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 .
DETAILED ACTION
The applicant’s amendments/remarks dated 08/14/2026 has been received, entered, and fully considered. Claims 1-13 and 15 are amended. Claims 1-15 are currently pending and are under examination.
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.
Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keel et al. (US 2019/0293792) in view of Lee et al. (doc. “A Time-of-Flight Range Sensor Using Four-Tap Lock-In Pixels with High near Infrared Sensitivity for LiDAR Applications”).
Regarding Claim 1, Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device for determining at least distance variables (cp) that characterize distances of objects (D)detected using the detection device (para. [0008]), the method comprising: using at least one modulated electrical transmission signal to generate at least one electromagnetic scanning signal modulated in accordance with the at least one modulated electrical transmission signal, transmitting the electromagnetic scanning signal into at least one monitoring area of the detection device (para. [0038] - "The light source 100 may be connected to the light source driver 200 and driven by a light source driving current 1D1 supplied from the light source driver 200. The light source 100 may emit light in the form of a pulse wave. As an example, the light source 100 may emit light in the form of a sine wave, a triangle wave, or a square wave."), using at least one receiving area, the at least one receiving area comprising one or more receiving elements, to detect at least one signal portion of at least one electromagnetic echo signal of at least one scanning signal reflected by at least one object in at least one defined acquisition time range and to convert the signal portion into a corresponding electrical received signal (para. [0049] - "The pixels 310 may be configured in a 2-tap demodulation structure to sample two phase signals having a difference of 180 degrees."), wherein at least one defined acquisition time range is specified that is shorter than a modulation period of the at least one electrical transmission signal, and using at least one electrical received signal (Fig. 10) to determine at least one distance variable, wherein: for at least one modulation period sequence, which comprises at least one modulation period of the at least one electrical transmission signal, for at least one modulation period of the at least one electrical transmission signal, using at least two receiving areas to detect respective signal portions of the at least one echo signal as electrical receive variables in different defined acquisition time ranges, and in at least two consecutive modulation period sequences, for at least one specific modulation period of at least one electrical transmission signal, using at least two receiving areas to detect respective signal portions of the at least one echo signal as electrical receive variables in different acquisition time ranges, wherein the interval of time between the at least two acquisition time ranges is shorter than the period duration of a modulation period of the at least one electrical transmission signal (figure 10, para. [0053]-[0055] and [0074] - "respective pixels of the ToF sensor 300 may output four phase signals (0 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees), which are sampled in synchronization with the initial phases of the light at 0 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees, to the phase pattern processor 600.").
Keel do not explicitly discloses, but Lee teaches wherein a same receiving area of the at least two receiving areas is used in the at least two consecutive modulation period sequences to detect respective signal portions in different acquisition time ranges, and wherein the electrical receive variables detected by the same receiving area in the different acquisition time ranges are used to determine the at least one distance variable (Lee explicitly teaches a conventional 2-tap lock-in pixel (page 2, section 2, 2.1), the same pixel (and its taps) is used across two consecutive frames(i.e., consecutive modulation period sequences) to acquire the four different phase/time samples needed for phase-shift/distance calculation; each “frame” or sequence corresponds to a different set of acquisition windows (different relative phases or time ranges relative to the modulation period); the signals accumulated by the same taps/pixel in those different windows are combined (via the standard arctangent formula or equivalent) to compute the phase shift and thereby the distance variable; the individual acquisition windows are short relative to the modulation, and the interval between successive windows is likewise shorter than one full modulation period).
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention before the effective filing date of the invention in ToF/LiDAR sensing would have found it obvious to modify Keel’s multi receiving area architecture to reuse the same receiving area across consecutive modulation period sequences for different short acquisition time ranges as taught in Lee reference with great expectation of success for obtaining multiple sample required for robust phase/distance estimation while minimizing the number of detector elements, improving fill factor, and reducing hardware complexity. The combination produces the claimed method with predictable results and no unexpected advantage.
Regarding Claim 2, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device comprising: specifying at least one acquisition time range according to at least one defined event Lee synchronize the opening of the transfer gate (acquisition windows) to the timing of the modulated light pulse/illumination cycle (Figure 6). The start of each short acquisition window is defined relative to a timing event derived from the transmission/modulation signal (the beginning of the lighting cycle or the rising edge of the light pulse) This is equivalent to a trigger or start event for the transmission signal or its modulation period.
