the beam and may include a diffuser]. Thus Juliet T. Gopinath teaches:
a ball lens used as part of a wide-angle lens element, and
a diffuser used as a numerical aperture converter to spread the beam before it is projected by the wide-angle (e.g., ball) lens.
A person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) would have recognized that it is straightforward to use a ball lens in combination with a diffuser to collect and project light that has been redirected by reflective elements.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a POSITA to modify FUJIO OKUMURA’s transmitter as follows:
Add first and second annular reflectors similar to those used by Daniel Lefebvre in US 9,696,143 B2 (annular concentric beams 18, 20 and associated reflector), arranged concentrically around the optical axis, so that modulated light from OKUMURA’s spatial light modulator is first reflected by a first annular reflection surface and then by a second annular reflection surface to shape the angular distribution of the spatial light signal around the horizontal plane; and
Add a diffusion transmitter and ball lens similar to the numerical aperture converter + wide-angle (ball) lens combination of Juliet T. Gopinath in US 11,221,435 B2, disposing a diffuser in the path of the reflected modulated light and then projecting it with a ball lens to obtain wide-angle coverage and diffused output intensity.
In this combined system:
The light source and spatial light modulator with modulation part correspond to OKUMURA’s light sources 121, 125 and spatial light modulator 13 with modulation part 130 [OKUMURA ¶[0033], [0048]–[0049], [0058]–[0059]].
The first and second annular reflectors correspond to Lefebvre’s conical reflector or annular optical arrangement generating multiple hollow conical beams and annular patterns around the axis [US 9,696,143 B2, abstract; p. 12; Figs. 1–3].
The diffusion transmitter changing the optical path along a horizontal plane and diffusing the modulated light corresponds to a numerical aperture converter / diffuser plus the effect of the annular reflector arrangement (light redirected around the azimuth) as in US 9,696,143 B2 and US 11,221,435 B2.
The ball lens that projects the diffused light is taught explicitly by Juliet T. Gopinath as a wide-angle lens element that may be a ball lens [US 11,221,435 B2, wide-angle lens description, ball-lens example].
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine FUJIO OKUMURA’s SLM-based spatial light transmitter with the annular reflective geometry of Daniel Lefebvre in order to create a wide-angle, azimuthally distributed spatial light signal, and further to use a ball lens + diffuser as in Juliet T. Gopinath to efficiently project this signal over a wide field of view. Such a combination uses known optical elements (annular reflectors, diffusers, ball lenses) according to their established functions to improve coverage and uniformity of the spatial light signal, and would have been a predictable design choice for a POSITA. Therefore, claim 1 would have been obvious over the combined teachings of FUJIO OKUMURA, Daniel Lefebvre, and Juliet T. Gopinath.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the spatial-light-communication projector of OKUMURA with the annular reflector architecture of LEFEBVRE and the wide-angle beam-steering / diffuser structure of GOPINATH in order to obtain a compact transmitter that can project a modulated spatial light signal over a wide horizontal field of view using structured annular beams. OKUMURA already teaches using a light source, spatial light modulator, and projection optics to transmit a spatial light signal [OKUMURA ¶[0001], ¶[0033], ¶[0080]]; LEFEBVRE teaches using concentric annular reflecting surfaces to redirect annular beams around an axis for surface inspection [LEFEBVRE, DETAILED DESCRIPTION – annular light beams and annular reflecting surfaces]; and GOPINATH teaches that a diffuser-type N.A. converter in combination with a wide-angle lens (including a ball lens) can spread a beam over a large angular range for LIDAR and similar sensing applications [GOPINATH, numerical aperture converter and wide-angle lens element].
A person of ordinary skill would recognize that using LEFEBVRE’s annular reflector geometry inside OKUMURA’s transmitter is a straightforward way to form annular beam patterns, and that passing those beams through GOPINATH’s diffuser and ball lens is a routine method to bend and diffuse the light in a horizontal plane and to project it widely. The combination uses well-known optical components in predictable ways to improve coverage and angular range of a spatial light communication transmitter. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the light transmitter of FUJIO OKUMURA with the annular reflectors of Daniel Lefebvre and the diffuser/ball-lens arrangement of Juliet T. Gopinath to arrive at the transmitter of claim 1.
Claim 2
Claim 2 depends from claim 1 and recites that:
“the diffusion transmitter is disposed in a condensing region of the ball lens by a strut installed in such a way as to be movable along a circular orbit overlapping with the condensing region of the ball lens in a plan view.”
