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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues Dong's modulation frequency does not teach a spectral inter-component difference, as Claim 12 requires a particular relationship between spectral components, and Dong does not describe changing the difference between the spectral components periodically.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. On page 13, Dong teaches that the angular frequency is the difference between the two side frequency signals. Page 12 gives equations for deriving angular frequency and modulation signals, which use trigonometric functions. Thus, Dong teaches the limitation of changing the spectral inter-component difference periodically. As this is the same reference used in the previous rejection, this does not constitute a new grounds of rejection.
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 12-14, 16, 20, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakimura (US 20140233013 A1) in view of Dong (CN 112698355 A).
Claim 12: Sakimura teaches a pulsed LIDAR system, adapted to determine a value of a Doppler effect frequency shift which is undergone by a series of radiation pulses successively emitted by the system towards a target, between portions of the pulses as received after retroreflection or backscattering on the target and said pulses as emitted by the system, and to provide, based on the value determined for the frequency shift, an estimate of a speed component of the target which is parallel to an optical emission direction of the system,
the system comprising:
- a transmission path, configured to produce the series of pulses (Fig. 1, CW laser light sources 1 and 2, and modulator 5 - [0025] - pulses),
- a detection path, configured to detect the pulse portions received after retroreflection or backscattering on the target, and to produce heterodyne detection signals which correspond to the pulses of the series (Fig. 1, path from receive system 8 to signal processing unit 11 and [0029]-[0031] - beat signal),
- a spectral analysis module, adapted to carry out a spectral analysis of the heterodyne detection signals, so that the value of the frequency shift results from heterodyne detection contributions which correspond to the pulses of the series (Fig. 1, signal processing unit 11 and ([0055] - [0057]),
and the transmission path being further configured to form each of the pulses as a superposition of a plurality of pulse spectral components which are emitted simultaneously, are spectrally disjoint, and are associated one-to-one with different central wavelength values (Fig. 1, wavelengths f1 and f2 combined along paths and [0042]),
and the system being adapted so that the value of the frequency shift which is determined by the spectral analysis module results from a plurality of heterodyne detection contributions which respectively correspond to the pulse spectral components of the pulses of the series ([0075]-[0083] - calculating doppler shift).
Sakimura does not teach, but Dong does teach wherein the system is further adapted so that the disjoint pulse spectral components of two pulses which are successively emitted are separated by a spectral inter-component difference which varies between said two successive pulses, and so that said spectral inter-component difference periodically varies during the complete series of pulses (pg 6 - varying frequency shift, pg 12 and 13 – angular frequency is the difference (see arguments above)).
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the frequency shift, as taught by Dong, in the system as taught by Sakimura, because, as Dong teaches, varying the frequency shift allows for improved signal extraction from a weak signal (Dong, pg 6).
Claim 13: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LIDAR system according to claim 12, adapted to provide an estimate of an air flow speed component when the system is pointed to emit the radiation pulses towards a portion of the atmosphere which contains suspended particles forming the target, the particles being back scatterers for said radiation ([0028], [0075])
Claim 14: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LIDAR system according to claim 12, wherein the transmission path is further configured so that the spectral components of each pulse (I) are spectrally separated by at least 10 MHz, preferably at least 20 MHz, and at most 2000 MHz ([0065]-[0066])
Claim 16: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LIDAR system according to claim 12, wherein the transmission path is further configured so that the number of the spectrally disjoint pulse spectral components which constitute each pulse is between 2 and 20, preferably between 4 and 12 (Fig. 1, two light sources 1 and 2 emitting frequencies f1 and f2).
Claim 20: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LIDAR system according to claim 12,
wherein a reference input of the detection path is connected to a secondary output of the transmission path in order to receive an optical reference signal which comprises reference spectral components corresponding, one-to- one, to the pulse spectral components of the pulses, with a spectral shift between each pulse spectral component and the reference spectral component which corresponds to said pulse spectral component, which is identical for all pulse spectral components, so that the heterodyne detection contributions associated with the pulse spectral components in the heterodyne detection signal as produced by the detection path are all spectrally superimposed (Fig. 1, local oscillator path to coupler 9).
Claim 24: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the LIDAR system according to claim 12, wherein at least one of the transmission path and detection path is implemented by an optical fiber technology, to interconnect components of said transmission path or detection path respectively (Fig. 1, optical fiber).
Claims 15, 17-19, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakimura (US 20140233013 A1) in view of Dong (CN 112698355 A), further in view of Wachs (US 11768291 B1).
Claim 15: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LiDAR system according to Claim 12. Sakimura, as modified, does not teach, but Wachs does teach, wherein the transmission path is further configured so that spectral differences which exist between any two of the pulse spectral components which are spectral neighbors are constant between different pairs of pulse spectral components which are neighbors (Col 5, lines 33-38 – frequency comb generator outputting equally spaced frequencies).
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the comb generator, as taught by Wachs, in the system as taught by Sakimura, as modified, because, as Wachs teaches, this allows for measurement of velocities over a wide range of velocities (Wachs, abstract).
Claim 17: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LiDAR system according to Claim 12,
Sakimura, as modified, does not teach, but Dong does teach wherein the transmission path comprises:
- a laser emission source, adapted to produce an initial laser radiation (Fig. 1, CW lasers 1 and 2)
- a modulation signal generator, connected so as to apply the modulation signal to the control input of the […] modulator (Fig. 1, light modulator 5 and [0025] – adding modulation of frequency – implies signal).
said modulation signal being such that the initial laser radiation is transformed by the […] modulator into a set of spectral components which are intended to form, one-to-one, the pulse spectral components (Fig. 1, light frequencies shown before and after modulator).