Keel already operates with modulated transmission signals and defined acquisition time ranges. Combining Keel with explicit edge/cycle synchronize gating of Lee makes it obvious to specify and start the acquisition time range based on a trigger/start event of the transmission signal. This is a conventional and necessary way to align demodulation windows with the modulation waveform. (Fig. 6, section 2)
Regarding Claim 3,modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device comprising: specifying at least one acquisition time rangeLee explicitly actuated the transfer gates (G1-G4) of each lock-in pixel with control signals that open and the charge transfer path (functional shutters) for defined short intervals (Fig. 3 pixel structure; Figure 6 timing). These control signals are periodic with the modulation/light cycle and precisely define the start and end times of each acquisition window).
A person of ordinary skill in the before the effective filing date of the invention would have Applied this standard/shutter gate control technique to the receiving areas of Keel with a great expectation of success to provide a concrete high-performance control of signal modulation definition of the start and end times of each acquisition windows.
Regarding Claim 4, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device comprising: using a same receiving area in at least two consecutive modulation period sequences, for at least one specific modulation period of the at least one electrical transmission signal, to detect at least one specific signal portion of the at least one echo signal in a respective defined acquisition time ranges, wherein the respective defined acquisition time ranges have a same temporal position and duration within the at least two consecutive modulation period sequences (this is directly taught by 2-tap consecutive frame operation that Lee rely upon and that is standard in the iToF art it build on: the same taps (receiving elements within the same pixel/area) consecutive frames, with the acquisition window having corresponding (same relative) temporal positions and durations in each frame, the only change typically being a phase shift of the illumination or demodulation between frames. Even in the 4-tap single cycle mode of (Fig. 6), the same pixel structure repeatedly applies the same set of timed windows across successive lighting cycles (Fig. 6, section 2)).
Regarding Claim 5, modified Keel discloses a method comprising: using a same receiving area in at least two consecutive modulation period sequences, for at least one specific modulation period of the at least one electrical transmission signal, to detect at least one specific signal portion of the at least one echo signal in respective defined acquisition time ranges, wherein the respective defined acquisition time ranges are different from each other (Lee open different transfer gates(different time windows) sequentially within each cycle and across cycles (Fig. 6) when the same pixel/taps are reused across consecutive frames or cycles with a relative phase shift (Classic 2-tap method), the effective acquisition time ranges relative to the modulation waveform are different. The signals from these different windows are combined for the distance calculation (Fig. 6. Section 2)).
Regarding Claim 6, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device comprising, in the same modulation period sequence or in a plurality of modulation period sequences, for at least one specific modulation period of at least one transmission signal, using a plurality of adjacent receiving areas to detect the respective signal portions in acquisition time ranges that are adjacent with respect to the group of acquisition time ranges that are used ( Lee Disclose a pixel array (section 2, Fig. 3). Adjacent pixels in the RAR especially adjacent receiving areas. Within a single pixel the four tabs are also adjacent elements that are activated in temporally adjacent windows (Fig. 6). Pixels or neighboring tabs are sample adjacent time ranges Is an obvious implementation of multi window TOS sensor array).
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention Would have combined Keel with Lee because Lee provide a concrete high performance a realization of the sequential short-window and the use of adjacent multi element structure of claim 6. The combination yields predictable improvements in timing precision, modulation contrast, and hardware efficiency with no unexpected results.
Regarding Claim 7, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device comprising in at least one modulation period sequence or in two consecutive modulation period sequences, for at least one specific modulation period of the at least one electrical transmission signal, using multiple receiving areas to detect respective signal portions of the at least one echo signal r in all acquisition time ranges of a group of acquisition time ranges that are used for the method(Lee discloses a 4-tap lock in pixel architecture(and related multi-tap/2-tap) in which multiple transfer gates (G1-G4) function of multiple receiving elements/areas within each pixel (Fig. 3); these multiple gates are actuated sequentially to capture charge in a complete set (group) of short acquisition time windows that together span the relevant portions of the modulation/lighting cycle (Fig. 6- timing diagrams showing consecutive openings of the four gates within each lighting cycle); the same multi-gate (multi-receiving area) structure is repeated across successive lighting cycles or frames; all of the signal portions collected in full groups of acquisition time ranges are used together to compute/the phase/distance information (abstract, section 2). Therefore, Lee teaches using multiple receiving areas to detect respective signal portions of the echo signal in all acquisition time ranges of the group of windows that are used, and this occurs both within a single modulation period sequence and across consecutive sequences.
