Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/538,197

LASER RADAR DEVICE FOR IMPROVING ACCURACY OF CALCULATION

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Dec 13, 2023
Priority
Dec 15, 2022 — CN 202211613001.4
Examiner
HELLNER, MARK
Art Unit
4100
Tech Center
4100
Assignee
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allowance Rate
1361 granted / 1505 resolved
+30.4% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
22 currently pending
Career history
1523
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.6%
-38.4% vs TC avg
§103
61.8%
+21.8% vs TC avg
§102
15.6%
-24.4% vs TC avg
§112
12.4%
-27.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1505 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
CTNF 18/538,197 CTNF 64627 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority 02-26 AIA Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statements filed 12/13/2023 and 5/14/2024 have been considered by the examiner. Drawings The drawings filed 12/13/2023 are approved by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15 AIA Claim s 1 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Wang et al (CN 107703517 A) . With respect to claim 1, Wang et al disclose: A laser radar device [ taught by figures 1 to 4 ] comprising: a light source module, configured to emit laser beam [ taught by the seed light source connected to beam splitter (1-1); page 4 of the translation states, “…a central processor (DSP C6678) sends "start" signal and then controls the seed light source emitting high power laser signal seed light source enters the beam splitter 1-1…” ] ; a collimating module, configured to collimate the laser beam [ taught by the collimating array (1-4) ] ; an optical phase-controlled array, configured to deflect the collimated laser beam and reflect the deflected laser beam for making the reflected laser beam to illuminate at a target object [ taught by the optical phased array (2-2); page 4 of the translation states, “…the central processor (DSP C6678) sending a set of drive signal U (U1, U2 ..., Un) to the optical phased array 2-2, controlling the multi-beam light source and deflects, making the multi-beam light source incident to target area 6…” ] ; a receiving module, configured to receive the laser beam reflected by the target object and convert the received laser beam into electric signals [ taught by the operation of the APD array (3-3) in the receiving module (3) ] ; and a processing module, configured to receive the electric signals and calculate a distance between the laser radar device and the target object based on the electrical signals [ taught by central processing circuit (4); page 4 of the translation states, “…and then quenching circuit array 3-4, by distance measuring unit uses the pulse time-of-flight measurement method for calculating distance information of the detection target area, the central processing circuit 4 reads the position and posture information of the on-board GPS inertial measurement unit. Integrated optical beam deflection angle information, aircraft position and posture information and distance information for three dimensional image reconstruction, and realize the visual field and high resolution imaging…” ] . With respect to claim 6, Wang et al disclose: wherein the receiving module comprises a receiving component [ taught by the combination of the unidirectional glass array (2-1), optical filter array (3-1) and doublet lens array (3-2) ] and a conversion component [ taught by the APD array (3-2) ] ; the receiving component receives the laser beam reflected by the target object and transmits the laser beam to the conversion component [ shown by figure 3 ] ; the conversion component coverts the received laser beam from the receiving component into electrical signals and transmits the electrical signals to the processing module [ page 4 of the translation states, “…the received light signal to the area array of APD array 3-3 readout circuit. array of APD array 3-3 the received optical signal into a corresponding electrical signal, and then quenching circuit array 3-4, by distance measuring unit uses the pulse time-of-flight measurement method for calculating distance information of the detection target area, the central processing circuit 4 reads the position and posture information of the on-board GPS inertial measurement unit. Integrated optical beam deflection angle information, aircraft position and posture information and distance information for three dimensional image reconstruction, and realize the visual field and high resolution imaging…” ] . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 2, 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al (CN 107703517 A) in view of Kim et al (United States Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0081275) . With respect to claim 2, Figure 5 of Kim et al teaches that phase controlled beam steering devices were known before the effective filing date of the present application to have comprised: a conducting layer [ taught by active layer (200) ] and an electrode layer [ taught by nano-antenna array (300) ] ; the conducting layer receives the collimated laser beam and reflects the laser beam [ figure 1 shows reflective beam steering ] ; when the conducting layer and the electrode layer being powered, an electric field is formed between the conducting layer and the electrode layer [ paragraph [0086] states , “… the active layer 200 may be a layer having physical properties changed according to electric conditions of the active layer 200 . According to electric conditions related to the active layer 200 and a peripheral region thereof, a permittivity or a refractive index of the active layer 200 may be changed. Changes in the permittivity/refractive index of the active layer 200 may result from changes in a charge concentration (a charge density) in region(s) in the active layer 200 . In other words, the permittivity/refractive index of the active layer 200 may be changed according to change in the charge concentration of the region(s) in the active layer 200…” ]. Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art to have had a reasonable expectation of success in modifying the device of Wang et al to meet claim 2 because the device required known structure of an optical phased array, such as shown by Kim et al. Claim 3 is rejected by the combination of Wang et al and Kim et al, as applied to claim 2, because figure 5 of Kim et al teaches a dielectric insulating layer (250) between the nano-antenna array (300) and the active layer (200) thus applying a voltage field via V2. Paragraph [0086] of Kim et al states, “… “… the active layer 200 may be a layer having physical properties changed according to electric conditions of the active layer 200 . According to electric conditions related to the active layer 200 and a peripheral region thereof, a permittivity or a refractive index of the active layer 200 may be changed…; thus, rendering claim 5 rejected by the combination of Wang et al and Kim et al, as applied to claim 3 . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 4 and 7-10 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. 07-100 AIA 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 Application/Control Number: 18/538,197 Page 2 Art Unit: 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/538,197 Page 3 Art Unit: 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/538,197 Page 4 Art Unit: 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/538,197 Page 5 Art Unit: 3645 Application/Control Number: 18/538,197 Page 6 Art Unit: 3645
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 13, 2023
Application Filed
Jun 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
90%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+8.5%)
2y 8m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1505 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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