Sakimura, as modified, does not teach, but Wachs does teach a comb generation modulator, arranged to modify the initial laser radiation in accordance with a modulation signal applied to a control input of said comb generation modulator (Col 5, lines 33-38 – frequency comb generator, and abstract – electro-optic optical frequency comb generator).
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the comb generator, as taught by Wachs, in the system as taught by Sakimura, as modified, because, this would allow for a single ‘seed’ laser to be used, instead of Sakimura’s modulator, which requires two separate lasers, thus reducing cost and size.
Claim 18: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LiDAR system according to Claim 17,
wherein the comb generation modulator is of electro-optical type (Wachs abstract).
Sakimura, as modified, does not teach the series of the pulses with the spectral inter-component difference which varies between two successively emitted pulses is obtained by a control of the electro-optical comb generation modulator.
However, as previously shown, Dong teaches “the series of the pulses with the spectral inter-component difference which varies between two successively emitted pulses” (pg 6), and further, Dong teaches a electro-optical modulator (Fig. 1, modulator 200 and pg 9) which creates these frequency shifts.
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the modulator, as taught by Dong, in the system as taught by Kaimura, because this would allow for a single ‘seed’ laser to be used, instead of Sakimura’s modulator, which requires two separate lasers, thus reducing cost and size.
Also as shown above, Wachs teaches an electro-optical comb generation modulator (abstract).
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the comb generation modulator, as taught by Wachs, in the system as taught by Sakimura, as modified, (specifically in place of Dong’s modulator) because Dong already teaches an electro-optical modulator, and a comb generation modulator is simply a type that is known in the art.
Claim 19: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LIDAR system according to claim 18. Sakimura, as modified, does not teach, but Dong does teach wherein the control of the electro- optical comb generation modulator is designed so that the radiation as produced directly by said modulator, before being transmitted to a modulator dedicated to frequency-shifting and separation into pulses of acousto-optical type, is devoid of spectral component at an emission wavelength value of the laser emission source (Dong Fig. 1 and pg 9 – acousto -optic modulator 400 and “the frequency of the side frequency signal is different from the frequency of the laser carrier signal.”
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the frequencies, as taught by Dong, because this allows for easier differentiation between signals.
Claim 21: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LIDAR system according to claim 17, wherein a reference input of the detection path is connected to a secondary output of the transmission path in order to receive an optical reference signal which comprises reference spectral components corresponding, one-to- one, to the pulse spectral components of the pulses, with a spectral shift between each pulse spectral component and the reference spectral component which corresponds to said pulse spectral component, which is identical for all pulse spectral components, so that the heterodyne detection contributions associated with the pulse spectral components in the heterodyne detection signal as produced by the detection path are all spectrally superimposed and wherein the secondary output of the transmission path is located in said transmission path downstream of the comb generation modulator, relative to a direction of propagation of the radiation in said transmission path (Fig. 1, local oscillator path to coupler 9 - would be downstream of modulator creating lasers 1 and 2).
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakimura (US 20140233013 A1) in view of Dong (CN 112698355 A), further in view of Bryce (US 20060011840 A1).
Claim 22: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LIDAR system according to claim 12, wherein a reference input of the detection path is connected to a secondary output of the transmission path in order to receive an optical reference signal […], so that the heterodyne detection contributions associated with the pulse spectral components in the heterodyne detection signal as produced by the detection path, are spectrally shifted relative to each other in accordance with a distribution of the pulse spectral components, and wherein the spectral analysis module is adapted to deduce the value of the Doppler effect frequency shift based on central frequency values which are respectively relative to each of the heterodyne detection contributions (Fig. 1, local oscillator path to coupler 9 and [0057]).
Sakimura, as modified, does not teach, but Bryce does teach that the optical reference signal is monochromatic ([0050]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the monochromatic light, as taught by Bryce, in the LiDAR system as taught by Sakimura, as modified, because monochromatic light would simplify calculations.
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sakimura (US 20140233013 A1) in view of Dong (CN 112698355 A), further in view of Wachs (US 11768291 B1), further in view of Bryce (US 20060011840 A1).
Claim 22: Sakimura, as modified, teaches the pulsed LIDAR system according to claim 12, wherein a reference input of the detection path is connected to a secondary output of the transmission path in order to receive an optical reference signal […], so that the heterodyne detection contributions associated with the pulse spectral components in the heterodyne detection signal as produced by the detection path, are spectrally shifted relative to each other in accordance with a distribution of the pulse spectral components, and wherein the spectral analysis module is adapted to deduce the value of the Doppler effect frequency shift based on central frequency values which are respectively relative to each of the heterodyne detection contributions and wherein the secondary output of the transmission path is located in said transmission path upstream of the comb generation modulator, relative to a direction of propagation of the radiation in said transmission path (Fig. 1, local oscillator path to coupler 9 and [0057]).
Sakimura, as modified, does not teach, but Bryce does teach that the optical reference signal is monochromatic ([0050]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to someone having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the monochromatic light, as taught by Bryce, in the LiDAR system as taught by Sakimura, as modified, because monochromatic light would simplify calculations.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLARA CHILTON whose telephone number is (703)756-1080. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6-2 MT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helal Algahaim can be reached at 571-270-5227. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CLARA G CHILTON/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/HELAL A ALGAHAIM/SPE , Art Unit 3645
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