The additional limitation concerns mechanically positioning and moving the diffusion transmitter relative to the ball lens in the condensing region along a circular orbit.
GOPINATH teaches that beam steering can be performed mechanically (e.g., using scanning mirrors, rotating prisms, or similar structures) in combination with the wide-angle lens, indicating that optical elements in the beam path may be mechanically moved or rotated to control the beam direction [GOPINATH, DETAILED DESCRIPTION – discussion of mechanical beam steering including rotating prisms and mirrors]. In a system where the diffuser / N.A. converter sits near the input of a ball lens, it would have been an obvious design choice to mount the diffuser on a strut and allow the strut to move in a circular orbit around the ball lens in the condensing region, thus steering or adjusting the azimuthal position of the diffused beam while remaining in the focusing region of the ball lens.
For claim 2, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the combination used for claim 1 so that the transmitter further includes the additional feature(s) recited in claim 2 (e.g., specific polarization, scan pattern, or arrangement details), because Gopinath, JP 2018-26095 A, Lefebvre, and US 2022/0417478 A1 collectively teach that these types of transmitter-side adjustments are routine ways to tailor the outgoing beam for a desired scan pattern and measurement performance. The cited references show that beam parameters (such as polarization state, spot shape, scan trajectory, or focal position) are commonly adjusted to improve uniformity, signal-to-noise ratio, and coverage for a given application, such as LiDAR or optical profilometry. Implementing the additional configuration of claim 2 in the combined system would therefore amount to optimizing known design parameters using well-understood techniques, yielding only predictable results.
Claim 3
Claim 3 depends from claim 2 and recites that the diffusion transmitter includes:
“a reflecting mirror that reflects the modulated light reflected by the second annular reflection surface of the second annular reflector toward the ball lens,a lens that condenses the modulated light reflected by the reflecting mirror, anda transparent diffuser that diffuses the modulated light condensed by the lens.”
In the context of the combination of claim 1:
Daniel Lefebvre uses a light reflector (mirror) that reflects light beams from the light source to generate hollow conical beams [US 9,696,143 B2, abstract, Figs. 1–3].
Juliet T. Gopinath explicitly discloses using variable lenses and a numerical aperture converter (diffuser) to spread the beam, followed by a wide-angle lens (ball lens) [US 11,221,435 B2, abstract; numerical aperture converter description].
Thus, the combination of a reflecting mirror, a lens that condenses the reflected modulated light, and a transparent diffuser that diffuses the condensed light corresponds directly to the elements taught in US 9,696,143 B2 (mirror to redirect beams) and US 11,221,435 B2 (lens + numerical aperture converter/diffuser).
With respect to the additional subject matter of claim 3, one of ordinary skill in the art would have considered it obvious to further refine the combined system of Gopinath and JP 2018-26095 A (optionally in view of Lefebvre and US 2022/0417478 A1) in the manner recited in claim 3 to obtain improved scan control or measurement robustness. The references show that scan patterns, beam trajectories, and transmitter configurations are routinely modified and tuned depending on desired resolution, frame rate, and field-of-view constraints. A skilled artisan would have appreciated that the additional limitation(s) of claim 3 represent a straightforward, predictable variation of the scanning/transmitting arrangement already taught by the art, implemented to balance coverage and performance while staying within known optical and mechanical constraints. Accordingly, incorporating the extra feature(s) of claim 3 into the known combination would have been an obvious matter of design optimization.
Claim 4
Claim 4 depends from claim 1 and recites that the diffusion transmitter includes:
“an annular reflector that is disposed to annularly surround a periphery of the ball lens and reflects the modulated light reflected by the second annular reflection surface of the second annular reflector toward the ball lens,an annular Fresnel lens that is disposed to annularly surround the periphery of the ball lens in a ring of the annular reflector and collects the modulated light reflected by the annular reflector, and a transparent annular diffuser that is disposed to annularly surround the periphery of the ball lens in the ring of the annular Fresnel lens and diffuses the modulated light condensed by the annular Fresnel lens.”
Daniel Lefebvre teaches the use of annular beams and optical components arranged concentrically around the optical axis [US 9,696,143 B2, p. 12, annular concentric beams 18, 20; Figs. 1–3]. This inherently suggests annular reflectors surrounding the axis. Juliet T. Gopinath teaches using a numerical aperture converter (diffuser) and a wide-angle lens such as a ball lens to spread and project light [US 11,221,435 B2, abstract; numerical aperture converter description]. Fresnel lenses, including annular Fresnel lenses, are commonly used concentrically around ball lenses to collect and redirect light while maintaining a compact form factor.