Keel already contemplates multiple receiving areas and multiple short acquisition time ranges. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to implement Keel’s receiving areas using the multi-tap the structure of Lee so that the multiple areas collectively sample the entire group of acquisition time ranges needed for complete/distance measurement. The combination yield the predictable benefit of complete multi-phase sampling improved modulation contrast, and efficient hardware utilization with no unexpected results.
Regarding Claim 8, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device comprising using signal sections of at least one echo signal that are detected using multiple receiving areas for at least one specific modulation period of the at least one electrical transmission signal in the same modulation period sequence to determine at least one distance variable (Lee teaches multiple taps(receiving elements/ areas) within a pixel or multiple pixels, accumulate charge in different short time windows within a single lighting cycle/ modulation period sequence (Fig. 6: Consecutive opening of G1-G4 within each cycle). These multi-window signals from the same or adjacent structures are combined to compute distance), or using signal sections of at least one echo signal that are detected using at least one receiving area for at least one specific modulation period of at least one transmission signal in at least two consecutive modulation period sequencesLee teaches the classic 2-tap Architecture, The same taps are used across two consecutive frames(consecutive modulation. Sequences) with the phase shift of the illumination or demodulation between frames. The four phase samples thus obtained are used to calculate the phase shift) , wherein the at least one distance variable is a phase shift of a reception envelope relative to the at least one electrical transmission signal, the phase shift being determined from the detected signal portions (In Lee the distance variable is precisely the phase shift of the received modulated envelope relative to the transmitted signal, calculated from the detected signal portions (abstract, Section 2, iToF phase calculation referenced through the paper).
Keel already determines a distance variable from the electrical signals received. Combining Keel’s overall method with a multi-window/consecutive sequence sampling and explicit phase-shift computation of Lee renders claim 8 obvious. A person of ordinary skill in the before the effective filing date of the invention would have made the combination to obtain robust, high contrast face measurement while reusing the same detector resources the exact benefit taught by the Lee reference.
Regarding Claim 9, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device wherein at least one acquisition time range is referenced to at least one characteristic point in at least one electrical transmission signal and at least one scanning signal, wherein the at least one characteristic point is a maximum, a minimum, a point of inflection, an edge, or a zero crossing of the at least one electrical transmission signal and the at least one scanning signal (In any practical modulated ToF system(including both Keel and Lee), the acquisition/gating windows are synchronized to the modulation waveform. Lee generate gate pulses (G1-G4) there are timed relative to the light-pulse timing (Fig. 6). The start and end of each short acquisition window are defined with respect to the rising/falling edges of the modulation/illumination signal. Edge reference timing is the conventional and necessary way to align the demodulation window with the transmitted modulation period).
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention implementing the short-window sequential gating of Lee on a top of Keel’s method would necessarily reference the acquisition time ranges to characteristic points (edges, maxima, etc.) of the transmission and scanning signals. This is obvious and yields no unexpected results.
Regarding Claim 10, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device wherein intervals of time between at least two acquisition time ranges of a group of acquisition time ranges that are used are specified according to the intervals of time between characteristic points in at least one electrical transmission signal and at least one scanning signal, wherein each characteristic point is a maximum, a minimum, a point of inflection, an edge, or a zero crossing of the at least one electrical transmission signal and the at least one scanning signal (Lee opened the four transfer gates consecutively within each lighting cycle (Fig. 6). The temporal spacing between successive acquisition windows is therefore set the timing of the gate control signal, which themselves are derived from, and spaced according to the characteristics points(edges) of the modulation period. The interval between windows is deliberately shorter than the full modulation period (40ns gates inside a 520 ns cycle-Table 1)(Fig. 6, table 1, section 2).