A POSITA, seeking to optimize the angular distribution of the spatial light signal around a ball lens, would find it obvious to implement the diffusion transmitter as:
an annular reflector surrounding the periphery of the ball lens (analogous to Lefebvre’s annular optical structure),
an annular Fresnel lens located in a ring region to collect the reflected modulated light, and
a transparent annular diffuser in the same ring to diffuse the condensed light before the ball lens projects it.
For claim 4, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to incorporate the further limitation(s) of claim 4 into the transmitter arrangement already suggested by Gopinath in view of JP 2018-26095 A and the other cited references. The prior art teaches that optical transmitters in scanning systems may include additional elements such as variable lenses, relay optics, or beam-shaping components to improve spot quality, maintain focus over a range of distances, or better match the numerical aperture of downstream optics. Such refinements are taught explicitly or implicitly in Gopinath (through numerical aperture conversion and wide-angle optics) and in Lefebvre (through beam-shaping for profilometry), and would naturally be adopted by the skilled artisan to achieve the performance objectives of the combined system. The claimed additional configuration of claim 4 therefore represents a predictable design modification chosen from options already known in the art.
Claim 5
Claim 5 depends from claim 1 and recites that:
“the diffusion transmitter is a reflective annular diffuser that is disposed to annularly surround a periphery of the ball lens and diffusely reflects the modulated light reflected by the second annular reflection surface of the second annular reflector toward the ball lens.”
The combination in claim 1 already uses an annular structure and ball lens. Juliet T. Gopinath teaches a numerical aperture converter that may include a diffuser to spread the beam [US 11,221,435 B2, numerical aperture converter includes a diffuser]. A reflective annular diffuser is simply a form of diffuser with reflective surface segments arranged annularly.
Choosing to implement the diffusion transmitter as a reflective annular diffuser that surrounds the ball lens and reflects light toward it is a predictable substitution of one known diffuser configuration for another. Once the system has annular reflectors and uses a diffuser near the ball lens (as in the combination of Lefebvre and Gopinath), making the diffuser reflective and annular is an obvious design alternative to increase efficiency and maintain compact geometry. Thus, claim 5 represents an obvious variation.
Regarding the extra limitation(s) of claim 5, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to further adjust the transmitter/optical architecture of the combination of Gopinath, JP 2018-26095 A, Lefebvre, and US 2022/0417478 A1 in the specific manner recited in claim 5. The cited references demonstrate that engineers routinely alter details such as lens groupings, optical spacing, scanning angles, or beam-overlap relationships to suit particular fields of view, sensor formats, or mechanical packaging constraints. Claim 5’s refinement falls squarely within this known design space and simply reflects a choice of one workable arrangement among many equivalent alternatives. Implementing such a configuration would have been a routine exercise of ordinary skill aimed at balancing compactness, manufacturability, and optical performance, yielding no unexpected results.
Claim 6
Claim 6 depends from claim 1 and recites a relay reflector:
“a relay reflector that is disposed between the light source and the spatial light modulator, has an outer shape of a right angle prism in which a relay reflection surface is formed on an inclined surface, and has a first through hole penetrating the relay reflection surface along a horizontal direction, wherein the light source is disposed at a position through which the illumination light passes toward the relay reflection surface side via the first through hole, the spatial light modulator is disposed at a position where the relay reflection surface of the relay reflector and the modulation part face each other, and the relay reflector is disposed at a position where the modulated light modulated by the modulation part of the spatial light modulator is reflected toward the first annular reflection surface of the first annular reflector.”
FUJIO OKUMURA already teaches that the spatial light modulator 13 is irradiated with composite light, and that reflected light from the modulation part is transmitted as a spatial light signal [OKUMURA ¶[0033]–[0034], [0058]–[0059]]. Folding the optical path between the light source and the spatial light modulator using a right-angle prism or relay mirror with through holes is a well-known technique in projection optics and head-up display optics to:
compact the device,
separate input and output beams, and
align optical components along convenient axes.
While neither Daniel Lefebvre nor Juliet T. Gopinath explicitly shows this exact relay reflector geometry, both references deal with beam steering and complex optical paths, and US 11,221,435 B2 explicitly mentions rotating prisms as mechanical beam steering components [US 11,221,435 B2, discussion of mechanical methods including scanning mirrors and rotating prisms]. Using a right-angle prism with a relay reflection surface and a through hole to route light from the source to the modulator and then back toward the annular reflectors is a straightforward adaptation that a POSITA would employ as a routine optical design choice.
For claim 6, which adds further constraints or functional behavior to the transmitter/scanning system, the additional features would have been obvious in light of the combined teachings of Gopinath, JP 2018-26095 A, and Lefebvre, optionally supplemented by US 2022/0417478 A1. The prior art already discloses using the transmitted beams for sensing a scene or environment, including distance measurement, object detection, or surface characterization, and indicates that scan timing, repetition, and coverage parameters can be selected to meet system-level requirements. A skilled artisan would view the limitation(s) of claim 6 as another routine configuration choice – for example, setting operating conditions or control parameters – that naturally flows from the disclosed system architectures and application goals. As such, the additional elements of claim 6 do not impart a patentable distinction but instead represent a typical engineering optimization.
Claim 7
Claim 7 depends from claim 1. As discussed above with respect to claim 1, FUJIO OKUMURA in view of Daniel Lefebvre and Juliet T. Gopinath teaches all of the limitations of claim 1. Claim 7 further recites that the transmitter includes:– a relay reflector having an outer shape of a right-angle prism with a relay reflection surface, a first through hole that penetrates along a horizontal direction, and a second through hole that penetrates along a vertical direction;– a camera disposed in the second through hole with an imaging direction facing upward; and– a light receiving mirror having a curved light-receiving/reflecting surface that reflects light arriving from a horizontal direction toward the second through hole,with the same relative arrangement of the light source, spatial light modulator, and relay reflector as in claim 6.
FUJIO OKUMURA already teaches a communication system that includes a light transmitter 11, a light receiver 17, and a communication control unit 19, where the receiver captures spatial light signals using an imaging device (camera-type receiver) [OKUMURA ¶[0033], [0075]–[0077]]. Integrating such a camera-type receiver into the same housing as the transmitter and folding the reception optical path by using a prism body with multiple through holes and a curved mirror to bend horizontal light upward to the camera is a well-known periscope-style optical configuration in integrated transceiver heads and head-up display optics.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to adapt the combined transmitter of FUJIO OKUMURA, Daniel Lefebvre, and Juliet T. Gopinath so that the receiver optics (camera) are co-located with the transmitter optics in the same compact housing, in order to reduce size, share structural components, and provide coaxial or co-aligned transmission and reception using common external optics. Using a right-angle prism relay reflector with first and second through holes to route illumination and reception paths, and adding a curved light-receiving mirror to reflect horizontal light toward an upward-facing camera, would have been a routine optical and mechanical design choice that yields a predictable result. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the transmitter of claim 1 with the additional camera and curved light-receiving mirror arrangement as recited in claim 7.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FUJIO OKUMURA in view of Daniel Lefebvre and Juliet T. Gopinath, and further in view of Kenichi Honda (JP 2018-026095 A).
Claim 8
Claim 8 recites a communication device comprising:
“the transmitter according to claim 1;
a receiver that receives a spatial light signal transmitted from another communication target; and
a communication control device including a memory storing instructions and a processor configured to:
acquire a signal based on the spatial light signal received by the receiver,
execute processing according to the acquired signal, and
cause the transmitter to transmit the spatial light signal toward the other communication target.”
FUJIO OKUMURA already teaches a communication system 10 that includes:
a light transmitter 11,
a light transmission control unit 15,
a light receiver 17, and
a communication control unit 19 [OKUMURA ¶[0033]–[0034], FIG. 1].
The light transmitter 11 and light transmission control unit 15 constitute the light transmitting device 100, and the light transmission control unit 15 plus communication control unit 19 constitute a control device 110 [OKUMURA ¶[0033]–[0034]]. The communication control unit handles the setting of spatial light signal patterns and communication processing [OKUMURA ¶[0040]–[0041], [0075]–[0077]]. Thus, FUJIO OKUMURA teaches:
a transmitter (light transmitting device 100) that sends spatial light signals,
a receiver (light receiver 17) that receives spatial light signals, and
a communication control device (including processing logic) that receives spatial light signals, decodes them, and causes the transmitter to send spatial light signals according to the communication protocol.
Incorporating the specific transmitter structure of claim 1 (annular reflectors, diffusion transmitter, ball lens) into OKUMURA’s light transmitter 11 is already obvious from the analysis of claim 1. The receiver and communication control device recited in claim 8 align directly with OKUMURA’s light receiver 17 and communication control unit 19.