A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have combined Keel with Lee because Lee provide a concrete, high performance implementation of multi window, fan pixel sequential acquisition required by claim one, while also teaching the phase shift calculation (claim 8) N, and edge characteristic point reference timing of the windows (claims 9-10). The combination produces predictable improvement in modulation contrast, background rejection, and phase accuracy with no unexpected results.
Regarding Claim 11, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device wherein at least one electrical transmission signal is produced as a square-wave signal, a sinusoidal signal, a triangular-waveform signal or a sawtooth signal (Keel, para. [0038] - "As an example, the light source 100 may emit light in the form of a sine wave, a triangle wave, or a square wave. ").
Regarding Claim 12, modified Keel discloses a method for operating a detection device comprising: using at least two receiving areas, which are spatially adjacent to detect at least one specific signal portion of at least one echo signal in respective defined acquisition time ranges (Lee et al. discloses a pixel array of four-tap lock-in pixels (Fig. 3, pixel layout; section 2). Adjacent pixels in a sensor array are inherently spatially adjacent. Multiple adjacent pixels (or adjacent taps within/ near a pixel) detect signal portions in the defined short acquisition time ranges created by the sequential gate pulses. The interval between death ranges is shorter than the modulation.(Cycle time 520ns, gate pulse width 40ns-table 1, fig. 6), wherein the interval of time between the defined acquisition time ranges is shorter than the period duration of a modulation period of the at least one transmission signal (the consecutive gate opening occur within the single lighting cycle whose duration is the modulation. (See timing diagram figure 6 and the short parameters in table 1), directing at least one echo signal to the receiving areas by way of at least one optical element in such a way that at least two receiving areas that are used to detect a specific signal portion of the at least one echo signal in respective defined acquisition time ranges are hit by the at least one echo signal at the same time (Any practical TOF lidar receiver (including the censors of Lee) uses optical elements (lenses, microlenses or imaging optic) to focus or direct the returning echo signal onto the pixel. In a focal plane array, multiple adjacent pixels are illuminated simultaneously by the focused echo from a given scene point or angular direction. This is inherent to imaging geometry of the four-tap sensor array described in Lee), and forming at least one receiving area from at least two receiving elements that are spatially arranged within the at least one receiving area to be hit by respective components of the at least one echo signal that are transmitted to the at least one receiving area according to a direction of a reflecting object relative to the detection device, wherein the at least two receiving elements are used to detect the respective components of the at least one echo signal separately (Lee Form each lock in pixel from multiple receiving elements (the four transfer gates G1-G4 And associated nodes- Fig. 3). These elements are specially arranged within the pixel. In an array, neighboring pixels or sub elements receive light components that correspond to slightly different directions of arrival from the scene(i.e. According to direction of the reflecting object relative to the detection device). Each element/tap detects its respective charge packet separately.
Even if Keel does not explicitly detail multi-element directional decomposition, a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention would have found it obvious to implement the receiving area of Keel using the multi-element (multi-tap) pixel structure of Lee, precisely because those structure enable the sequential short-window acquisition already required claim 1 while providing separate detection of signal components. No unexpected results exist.
Regarding claim 13, Claim 13 is the device counterpart of claim 1 and is rejected on the same grounds as the rejection of method claim 1 above. The control and evaluation apparatus that generates acquisition control signals to produce multiple short acquisition time ranges, and that uses the same receiving area across consecutive sequences, ss the obvious implementation of the sequential multi-window method taught by the Lee reference (see rejection of claim 1, and para. [0003] of Keel).
Regarding Claim 14, modified Keel discloses a detection device wherein at least one receiving area comprises multiple receiving elements (Keel, para. [0035]: "The ToF sensor 300 may include a plurality of pixels 310, and light reflected by the object may be incident on the plurality of pixels 310.").
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 is rejected under the same rationale as the rejection of method claim 1. (see rejection of claim 1, and para. [0003] of Keel).(A vehicle comprising the detection device) Is obvious: both Keel and Lee references are directed to automotive and mobile ranging applications; mounting the resulting detection device on the vehicle is routine and expected use.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 13, and 15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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Assres H. Woldemaryam
Primary Examiner (Aeronautics and Astronautics)
Art Unit 3642
/ASSRES H WOLDEMARYAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3642
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