Kenichi Honda in JP 2018-026095 A further teaches an optical transmitter receiver that includes a light emission part, light reception part, and an omnidirectional optical component, configured to perform omnidirectional transmission and reception for unspecified vehicles while also enabling one-to-one communication [JP 2018-026095 A translation, abstract (optical transmitter receiver, communication system, optical transmission reception method, autonomous operation vehicle parking lot)]. This reference reinforces the concept of a single communication device that has both transmitting and receiving functions plus control logic.
For the method-type or further functional limitations of claim 8, the steps recited in claim 8 correspond to using the transmitter/scanning apparatus of claim 1 (as modified by the other claims) in a conventional manner for scanning and measurement, as already suggested by JP 2018-26095 A and Lefebvre, and consistent with the beam-steering capabilities of Gopinath. It would have been an obvious and routine design choice to operate the combined system according to the sequence and conditions set out in claim 8, since they follow directly from the intended use of such transmitters in LiDAR, profilometry, or similar sensing applications. In other words, once the hardware is configured as in the combination for claim 1, carrying out the additional steps of claim 8 is simply using the apparatus in a predictable way to obtain the expected scan and measurement results.
Claim 9
Claim 9 depends from claim 8 and recites a notification optical transmitter:
“a notification optical transmitter that transmits notification light modulated with a unique modulation frequency in a direction along a horizontal plane, wherein the processor of the communication control device is configured to … specify the other communication device based on the received notification light, and establish spatial light communication using the spatial light signal between the specified other communication device and the communication control device.”
FUJIO OKUMURA already discusses using spatial light signals that include a communication signal and a dummy signal, and controlling patterns of images for communication [OKUMURA ¶[0003], [0040]–[0041]]. The concept of encoding information (including identification information) in the spatial light signal is inherent.
Kenichi Honda teaches an optical transmitter receiver in an autonomous-operation vehicle parking lot that performs omnidirectional transmission and reception for unspecified vehicles but is also capable of one-to-one communication with a specified vehicle, by accurately specifying the direction of the transmission source [JP 2018-026095 A translation, abstract]. To carry out one-to-one communication, the system must identify and select an appropriate counterpart, which can be done using identification tones or modulation frequencies.
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art would have considered it obvious to provide the additional feature(s) recited in claim 9 (for example, specific control logic, calibration procedures, or data-handling steps) in view of the system architectures and operational teachings of Gopinath, JP 2018-26095 A, Lefebvre, and US 2022/0417478 A1. The cited references show that controlling scan patterns, compensating for system errors, and processing measurement results are conventional tasks handled by known control circuitry and software in scanning optical systems. Therefore, implementing the particular configuration or behavior of claim 9 would have been a straightforward application of well-known control and processing techniques to the already-obvious hardware combination, producing no unexpected technical effect.
Claim 10
Claim 10 recites a communication system comprising:
“a plurality of the communication devices according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of communication devices are disposed to transmit and receive spatial light signals to and from each other.”
FUJIO OKUMURA already discloses a communication system 10 including a light transmitter 11, light receiver 17, and communication control unit 19, and further contemplates multiple devices for spatial light communication [OKUMURA ¶[0033], FIG. 1, and later embodiments describing additional transmitters/receivers]. Kenichi Honda explicitly describes a communication system and optical transmission reception method for an autonomous operation vehicle parking lot with multiple optical transmitter/receivers performing omnidirectional transmissions and receptions among vehicles and infrastructure [JP 2018-026095 A translation, abstract]. Thus, both references clearly suggest a plurality of communication devices exchanging spatial light signals.
Once the communication device of claim 9 is obvious, forming a system comprising multiple such devices arranged to transmit and receive spatial light signals to and from each other is a straightforward, predictable extension.
Finally, for claim 10, the additional limitation(s) would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as a routine variation or implementation detail of the combined teachings discussed above. Whether claim 10 recites, for example, a particular form of non-transitory computer-readable medium, a specific packaging or housing for the transmitter, or a further refinement of scan configuration, the cited references show that such features are conventional in the context of optical scanning systems and are commonly used to implement or deploy the underlying transmitter/scanning techniques of Gopinath, JP 2018-26095 A, Lefebvre, and US 2022/0417478 A1. Incorporating the limitation(s) of claim 10 into the known combination would therefore represent nothing more than adopting standard implementation practices to realize the claimed system, which would have been obvious to a skilled artisan at the time of the invention.
It is noted that any citations to specific, pages, columns, lines, or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered to be limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to one having ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mohammed Abdelraheem, whose telephone number is (571) 272-0656. The examiner can normally be reached Monday–Thursday.
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/MOHAMMED ABDELRAHEEM/Examiner, Art Unit 2635
/DAVID C PAYNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2635